While reading about this beautiful place called Ponza and its now somewhere that I would love to visit. The water sounds and looks beautiful. Katie is a food writer that travels trying all kinds of cuisine which sounds fantastic. For the first time she gets asked to go so somewhere that isn’t in the US, so she’s very excited for this chance of a life time. She heads to Ponza with her friend Farrah and she ends up getting into an accident that makes their stay a little longer and meet a handsome guy named Nico.

Junior travel writer Katie gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she steps in for her boss to visit Ponza, Italy. Accompanied by her best friend Farrah, she bids farewell to unglamorous trips for a week of sun and sea. However, after Farrah has an accident, Katie must stay on the island for a month. Juggling a micromanaging boss and a passive-aggressive boyfriend back in New York, she encounters Nico, a charming local chef who shows her the island’s beauty. Katie begins to question her life back home and what she truly wants. This enjoyable novel features vivid scenic and culinary descriptions, a demanding boss, a problematic boyfriend, and a captivating Italian chef.

An enjoyable tale following junior travel writer Katie as she’s given the opportunity of a lifetime: stepping into her boss’s shoes to take a trip to a little-known Italian island to write articles for Intrepid travel magazine. She travels with her best friend Farrah saying goodbye to New York and hello to the sun-kissed island of Ponza but whilst things start off well, Farrah has an accident meaning they will have to stay in Ponza for a few weeks. I enjoyed this novel, the scenic and food descriptions are amazing and instantly transport you there. Add in a demanding boss, passive-aggressive boss and a gorgeous Italian her and you have a fabulous novel. Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group and the author for the chance to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for this ARC.

Katie is a downtrodden Irish junior travel writer from New York whose volatile boss Mari has never sent her outside the US yet, until one day she has no other choice. So Katie grabs her best friend Farrah, a New York lawyer, and descends on the little know Italian island of Ponza (yes, it exists) for a 5 day recce. When Farrah falls over a cliff and needs to heal in hospital for a month, Katie decides to stay as well, even though neither her boss nor her boyfriend Steve are happy about it.

She meets Nico, a heavily tattooed chef (which apparently makes him bad-ass) who she proceeds to spend a lot of time with. He speaks in cliched broken English, interspersed with a lot of Italian words and "Come si dice"s. I have Italian friends and, Mamma Mia, they don't sound like that. Also, not everything "happens for a reason" and "is meant to be".

I have not read anything by Catherine Mangan before though I see she has a written a couple of similar holiday reads before. Fluffy escapism can be hit and miss but I'm happy to say this is at the higher end of the scale for me. The descriptions of the island, the calmer way of life and especially the food and drink are divine and really want to make you go there. I do hope she gets a backhander from the Ponza Tourism Board as I now really want to eat Cactus Parmigiana!

This is a well-written, sun-drenched summer read with nice but not too quirky characters, however, the ending is a bit abrupt - I would have liked a bit more decisiveness from Katie.

I've just spent a glorious few hours on the sun drenched shores of Ponza, absorbing every last word of this book with a smile on my face, while wondering if Ponza is even a real island - wow just did a search and it is, and its as stunning as it was described.

I feel as though I know every nook and cranny of Ponza, this little Italian island, that Katie and Farrah are visiting. I'm in love with this place and will have to visit it myself one day, as it is such a different way of life to the regular hustle and bustle of city living.

I think this may be my favourite of Catherine Mangan's novels although I did love the others too. This really did transport me to Italy, and it is just what I want in a summer holiday sort of a book. This would have been perfect to read by the pool / sea in the sun!

Katie is a travel and food writer, but this is the first time she bas been asked to cover a destination that isn't in America so she is mega excited, and knows it is her big break However what she didn't reckon on is that it would have the capacity to change her life forever.

And I just loved seeing how Katie reacted to things not going so smoothly on her trip in addition to her growing a bit closer to talented Chef Nico (even if he does have the sort of restaurant that personally I'd never eat at!). The descriptions of the food in the book were just mouth-watering.

And seeing Katie and the locals of Ponza attempt to speak to each other with very little foreign language knowledge is a lot of fun too.

This was just a sun filled, utterly glorious summer read that I adored.

Thank you to Sphere and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Gosh the food descriptions in this book were amazing. An American travel writers gets sent to a small Italian island .Takes her friend. I love the story and the twists . I would give it 4 and half if I could. The ending was right but written wrongly . Only how I feel. You need food to read this book. Lovely descriptions . A good holiday read