Title: One Italian Summer
Author: Rebecca Serle
Pages: 272
Publisher: Quercus Books
Publishing Date: March 1st 2022
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Themes: Italy, Time Travel
Format: Kindle
Rating: 3.5*
The one thing this novel does wonderfully is make the reader feel as if they're in Italy. I loved everything about that setting: the elegant hotel, the staff there, the food, the views. The author did a wonderful job writing Italy in this book.
I wholeheartedly disliked Katy, the main character. She's selfish and self-absorbed, swimming in her own grief only, disregarding other people. The way she speaks and behaves towards her husband made me raise my eyebrow and cringe at the same time. Katy claims her mother was the one great love of her life, and her passing away took everything that has ever meant anything to her away. I didn't get the same sentiment from her mother towards her, though. Katy seems to regard her father as a second class member of the family. Finding out that her mother had a life before she gave birth to her daughter comes as a total shock to Katy. She's a spoilt, immature 30 year old woman. She's quick to "fall in love" with a man she's known for a total of three days in Positano, and cheat on her husband.
Sure, some of her actions might be excused (might!) due to the weird time travel thing the author chose to include. I get it - it's also how we got to know Carol, Kathy's mother, before she became the domestic-goddess-housewife-on-a-pedestal her daughter insists she was. I actually liked learning more about Carol's character as a young person; she's a better one that the one Katy keeps telling us about as a woman, wife and mother. However, this time-travel bit was surprising and I'm not totally sold on it.
It's an interesting novel, but don't expect to like the main character. If you want to read a novel set in Italy and actually feel the setting, this is a good choice.
I received a free e-book copy of the novel from the publisher. All thoughts expressed here are my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment