I’ll start by saying that One Italian Summer is a tough book for me to review! On the one hand, I’m seeking to be fair and giving credit where credit is due to the author, but on the other there were ways I just really struggled to come to terms with some elements to the book.

Let me say, I absolutely loved being transported to Italy! It was so atmospheric and I highly enjoyed that setting. I think this author has strong writing and regardless of my critiques which I’ll go into next, I can see the skill with which this story was crafted. The storytelling was there, the characters were well-developed, and the setting was absolutely stellar. As far as all the basic fundamentals that make for a good read, this book checked all the boxes. However…

Here’s what didn’t work for me. I found the infidelity/adultery difficult to stomach, especially as I felt there could have been much better “problem solving”/resolution on behalf of the main characters. This alone made it a big struggle for me to be fully invested in the story and dare I say to even find myself caring through most of it, and I still don’t clearly understand why the author went “there” in such a seemingly comfortable way. It just felt yucky! Another big struggle I had was with our main characters. To be completely honest, I found both Katy and Adam to be completely unlikeable. Their choices were tough to look past and there wasn’t enough redeeming material here in either of them. And then there was that highly strange mother obsession thing going on with Katy and her mother. I found that whole thing to be odd and ok, creepy. It just didn’t have to be part of the story at all. One more thing worth mentioning was that the time traveling element took me by surprise and was a miss for me. However, I do feel that if time travel is your sort of thing you’ll find that it was very much well done here and it was simply my own fault for not reading reviews ahead of time.

To wrap up, I understand that not all of my critiques here are at fault to the author, and I believe a big piece of the puzzle here was simply a case of “not the right book for the right reader” rather than bad writing. So in that, I will definitely give this author another chance with any past and future novels. It just didn’t click with me as a whole within my own personal reading taste.

Many thanks to Atria and NetGalley for the gifted e-copy.

Another lovely boom by this author. I love how she twists reality, allowing us to imagine what ifs. The characters were real, although the main one was a bit unlikable.

I really tried to like this one but I could not buy into the twist, nor did I believe the relationship with the main character and her husband. It just seemed so unrealistic.

I loved Rebecca Serle's previous book, In Five Years, so I was looking forward to reading this book, but the main character of Katie was almost unbearable. I doubt I would have finished the book if not for the beautiful descriptions of Positano, Italy. Katie is a married, late-twenties woman whose mother has just died. She describes her mother as her one, her person, the love of her life! She isn't sure she can be married any longer since her one great love has died, so she leaves on a 2 week vacation to Italy that she had planned to go on with her mother. While an Italian vacation sounds wonderful, all the talk of lost love (her mother) is just bizarre and off-putting. Positano saved this book.

I read this back in the summer, and was very excited being that I have previously loved a book by this author. I enjoyed the setting of the Italian coast, and liked the light fantasy/magical elements that Rebecca Serle infuses into her books. Having said that, this was not exactly what I was expecting. The story seemed to fly by at such a pace that I didn't feel connected to it. I would have loved for this novel to be a little longer. It just felt rushed.

Reading this book makes me want to book a one way ticket to Italy and
drink Aperol spritz by the beach! It really feels like you are in an Italian
villa with a dashing man! haha

First book I've read by Rebecca Serle. I really enjoyed it, fantastic setting. I liked that it was a story about a mother and daughter, the love between them, getting to know about the life/the person your parent was before they were your parent.

This book was an absolute dream. I loved the time travel aspect and the mother daughter relationship. I loved how Katy found out so much about herself from her mother as a contemporary. It was interesting to see Katy learn so much about her mom before she was a mom. I can't wait to go to Positano now and loved this Rebecca Serle novel!

I adore Rebecca Serle and loved her two prior books, but unfortunately the premise of this book just wasn't for me. The topic of this novel just didn't work for me, and that is certainly not the author's fault. My mother passed away in the beginning of this year and though I tried many times to read this, I just couldn't.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for this arc. I am only one reader and my review has nothing to do with the quality of the writing as this author's writing is superb.

ONE ITALIAN SUMMER by Rebecca Serle:
An author’s love letter to the Amalfi Coast - particularly Positano and its Hotel Poseidon Positano - as well as to a daughter’s devotion to her mother.

Serle also depicts the difficulty children have to see their parents through a different lens, chiefly that of their former youth and past prior to their assumption into the roles of mother or father. The sun-dappled Amalfi coast with its signature oversized lemons and quintessential Italian food & wine also wear the cloak of an additional main character in the novel, as the reader is submerged into the setting’s sparkling blue waters and house topped cliffs. Also of note to the reader: this latest release from Rebecca Serle seems to be a departure from her previous familiar writing style and deviation of the usual type of novel that readers might expect based on her previous several best-selling books. It was evident that this book was different for her and of a very personal nature with her love for what she calls “her most favorite place” definitely shining through, with this story almost a cherished gift from her back to the beloved Positano.

Unfortunately, I never ended up finishing this book. I understand the topic the author discusses heavily in the book (loss of a parent), but this wasn’t to my taste. I gave up at around 30% of the book.

Rebecca Serle definitely has a brand--these magical realism tropes that helps someone discover something they need to apply to their real life. In this story, we have Katy, who is struggling to process the death of her beloved mother, and takes a trip that was intended for both of them to a place her mother loved-Positano, Italy. Katy is questioning everything--her relationship with her parents, her marriage, her whole life--and is looking for answers. The device this book uses is interesting (I don't want to spoil it) and allows Katy to intimately know her mother as a young woman who was trying to do the same things.

My favorite aspect of the story is the remarkable sense of place. I thought Serle did an excellent job making you really feel the Amalfi Coast, and to really ground you in the sights and sounds of Positano. It definitely made me want to go there, and to eat the food!

I did think that this maybe went by too fast though--I wanted more depth, more time after the resolution, more on Katy's marriage, just a bit more emotional heft throughout.

Nice little twist in there that I didn’t see coming. Katy grew on me. Lauren Graham is a great narrator.

I enjoyed this time-bender of grief. When Katy loses her mother—the most important and closest person to her—she doesn’t know how to go on, questioning her purpose, her marriage, everything that has brought her to this moment. So when a trip she planned to take with her mother comes up, she goes alone, to Positano Italy where time folds in on itself and she finds a younger version of her mother nothing like the woman she knew. Spending time with her and a handsome stranger awakens a zest for life she forgot she had, but there are more mysteries and deeper levels of grief to discover.

I really like Rebecca Serle, I also read In Five Years this year and enjoyed it so much. There’s a lot about this book that won me over—her relationship with Adam, the descriptions of food and the immediacy of place, all of it was vivid and magical. But I agree with some criticisms I’ve read (@lattesandpaperbacks among them) that the characters and experiences were a bit shallow, that there could have been more to make her experience a little more accessible, her character more relatable. But on the whole I liked it! You know me! You really have to drop the time travel ball for me to dislike a book.

Thanks to @netgalley for the ARC I finally managed to get to!

Katy has just lost her mother, her greatest and most treasured person/relationship in her life. Feeling lost and adrift, she goes on a trip she and her mom had planned to go on together to Positano, Italy, telling her husband she thinks they need a break. Positano is stunning, and Katy finds something very unexpected while there.

I went into this book not really sure what to expect, I know Serle’s books are marketed to appeal to romance readers but this very much doesn’t fit into that category. It’s a detailed look at grief and the relationships in our lives and how even if you love someone deeply, you don’t always know all of them. I listened to the audiobook of this one which is only 6 hours, and yet took me forever to finish because I really just wasn’t invested in this book or the characters. I didn’t really like Katy, I can’t put my finger on exactly why. And then she made some decisions near the end of the book that made me angry. Definitely an unlikable heroine at least for me. The end tied up all nice and convenient which was nice but overall I was underwhelmed by this entire book.

I really enjoyed this book! Takes place is gorgeous Positano Italy, ahhhhhh, revolves around a woman dealing with the death of her moth, sniff, and, unbeknown to me in advance, has a little bit of magic, yayyyy! I love books about these things.

I don't want to spoil any thing but lets just say live in the moment, ask questions to those you love and listen to the answers, stop waiting, go live, travel to the places on your bucket list, and break out of your patterns and habits, you may surprise yourself.

Straight off the bat, I didn't like Katy. She was immature, and the mother daughter relationship just threw me off. I wanted to Dnf  this multiple times. I felt bad for Eric because Katy made some selfish decisions. This book just didnt hit the mark.

1.5⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for this ebook.

Thank you to Atria books for a gifted copy of One Italian Summer!

This is very much a character driven book which I have a hard time with so take this review with a grain of salt. It's a very short book but it felt very slow moving to me. However, I loved the setting of this book and I cannot WAIT to visit Positano someday. Serle brought the location and food to life and she writes time travel/magical realism really well! This is a story about a mother daughter relationship, grief, marriage and finding a way to move forward after the loss of a loved one.

Cute book about mother daughter relationships and finding yourself. I loved the setting of positano and it made me want to go with my mother while I can!

Serle is the queen of all types of love stories 💓 in her latest release ONE ITALIAN SUMMER we are transported to Positano with Katy who is embarking on a mother-daughter trip of a lifetime. Only thing is Katy's mother recently passed after her battle with cancer. Katy decides to fly to Italy anyways, in hopes the trip will give her peace and help heal her broken heart.

This book took me for an emotional ride from cover to cover. Although some may not love the magical realism aspect, it really worked for me here. I'm sure reading ONE ITALIAN SUMMER while in Positano added a lot to the experience for me, especially because the book mentioned so many spots that we visited (and LOVED). It was so fun to read this and picture everything Serle described IRL. This was a really quick (like, the book is actually pretty short in length) but impactful story about mother daughter relationships, family, grief, and the struggle of trying to oneself after a momentous life event.