One Italian Summer

✮✮✮

May 26

One Italian Summer - Rebecca Serle

my review : ✮✮✮

The author does an incredible job of transporting you to Positano, so much so that reading this book was like enjoying a relaxing day in Italy - wandering, in no rush, luxurious, and indulgent.

This story is about Katy, who has just lost her mom, her best friend, and the love of her life, all wrapped into one and is grappling with how to exist without her. She had an extravagant trip planned with her mother to Positano that she decides to embark on solo. Katy’s goal on the trip is to recreate the summer her mom spent in Positano, but once she gets there she finds her mother…. 30 years in the past?

I have to tell you I did not read the synopsis of this book and just picked it up because I adored In Five Years.

While I enjoyed the writing and story and swooned over the setting, I found the main character to be hard to relate to and honestly would not want to be friends with her in real life.

I think this would be a great bookclub book because there is so much to talk about (and so much excellent food and drink to pair with it)!
For instance:
⁃ Is this mother/daughter relationship healthy??? Answer: no.

I would read this book if you want to be transported to a vacation on the Amalfi coast. It’s an enjoyable and fast story, and my dislike for the protagonist may be clouding my judgment, but this wasn’t a “love” for me.

This is best paired with an Aperol Spritz of course!

*I keep it general with ”Fiction” when I don’t know what to characterize it as - not a thriller, not a romance, and I hate the phrase “chick lit”

you’ll love this book if you love:

An instant (and free) trip to Italy
A character driven story

my favorite quote:

“History, memory is by definition fiction. Once an event is no longer present, but remembered, it is narrative. And we can choose the narratives we tell—about our own lives, our own stories, our own relationships. We can choose the chapters we give meaning.”