One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

One Italian Summer

By: Rebecca Serle

Genre:

Romance, Contemporary, Chick Lit

My Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Summary:

When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.

But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.

And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.

My Thoughts:

I love a book with travel in it - especially one with good descriptions of the location and this author did this perfectly. I felt like I could see the scenery of Italy unfold before me when I was sitting at home in cold weather.

I absolutely loved the character of Katy (not just because we share a name) and felt for her completely when her mom died. I saw a lot of reviews talking about how they thought Katy was obsessed with her mom and was whiny. As an only child myself, I completely connected to this book and wouldn’t know what to do if I couldn’t call my own mom everyday. That’s probably the reason I loved this book so much.

Katy gets a chance to do the trip she never got to go on with her mom and experience adventure at a time in her life where it feels everything is breaking. I loved that she got to see what her mom was like at her age - because we really don’t think about our parents having lived before us or before they were married. The character progression was done perfectly and Katy learns a lot about herself along the way. This is the perfect summery book that is lighthearted and filled with some romance.

Rebecca Serle did an amazing job with this book and I cannot wait to see what else she has written. Overall, this book easily earned a 5-star rating from me and I highly recommend it to those who are close to their own moms.