A Taste Of Italian Sunshine by Leonie Mack: Book Review

Being Italian myself, I love a romance novel based in Italy, hence why this title caught my eye. I'll be going through the pros and cons of this book, with little-to-no spoilers. Thank you NetGalley for supplying me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pros of A Taste Of Italian Sunshine by Leonie Mack

Italy

Like I said, maybe I'm biased because I'm Italian, but I loved that this book was focused on Italy. The author captured the essence of the Italian countryside perfectly without stereotyping and that alone is a great accomplishment. There's nothing I hate more than when Italians are portrayed as a mafia boss, womanizer, or anything of the sort. Aside from Tiziano (we'll get to him later) I loved how the Italian characters were portrayed, such as Nonna Filomena, (she reminded me a lot of my own grandmother, always feeding her family and growing her own vegetables and such) Valentina, Matteo, even Filippo. It gave me wanderlust, and now I'm looking into - yet again - plane tickets to Italy. La dolce vita was described properly and it really gave an insight into the Italian countryside, even the Veneto dialect was depicted in an accurate manner.

The Cover

The cover of the book is just stunning; so cute, cartoon, yet classy and country all at the same time! This is one of those covers that you would want to display on a bookshelf, especially in the summer. Props to the artist, because it really is an adorable cover.

Cons of A Taste Of Italian Sunshine by Leonie Mack

Tiziano and Jenn

I'm all for a goofy guy and a strong woman, but this was just too much. Tiziano was so unlikeable for the majority of the book, making you wonder why an established woman such as Jenn would be interested in a bumbling fool. He was described as dirty, tattooed, pierced, drinking a copious amount of alcohol and occasionally smoking, as well as being a scrawny, pale man-child practically. My question is, after getting the setting of the book so right, how come the author didn't make the male lead as attractive as the backdrop? I can understand maybe he was tall, scrawny and pale, sure but why was his personality so greasy, for lack of a better word? And Jenn, her extreme lack of alcohol control didn't make her quirky or relatable, but rather made me go, "really?". She was standoffish, cold, and kind of rude and she cracked it up to being socially anxious, but this goes on for a very long time that you're kind of just ready for her to go back to London. The issue that Tiziano had in the past that is revealed to Jenn halfway through the book just caught me as stereotypical and kind of like I felt like I already knew at the very beginning. It could have done without. I didn't feel the connection between these two, nor did I like them separately. But, then again, the book talked enough about Italy itself for me to be interested.

Have you read A Taste Of Italian Sunshine by Leonie Mack? Do you want to? Let me know, let's have. a conversation.

A presto,

Melissa