Simona's Corner of Dreams: One Night In Italy

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb:

If journalist Anna had to write up the story of her own life, it wouldn’t make for a great headline: Dull Journo Has Dull Boyfriend! The only mystery in Anna’s life is that she’s never known who her dad is but with her mum refusing to tell her more she’s at a dead end. When she accidentally comes across a clue that her father is Italian, it opens up a burning curiosity in Anna. Soon she’s cooking Italian food, signing up for an Italian class and even considering dusting off her passport to go and find her dad in person… Sophie is serving gelato to tourists in Italy when she gets the call that her father has had a serious heart attack. In a rush, she grabs her well-worn backpack and heads back to the one place she’s been avoiding for so long – home. Living with her mum again while her dad recuperates, and taking a job teaching Italian to make ends meet, Sophie has to face up to the secrets she’s kept buried in the past. Catherine has no idea what the future holds. Her children have left for university, her husband has left her for another woman and her bank account is left empty after dedicating her life to raising her family. She needs a job and an identity all of a sudden. At an Italian evening class she makes a start in finding new friends Anna and Sophie. And she’s going to need good friends when she discovers her husband’s lies run even deeper than his infidelity… As Anna embarks on the trip to Italy that could answer all of her questions, will the truth live up to her dreams?

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I was really happy when I got accepted for this book on NG J This was the first Lucy Diamond book for my to read and I’m glad I did, there will be much more, she’s an awesome writer.

I have a strong connection to Italy so this was really special for me to read about. I loved that all the chapters had an Italian title.

The book tells us the story of three different women, who meet at an Italian class in Sheffield: Sophie, Anna and Catherine.

Sophie is their teacher, she recently came to England, because her father is ill. She spent the last two years in Italy and before she lived in Australia. She has a lot of memories from that time, especially a broken heart. And her heart still seems to be broken, because of Dan, and now he’s back in Manchester…

Anna is a journalist and has just found out that her dad is Italian. She is determined to find out more and most of all she wants to find him. So she goes to the Italian class, but that’s not all: Her boyfriend Pete seems boring and then she finds about more about what he’s been up to. She also gets the opportunity to write restaurant reviews for the journal and she spends more time with her colleague Joe. Misunderstandings and drama comes up because of the review she writes. Let’s see from there…

I really liked her energy and her passion!!!

Last but not least, there is Catherine. She’s married and has two kids at University. As soon as their gone, she finds her husband Mike cheating and he leaves her. She is heart broken and sad. Only after a while she wants to change her life and do something with it, so she goes to the Italian class. She also finds out more about what her husband was doing behind her back.

The stories of these three ladies are all connected somehow, which was great and really enjoyable to read about.

All three women are figuring out what they want in life and all in a total different way. I was hoping for at least ne of them to get to Italy and Anna made it. It was also there, where her new life began! I loved her story. She expressed her feelings in her articles and found her luck.

Sophie started acting again and I liked the way she changed after that, like she was glowing and then Dan turned up at the premiere…

As for Catherine, also her story developed and she realised how much her children mean to her.

Lucy has a wonderful way of writing; it’s bubbly, funny, thoughtful and entertaining!

Rating: