Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

One Italian Summer: A Novel by Rebecca Serle, Rebecca Serle

67 reviews

toris_in_her_own_world's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

5.0

This book was so beautiful! I personally love to read books where people are grieving, and this one was really good for that. Katy’s whole journey of finding who she is without her mom is so well portrayed.
I really did not expect this to be actual time travel, but it was an interesting plot element. Now I want to re read it to see what I missed! I also like the ending where nothing really changed in her future situation, she just recognized that she could figure it out and life goes on.
I honestly understand that Katy made a lot of mistakes in her time in Italy, but I also see how it made her realize that she doesn’t want to be wild all the time, she likes the familiar, and that doesn’t have to change with her moms passing. Overall one of my favorite reads recently!
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idesofmarch's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-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

3.25

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lauren_shilling's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.25

This book was such an amazing read! I read it leading up to and during my trip to Italy this summer, and I was reading during my brief visit to the Amalfi Coast, and this book captured the energy I got there perfectly! It was the perfect book to compliment the first part of my trip. I'm so happy I finally read this book, and I'm both very upset and very happy that I didn't read it sooner. I loved following Katy and watching how she navigates the grief of losing her mother, while also coming to some very important realizations about herself, her mother, and their relationship. It was a beautiful story set in a beautiful place. The writing in this book felt like the magic of the story, if that makes sense, and it made for a great experience. This book is quite the emotional read as well, as it does follow a main character who has just lost her mother, who she considered her best friend. As wonderful as it was to watch her navigate that, it was also very emotional to read as well.
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strawb3rrysugar's review against another edition

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

3.0

If you like a comfy summer beach read that details delicious meals in a beautiful location, and you can get past the kind of monotonous character work and the main character's immaturity that borders on astounding at points, you'll like this book. The rush job the ending does plummeted this book from 4 stars to three for me. And if you're hoping for an explanation of how the book's time-travel mechanic works, you won't get one, unless Grief Vibes count.

I understand why the MC is the way she is, to an extent (though it borders on emotional incest very often) - she's intentionally built up an image of her mother in her head and has a hard time looking at the world without Mom-tinted glasses. But her exploration of this dynamic and the characters' development is incredibly surface level, and it feels like you're admiring a Pinterest board more than a person who haunts the narrative. Not an atrocious read, just kind of meh. 
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3bobbielee's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

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theonlybaillie's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

There were so many parts of this book that I loved and so many that I really did not like. I loved the setting and descriptions of food/vibes. I enjoyed how the author wrote about emotions. I didn't enjoy the characters, unfortunately. I just found myself being incredibly annoyed by our MC and the lack of consequences for the things that she does in this book.

Spoiler opinions:
I hate a cheating trope. And I hate that there were no consequences for doing that. Her husband did not deserve that. He was nothing but supportive during her grieving, and he gave her the space she needed. He 100% deserves to know the truth. But it conveniently happened during the *magic period* so it apparently doesn't count to our MC. Okay.


So we will do an average of 3 stars.
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abigail_horn's review against another edition

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

0.25

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maddycat13's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I really enjoyed the mother daughter relationship in the book. The Italian landscape was so tangible, the writing decadent. 
My only qualm was
how angry Katie got with Carol for taking the trip to Italy after she was born. I understand that she felt deceived, but I feel like Katie’s reaction implied that she thought Carol taking this time discounted every single memory they ever had together and morphed her into an absent mother. I understand Katie’s shock, I just found it incredibly overblown.
 
The message of the story is poignant and really has something to say about the nature of life and our place in it. The power we have to make our own choices and change our perspective.
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jojom77's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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oceanelle's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

At first, One Italian Summer really wasn't my cup of tea, not least of all because I don't think I could've related less to the protagonist or her relationship with her mother, and I wondered if I should just DNF it and keep it moving. I ended up being glad I didn't—the protagonist's arrival to herself in and of itself was worth it, not to mention the lush setting and the fact that tears were streaming down my face by the end.
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