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Summer Reading: One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

October 3, 2022 by Sarah Leeds Leave a Comment

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One Italian Summer was a great book to kick off my summer reading! The food references, the scenery, the touching story…I loved it all!

image of a hand holding the book One Italian Summer with green grass and a blue sky in the background
One Italian Summer
Rebecca Serle
Fiction
272 Pages

Why I read One Italian Summer

Let’s be honest, this book has been all over bookstagram and chances are, a couple of your friends have already read it, too.

What is the book about?

The story picks up just as the main character, Katy, is beginning a new chapter in her life – one without her life’s VIP, her mother. When Carol dies of cancer, Katy is left to face the world without the one person that was her everything. In the wake of her grief, Katy needs to decide if her husband is really the one she wants to spend forever with, and really if her life is the life she wants to live.

Katy takes the trip to the Amalfi Coast that she was meant to take with her mother, but she goes it alone. She hopes to find answers to her confusion, but what she finds is much much more. She finds the 30 year old version of her mother. At first she can’t believe it’s her, but as she realizes what a gift she’s been given, she begins to realize not just more about who her mother was a human, but in turn, who she is. Independent of Carol, but who the true Katy is.

What I loved about the story

A good book has the ability to transport us. You know it’s good when you can imagine what the food tastes like, or you can visualize the view of the Mediterranean Sea from your striped beach towel. Taking a trip to Italy for about $15 is crazy to think about, but in the literary world, that’s exactly what happens!

The imagery in One Italian Summer is for sure the best! I have spent a few weeks in Italy before, but not the Amalfi Coast. So while I can definitely draw on my past trip, this book made me want to book my tickets to Positano ASAP! I can almost taste the pasta and seafood, and smell the salty seaside air. Hiking up the steps to the Path of the Gods has been officially added to my itinerary. And spending a day on the beach with a good book is never, ever a bad idea.

I also really loved the idea of showcasing Carol as her own person with an entire beautiful life, independent of her family. As a mother, I know that my life looks drastically different than it did pre-children and I’m sure plenty of you can say the same. There was something very honoring about the way that Katy was able to see Carol apart from being her mother.

My rating of One Italian Summer

Overall, I’m so happy to give One Italian Summer book a solid 4 star rating. I’ve been in a slump of 3 stars (which are still great book, by the way!) and this was an excellent pull out of that. Well done, Rebecca Serle!

For this review and many more, plus what I’m reading now, visit me on GoodReads. Thanks so much for checking out the Collective!
– Sarah

If you enjoyed this review, here are a few others that you might like:

photo of the book Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson sitting on a countertop with red roses and pink tulips in a vase next to it
Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton & James Patterson
close up of the cover of Where the Crawdads Sing book by Delia Owens on a shelf with other books on either side of it
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
image of a phone with the audible app open showing the front cover of The Guest List by Lucy Foley sitting on a stack of books with a plant, candle, and flowers around it
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
photo of the cover of the Beekeeper of Aleppo book on top of a black and white cloth next to a honey jar
The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
the cover of One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, held up by a woman's hand with the blue cloudy sky and green grass in the background
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Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: Summer Reading

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Hi, I’m Sarah! Welcome to my little corner of the internet where I celebrate the gifts of everyday life. Follow along as I curate a life I love through homemade food, good books, and a simple cozy home. Read more about me here.

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