One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

Traveling With T purchased this book during a Kindle sale for personal reading.

One Italian Summer

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.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

After reading and loving In Five Years and Expiration Dates, I saw One Italian Summer on a Kindle sale and decided to give it a try.

While I did like it, I did not love it like I did the others.

I think women sometimes have trouble with identities. Like when you are a mom, no one can see you as things other than a mom. They forget that you were a young lady, a woman with her own needs, wants, desires before you became a mother…. and even though you love your kiddos- you are still a woman with wants, needs, desires.

I also think younger women tend to discount the advice/life lessons of older women because they don’t always feel they can relate (example: when Carol was a teensy bit reserved about Katy’s desires to get married young)

I think this book could be an excellent book for mom/daughter to read together or a book group with a mix of older/younger women to open up a dialogue between the ladies.

What I liked:

The cover. If you can see a cover like that and not feel giddy with the colors, the water, etc… then we are not alike.

Carol (in her younger years) As much as I loved Katy’s description of Carol in her older, mom years- getting to see Carol in Italy was fun.

The journey Katy was on. She needed to grow, adapt, mature.

Bottom line: A quick read. Enjoyable-ish; but not a book I will be recommending to everyone.

*This book was purchased by Traveling With T for personal reading. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*