One Hot Italian Summer by Karina Halle

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With February approaching I really was feeling some Fantasy Romance. I had a little time before the beginning of FaRoFeb, so I went back to contemporary. I decided to pick up the standalone One Hot Italian Summer by Karina Halle. This first came onto my radar when the Smart Women Read Romance podcast did an episode on it. I saw that Shelby also posted about it on her instagram so was able to use it for the Winter's Kiss board 2 prompt Shelby made a post about. I also used it for the prompt pool floaty fart sounds for the Heaving Bosom's 2022 Reading Embrace.

Grace is struggling after loosing her best friend and writing partner Robyn to a hit and run accident. They had published a popular cozy mystery series together as a writing due and Grace is struggling moving on with her writing career. She know has a new agent, Jana, and her next book is going to be in women's fiction. When Jana touches base with Grace as she approaches her deadline, Grace hasn't written a word. Going for something different, she offers for Grace to stay at a vacation house in Italy for about a month. Hoping that a change in location and vibe from Edinburgh, she takes Jana up on the offer. Shortly after getting set up, Grace learns that the house isn't Jana's vacation spot, but actually her ex-husband Claudio's. He and their son Vanni have come home from their yearly vacation early and are stunned to find Grace staying in their house. When Grace and Claudio start to connect over their muses and the struggles of an artist, their relationship turns more serious.

This was just what I was wanting, and even more. I loved the talk about art and the different forms it can take, but yet all artists struggle with similar feelings. While for the longest time I didn't consider myself an artist, when I crochet and do my craft projects it is a form of art. While it's not my livelihood, I could still connect with the base of what Grace and Claudio were feeling. Also, this book really made me want to visit Italy even more. I loved that we really got to experience the everyday and small parts of Italy that aren't tourist traps (not that those places are bad). When I studied abroad in Japan, I made it a point to visit the more hometown areas as well as the touristy areas. I feel like it's a better way to really immerse yourself and better understand the culture.

But we are here for the romance and it was very well done. I loved how they just couldn't stay away from each other were constantly staring at each other. They did take a little longer than I expected to crack the seal of tension, but it made sense with the complications of Vanni being around as well as Claudio being Jana's ex-husband. I loved how all in Claudio was from the start and really watched and understood when to push and when to back-off. There was also great conversations about if he was being used as a crutch or replacing Robyn for Grace and how she was writing. Claudio saw it differently and I just loved how he really helped and allowed her to go through her grief in her own time to be able to write again.

I am so glad I finally picked up a Karina Halle and definitely want to read more. I know that she's getting into the more paranormal and fantasy realm recently so I might look at those next, but we'll see what happens. I will be picking up more of her books for sure. This book really lived up to the great reviews I've heard and if you are looking for a summer/holiday escape, this is absolutely perfect!

Have you read One Hot Italian Summer?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

    STATISTICS: One Hot Italian Summer, Karina Halle, 5-stars, 2 days, eBook, 384 pages, published in 2020, indie published