This was a very satisfying romance set in a small town with lots of great side characters (and dogs). I loved the father/daughter relationship. The slow burn hate-to-love forced proximity of it all held my interest. Lots of swoons.

This story had a lot more depth than a simple romance, which I enjoyed. Annie (Anh) chronically finds herself as the woman her boyfriends date just before they find the woman they want to marry. Emmitt is an investigative photojournalist who’s also a single dad looking to make up for lost time with his daughter. Unexpectedly home to recover from an injury, the pair end up roommates in his cabin. There was plenty to unpack in this story beyond the romance. Annie is an Asian American who’s always felt out of place growing up in a white community. She begins to explore her culture and family ties in Vietnam. Emmitt feels sidelined in his daughter’s life because she’s being raised by her uncle and step dad as well as him. There are also issues with his estranged father. I thought the topics were tackled with sensitivity and heart. It was definitely worth a read!

**Thank you to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing Corporation and Marina Adair. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own.***

If you like:
Three dads & a not so baby anymore
Traveling 🧳 prodigal photographer
Vietnamese (FMC) adoptee
Goldilocks (read it to see lol) Adorable nickname
Grumpy 😠 X sunshine ☀️
Sticky note exchanges
Family dynamics
Found family
Lost souls finding each other ☺️😍🫶🏾

RomeAntically Challenged is the first book in this new series When In Rome. Annie is one of the only Asians in her community. She is not lucky in love and actually had a wedding that was cancelled 8 weeks before the day. In an attempt to start fresh, she signs up for an assignment in a hospital in Rome. At first she thinks it is Rome, Italy but it is actually Rome, Rhode Island.. who knew? But she has committed and she has to go.
Emmitt is home from assignment and trying to find his way. He is hardly ever home and he really has no connections. He has a daughter and two other men ( his ex brother in law and her step dad) have a much closer relationship with his daughter and he wants to change that.
The two meet at Emmit’s cabin. It was rented before he knew he was coming home and he finds Annie living their. How will this ever work? They are both working on their lives. They don’t need the stress of each other and their new commitments. Can Emmitt fix his relationship with his daughter? Can he hide the feelings he starts to have for a Annie? Can Annie see what a good man Emmitt is? And when all is said and done can they find happiness?
This was a very good read. I liked the characters and the story. I gave it 4 stars and look forward to reading the 2nd book in the series. I want to thank Netgalley & Marina Adair for my copy for an honest review. The it was my pleasure to read and review this book. I hope you enjoy it as much I did..

To be honest I’m not the biggest fan of this cover or the title. It is a really cute story but it wasn’t for me. I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed going back to Rome, Rhode Island. Emmitt and Annie’s story gave me some feel and I could identify with Annie a bit. Looking forward to more Rome stories!

A really cute book that defines "finding your person" that everyone talks about.
I love the way the story unfolded and I can relate to Annie (the ex's finding "their person" after leaving her - it's the WORST!) so it was a light read with a fun storyline that I quite enjoyed.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Marina Adair and Kensington Publishing for providing me with an eARC of this publication which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

This was a fun read, with a little twist on the Rome (as in Rhode Island). It did take me a little while to really get into the book. It didn't pull me in right from page 1. However, I'm glad I stuck with it. The second half was quicker and harder to set aside, it just took a little while to get there.

I did find all the notes Emmitt and Annie shared very adorable and cute. But i did not enjoy Annie as much as i had hoped. Emmitt was sort of interesting, but i did not feel must chemistry other than the notes and text they shared.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in this series. I especially love that she works through all the chaos that life throws at her.

This took me about nine months total to read, four months ago I actually decided to DNF at 50%, and for some reason a few days ago something made me pick it up to finish. I will say that I thought the second half was better than the first, but it still didn’t do it for me.

I found both Annie and Emmitt not particularly likeable; Annie was a total pushover and her first scene honestly made me so mad that I put the book down for five months. 😂 The instalove was too much for me and I never really cared about their romance. The flirting especially was awful, just so immature and juvenile, and the texts they sent looked like 12 year olds wrote them, with 2 and N and U instead of the actual words. Does ANYBODY actually text like that?? (Genuinely curious because doesn’t it take way more time and effort?)

There were a lot of different issues and storylines trying to be addressed, and as a result it all felt a bit shallow and chaotic and none of them were really explored deeply enough. It also needed some more editing – there were several instances where things didn't make sense: something was said and then directly contradicted a few paragraphs later.

Aside from these issues, the main reason I didn’t really like this was the overall mood and the feeling it gave me. There was just so much conflict and miscommunication and angst and hurt feelings and it was truly exhausting to read, especially because I didn't care about any of the characters. This wasn’t so much in the romantic storyline, but between the main characters and everyone else. Annie and her ex, Annie and her parents, Emmitt and his daughter, Emmitt and his co-parents, Emmitt and his dad… reading this book just didn’t make me feel happy, which is like the only thing I really want out of a romantic comedy.

I’m glad I finished it, because I dislike not finishing books and the second half wasn’t as bad, but there are so many amazing romcoms out there that deserve your time more than this one.

When I saw the title of this novel, I thought that it took place in Rome, Italy. That was part of why I wanted to read it. However, the Rome of the title is actually in Rhode Island. Once I let go of Italy, I found this to be an easy read with characters whom I liked.

Annie has grown up as the only Asian person in her community which has not always been easy. She reflects on this in the novel. When her wedding plans fall through, Annie ends up in Rome, Rhode Island (She, too, was hoping for Italy). Although not what she was looking for Annie tries to make it work.

Emmitt is home after covering a big story in China. Of course, he and Annie meet. Will they become a couple?

Along with these two, there are the members of Emmitt’s family. He has a daughter whom he is trying to get to know. Paisley has other family members who do not always make it easy for Emmitt.

While in some ways this is a predictable story, sometimes that is just what a reader wants.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

You can read this for the romance between Annie and Emmitt but you should also pay attention to the very real message Adair is sending by letting us hear Annie's thoughts about her life. These two are thrown together as roommates and emerge, just as you might expect, as a committed pair. Annie's trying for a reboot in her own life even as Emmitt is trying to create a relationship with Paisley, the teen daughter he doesn't know. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I enjoyed this book start to finish. The dialogue between the main characters cracked me up and hit me in the heart. Adair writes beautifully about the flaws and baggage people bring to their relationships and the challenges faced when you decide to put your heart on the line. Annie’s (Ahn) work to be the woman she wants to be even if that means not pleasing everyone is a poignant message wrapped in a romantic comedy. I loved how Adair wove the the adoption legacy into the characters and story.

I thought this was a very cute and sweet story. I love forced proximity and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book. It was maybe a little too sweet at parts for me, its closed door and I always appreciate a little more steam. But I do highly recommend this one if you're in a forced proximity mood! 3.75 stars

Another Great book by Marina Adair! I love how she makes you part of the book by getting me emotionally involved with her characters. Reason why she is one of my favorite authors!

I didn't care for this tale as its parts, although some places were very sweet or cute or funny. Everything in between was a little slow for me. Nothing specifically bad but the story only worked as a whole. Took me a long time to finish because of those slow parts.

I liked Romeantically Challenged - some parts more than others. I really enjoyed the beginning of the story - found myself laughing and enjoying Annie and love when she and Emmitt first met.

I felt like the middle got a little slowed down by side stories but I was still here for it! However the big conflict and resolution at the end didn’t really work for me - it felt rushed and like some of their reactions weren’t in line with the characters. Emmitt knows that legally Annie couldn’t tell him about his father’s illness - but he still left her with nothing more than a post it note. And then when he came back - he really didn’t even apologize and in fact basically made her declare her love first by calling out her private notes he had already read. Ew.

So overall - an enjoyable read with an ending that really didn’t work for me. I will try other books by this author though. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free review copy.

Recently heartbroken, Annie is adamant about moving on and hoping to find her place in the small town in Rhode Island. Emmet, on the other hand, is trying to find his way back to his teen daughter’s life. Accidentally becoming roommates, Annie(Ahn) and Emmit are stuck together in an Airbnb rental gone wrong. To start, the double booking possibility is very true as it happened to me and my family twice. It was very awkward and very unsafe. As you may have it, it was a blessing in Annie and Emmit’s situation. Forced to be roommates, they found an unlikely friendship in each other that ultimately helped with their current situations. I love that the friendship was almost instantaneously and the rest came just as easy.

The roommate to friends to lovers trope was sweet but what I love most was Annie’s story. I love reading about her feelings toward her adoptive parents and her struggles as an “in-betweener”. I felt her pain of never really fitting into any specific box but also felt the love she was given by her adopted parents which spilled out of the pages. It was obvious that despite the outside influences, that love was what was most important. It made her who she is.

Romeantically Challenged was a fun light-hearted read but the character’s stories will completely melt your heart.

While I liked the three men and baby vibe from the hero, Emmitt and his daughter Paisley's step father and uncle, the heroine Annie wasn't as good a fit for me. Families are what you make of them, sometimes they are biological and sometimes not.