Wish You Were Italian
An If Only novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
This flirty, adventurous YA romance in the vein of xo, Kitty and Emily in Paris follows a teen who ditches her boring art program to explore Italy solo and finds herself caught between two irresistible summer flings.
Falling in love is only one of Pippa's goals for her summer in Italy-she's also planning to eat a whole pizza in one sitting, learn some Italian, and avoid making a fool of herself in public (ambitious, she knows). When cute archaeology student Darren keeps popping up wherever Pippa goes, it seems like a cosmic sign on the love front. With his long curly hair, goofy jokes, and thoughtful gifts, Darren is the perfect guy. So why can't Pippa stop dreaming about her suave, gorgeous, and very Italian new roommate Bruno?
This summer was supposed to be Pippa's chance to show her parents all she could be if they'd just stop pressuring her so much, but she's starting to wonder if she's in over her head. Is Pippa walking right into heartbreak and the worst grounding of her life, or could this magical summer make all her dreams come true? Finding out might mean risking everything.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This breezy, envy-inducing romance opens the If Only series, written by multiple authors. For some reason, 17-year-old Pippa Preston is dreading spending the summer in Italy her parents are forcing her to attend an art history program in Florence. When Pippa's plane lands in Rome, she discovers that her father has given her an envelope full of euros, and she decides to forgo summer school in favor of sightseeing and meeting boys. A new Italian friend, Chiara, whisks Pippa off to her family's house on the Cinque Terre, and Pippa's charmed summer becomes even more so (especially after two boys, one American and one Italian, enter the picture). Debut author Rae's style is upbeat and cheerful, but like Pippa, who throws caution to the wind, the story lacks direction, with choppy prose and brief chapters tugging readers this way and that. Rae uses advice from one of Pippa's friends back home to give some structure to Pippa's zigging and zagging, but it's not quite enough to anchor the novel. Available simultaneously: Fool Me Twice by Mandy Hubbard. Ages 12 up.
