A review by teghans_tomes
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

3.0

I went into this book after reading the title and looking at the cover. I expected a summer romance between an American girl and an Italian man, and I was ready to hate it but love the process of hating it. I was blown away to find a magical realism element, and it really saved this book for me. I think if I went in knowing it was magical realism, I would have been disappointed because while it is a cool concept, the "magic system" was only vaguely explained and it was more of an excuse for the book existing, then to serve as a useful magic system. However, I did really enjoy the concept of said "system" and once I started to like that, I was able to pay a bit more attention to what the book was actually about: grief. I think the book does a wonderful job illustrating the different ways people grieve with the same loss, it was a good book. It wasn't entirely transformative for me, I did not walk away with a different view on the world, but it wasn't the trainwreck I was expecting. It was good! Do I recommend this book? Maybe, if you are feeling a book about grief and a bit of time travel, otherwise, it will not be the end of the world if you skip this one, the world will still spin, the sun will still rise and set, and bugs will continue to be gross.