A review by jamieson
The Italian Wife by Kate Furnivall

2.0

well I tried to read something different. I tried to read NOT ONLY an adult book but ALSO a historical fiction. last fucking time I do that ??? well not really, I'll keep digging. But this is NOT the start to the 'lets branch out' campaign I wanted.

The Italian Wife is set in Italy during the Mussolini era. Our main character, Isabelle, is an architect who's husband Luigi died ten years ago in a shooting. After a girl called Rosa comes into her care, Isabelle must uncover the secrets of her and Rosa's past.

I think this book just wasn't for me. The setting should have been really interesting but I ended up feeling pretty disinterested. I feel like I didn't mesh with the writing and I ended up finding it hard to imagine the setting. The characters didn't do anything for me. I didn't feel attached to Isabelle much and while I liked Rosa more, she wasn't in it enough.

The only bit I was surprisingly invested in was the romance, and I think that was pretty sweet. I enjoyed it. For that I have this 2 stars. I didn't even end up properly finishing this, I skimmed the last 100 pages. But everything I guessed would happen did happen and that predictability was kind of a let down too.

I don't really have anything else to say about this. Just wasn't my thing.

READ FOR: Marvel-A-Thon - Read a book that will challenge you