One Italian Summer

by Keris Stainton

[Leah]

So this was an interesting read - I wanted to love this book, but unfortunately it wasn't really for me. Don't get me wrong, the Italian setting is fantastic and I loved the three sisters, Milly, Elyse and Leonie but the sadness in the book brought it down a bit for me. I think to read a book about grief you have to be in the right frame of mind, you have to be ready for it, and that's my fault. I wasn't ready to read a book about grief, I just thought it was going to be three sisters in Italy, and while their dad dying was going to be a big thing (because it just is), I didn't expect it to hit the novel the way it did. That was so my fault, because I would be absolutely lost if anything happened to either of my parents or my sister or my family. It would kill me, like it killed these three girls and especially Milly.

For such a short read, it kinda felt like it was trying to fit a lot in. Milly's grief over her dad, this thing with Luke, and I'd have preferred if it had just focused on Milly's grief. Shoe-horning in the romance with Luke felt rushed and it always baffles me when a lass fancies a lad and she sees him kissing two girls (!) within two days (!) and still somehow moons over him like he's the second coming. YOU WHAT? Yeah, that's the kind of relationship you need just after your dad dies. Am I saying Luke should have be pining away for Milly? No, not at all. But the whole idea of using two girls to make one girl jealous is just icky to me. Milly doesn't get away with it, either, because she does the same with Carlos and it was just a bit childish, a bit tit-for-tat, in my opinion. Neither of them seemed ready for any kind of relationship, especially Milly.

However, saying that, I did really like One Italian Summer. I adore books set in Italy, they always make me crave a trip to Rome one day, to see the Trevi Fountain, and have pizza and gelato. I loved Elyse, Leonie and Milly and their bond as sisters. It's so rare to see three sisters, so close in age, who get on, who don't fight all the time and their bond was incredible.