(Actual rating: 2.5 stars.)

You have no idea how much I wanted to (and almost could have) love this book.

The premise—girl meets prince and doesn’t know he’s a prince—is PERFECT. Add in Rome and it’s beyond perfect. But sadly the book didn’t quite work up to my hopes.

It started out pretty good, but then it dwindled.

What I liked:

* The main character, Julia, working as a tour guide. I loved her passion for history and archaeology.

* The setting (ROME!!).

* The premise (falling for a prince when she doesn’t know he’s a prince).

What I didn’t like:

1) Mr. Prince was SO inconsiderate about what he was doing.

Julia arrives at a hotel to take her client on a tour. She mistakes Niccolo (Mr. Prince) as the client and Niccolo doesn’t correct her. Instead he’s like, “ohh this would be fun!” and poses as the client. He gives no consideration to the fact that Julia would be bailing on the REAL client who actually booked this tour. Then to top it all off, at the end of the days he gives Niccolo the bill and he’s all like, “lol I don’t carry money with me.”

So he puts her job in jeopardy for bailing on a real client, then he doesn’t even immediately pay her for her trouble. He put her through so much stress and never seemed to appreciate the fact that unlike him, she’s not a prince and she has actual bills she’s struggling to pay. The whole thing made him seem so annoyingly privileged.

2) It was cheesy (and maybe this contributed to the lack of chemistry)

Maybe this is a personal preference thing, but some of the writing was really cheesy for my taste. It just kind of made me giggle. I think these parts were meant to showcase their chemistry, but because I was giggling rather than swooning, I wasn’t on board with it. I didn’t feel like there was chemistry, just kind of eye roll romance.

"He wanted to bury himself deep inside her until his demons became nothing more than distant memories."

"The more she moved, the more luminous she felt, until her core became filled with stardust."

(I’d be worried if my core was full of stardust.)

"It wasn’t sex. It was poetry."

3) If I was Julia, I think I’d be creeped out

Imagine taking a client on a tour and he spends the whole tour hitting on you… and actually kissing you. I think I had a problem with this because I wasn’t on board with the chemistry. Since the chemistry wasn’t there for me, I just thought Niccolo’s actions were creepy. He’s constantly getting all up in her personal space, kissing her, hinting about kissing her again (even after she said, “stop — this isn’t appropriate”), etc.

"But she was heartbreakingly inexperienced. Of that he was certain. Oh the things he wanted to teach her. Not wanted. Craved. Needed."

"Without a doubt. She was to be his plaything, his prey."

"Making love to her was no longer a choice. It was a raw, aching need. He needed to penetrate her pain, her past and her present. Doing so was the only way he could find peace."

4) Then there’s the insta-love

I guess it’s to be expected, but it was still a bit ugh. Maybe I would have been fine with it if I saw the chemistry and the romance was less cheesy. But those things were there and that made the insta-love stick out even more.

The two knew each other for two days and were then professing their love. Sigh.

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I really REALLY wanted to love this book. I’m bummed that I didn’t. It had so much potential but didn’t work out for me. I think the problems were largely due to me not clicking with the book in the right ways. If I saw the chemistry and was more on board with the writing style, I think I could have loved this. But because I didn’t mesh with those things, it all went south.

So if you’re not giggly or weirded out by the quotes I mentioned above, then I would suggest you give the book a try. It definitely has some things going for it and the potential to be great; you just have to click with it.

Nico is a sly man especially when he finds out that tour guide Julia Costa doesn’t know who he is. It is a complete breath of fresh air when he can be himself around a person who doesn’t actually know who he is. I love this element to the book because it is two people being real and themselves. That for me is such an important element in this book because it showcases the person they are without having to pretend.

Nico caught my heart from the beginning, he’s funny, cute and sexy which makes it more appealing to read. There is this gentle quality about him. He’s a gentle royal teddy bear but he’s also protective and he can’t seem to pin down why he is that protective towards Julia.

Julia is a character I love. She’s real and just trying to make an honest living with the job that she has which makes her so relatable to the readers. She was very relatable to me which makes me more attached to her.

This story is a gem, it’s rare that I am so invested in their happiness, willing them to grasp the chances that they have and to make the most of it. A book that can blow you away and make you feel for them is a 5 star in my book and I’m excited to read the next book, as and when it is released.