Review Detail

“Oh My Affogato! (Vacationship)” by Daphne Ang and Donna Ghorbanpoor takes readers through the breathtaking landscape of Italy, especially the Amalfi Coast. When Soraya and her friends, Mari and Anya, decide to take a trip after graduation before heading to college, their excitement is palpable. Soraya has something more up her sleeve, though. She plans to meet her on-again, off-again guy, Wes, who is spending time over the summer in the same place with his fraternity brothers. The problem, however, is that Mari and Anya are hardly Wes’ biggest fans. Soraya can’t even bring him up without worrying that a fight will break out between her and her best friends, so she does what she feels is easiest—she keeps it from them and figures she’ll hang out with Wes when they’re otherwise engaged.

Meeting Nico is something that Soraya didn’t plan on, and when she finds herself and her friends staying at his family’s B&B, she doesn’t start off being too fond of him. His charming, endearing nature is hard to avoid, though, and little by little she discovers that talking to him, spending time with him, and learning about him and all of their surroundings makes for a much more interesting trip.

When the world seems to fall apart and everything goes awry in Soraya’s life while on this trip of a lifetime, Nico is the one who is there for her, despite everything in her wanting it to have been Wes. She wonders if Mari and Anya have been right all along, and if maybe, just maybe, there is something more out there for her, or if her college life hanging out with Wes back in the States is meant to be her future.

Packed with beautiful imagery, creative details about their travels, and both tender and laugh-out-loud moments, Ang and Ghorbanpoor have written the first in what will hopefully be a series of romantic vacation stories. Anyone who loves reading this type of book will devour this one and be desperate for more.