You Deserve Good Gelato

by Kacie Rose

In her inimitably funny and feel-good way, social media star Kacie Rose offers a refreshingly honest take on navigating a new life abroad in You Deserve Good Gelato, covering everything from travel fails and homesickness to the joy of culture shocks and the power of doing the s*** that scares you. Because life is too short not to.

Kacie decided to leave her life as a pro dancer in New York City and move to Italy in 2021 - and she never looked back. Okay, that isn't strictly true...

In You Deserve Good Gelato, Kacie reflects on the pure terror of driving on Italian roads, the trials of speaking a new language (and getting it horribly, horribly wrong), and the genuine beauty of a slower pace of life, all with humor and heart. And by sharing her personal stories of life under the Tuscan sun, Kacie explains how travel is a privilege, why cultural differences are the coolest things in the world, and how there's a positive you can take away from literally any situation.

You Deserve Good Gelato will have you buying that ticket and embracing this big, beautiful world that we all call home.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Travel, Audiobook, Self Help, Biography, Italy

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2024

Reviews

[Leann Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 35%. I’ve been disappointed by every influencer book I’ve ever read. I had high hopes for this one because I think Kacie is such a good person, but unfortunately, it didn’t translate into excellent writing.

What I liked:
- Kacie is a very likable person. It’s so easy to root for her success and happiness.
- She fully embraced the Italian culture.

Why I stopped reading:
- It was half self-help advice and half memoir. It didn’t flow well as either one and became jarring when it jumped from telling a story to telling the reader how her story should change your life (It also used way too many parenthetical remarks). I like when memoirs tell a great story without telling you how to feel about it.
- There were entire chapters that could’ve been a paragraph. A lot of rambling about not letting fear ruin your life and keep you from pursuing things that interest you.
- The writing just wasn’t very good, unfortunately.

You might like this book if:
- You’re feeling lost in life
- You’re single
- You haven’t been to Italy yet
- You’re a teenager or in your early 20s

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a cute little read, but my goodness her editor failed her....terribly. This had so much potential to be a great book, but you never get to know much about Kacie or Italy - very superficial dives into her life and Italy. It's repetitive and has too many parentheticals. Also, the layout of the book, odd font choices, and pointless quotes that waste an entire page felt like filler to get get to a specific page count. This should have been a 150 page read versus 263.

[Kaylie Winterton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly a cute and fluffy feel-good book, but also made me very emotional listening to the community and family-focused culture of Italy and wishing that things were different in the US 🫠

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-fiction + Italy + a whole lot of humor!

This memoir mixed with self empowerment is an honest account of the highs & lows of living life abroad and doing the shit that scares you.

Read if you love…
✨non-fiction
✨self empowerment
✨travel
✨a whole lot of humor
✨Italy
✨life lessons

I’ve been impatiently patiently waiting for this book to drop since Kacie announced it! I stumbled upon her IG sometime in 2022, and I wish I remember how. But I’ve been obsessed (in the not creepy way) ever since.

Kacie is one of those people that what you see on social media is what you get in her book. There’s so much realness, so much “I can hear this in her voice even though I’m reading the book.” Reading her writing felt like we were sitting across from each other at the coffee shop catching up on life.

The humor is outstanding.
The life lessons are ones I needed to hear, and I think so many other people need to as well.

I wanted to read one thousand more pages of Kacie’s life in Italy integrated with doing the shit that scares her and the lessons she’s learned through that.

The takeaway?
We only get one life. Do the shit that scares you.

[Sheena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some interesting facts and stories about Italy, but overall it felt very surface level and without depth. The stories could’ve been more engaging and I got tired of hearing how incredible and patient her boyfriend is. While the writing wasn’t bad, it also felt clearly social media driven (which she’s good at and I enjoy) but doesn’t translate as well to the page.

[GagaMil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah, I was so looking forward to this book! I follow Kacie's work and find her charming, charismatic, and funny. Her voice is definitely present throughout the book, as well as her attitude and warmth. However, the content itself is not original by any means.

The easiest way to review this book is to say "show, don't tell". I wish there were more personal stories and anecdotes where her mindset and lessons could shine through, and less repetitive, motivational talk you can get just about anywhere. I root for her and hope she'll continue writing and be bolder in the future.

[V · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kacie seems like a lovely woman on Instagram, and I was excited to read her book. Unfortunately, that feeling quickly waned and reading the book proved painful. My enjoyment was hampered by rambling sentences, chapters that had weak narrative threads, and proofreading issues.

I don't expect influencers to be literary geniuses, and some of my issues are down to matters of style, but this book feels more like the work of a self-publishing author than that distributed by a publishing house. Virtually every sentence felt like it could be tightened up for clarity, coherence, and greater impact, and that could have been achieved without removing the author's voice.

Kacie's sense of adventure is something to celebrate and, at its core, her story has the potential to inspire, inform, and entertain, which is why I gave the book two stars. It is a sweet story. However, the publisher missed the mark--this work needs more help than it provided. The silver lining is that the book provides a great opportunity to practise stylistic editing and proofreading!

[Gaby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this because I like Kacie’s content and I’m going to Italy this summer, but her book really missed the mark. I was expecting a memoir/collection of her stories about living in Florence, but the book was written more as a very cheesy self-help book with lots of rambling about “doing the thing that scares you” Overall wouldn’t recommend, just watch her tik-toks instead if you want to learn about her time in Italy.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was SO excited to read this book! After following Kacie’s Italian/travel adventures on Instagram, I was excited to hear more of the learn more about her journey. So I was pretty disappointed when the vast majority of her book is preaching self-help— you should do this, or it’s ok to feel this— with just a dash of personal anecdotes sprinkled in. If you want to learn more about her journey, I’d recommend doing a deep dive through her social media posts and skipping her book.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF after the 4th ‘LOL’ 😬

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a mix of self-help/life advice and travel memoir that sees one woman enter her Eat Pray Love era and share her ups and downs of living in Italy. From language faux pas to food and fashion mistakes, this was an entertaining listen that was good on audio read by the author herself and had strong messages about not being afraid of failure or to ask for help, taking risks/chances and stopping to enjoy the little pleasures in life rather than getting caught up in the hustle all the time.

[Ally Mcknight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a different genre from my usual book tropes, but I am SO glad I picked this one up on preorder.

Having visited Italy myself and being charmed by it's customs, culture and more, Kacie spoke to me through the pages. Not only about her adventures, mistakes and fears, but lifestyle and burnout that accompanies a truly Americanized view of "independence". I laughed out loud at some of the stories, and felt a deep connect to the characters of the book, (who do exist in real life mind you!), and the bonding that Kacie experiences throughout her (ongoing) journey in Italy.

By the end of this anecdote and memory filled book I have some massive introspection and decided I would love to implement some of the teachings (that I pulled) from this book. An absolute charm of a book that allows you to pace yourself, laugh where you can, enjoy life, and truly as Kacie says "do the sh*t that scares you".

Oh and , don't shoot the grappa. Lesson learned.

[Cheri Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook.

I enjoyed hearing this in the author's voice as I think the casual writing style flowed better this way than it might have if i had been reading words on the page.

There wasn't anything really wrong with this book. lots of cute stories, helpful tips, and life lessons. But it didn't capture my attention and by the end I found myself just getting through it. I wanted to love it but unfortunately just didn't.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled upon Kacie Rose one day on YouTube. She's a content creator, and she talks about what it's like being an American living in Italy. Now she has written a book!

I didn't know what to expect from this book, but I loved it! Amongst her stories of adventures, mishaps, and encouragement to reach outside your comfort zone, she shares all kinds of information about Italian culture. I found the information and stories to be truly fascinating! I especially loved reading all the descriptions of the many delicious foods she has tried and experienced during her travels and time living in Italy.

This book isn't written from any kind of specific moral or political perspective. She didn't share any religious views, and she didn't do any kind of major political agenda pushing either. The book was fairly neutral other than some foul language scattered here and there, but it wasn't excessively used as I feared.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, this was fine. A bit boring and repetitive, not really what I expected. Did make me want to go to Italy though.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to print out the final thoughts section and post it on my bathroom mirror to remind myself to do the shit that scares me.

[Isabella Oliva · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should preface by saying I love Kacie on Instagram, I LOVE listening to her experiences and followed some of her recommendations to the letter when I visited Italy. She feels like a friend through the screen online, but this book feels like a standardized test essay asking the student to explain the importance of appreciating other cultures. It gave college application letter energy. Also, can we please ban authors from writing “Lol” in their books?

[Anna Wood-Gaines · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 🌟 A sweet, simplistic memoir. I follow Kacie online and love all of her travel content, so a lot of this was not new info to me. Definitely some moments of “millennial cringe” in the writing but overall an enjoyable read. I think if you’re looking for motivation to take that solo trip or even just applying for a passport this could be a fun read

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

Adult study abroad blog missing any entertaining stories

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was it cheesy? Yes. Do I wish I’d been able to read it at age 20 instead of [almost] age 30? Absolutely. Much of this book is a memoir rather than a self help, but I really enjoyed the last quarter of it. Was this book profound? No… but sometimes we don’t need profoundness and just need the little reminders and tidbits of inspiration. :)

Some nuggets:

On toxic American work culture:
“I met up with an Italian friend during this month of August and earnestly asked her how this was able to happen and how any work gets done if so many places were closing during the month. To which she replied, "how do Americans get any quality work done when you aren't given time to recharge? All of you work yourselves to death, then go on a pitifully short vacation' that you can't even enjoy because you either keep working or stress about the work you're missing, so then you come back to work STILL stressed. What's the point? How is that helping you?”

On la dolce vita:
“It's in the understanding that time is best spent surrounded by your loved ones around a feast of food and wine, enjoying a lunch that lasts hours long until it eventually melts seamlessly into dinner, a feat that has been mastered mainly in southern Italy but makes appearances in the north as well.
It's in la passeggiata, the idea of just taking a walk with friends and family—or even solo-simply to enjoy the fresh air and appreciate the beauty and company that surrounds us.
It's in having that pistachio cream croissant at 8 a.m. or drinking a glass of wine at lunch without guilt because, hey— life is short and you deserve it.
It's in not filling up on the bread basket before the meal because Italians know that something much better is on its way.
It's in taking time to sit and enjoy your meal instead of scarfing it down in 15 minutes on the way back to the office.
It's in Ferragosto, a public holiday with roots in religion on August 15 to celebrate rest and recovery, which has famously evolved into becoming a weeks- or month-long vacation for many Italians because they've worked hard and know they deserve to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
It's in il dolce far niente, the sweetness of doing nothing, which could mean anything you want it to be, like reading a newspaper in the park on a Tuesday afternoon or eating a plate of asparagus on the ground like Julia Roberts.”

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, I'm so torn about this. I follow Kacie on IG and have had a front row seat to watch her Italian journey. I love her openness, vulnerability, humor, and all the travel fun and living abroad experiences she has. She is so sweet and kind and brave in her every day life and I was so excited to read this book and get behind-the-scenes stories as yet unseen in her social media.

Cue major disapppointment--with her editor. They really dropped the ball with this one. The book is rambling without cohesion, repetitive and therefore leaving the reader with a sense of boredom. It's full of cliched phrases, excessive parenthetical phrases and poor sentence structure. Instead of a narrative of her life, we got page after page of self-help motivational speaking repeats of the same general ideas that we've already seen from her social media. I felt like I didn't learn anything new about her and instead just got a summary of her travel Instagram without fleshing out of thoughts or narrative direction---spoken in pop cultural casual slang instead of with a sense of narrative purpose.

That being said, I think she's great. Her travel business and social media presence is strong and I think she positively influences many people in her current line of touring/consulting. She's a beautiful person. But she's not a writer and her publishing company didn't help her in this instance.

[Marley Jenks · Rating 4 out of 5]

easy, lighthearted, encouraging travel and do the shit that scares you book.

"When we stop and take care of ourselves, we are capable of more, in every sense of the word: more self love, more empathy for your fellow humans, more appreciation of the little things."

[Charley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have followed Kaci Rose on instagram for a couple years now. She is truly delightful. This audiobook was no exception.

[Janine Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I had read this book BEFORE I went to Italy like my mom intended when she bought it for me. I went to Italy last year with my entire family & while I enjoyed it, I learned I have major travel anxiety especially when in a foreign country. I feel like if I had read this book prior to my trip, I would feel like I wasn’t alone in my feelings. Loved to read about her perspective and experiences on everything Italy. 🇮🇹

[Pietro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has the best title! And, that title really drew me in, because I love Italy (and gelato). I discovered that this book is half about living and traveling in Italy and half self-help/inspirational guide. Both have their merits, although the mixture here didn’t always work. I’d recommend this book to people who are young and need some motivation—especially if being a social media influencer is their goal—and to people who want to go to Italy. While it is interesting to read about other people who have encountered similar experiences in Italy, like learning the language and navigating the post office, I found much of this book too basic for me. I spent too much time skimming past explanations of simple things, like Italian coffee culture, and this is why I’d recommend this for readers who have not spent a lot of time there. It really wasn’t the right book for me, but I hope that other readers like it. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.

[Susie]

I’m not rating this bc I actually love Kacie and think she’s phenomenal, but her editors were not her helpers here, and I just don’t want to give her a bad rating. I saw one reviewer describe this as half-memoir/half-self help, and that feels accurate and that is not what it should have been! A memoir can be inspiring, so I feel like she should have stuck with that. I read the whole thing, but it took me a long time because I just didn’t remain super interested. Kacie is really fun, and is doing meaningful work as a content creator, but I just did not think this book did her justice.

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this 20% in. I like Kacie as an influencer and the way she talks about life in Italy and her experiences but it didn’t translate over to her writing for me. A lot of this book in the portion I read is very much “don’t give up amazing things are out there” and I was hoping for more actual stories instead of self help/love. I know this book will speak to a lot of people it just didn’t work for me.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐈𝐒 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐲, 𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬—𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥."

This book spoke to my soul! I have followed Kacie for a while and have been so excited for this book. With a motto of 𝓓𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓱*𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓼𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 .. she takes us through her humbling journey of working hard, traveling alone, the beauty of opening our eyes to new things and to LIVE LIFE, meeting a cute boy, falling in love and finding good gelato. The beautiful pictures she paints with words, have my wanderlust spirit ready to go! 😍

“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒗𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘 𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔.”

I definitely recommend this for a beach/vacay read!

“𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟, 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.”

𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮…
✈️wanderlust
🇮🇹Italy
🍨eat, pray, love vibes
🫶🏻finding love in all the things
🤗embracing failure
🗣️memoir meets manifesto
🤭humor

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! I’ve been following Kacie on instagram for a while now so when I heard she was writing a book I had to get it! I laughed out loud and I cried at some parts but most of the time I read it with a big smile on my face. Kacie is really funny, but also heartfelt. She talks about the good and the bad about moving abroad. Moving to a different country can seem like a dream to outsiders but they don’t see the hard stuff. The hard stuff is something you have to get through to get to the good stuff. It’s so worth it though. This book made me look at the world in a new way, in a more curious way. I myself am thinking about moving abroad. I would stay in Europe so maybe it’s not that big of a change as Kacies but I would still be moving away from everything I now. This book motivates me to just do it. Her slogan is going to be my mew mantra in life: “Do the shit that scares you”. That’s when the best things happen.
This book is not only for the people that want to travel or move abroad, it’s for everyone who ever had a dream but was too scared to do it. I think everyone can learn something from this lovely book and I am going to recommend it to everyone I now.

[Caitlin H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute little memoir-esque/motivational book. I’ve followed Kacie Rose on instagram for awhile so I’m aware of her story of getting to Italy and some of her adventures and endeavors. I like her content and she seems like a genuinely nice person who was able to turn her amazing opportunity to live in Italy into content and travel information to help others.

A lot of her book touches on topics related to travel and struggles specifically that someone who lives abroad might face (which I expected). But within those topics and advice it did relate to other things that you can relate to. Like making new friends as an adult and keeping up with those friendships, learning to deal with mistakes, and trying new things that take you out of your comfort zone.

The advice of trying new things isn’t anything wildly new or anything. But it was nice to get someone else’s perspective on how going outside the comfort zone can change your life.

A nice short audiobook at only 5 hours. I’d recommend it to anyone who maybe needs a push to book their travel to someone new and is nervous or who needs encouragement to do new things in general.