When In Rome by Sarah Adams

Pages: 309
Method: Kindle
Rating: 4/5

This was an enjoyably refreshing romance. The FMC is famous and decides that she needs to escape for a bit before she goes on tour. And of course, she finds herself in a tiny town, falling in love with the small-town boy. But what I loved was that it stayed realistic. Because of her fame she had to think about things differently but she wasn’t a high-maintenance, unreasonable diva. And while the MMC had been hurt in the past and was trying to protect himself, his reluctance to getting close to the FMC wasn’t so adamant to the point of being annoying.

One of the reasons that I would describe this book as refreshing is because of the conflict. Of course there is some conflict with the miscommunication and both of the characters trying not to fall in love with each other, but one of the bigger conflicts doesn’t actually involve the love relationship. I often find the main love conflict unnecessarily dramatic and unrealistic in the way that it’s handled. This conflict however, pulled some of the tension from one big relationship conflict, and evened it out with lesser conflicts.

Something else that made this book enjoyable was the interactions with secondary characters. Because it’s a small town, you learn most of the townspeople’s names fairly quickly and you can tell that they all love and protect each other through the short and simple interactions that they have. The author also included sibling interactions between the MMC and his sisters that I found so relatable and funny but didn’t feel out of place or unnecessary. 

Lastly, this book is what most would call “closed-door” romance. This means that any intimate scenes will fade to black before it gets to any detail about sex. There are typically descriptions of kissing and direct implication of sex, but it doesn’t go into detail. I love this because when that happens, the author usually describes the intimacy through emotions or metaphors, and it becomes so poetic. You don’t need the details to feel the intimacy of the moment.

Favorite Quote: When she passes me, her soft, sweet smell slips under my nose. It’s so opposite of my me-scented home it scrambles my brain for a second. It takes a big eraser and smudges over my usual, I’m happy being alone thoughts, and doodles in obnoxious little hearts.

Question: Have you ever loved something just for what it means to you?