Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Little Italian Hotel

Great cast of characters but I would have loved their stories to go deeper. I think the resolution for the female lead was appropriate given her growth and I appreciated the middle ground that the author chose. Nice details on their travels through Italy too!

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readingwithmeredith's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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3.25

Finished reading: May 17th 2023

"When you're busy navigating life, thinking you have your eye on everything, there's sometimes an unseen obstruction that stops you noticing something glaringly obvious."

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Park Row in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

It's true that I've had mixed reactions to Phaedra Patrick's writing in the past, but I have a weak spot for any stories about an eclectic cast of characters being thrown together. I also love an Italian setting, so in the end I couldn't resist trying my luck with The Little Italian Hotel. And as a whole, it turned out to be a mostly positive reading experience I enjoyed for the exact elements mentioned above. There were a few niggles, but I definitely understand why this story has been receiving so much love so far.

I mentioned before that I do love an Italian setting in my stories; if you enjoy a dose of armchair travel, you will be in for a treat with The Little Italian Hotel. The descriptions of both the small Italian village, the hotel and the daytrips to Florence, Venice and Rimini are thorough and really made the different settings come alive. I felt like I was visiting Italy along with the main characters, and I always love it when a story manages to portray a setting well. It's without doubt one of the highlights of the story for me, and I enjoyed the dose of Italian culture and food as well.

Like I said, I have a weak spot for stories with an eclectic cast of characters being thrown together, and The Little Italian Hotel offers exactly that. The group doesn't only vary in age, but also in personality and background, and it was wonderful to see them interact and an unlikely bond starting to form. I enjoyed getting to know them better, learning more about their past and why they first called in claiming to be heartbroken. Again, this was a highlight of the story for me, and the reason I kept reading. The addition of Nico's story was great as well; I liked what he added to the group and that he wasn't just the hotel owner in the background.

As for the characters in general... I have to say that I have mixed feelings about the main character Ginny. While part of me felt sorry for her situation, I also found myself to be quite irritated by the way she behaved and tried to control and 'fix' everyone. Trying to manipulate her husband in coming back to her just didn't feel right at all... Nor was some of her behavior especially during the second half of the story. I was sad to see The Little Italian Hotel included the dreaded love triangle (a major pet peeve of mine), and certain aspects of the plot just felt too much like active cheating. This love triangle vibe was definitely one of the main reasons I didn't enjoy the story as much as I thought I would.

Through the eclectic cast of characters, the author is able to incorporate a wide variety of different topics including divorce, abandonment, cheating, loss of a child, loss of a pet, cancer and dementia. The different elements were well incorporated into the story and showed how many different types of heartbreak there are and how everyone reacts differently to hard times. There was a lot of focus on character growth and opening up about why they were there, and it was interesting to see the different characters interact and react. Again, I wasn't a fan of Ginny's part of the story though.

All in all, I ended up mostly enjoying The Little Italian Hotel, and I'm sure that without the love triangle and cheating this story would have worked so much better for me. It was a shame there was so much focus on Adrian and Ginny trying to convince him to come back instead of focusing on new beginnings... The open ending wasn't really satisfying either. That said, if you like stories with an Italian setting and an unlikely bunch of characters connecting, you will probably enjoy your time with this one.

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