A beautiful story of handling grief, learning about and meeting new family, and the beauty of Italy! This book really felt like to put me in her shoes, as in I felt like I was there with her. The writing is absolutely beautiful!!

I loved this story!! This was such an easy read and was so relatable. Jennifer Probst writes in a way that makes you feel and connect with the characters. Aurora showed so much growth and Quint was swoon worthy! Such a quick, easy read with a wonderful happy ending.

Thank you to Berkeley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

To Sicily with Love whisks readers away to the breathtaking landscapes of Sicily, Italy. The author’s vivid, immersive descriptions make you feel as if you’re strolling through sun-drenched piazzas, and oh my gosh—the food! I kept finding myself Googling recipes to try!

Aurora believes she has it all: a thriving career as a life coach, a successful podcast, a book deal, and a supportive, handsome boyfriend who shares her ambitions. She has seemingly moved past the sudden loss of her father five years earlier, though she keeps her distance from her mother, convinced that she disapproves of her relentless work ethic. But when tragedy strikes again and her mother unexpectedly passes away, Aurora is left completely alone, spiraling into grief. Overwhelmed and lost, she loses her book deal and podcast, struggling to find her footing.

On a whim, she takes a DNA test, hoping to uncover any long-lost family ties—her parents were both only children, leaving her without known relatives. To her astonishment, she discovers an entire maternal family she never knew existed. With nothing keeping her in Cold Springs, NY, Aurora takes a leap of faith and travels to Sicily, searching for answers.

Welcomed with open arms by her mother’s estranged family, she initially plans to stay for ten days but soon realizes how unfulfilled she had been in New York. As she extends her stay, she begins to see her life more clearly, especially after uncovering painful truths about her relationship. Yet, her greatest challenge remains: breaking through the tough exterior of her grandfather, who has spent years harboring resentment toward his daughter, Aurora’s mother.

Amidst these family revelations, Aurora also finds unexpected love. But just as she starts to embrace this new life, she reluctantly returns to New York, only to realize that her purpose—and heart—now belong elsewhere. Reinvigorated, she rediscovers her passion for writing and podcasting, though with a fresh perspective. Even with professional success returning, she can’t ignore the pull of Sicily, her family, and the love she found there. Ultimately, Aurora makes the life-changing decision to move back to Sicily for good, where she publishes her novel to great acclaim and embarks on a future with her Italian fiancé.

For anyone who has ever felt lost in the wake of grief, To Sicily with Love is a heartfelt and uplifting journey of self-discovery, second chances, and the pursuit of true happiness. You’ll find yourself rooting for Aurora every step of the way.

To Sicily with Love by Jennifer Probst is a sweet story about a woman named Aurora who is obsessed with her job as a life coach and growing her business. After her mother passes, her live is overturned by grief and starts tanking her business and life. She finds that she has family in Italy and travels there to learn more about why her mother said she had no family. While bonding with them, she also connects with a friend of the family. As she bonds with her family will she want to leave and resume her old life or will she be forever changed?

I enjoyed reading this story. It took me a little bit to get into as I struggled to connect with Aurora. However once she went to Italy and started connecting with family, I was really drawn into her story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for access to an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

To Sicily with Love was an engaging and enchanting read. Aurora’s journey of self-discovery was both heartfelt and inspiring, making it easy to connect with her as she uncovered her roots. The warmth and richness of the family she found in Sicily made me want to book a trip immediately. Watching Aurora grow, redefine her priorities, and embrace her heritage added depth to the novel, making it a truly enjoyable read.

Thank you #netgalley for my ARC.

So, this book was a little harder for me to get into. I enjoyed the idea of it. How she lost her mom but found that she had a whole family from Italy. The part that I didn’t enjoy the whole boyfriend. He rubbed me the wrong way and he was so rude towards the MFC. It took until 70% for them to break up and with a pay she was going in a date with another man. I was just not a fan of how fast get over the boyfriend and then just falling in love with another man quickly. I’m not a fan of cheating and it felt too close to cheating in my mind. I also didn’t like the relationship the MFC had with food. I know it changed by the end of the book, but I feel like maybe there should be a trigger warning for anyone who had struggled with and ED that this book will bring up an unhealthy relationship with food.

This book is so romantic, I could not put it down. The kind and handsome Italian man is my new book boyfriend. I want to say his name but I don’t want to spoil it. Aurora’s family is amazing. And I need to go to Sicily, the descriptions are breathtaking. This is my first Jennifer Probst book and I wish I hadn’t waited so long! Highly recommend!

I LOVED this book so much! I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into as I had never read a Jennifer Probst book before, but this exceeded my expectations!

This story follows a very goal oriented woman who loses both her parents very close to one another. She learns she has family she never knew about in Italy. In a leap of faith, she travels to Italy for a month. This trip begins her journey of finding herself, what makes her happy and true love.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkeley Publishing Group and Jennifer Probst for this ARC!

5⭐️
“I believe with each loss, our heart grows bigger, not smaller.”

**Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the eARC**

TW: This story does contain content regarding grief and loss of parents.

What. A. Book. Aurora is a life coach and podcaster who thinks she has success. She believes she has it all figured out. She has a boyfriend who supports her and is growing his own business. She and her mom don’t agree on her choice of men or her fast paced career life. And then the worst happens—her mother dies. Aurora is faced to slow down and confront what is important in life. She discovers long lost family in Sicily and takes off to connect and examine her life.

I laughed, I cried, I cheered for Aurora. Probst creates such wonderful stories that are vivid. I feel like I’m in the Sicilian landscape with our MC. And the way she works through the character’s grief and growth is done well. The pacing of the walk through grief and reevaluating life choices was done in such a way that it didn’t feel rushed and didn’t feel like it was dragging the reader along.

Highly recommend this book!

This is the story of Aurora who is a successful life coach. Her mother whom she was very close to passes away suddenly from a heart attack and she tries to keep her life together but then notices she is slowly falling apart due to her grief.

Until one day she decides to do a DNA test and finds out that her mother had a whole family in Sicily! She realized that her mother had lied to her about a lot of things and had kept her past as a secret. She needed to know why, as she still felt the need to be closer to her mum so she decided to reach out to her possible family members to see if it’s actually true…

Days goes by when someone responds back to her whom is her first cousin. They then discuss and after many consideration, Aurora makes a leap of faith to travel to Sicily to meet her new found family in hopes that this would answer alot of her questions and to seek if this meet up would actually help her with her grief.

If you love Eat,Pray,Love then you will most certainly enjoy this book. It will make you fall in love with Sicily and its food. OMG the food in this book is so mouthwatering.

Thank you, Jennifer Probst (the author) , NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for letting me give my honest review on this heartfelt book.

This book was so refreshing. My family is from Sicily and my mom went a year or so ago and visited almost the same area that this was written at. It was so neat to be able to envision what my mom had described and showed me in photos and also read it in a book.

When Aurora loses her mother, she has a hard time finding her love in her job and life. She feels alone and wants to find herself again. Taking a DNA test reveals family that she least expected. This is filled with found family, unexpected love, journey to find self and so much more. The Italian family is described absolutely perfect and reminded me of my own family gatherings. I love the adventure throughout this book.

Our FMC Aurora is a podcast host and life coach who is in the middle of working on writing her first book. Aurora thinks she has her life all figured out until she faces her mother’s sudden death. After her mother suddenly passed away Aurora fell into a deep depression which caused her to detach from her clients, and boyfriend. Although she thinks that her life is falling apart little does she know it is really falling together and she doesn’t even know it.

Aurora takes a DNA test that led her to discover family that she never knew she had. After discovering her family Aurora takes a trip to Sicily where she was able to connect with multiple family members and learn about why her mother kept them a secret from her. During this time Aurora starts questioning her relationship and starts to realize that who she once thought she loved and would spend her life with was really not her person.

I really enjoyed this book even though it was heavy on grief I felt that the story came together really well. This book touches on grief, love, healing and new beginnings.

Thank you Jennifer Probst, Berkeley Publishing & NetGalley for an e-ARC copy

This book made me cry several times! It is a book of love and loss and family.

I really enjoyed the main character, Aurora, finding herself and what makes her happy in life and i think the message was a very powerful message which is why i would recommend this book. I also enjoyed envisioning sicily and all its beauty.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC and Berkley publishing.

Aurora York had everything, including a social media presence and a podcast. However, she unexpectedly lost her mom several years after losing her dad and she was under the spotlight as she deals with grieving the lost of her parents. Aurora believed that she was an only child until she took a DNA test revealing that she has relatives in Sicily. She took her chances and goes to Sicily to meet the relatives that she never know and learns to stray away from perfection.

I was enthralled with the storyline from the start, including the quick loss of Aurora's mother and trying to deal with losing both parents. I loved how Aurora learns to embrace her Italian side, patches old wounds with family members including her maternal grandfather, and learns to let go of certain things. I love how she embraces the food cultural and having big family meals to build the connections, straying away from a strict eating regimen. A story with found family, but with a twist that the blood relatives reconnect with each other.

Thank you Berkley for the eARC!

Thank you NetGalley for the wonderful ARC for my honest review. Jennifer Probst did a great job with this book. She pulled me in and made me feel I was right there with these characters characters. It’s centered around Aurora who recently lost her mother and lost her father 5 years ago and this was the only family she had or so she thought. So as she works through her grief, her whole world seems to be falling apart. Even her boyfriend who thinks he’s being supportive…..isn’t. He is getting aggravated with her. So on a whim, she does a DNA test and she is in shock when results come back that she has a relative in Sicily and not just one……she has a lot. Against her so called boyfriends recommendation she packs her bags and takes a much needed vacation to meet her family and get some much needed answers as to why she is just now finding out why she never knew she had family. Mon what a great story. I loved it and would love to have given this more than 5 ⭐️.

If you loved the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, then this book is for you. This has the tight knit family and drama aspect but set in beautiful southern Italy. This was a short and sweet book that packed a punch. The complicated family dynamics were a treat to explore and Probst did a fantastic job in writing them. I love all things Italian and this was no different! The descriptions were so detailed and vibrant and the characters were really well fleshed out (apart from Jason which i believe was done intentionally). There was such an obvious contrast between the life and love of Aurora’s family and Jason who felt similar to trying to read emotions off a 2 by 4. Im still reeling that this was less than 300 pages! I need every book i read to give me this much investment, emotion, and joy AND have a length possible for me to read within 3 days.
The worst and best part of all was the descriptions of the FOOD. I was so hungry and jealous as i read this because i wanted to be eating everything Probst described. It all sounded so delicious 🤤.
And Quint!!! What a man. I loved his character. Extremely swoon worthy.
This is absolutely a new favorite i will revisit time and time again.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for this early review copy!

Editing note: page 155 has the line “it had a happy floral pattern with bright red noses…”

“To Sicily With Love” is a beautiful story full of family drama and second chances, mixed with tears, laughter, love and forgiveness. I was terribly sad when, very early in the book, Aurora’s mother Serafina, suddenly passed away. This terrible tragedy changed Aurora’s life forever and opened up a Pandora’s box of secrets that she never saw coming. Growing up in an Italian family myself, I know how deeply we need to feel connected to our heritage. I was lucky to have many cousins who I saw on a regular basis at large and boisterous family dinners. Aurora was alone in the world with just her career and her boring boyfriend to keep her company. Her grief over losing her mother was overwhelming and a trip to Sicily to meet her relatives was just what she needed.

Sicily is a beautiful island rich in culture, delicious food, and close knit families who do everything together. Aurora had always wanted cousins and grandparents in her life and she never expected such a warm welcome from everyone upon her arrival. The only holdout was her grandfather who seemed to be a stern taskmaster, steeped in old world traditions who didn’t look happy to see her. Aurora’s Nonna hugged her tightly, not ever wanting to let her go, as tears streamed down her face. I became teary-eyed as well, as I recalled many warm hugs from my Italian grandmothers! The longer Aurora spent in Sicily learning Italian, cooking with her Nonna and cousins, and catching the eye of Quint, the most handsome man she had ever seen, the more she realized that there was more to life than work. Aurora missed her mother terribly, but she felt closer to her now that she was with people who knew her when she was younger. They shared pictures, stories, and shed many tears but Aurora’s heart was full and she was finally looking forward to the future. Whatever she decides to do, I know her mother will always be by her side, cheering her on.

This was a heartwarming and cute read, but I didn’t love it. It was #4 in a series (I haven’t read any of the previous titles) but it read like it could be a standalone. I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters, and Jason was immediately unlikable and unsupportive right from the beginning. It was relatable in the sense of single child household and the family dynamics, but other than that it was more about grief, loss, and life choices with limited romance.

Even though it wasn’t my style, it was very well written! I really enjoyed the vivid details of the scenery and food. It also allowed the reader to escape and take in the culture of Italy. As an American who has traveled to Rome, it brought back memories of carrying my own luggage up three flights of stairs and the experiences of afternoon feasts with the city shutting down, which I appreciated the accuracy of these details!

Overall, I could feel the emotion through words, but I wish it was shorter. It seemed to drag on and get repetitive. I also wished there were more romance since that’s what I was expecting going into the book. Instead, it was about life, sarcrifices, vulnerability and learning when to slow down. This would be a great read for someone who is looking for an uplighting and motivational book!

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

*Book publication date: February 18, 2025*
*Reviewed January 24, 2025*

This book wow’d me from the very first page. I have nothing but good things to say. I knew it would be a quick read.

Aurora lost her father a few years ago and unfortunately just lost her Mom.

She had no other family, so now it was just her- and a narcissist boyfriend who was always pushing her to do more, work more, exercise more- say no to bread and pizza more.

Feeling hopeless and lonely, she decides to do the genetic test and send it in.

She finds out she has LOTS of family over in Sicily and decides to go. And she learns family is life… and so are Italian men!

This look is about finding out who you really are. Are you trying to be who you were or who you are now?

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley, and Jennifer Probst for the advance reading copy for an honest review.

Set to be published February 18, 2025.

Than you NetGalley and Berkeley publishing for letting me read this, and get the chance to review this. To Sicily with Love was beautiful. It was a story of grief, family, friendship, and love. We saw Aurora think that she lost everything, but then find out there’s a whole new girl waiting for her. Reading this felt so warm and cozy, and I always had a smile on my face reading it. Aurora and Quint deserve a happy and full life. Such a heartwarming book.