Similar to in five years, I just find this book lacking substance. Lacking perspective or depth. It’s not objectively bad, just pale and bland for me.
I can feel that the author wants to have depth, but it doesn’t translate on the page for me. The descriptions of places are good, I felt transported, but I was mostly bored and wanting to finish to mark as done. Not painful, but not fun either.
The magical realism element, while fun, feels a bit silly in such a contemporary setting and with no other magical/off things it feels out of place, and yet the FMC is just like ok. It’s not fleshed out enough to be a positive part.
The only stand out part is the relationship between the mother and FMC, but mostly this is because the mom rocks (the MC not so much).
One Italian summer by Rebecca Serle
2.5/5
Precious Trash 
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