3.7 Stars

One Liner: Heartwarming
 

Abi is worried when her twelve-year-old daughter Chloe wants to go on a summer holiday to an Italian island with Abi’s ex, Alex, and his fiancée Marisa. Cherry, Abi’s friend, persuades her to go on a holiday to the same place, Procida. What does this trio have in store for Abi? 

Loretta was a teenage swimming sensation until she left Capri with a broken heart and vowed never to return. Now, in her sixties, she is the proud owner of Hotel Paradiso (where Abi is a guest) but finds no peace with the nightmares from the past. Can she find a way to heal and get some peace? 

The story comes in the third-person POVs of Abi and Loretta, with a couple of sections from Flavia and Chloe’s POVs. 

I grabbed this book mainly for the setting and am happy with the results. The Italian island, Procida, comes alive on the pages; be it the alleys, the artwork, the summer sun (eek!), the food, or the sparkling waters surrounding it. With the characters exploring the place, it is easy to join them on a virtual tour and visualize the elements while reading about the local history. 

The characters are decently done. Chloe is pretty much a tween; a kid but not a kid. Kind of mercurial like most kids of that age. Abi’s growth is well done, though I wouldn’t have minded a little more. Loretta shines throughout! I really enjoyed the scenes with her and how she manages the hotel. 

Bill and Alex are a bit 2D. What you see is what you get. That’s okay since they do their job to keep the story going. Bill has a better arc and more space, which is a good thing. And oh, I have to mention Cherry. Everyone needs a friend like her! 

The stories run in parallel, and a couple of minor threads open midway. One of those could have been handled better. It was summed up in a line later. 

The main tracks give us both stories. We see how Abi and Loretta have to do something different than what they are used to and heal from the past to move on and find happiness. There are quite a few secrets, too. 

The book has (squeaky) clean romance, which is more of a natural progression of the plot rather than the primary focus. The priorities continue to be clear from start to finish, making it easy to enjoy the story. 

Things do get worse before they get better, so in a way, we have the third-act breakup and disturbance on multiple levels. They get resolved one by one and it comes together in the final chapter. 

There’s a short epilogue to tie up everything into a neat bow. I like epilogues and wouldn’t mind if it was longer and a bit more detailed. 

To summarize, Invitation to Italy is a heartwarming and steady-paced read with a wonderful setting. It’ll make a good beach read you can finish in a couple of sittings. 

Thank you, Rachel's Random Resources and Orion Publishing, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.