DNF @ 37%

This was just too wholesome, sugar sweet, for me. Normally, that's not something I struggle with, but this just felt like a hallmark movie and since I kept sort of hoping there was left to go, I got to a point where I knew the story wasn't for me.

Wow, I LOVED this book so much. Sarah Adam’s has grown into one of my favorite authors and she really never disappoints. Like, EVER! Anytime I am in a book funk, she pulls me out.

This was such a cute, small town, fun read! And extremely fast paced! The writing is done beautifully, and the characters were done so perfectly. Ugh, the characters!!! I loved Noah SO much! He’s broody but with the biggest heart! I totally melted for him. And Amelia was extremely hilarious, she made me laugh so much. I just adored her! You just wanted to give her the biggest hug. Even the side characters were amazing, Noah’s sisters, and the whole town! I just really loved this book and literally every detail was so so good. Noah’s and Amelia’s banter was so sweet, obsessed with them. Definitely Enjoyed this one!

I would definitely recommend this one to everyone who loves a small town, enemies to lovers, romcom, slow banter romance! 5 stars from me all the way!

Thank you to Random House Publishing - Ballantine, Dell, and Sarah Adams for the early reading copy of When in Rome, receipt of which does not impact my review.

When in Rome is a top-tier romantic comedy and I loved reading it! Pop star Rae Rose (aka Amelia) needs to escape and is inspired by her hero, Audrey Hepburn, and impulsively drives to Rome…Kentucky. After a series of mishaps and mischief, she ends up meeting and staying in the spare bedroom at Noah Walker’s house. Noah is the grump to her sunshine and their banter is impeccable and had me laughing out loud while reading. Their chemistry is so fierce, and though this is a closed-door romance (things are implied but not described) it was very well done.

I definitely recommend this to romance / rom com fans (as long as they are ok without on-the-page spice) who love forced proximity/roommate, opposites attract, and grumpy sunshine books set in the perfect small town setting.

Another absolute delightful read by Sarah Adams! This is my sixth by the author and another win! Sarah writes characters that are charming, heartwarming, relatable, and that you genuinely want to befriend. I love a good grumpy/sunshine story and celebrity/normal person trope and both of these added so much to the character's personalities and understanding of what they are bringing to the relationship. I know the male character, Noah, is an owner of a pie shop, but this book had me craving pancakes!! I am so excited for this series to continue with Noah's sisters!

This wasn’t my favorite from Sarah. It was a fun concept but I felt the dialogue and cute little descriptions were over worked.

Thank you for the publisher for providing a free copy for review.

After reading The Cheat Sheet earlier this year, I was so excited to read this book. I enjoyed that book so much I think my ecpectations going into When in Rome were way too high and I just didn't enjoy it as much as I expected.

In a way this book checks all the boxes I like about a rom-com type of a book: takes place in a small town, grumpy and sunshine, city gal wanting to escape her life for a bit meets cute local guy and immediately gets attracted to him, but somehow the developent of the story just didn't do it for me. I just couldn't get into it, I couldn't connect to the characters and I didn't quite understand their attraction to each other either. I read through it and I really do feel like it would make a TV show I would watch if I could see more of the other townies and supporting characters as well, but as a romance book it was not doing it for me sadly.

I would however recommend you to give it a try, you might like it, I have realised I am very picky with my romance books, who knows you might end up enjoying it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Sarah Adams for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for When in Rome coming out September 20, 2022. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Amelia Rose goes by the stage name Rae Rose to her many fans. She feels overwhelmed from many years of maintaining her pop image. Inspired by her favorite Audrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she escapes for a getaway in the middle of the night. She makes it to Rome…Rome, Kentucky.

Her car breaks down in front of Kentucky native Noah Walker’s house. He comes off as surly, telling her he doesn’t have patience for her celebrity issues. He’s busy running his grandma’s pie shop. However, he allows her to stay with him until her car is fixed. 

Noah begins to see a different side of Amelia. She’s compassionate and funny, yet lonely from growing up famous. As he gets to know her, his heart starts opening up. Meanwhile the cozy town and her grumpy host become irresistible to Amelia. But she knows she’ll have to leave eventually.

To be honest, I didn’t read the synopsis closely. I thought it would be like Roman Holiday set in Rome, Italy. However, Kentucky works too. Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I loved the small town feel and the fact that Noah ran a pie shop. Love me some pie! I did enjoy the comparisons to Roman Holiday. It’s one of my favorite movies. This book felt like a Hallmark version of that, which isn’t a bad thing. I love Hallmark movies. It was on the fluffy side. It was a fun, adorable romance. I don’t think there were many conflicts that weren’t solvable. I enjoyed the chapters were from Noah and Amelia’s perspectives.

I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys small town romcoms!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️4/5
🌶🚪Closed Door
📕Series: First in Series
🌚🌞Grumpy•Sunshine
🫂Forced Proximity
👥Dual POV
🏡Small Town Romance
🔥Slow burn
🎤🎼 Celebrity Romance (Pop Singer)
🥧Pie Shop - Bakery Setting
📖Releases: September 20, 2022

What an adorable story!! I was instantly hooked from page one. This was the sweet warm fuzzy romance story I’ve been craving lately, and of course Sarah Adams delivers. A pop star overwhelmed with her life and a man who’s broken heart needs mending. These two were so sweet together.

What I loved:
▪️All the Audrey Hepburn references. I’ve never seen Roman Holiday, but I’m making a point to do so now.
▪️The witty banter between Amelia and Noah. I love how Amelia teases him when she knows certain things bother him and it’s the only way to get him to open up.
▪️How adorably grumpy Noah is. Grumpy•Sunshine Trope lovers be prepared to fall head over heels for this book and for Noah the town grump. He’s the sweetest guy ❤️
▪️The mutual pining and attraction between these two. So sweet and swoon worthy!
▪️Noah’s Three sisters. I just love the friendship ring they created with Amelia. I’m can’t wait to see each Walker sister get their own book!
▪️The HEA, because you all know there is one. ❤️ sweet.sweet.sweet.
Thank you so much to @netgalley and @randomhousepublishing for this #arc in exchange for my honest review.

Ah this writing is just superb. It’s a literal joy to read this book and be inside of Amelia or Rae’s head.

The banter between Noah and Amelia! Ahhh it’s so so good.

The sisters add this extra special element that I just adore and makes Noah even more attractive the relationship he has with them!

OKAY GUYS. From the very first contemporary romance that Sarah wrote, I have been completely obsessed with her writing - and her latest is no exception!!

Her first traditionally published book maintains her adorable, funny, and sweet romance that will make you swoon so freakin hard!! Gah. I loved both characters so much!!

🥧What to expect🥧
•grumpy - sunshine
•celebrity romance
•pies and pancakes
•the cutest small town
•Adam’s trademark closed door steam
•the best meddling sisters (I have to assume they are getting their own romances??)

Easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me!

What a cute, heartwarming, charming romance that's a modern take on the Audrey Hepburn classic film Roman Holiday!
Amelia, stage name Rae Rose, is a lonely and burned-out pop star who escapes the pressures of celebrity one night and ends up with her car broken down in the front yard of a small-town pie shop owner, Noah. Noah helps her out and agrees to let her stay in his guest room until her car is repaired. Noah may be a cinnamon roll, but he has his walls up due to a broken engagement and is not looking to start anything new. But sparks fly...in a slow-burn kind of way.
This dual POV, lighthearted and sweet story, had some of my fave tropes, including grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, reluctant love, and small-town romance. And speaking of the small town, the characters who populate it are scene-stealers, especially Mable and Noah's sisters. I thought the vivid portrayals of those side characters and life in Rome, Kentucky were some of the book's biggest strengths. I also loved all the Audrey Hepburn references! This was my first Sarah Adams book, and I enjoyed her writing style, particularly the way she wrote dialogue and the fun banter between the MCs, so I will be picking up more of her books!
If you're looking for a warm, uplifting romance with pie, flowers, and small-town appeal, add this to your tbr!
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballentine Dell for the opportunity to review this ARC, I enjoyed it!

This was a sweet read - quick and uncomplicated. And while it wasn't groundbreaking, it was enjoyable.

This is a sweet modern take on Audrey Hepburn's Roman Holiday. About a burnt out popstar who honestly just needs a break and goes to a small town looking for one but ends up stranded on Noah's front lawn with no service and disconnected from the outside world. We could all relate looking for a break sometime and wanting to disconnect from everything and everyone. The break ends up serving her well and she ends up reflecting on her career and making some big decisions. Cute book, very low on steam.

Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review as always all words are my own.

It looks like I'm in the minority based on other reviews, but I did not enjoy this book at all. I haven’t read any of Sarah Adams' books in the past, so I did not realize this was a clean romance. If I had known that, I probably would have passed it by, because that just isn't my thing. But beyond that, I quickly found that I was disinterested in the characters because they were very two-dimensional. There was a lot of telling and not showing when it came to their personality traits and chemistry. The farther I got into the book. the more I found myself skimming and getting bored. Aggressive wholesomeness is apparently not my thing, and this book is chock full of it.

A sweet romantic book!

When in Rome by Sarah Adams is a delightful book about a burnt-out pop star and a grumpy yet soft-hearted pie baker. It’s a light-hearted book with a predictable plot but what makes it endearing is the main lead characters, which I find lovely and relatable with their frustrations, grief, and selflessness. I enjoy its slow burn because both main characters are aware of each other’s feelings, so their getting together is satisfying. I also like Rae growing a backbone as the book progresses. I like the secondary characters in this book, and the small-town folks are just as adorable as Amelia and Noah. I wish there were more pie-making scenes of our leads together, though! I mean, he makes pie for a living, after all!

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the e-ARC.

Sarah Adams has done it again! Amelia Rose (aka Rae Rose) is a pop star who is worn out and needing a break. She has an obsession for Audrey Hepburn and is inspired by the movie Roman Holiday to drive to Rome, KY to escape the spotlight and her overbearing manager. As she is nearing town, her car breaks down in the front yard of grumpy but good-looking pie shop owner, Noah Walker. He makes it clear from the beginning that he doesn’t have any time for celebrity problems and tries to keep his distance, but he starts to see a vulnerable side to Amelia. Will he be able to keep up his grumpy persona and distance?

Sarah’s writing gets better with each book she writes. Her books give me butterflies. You love every single character in them, including all of the side characters. Mabel, you won my heart for side characters in this story! The grumpy vs sunshine trope was so well done. The banter and chemistry was so good, without ever having to write anything explicit. Sarah has a gift for making the readers feel that tension between the MCs without ever having to step into the bedroom with them, which I applaud.

If you love Gilmore Girls, small towns, pies grumpy vs sunshine, dual POV, slow burn, and Audrey Hepburn then you will love this adorable and heartwarming love story!

Well this book was fucking adorable. It was my first Sarah Adams book and now I’m asking myself why have I let her other books sit on my TBR for so long? The banter between Amelia and Noah is so cute and I have caught myself laughing out loud and smiling so much while reading this book. Amelia is so sweet, kind hearted, funny and not at all what you’d expect from a pop star. Noah is the perfect grumpy yet sweet man. He’s a literal cinnamon roll when it comes to his family and Amelia. He’s hell bent on keeping Amelia at a distance but day by day he learns more about her and can’t help but fall. Not only is this an adorable romcom, it’s also Amelia’s journey to rediscovering herself.

This book was cute, heartwarming and such a fun, quick read. My only complaint is that this the burn was too slow for me and I really just wanted more time to experience them together. I always feel this way with slow burns though so take that “complaint” with a grain of salt 😂

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Adams and Random House Publishing Group for this eARC!

I've read a few Sarah Adams books. I loved her debut novel which was clean regency era. And then when she came out with contemporary books and I read one hoping I would enjoy it like the regency books. I really prefer her regency. I think she is a good writer and tells a good story. And she has great meet-cute situations. I think When in Rome was a good story. I liked the quirky characters and the grumpy Noah. And I liked Amelia too but over the course of the book I liked them less and less.

I know there are many who will love this book. Find the right audience and it will be a great read. I'm not that audience unfortunately. The book had way too much swearing for me. I don't mind an occasional swear but this got old really fast for me. And I was not expecting it. It also had sex in it. The actual act isn't on the page but the door is cracked open so we see all that leads up to it. Sorry, I'm not interested in other's sex lives. In fact I think it would have been far more romantic had they stuck to what Noah promised when he came to her during the storm. Again, I realize I am the wrong audience and others will love this book. And I really liked the general story too. I just didn't like the book as a whole that much. With how much I loved the debut novel, I was really disappointed to not like this one.

Sex: Yes. Cracked door, innuendo, and more than I wanted to know.
Language: Yes. Lots. But no F-bomb
Violence: No.
*I received a complimentary ARC through NetGalley and voluntarily chose to review it.

BOOK REVIEW: When In Rome by Sarah Adams
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🗣 “Sometimes I’m happy… Or at least I used to be. I think.”

REVIEW:

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Sarah Adams book and I was really excited to read it after the hype that The Cheat Sheet receives. I was not disappointed. I could totally see this being made into a Hallmark Movie. The main characters, Amelia and Noah are the absolute cutest. I fell in love with them quickly. The writing in this book is well done. I caught myself smiling and giggling at the banter more than once.

Amelia is a pop star that was so stressed out she ran away to hide before her tour. An absolute catastrophe of a day happens and she meets Noah, the grumpy Pie Shop owner in the extremely small town of Rome, Kentucky. Stuck in town for a bit, the town grows on Amelia. While I love the main characters, it was easy to love the side characters too. Annie was my favorite secondary character in the whole book.

I definitely recommend this book when it is published on 9/20/22
Read this if you like:
👩🏻👱🏻‍♂️ Dual POV
🙎🏼‍♂️☀️ Grumpy x Sunshine
🥧 Small Town Romance
🏠 Forced Proximity
🚪 Closed Door Romance

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was my very first Sarah Adams and with all the hype that surrounded The Cheat Sheet I was really excited to get an advanced copy of this book. I thought the book was a well written romcom.I wasn't completely blown away but I enjoyed reading the book. I felt like the banter between the characters was cute & found myself giggling at times.

The small town vibes of Rome, Kentucky gave me all the Gilmore Girls vibes. Amelia (also known as Rae) was like the Taylor Swift of pop stars who runs away from her life to the small town to figure out how to fall in love with music again. Then you meet the grumpy pie baker named Noah and the tension is REAL. But my absolute favorite character is Mabel.

Read if you like
- grumpy/sunshine
- closed door romance
- close family relationships
- small town vibe, Gilmore Girls
- slow burn

FINAL THOUGHTS: If you're looking for a clean, closed door romance: look no further than When In Rome. This novel is an easy to read story with the cutest characters. You'll feel like you're in an episode of Gilmore Girls with all the special vibes of Stars Hollow. You'll also crave some pie.