Audiobook Review - One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

I work a job that allows me to have my earbuds in for about 8 hours a day. But I have a limited amount of playlists and the music starts to get boring. I have never really been an audiobook person because there's something about reading the words on the page and having them come to life in your mind. Audiobooks are something completely different, but One Italian Summer is the first audiobook that I can say I thoroughly enjoyed, even though I only picked it because it was "available now" on the Libby app.

One Italian Summer describes the life of Katy, who is grieving the loss of her mother who was her best friend, platonic soulmate, and her everything. After her death, Katy struggles to deal with reality and loses herself. When Katy takes a trip to Positano, Italy, a trip that she was supposed to go on with her mother, she feels like she is becoming herself again. That is, until Carol, her mother, shows up, except she's only thirty years old. Over the course of the summer, Katy learns all about her mother and the woman she was before Katy could remember her. However, secrets are revealed that prove that Katy may not have known Carol or her mother as well as she had thought. 

I thought this book had such an interesting concept. I just thought it was a little strange how there was so much emphasis on the fact that Katy's mother was her "soulmate". I understand why the author emphasized this point (to show the depth of Katy's grieving) but it felt so weird at some points especially when Katy would compare her relationship with her mother to her relationship with her husband. And now that we're talking about her husband, who was nothing but supportive of Katy before her trip, I don't understand the fact that *SPOILER* Katy cheats on her husband during her trip (which, okay, is 30 years in the past and technically her husband may not have even been alive yet, but Katy didn't know that yet). Also after going back to the present time, Katy all of a sudden is back in love with her husband again. Like what?? Eric deserved so much better. 

For my first audiobook, I enjoyed this a lot and would be interested to read more by Rebecca Serle in the future.