Looking for answers in Venice, finding so much more

Synopsis

A bundle of mysterious letters. A trip to Venice. A journey she’ll never forget.

When Luna loses her beloved mother, she’s bereft: her mother was her only family, and without her Luna feels rootless. Then the chance discovery of a collection of letters in her mother’s belongings sends her on an unexpected journey.

Following a clue in the letters, Luna packs her bags and heads to Venice, to a gorgeous but faded bookshop overlooking the canals, hoping to uncover the truth about her mother’s mysterious past.

Will Luna find the answers she’s looking for – and finally find the place she belongs?

My review

Luna and her mother have always been very close. They explored the world together, following their wanderlust.
So when Luna loses her mother, it’s obvious that she is at loss without her rock.
However, when Luna is going through her mother’s belongings, she finds a collection of letters, revealing a past of her mother Luna didn’t know about.
Those letters lead her to Venice, where a little bookshop is located and where Luna hopes to find an answer to all her questions. And perhaps Luna will find more than that… 

Obviously, I am always a bit prejudiced when a story takes place in Italy. Obviously it’s going to be an amazing story!
However, a story taking place in Venice… I have been in Venice several times and it’s just not my favourite city…
I understand the allure but it’s not just my cup of tea. Yet the premise of this story sounded very good, thus I put my own feelings towards the city aside and started to read about Luna’s journey. 

While the story itself was a good one, a young woman who just lost her mother makes some discoveries and it adamant to get answers to all her questions, I found it a bit difficult to feel really connected with Luna.
Was it because her own background differed so much from my own? Or because she seems to be the kind of woman who puts all her belief in her gut or reading the cards?
I cannot put my finger on what it exactly was, but throughout the whole book, I felt a small emotional distance between us. 

But that doesn’t take away that I truly did enjoy reading this book! Yes, there is the cliché of the Italian male population, but I didn’t mind it at all, on the contrary, Sebastiano’s behaviour was so over the top that it even became hilarious!
While even being an Italian, I wasn’t sorry to see Sebastiano leave the stage, and be replaced by a much better fit for Luna, being Oscar. 

The first encounter between Luna and Oscar is one by sheer coincidence, and at first I didn’t pay that much attention to it. So I was very delighted to read how Oscar would become a character of big importance. Not only for the development of the story itself, but also for Luna.  

I loved discovering together with Luna the bookshop, and finding not only Giancarlo but all the cats with their own features. And I admired how Luna, even not knowing if she could stay working at the place, had several great ideas to turn the bookshop into an alluring place to visit.
And seeing how Luna could always rely on her best friend Gigi to stand by her side, or as the people of her community were, are, and always will be only a phone call away, was really sweet.  

Of course Luna is there to find out more about her mother’s past. And while I could follow her reasoning, as a reader you know things won’t be as easy or simple as they may seem.
Once the truth was out, it saddened me to read what happened so many years ago. Yet it also made me happy to realize that perhaps Luna didn’t find what she thought she would, but it turned out to be exactly what she needed to find. 

After finishing this story, I was glad I kept an open mind about it. Just because something doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea, doesn’t mean I cannot enjoy it.
Luna’s journey was one where we learn that we don’t always know everything of those who we love the most. But also that we can find that missing link in our lives, even if it’s not the exact link we were looking for.