Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - One Italian Summer

One Italian Silver follows thirty year old Katy Silver, whose life has spun out of control because of her mother's recent death. She hopes that taking their planned mother-daughter trip to Positano, Italy will help her figure out what to do with her confusion about her future, including her marriage. What she doesn't expect is to see and befriend a thirty year old version of her mother there.

This is very much a three star book for me. It was an overall enjoyable experience, but oftentimes, phrases would kick me out of the narrative with thoughts of "Why is Rebecca Serle describing this that way?" or "This character's reaction seems a little on the melodramatic side." Still, if you want a quick read about mother-daughter relationships that are more fraught than they seem with a side of romance and time shenanigans, this is your book.

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kelley_beth's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Okay.. so I got immediately sucked in, the middle section of the book felt repetitive and boring, and then with a bit of a twist toward the end felt better about it again.

I love the magical realism in the story. I love the theme of a deeply connected mother and daughter and managing the grief of such incredible loss and rediscovering yourself in the process.

However, I thought Katy was… more flawed than I would want a protagonist to be. She doesn’t deserve her husband. The affair with Adam and his presence in the book/story at all seemed totally unnecessary and in fact I felt like detracted from the chance she had to full realize herself on her own in Positano as her mother did. I felt like the relationships she built with the hotel staff were surface level at best, and I didn’t quite understand the staff’s interest in her, and it all seemed unlikely to have elicited the conversations and emotions she developed with them/around them, and she just wasn’t all that likable.

This had potential, but I wanted a much better protagonist than Katy.

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abby_can_read's review

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emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

📱
This book wasn't for me. I struggled to connect with the characters and the plot. I found the details of Positano were lovely.

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greatexpectations77's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Fun little story of magical realism, but holy goodness does the MC need a therapist to work through the fact that she and her mother were enmeshed. And using a Lorelei Gilmore quote and having Lauren Graham narrate just drives the enmeshment home even more. Also,

I'm pretty sure that cheating on your husband even though in your current timeline, you are not married yet is still cheating??? And like? Did it magically make her sex with her husband better? I little too tidy of a tie-up there, for me.

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I liked this book a lot. it felt unique but also gave eat pray love vibes which I loved. emphasis on the eat - the food descriptions made me so hungry. the relationship between mother and daughter almost made me cry because of how close I am with my own mom. the fact that Lauren Graham narrated the audiobook was the icing on the cake. there were some aspects of the book that I didn't connect with, such as the romance subplot. I came here for family drama and tears, not necessarily romantic relationship drama, you know?

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shaneent's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This is a good summer read. It was fun getting to explore Positano, Italy with Katy, and the book definitely seemed to capture the spirit of this seaside village.
It dealt well with Katy's journey through grief following her mother's death, realistically showing her emotional turmoil, life upheaval, and not always making the wisest choices as she finds her way back to herself after immense loss.

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