One Italian Summer

Full disclosure, this is the first time I've read a ‘woman goes on a journey to find herself' trope, so my opinion of this book may be slanted. I really struggled to relate to the characters, especially Katy. Yes she was grieving, and I get that, but while everyone around her is telling her she's a ‘wonderful person' I struggled to find something compelling about her. She came across as someone who'd had very little adversity in life, and significantly lacked fortitude and character. These characteristics in a person make them ‘wonderful' to me, so I struggled to relate... I struggled with how callous she was to her husband, that his feelings could matter so little to her. Their reunion at the end felt hollow. I was practically cheering for Eric to go find someone better for him. I particularly didn't like the Adam character, he felt quite slimy to me, and I really didn't like him and Katy together. I never quite got what he found so attractive about her, and he only seemed interested in getting her into bed—even if she was drunk and obviously emotionally distraught. The love scene between them made me nauseous.

That being said, in the end, I did love to see that the mother wasn't quite so perfect. The time travel element was neat, but come on, who doesn't realize almost immediately that they've slipped back THIRTY years in the past? Significantly had to suspend disbelief. I was tempted many times to DNF, but the scenery of Positano kept me going. The author made Italy come alive in my mind, and I'd very much love to visit the Amalfi coast and see it for myself one day.