eBook Review: From Italy With Love by Jules Wake

"‘To my niece I leave the Ferrari GT250… On the proviso that she takes it across Europe to Maranello within the next three weeks. Only on successful completion of the journey to a prescribed route, will the car be hers…’

Home-loving Laurie thinks she’s happy – she has a safe, reliable boyfriend and working in her local library is what she thought she always wanted. That is until she inherits a vintage Ferrari from her eccentric Uncle Miles and the conditions of the inheritance are far from simple. To keep the car Laurie will have to drive across Europe with the gorgeous but unreliable Cameron Matthews as her guide… and Cam’s motives for helping are not all that altruistic.

Cam isn’t particularly thrilled about escorting his late pal Miles’ dull mouse of a niece on this wild goose chase but all he has to do is get Laurie safely to Italy and he’s sure the Ferrari is his.

But Uncle Miles had a few tricks up his sleeve and the route he’s planned takes Cam and Laurie on a road trip they’ll never forget. From sampling the delights of the Loire Valley to the breathtaking beauty of Lake Garda, this is one journey that has more twists and turns than either of them could ever have imagined…"

Rating: 4/5

You can buy From Italy With Love as an eBook now.

A fun summer read that I have read recently that I wanted to share with you all is the new title from Harper Impulse author Jules Wake. I was initially drawn to it because of the gorgeous summery looking cover, and the idea of a novel being set in Italy really appealed to me, especially because I'm not going to be going on holiday this year and I fancied a bit of escapism in my book! I'll be honest and say the book wasn't what I had expected, but I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend it for your Kindle this summer.

Now, I'm not exactly a car buff but thanks to my 9 year old son who is a Top Gear obsessive (or at least was until Chris Evans was named the new presenter!), I like to think I know a little bit about cars. Therefore, when I started this book and found out it was based around a posh old-fashioned Ferrari GT250, I did have a bit of an idea about it and why it's such a sought after model. That being said, you don't have to know anything about cars at all to enjoy the book, and the story within!

The characters in the book are really enjoyable to read about, and I really liked both of them. The main character of the book was Laurie, who inherits the Ferrari from her recently deceased Uncle Miles, who had quite the car collection. I liked how she decided to go for the road trip organised for her by Miles despite her initial reservations, and her somewhat idiotic boyfriend trying to hold her back. She's hiding a bit of a secret though about her driving, and is determined that her road trip partner Cam doesn't find out. I really liked the character of Cam as well. He's introduced to us as an employee of Miles who looked after his car collection, but is soon drawn into the story by the fact he has to accompany Laurie on her Italian road trip. It's clear exactly what he wants from the whole thing, but he isn't sure how to go about getting it. I didn't like the way he was with Laurie, especially tricking her but he did sound very handsome, clearly passionate about his job, and I could see why Laurie was a bit taken with him.

The road trip itself was such fun to read. We travel with Cam and Laurie through Europe, as they embark on their driving adventure, and it sounded like such fun. I loved the way Jules Wake described everything from the car, to the scenery, Cam's driving and the lovely hotels the pair stayed in - everything came alive in my mind as I was reading and I really felt like I was with Laurie and Cam in France, Italy, and in the Ferrari as well! I almost didn't want them to reach their target destination of Maranello as it meant their journey would be over!

This was an excellent escapist read from start to finish, something you can thoroughly lose yourself in and enjoy from start to finish. I was willing Laurie to escape her boyfriend and find something in her life that made her happy - she really deserved it. Jules Wakes' writing was easy to read, the story pace was excellent and I thoroughly every page of this. I'm looking forward to more from Jules Wake!