A summer book that takes place in the summer is just the kind of thing I love to read. I have also classified this as a cute, light, contemporary, summer read aka CLCSR and I think I finished it in three days. I was initially drawn in by the cover, because lets be honest it is cute and picturesque, however the blurb on the back also drew me in, I am a sucker for books with a travel aspect to it.
Love, Lucy takes place in Europe, specifically in Florence, Italy. Lucy is backpacking in Europe the summer before she goes to college and meets an unexpected surprise. Jesse is working at the hostel, Lucy and her friend happen to be staying at and after intentionally getting lost in the beautiful streets of Florence, Lucy happens upon hostel concierge/street performer Jesse who offers to also be her guide. Very romantic, after all they are in Italy and so far this has turned out to be a pretty great European adventure. However, like all seemingly perfect stories, there are issues that the characters deal with. Lucy loved to act, she was always in plays during high school and would probably have chosen to pursue acting if she hadn't gotten stage fright at an audition. Her father, thinks acting is a silly hobby and makes a deal with Lucy: Europe in exchange for a major in business at his alma mater. Well that seems fair, especially since Lucy has no idea what she wants to do now that she has quit acting.
Enter Jesse, he wants to convince her to defy her fathers wishes and soon Lucy feels like everyone is telling her what to do when she herself has no idea what she wants to do with her life.
Summer comes to an end and Lucy goes to college, however, that summer has a lasting impact on Lucy and the unexpected surprise is still in her life, despite her attempts to move on.
One of the reasons I loved this book is the detail in the description of Florence. April Lindner, put so much detail into the setting that I could actually picture Florence in my mind, even though I have never been there. I also really enjoyed the story line, I like how Lucy didn't just decide to defy her parents right when she met Jesse, but actually went along with the plan and slowly figured out what she wanted. I felt that it was a more realistic way of thinking and acting as I too would probably take longer than three days to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. This book is about travel, in a literal sense shown through Lucy travelling in Europe, but also it is about the trip or journey she takes as she regains her passions and truly takes the time to make decisions for herself.
I had never heard of this book before, I just happened to come across it on the shelf in the bookstore I work at one day and decided to give it a try.
I really enjoyed reading this and I hope you will leave your opinions below in the comments.
Happy Reading!
Labels: Beach Reads, Book Review, CLCSR, Summer Reads, Travel Reads, Wanderlust Reads
