A Year At Hotel Gondola follows Kat Black as she spends a year in Italy - planning on experiencing things that she feels she ought to have felt at the age of 50.. As she settles down in Venice, she falls in love, meets exciting new people and encounters more experiences than she might have originally thought she would.
First of all, I love how the characters are written in general. Kat is an older heroine but she is still as delightfully sharp as any other. She has the courage to go after what she wants and so on but what really endeared me to her was how logical she was, even when it was to do with matters of the heart. It really was very realistic.
Speaking of which, the blossoming romance between Kat and the owner of Hotel Gondola, Massimo, is a novelty in the way it's been depicted. This is a real adult relationship. I also loved the addition of Masimmo's family and Italian culture.
Obviously, italian culture is a big theme in the book, considering Kat aims to become a local by the end of her year. The food was a huge focal point throughout the book and I love how often the author shared recipes too.
And lastly, Coco, one of the highlights of this book. As Kat's first friend in Venice, she is so full of life and character, and possibly my favourite character.
All in all, although i might not have ordinarily read this book, I'm glad I did. It has a Mamma Mia vibe, although less mystery, less romance and more culture.

Enjoyable read that makes you want to visit Venice for youself.

Each chapter is split between the book itself and the book that traveller Kat is writing. I think my favourite chracter was Coco, the eccentric clothes shop owner.

Although I enjoyed reading this book I wasn't drawn in to the story as much as the author's previous books.

Kat is a travel food writer and she's spending a year in Venice with her new love, hoping that things will develop into a happy ever after whilst providing her with lots of new material for a book. She wants Massimo to show her the Venetian Venice- but he doesn't want all their secrets shared with the tourists.
She finds a wonderful vintage clothes shop, where the lovely eccentric owner finds the perfect outfit for her customers and becomes a close friend. She also makes friends with a couple of the female guests.
You can feel the stresses of running a family hotel and the constraints it places on you. Kat works there as well as finding somewhere to experiment with her new recipes.

Reading A Year At Hotel Gondola by Nicky Pellegrino has made me all the more desperate to one day go to Venice myself. The writing is so evocative that I felt like I was there.

5 Words: Venice, regrets, love, friendship, food.

This book is written in a rather different way - not only is it told from Kat's perspective, but also a narrator in third person. This did take a little while for me to get used to, but by about half way through it didn't disturb my reading or the flow of the story.

I was completely transported to Venice as I read this book. The setting is so rich, so vivid, that I could easily picture myself there. And it felt like I experienced the whole story with the free-spirited Kat.

Although I didn't really connect with Kat (and I suspect this is just down to the age gap and my own preference) she was fantastically self aware, and the beautiful setting more than made up for it. I did enjoy how the story explored Kat's regrets and thoughts and feelings about how her life had panned out and kept surprising her.

One thing I absolutely loved about the book was the abundance of food, especially in the form of recipes. I can't wait to try out some for myself.

This is the perfect summer read. And now I'm desperate to go to Venice.

The beauty of books means that you can be transported away to other places, times and foreign lands without as much as going to an airport or spending any money.

It is very much so with any book you pick up by Nicky Pellegrino. Some of them are better than others and I was a bit disappointed with this one I have to say.

Kat is a food writer, adventurer and television star. Not one to stay in any place for too long, she travels the world. At 50 with her mother's words of 'probably got twenty good years left' ringing her ears, she thinks perhaps putting down some roots and grounding herself for a whole year might be the answer.

With the fall back of writing a book rather than a television programme, Kat discovers Venice, Hotel Gondola and a wonderful man, the deal is they see what happens in the year - it is Kat's get out clause clearly.

Venice gets under Kat's skin as she starts to feel more like a local, knowing the places to go for the best food,the best views, the shortcuts through the maze of streets. As Spring turns to Summer, it is not going smoothly for Kat and the year she thought she was going to have starts to turn out very differently.

The setting and the atmosphere of Venice is brought alive from the page and you can see the impact that the tourists have on a city which cannot redevelop because of where it is but yet the tourists keep flocking. You become immersed on the culture, the place and the food.

However, I disliked Kat from the very beginning and as the book progressed I became more irritated by her, not because that was her character but I felt she was not fully formed enough to be taking part in the story, there perhaps needed to be more 'flesh to her bones for the story' to have worked. Kat didn't have that certain something that made that book as good as some of the previous ones.

Despite this minor problem, the book is enjoyable and a perfect read if you want to be transported away for a while.

In my humble opinion this isn't Nicky's best work. I found the story hard to get into - I don't think the two different perspectives helped. I didn't warm to Kat much either, and she was the main character! There wasn't much in the way of romance. As for the other characters, Massimo was a bit wooden, but I loved Coco. At times I found this book - and the exploration of ageing - a bit depressing. But I loved the descriptions of Venice. Nicky does this very well, along with descriptions of food. So I kept reading and I think the ending was satisfying.

With thanks to Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kat is a travel writer who has travelled the world but has recently had her TV show cancelled. So she is at a bit of a loose end and needs to come up with an idea. She travels to Venice and decides to stay for 12 months as she meets Massimo, owner of Hotel Gondola.

Pellegrino brings Venice to life through her descriptions of the places that Kat explores as well as the food that she makes and tastes.

The book is presented in two alternating ways - you get excerpts of the book that she is writing as well as her thoughts on how she is coping with living in Venice.

There are several enjoyable characters that are included within the book who Kat interacts with.

A most enjoyable book set in Italy.

Enjoyed reading this book, as is always the case with Nicky Pellegrino. As a huge fan of Italy, I love that her books are set there and always manage to give you a real sense of being there, right down to the sounds and food. This one was no exception and made me really nostalgic for past trips to Venice. Reading this is the next best thing to being there! I've given it four stars as I was a bit disappointed with the ending and I wasn't a great fan of the way that the book was laid out, with chapters from Kat's book being woven into the plot itself ... sort of like a book within a book. I've seen other reviewers that really liked this way of doing things so I guess it's down to personal prefence.

Struggled to remain enthusiastic about this book. Characters seemed self indulgent and indecisive and found them very frustrating. All the dramas hid what was a fairly basic story.

If you have ever wanted to feel as though you have been to Venice and stayed there for a considerable amount of time, then this is easily the book for you.

For Kat has decided to spend a year at The Hotel Gondola in the aim of seeing what it is like to put down roots in once place after travelling the world for most of her life. She has also fallen in love with Massimo and is curious to see what a longer term relationship is really like.

Kat though is a food writer and has agreed to write a book documenting her year in Venice, and this is in part where my niggles with the book are.

For what I was reading was really two books in one - every other chapter was a chapter from Kat's book written in the first person, and typically in a font a few points smaller than the rest of the book. Then the other chapters are in the third person, and dealt with what was happening in real time, whereas the book was the edited highlights as such.

I was reading on a kindle and found either I was upping and reducing the font ever other chapter as I like my fonts at a certain size, sand too much larger or smaller is frustrating. In the end I was putting up with the smaller font on the chapters - but found all of it each time, just took me out of the swing of things as my eyes re-adjusted.

That aside I did really enjoy the book(s). Kat is 50 years old, and given her way of life she has an interesting perspective on everything. I loved every last description in this book - and really got a feel for how you could wander around Venice, get completely lost, end up in a small osteria or baccari offering assorted Cicchetti, or discovering the festivals, the hidden shops.

The book also touches on the real issue facing Venetians which is to do with the level of tourists in summer with calls to ban cruise ships. This I know is based on real life, and was interesting to see in a book, and the younger Venetians take on the situation.

I am a huge fan of Nicky Pellegrino and normally would be raving about her books, I feel she has lost her way slightly with this one, I found it to be very good but just missing that certain something that would normally have me whizzing through the pages.

Regardless though this is an enjoyable story, and really does transport you to the heart of Venice, to the extent that I feel as though I would explore the city more next time I'm there on a cruise (or not depending on how that situation unravels).

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

I struggled to like the main character of Kat and towards the end of the book I began to realise why. I think she was a little too like me! To be honest I was a bit disappointed to find that she had it all at the end of the book as I’m not sure she deserved it. I appreciate this is a work of fiction and people want a happy ending but I would have preferred a bit more reality all through.

Venice is portrayed in a lovely way in this book and I’m not surprised that Kat went there to write a book. I also understand she didn’t want to go somewhere that has already been discovered, ie a popular city which would be teaming with tourists. Instead she prefers off the beaten track places and always likes changing the view from her window. I’m with her on that one!

Always moving around has meant that Kat is single and so, in her 50s, she’s decided to try this new experience of meeting a man and giving their relationship a year. Well, a lot can happen in a year which it does...

What was really interesting here was the real and humbling travelling experiences, thoughts and regrets Kat had and how this was actually a book within a book. The novel contains the book Kat is writing which I really enjoyed

Venice comes out loud and clear and will make you book up for sure!

Kat Black has a TV show where she travels the world showing viewers the differences in culture and food and when her show is cancelled she feels the time is right to embark on the one thing she’s never really had, a proper relationship

With a book deal on the horizon to write about the real Venice, she arrives at Hotel Gondola, where she meets the hotel owner Massimo, Kat and Massimo fall for each other and decide to give the relationship a year to see how it works. Throw into the mix an ex-wife, a sexy chef and an eccentric octogenarian and Kat’s plans can only go awry.

An enjoyable book with a good cast of characters which was an easy entertaining read.