One Italian Summer

This was a cute idea, and I finished it quickly… but it missed the mark for me. Katy is dealing with the loss of her mother, Carol, to a terminal illness. The two had planned a trip to Italy together, but Carol dies before they can go. Katy decides to go on the trip anyway, completely disregarding her husband and father. She even tells her husband she doesn’t want to be with him because her mother is the love of her life.

Once in Italy, Katy immediately begins flirting with a man named Adam, who is alone on a work trip. I didn’t understand the purpose of Adam as a character, or why he was around so often. There’s also a magical element (a sort of time warp) where Katy meets Carol as her younger self. Katy splits her time between Adam and young Carol, but remains selfish throughout. She doesn’t seem to care about Carol’s feelings as a young woman, only about being mothered again.

I found Katy hard to relate to. She was flippant and dismissive of her loved ones, treating neither her husband nor her father kindly even though they were grieving too. She only considered her mother as an extension of herself until the very end. Katy came across as immature, and her relationship with her mother felt extremely codependent at best. Honestly, the story would have hit harder if Katy had been written as a single 18–21 year old instead of 30 and married.

Overall, it was a beautiful story at its core, about grief and acceptance with a touch of magic, but it didn’t fully land for me. Katy was written to be likable, but I found her unlikeable, and the inclusion of cheating felt unnecessary. I don’t find infidelity cute or romantic, and for me, it ruined the story.

2/5 Stars