Super cute romcom. A bit predictable, as with most romcoms. Overall a great quick read for something light and adorable.

Sarah Adams has done it again!! She truly is a closed door romance wizard. When In Rome is an absolutely delightful read. Amelia and Noah are a perfectly mismatched couple, and their romance is sweet as pie (see what I did there), but it was the ancillary characters that did it for me in this book. I loved watching Amelia navigate her relationships with the townspeople as well as with her mom. Noah's relationship with his grandma was equally beautiful. The tension between Amelia and Noah was built perfectly, and I REALLY love a good, self-aware couple. It feels like a success when I'm not rolling my eyes at the the hero/heroine. Some fun, quirky things about the novel...the swearing chart made me laugh, there's no actual pie making but there is pancake making, and the townspeople/paparazzi relationship was so funny.

Thank you Ballantine for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

I read Sarah Adams’ The Cheat Sheet earlier this Spring via audio and was utterly charmed by it so I was looking forward to When in Rome! It has a similar vibe of tropes, aka a famous person and a non famous person but the story is totally different. This is a chance meeting rather than friends to lovers and has a sweet connection to Roman Holiday starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.

While I didn’t love it as much as The Cheat Sheet, it was still sweet and has the small town charm so many people love to read in the Fall. It’s also a closed door Romance so if smut isn’t your thing, this is one to add to your list.

Synopsis:

“Amelia Rose, known as Rae Rose to her adoring fans, is burned-out from years of maintaining her “princess of pop” image. Inspired by her favorite Audrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she drives off in the middle of the night for a break in Rome . . . Rome, Kentucky, that is. When Noah Walker finds Amelia on his front lawn in her broken-down car, he makes it clear he doesn’t have the time or patience for celebrity problems. He’s too busy running the pie shop his grandmother left him and reminding his nosy but lovable neighbors to mind their own damn business. Despite his better judgment, he lets her stay in his guest room—but only until her car is fixed—then she’s on her own. Then Noah starts to see a different side of Rae Rose—she’s Amelia: kindhearted and goofy, yet lonely from years in the public eye. He can’t help but get close to her. Soon she’ll have to return to her glamorous life on tour, but until then, Noah will show Amelia all the charming small-town experiences she’s been missing, and she’ll help him open his heart to more. Amelia can’t resist falling for the cozy town and her grumpy tour guide, but even Audrey had to leave Rome eventually.” —NetGalley

What I Liked:

The Callbacks to Roman Holiday—I love Roman Holiday and thought it was super cute and clever to set this story in Rome, Kentucky with a musician and a baker, rather than a princess and a writer.

The Smalltown Setting—The hero runs a pie shop, what else do you need? If you can suspend your disbelief on just how nosy the neighbors are, you’ll laugh along with all the zany characters.

What Didn’t Work:

Lack of Connection—I didn’t really connect with the characters as much as I wanted to. There was something missing.

Lack of Tension—I wanted more tension between Noah and Amelia! They were trying so hard to stay away from each other but didn’t see it, only felt like I was told it.

More from Side Characters—There are so many side characters that are full of life. I wanted more from them! Especially Noah’s sisters.

Character Authenticity: 3/5 Steam Rating: 0/5 Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Content Warnings:

death of a parent, dementia, toxic relationship, infidelity (past)

Small town, forced proximity, celebrity romance…
Loosely based on Audrey Hepburn’s Roman Holiday, Amelia (aka superstar singer Rae Rose) takes a trip to Rome, Kentucky to try to figure out her life before she heads out on a world tour. She ends up breaking down in Noah’s front yard and the rest is an interesting journey of figuring out what makes her happy, what she wants out of her career, and finding her true voice while sharing a space with hunky Noah. I have read all of Sarah Adam’s romcoms and she’s one of my favorite authors. When in Rome felt a little different than her other books, maybe it was the trope that just didn’t shine for me. There was a lot of inner monologue of the characters fighting their feelings for each other and it made it hard for me to connect with them and root for their romance. It was still a really cute and romantic story with great characters in the gossipy town of Rome. I especially liked Noah’s sisters who are protective and nosey. I also liked reading about Amelia’s relationship with her mom. When in Rome celebrated the strength of family ties and community support. Sarah writes with a sweet Southern charm and I look forward to reading more of her books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine for a free Digital ARC. All thoughts expressed are my own.

Thanks to Ballantine for the free book.
Each time I read Adams' books, I know I am going to be in for a treat. Her books always make me laugh, and I know that her characters are going to have a good time. I adored Amelia and her figuring things out. It was fun to get to glimpse a 'celebrity' in everyday life doing everyday things like she wanted to. And Noah. Oh Noah, so brooding and self-protective, he was the perfect grump. I loved reading about his character arc and growth. His storyline deals with grief, and Adams handled this topic so well and really illustrated how it is unique to each person. I also adored his sisters and can't wait for their books. This book felt like a hug and left me smiling. Sarah Adams has definitely became a favorite romance author of mine because each time I am left with such a satisfactory story.

ARC REVIEW
this was such an adorable read i finished it all in one
sitting, i am weak for my cinnamon roll noah, if my
future husband isn't like this man amelia was such
a fun character to get to know i loved her story and
her character development. we love a good foodie
romance that makes your heart melt! i also loved that
it didn't need any spicy scenes for it to be more
enjoyable, i think it's truly perfect the way it is, you will
definitely see me buy the physical copy!

This was very cute! I enjoyed reading it! A great collection of tropes, and I unexpectedly was a huge fan of Noah! I would have liked to see more depth throughout the book, but the surface-level engagement on topics like grief and stardom was interesting.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I will read every book that Sarah Adams writes and enjoy every one. Amelia is a pop star, trying to escape from her famous life for a while. She loves Audrey Hepburn so Rome, Kentucky is an escape within driving distance. There she meets the local grumpy but handsome local baker, Noah. Amelia stays in Noah’s guest room and, once his icy shell melts, they find a genuine connection. Their differences and life choices cause complications along the way. I loved these characters and the storyline involving Amelia’s mom and manager. This is a very fun read!

Thanks Sarah Adams, Random House Publishing Group- Ballentine, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Wow move over cheat sheet

Sarah does not miss with her romance and this one was no different. I can fully say that the cheat sheet was the younger sister and this is the older more in tune sister! It has tons of Audrey Hepburn references as well as celebrity meets ordinary boy (Noah). The dynamic between Amelia and Noah was chef’s kiss! I must say my favorite scene in the entire book was the lake scene in chapter 26 & 27. The sneak peak for that scene is up on my reels and TikTok. Noah is this perfect small town guy who loves everyone. He reminds me of the TikTok look like it could kill you, is a cinnamon roll! Amelia was just so relatable for being a celebrity and she gave me like Dua Lipa vibes when they talked about her music and shows. Overall this book was amazing and I totally recommend picking it up if you love closed door romance and any of the tropes below!

Big thank you to NetGalley, Random house publishing: Ballantine, and Sarah Adam’s for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!! ❤️

Tropes include:
Grumpy x sunshine ☀️
Small town romance 🏡
Miss understand MC
She can’t cook but he can 🍚
Lots of banter ❤️
Guy falls first 👏🏼
They read together 🙈

My review is up on Goodreads now!
One instagram reel and TikTok will be posted Friday September 2nd as well as my review on instagram

A huge thank you to Sarah Adams, Random House and NetGalley for sending me an ARC of When In Rome in exchange for my honest review. This book releases 9/20/2022!

I couldn't have picked a better book to end the summer with. It was such a light, quick read and I adored the characters.

If you're into grumpy/sunshine, small-town feels, forced proximity, "friends" to lovers, then you're going to absolutely love this book.

Noah is a classic surface grump. He wore his heart on his sleeve and it got broken... so, he swore off love- especially the kind that literally crashes into his life. He just doesn't have it in him to love like that again- or so he thinks.

Amelia, or Rae Rose, is a pop-star princess who is utterly exhausted and drowning in her fame. She's surrounded by people, but has never felt more alone. She escapes to Rome, Kentucky where she finds herself in Noah's front yard.

The love for the town, the people and Noah bubbled like the juices of a blackberry pie and there was no stopping the chemistry that was baking. I laughed and smiled and found myself yelling at them to just get over themselves and dive in!

Sarah writes the best characters and I devour every book of hers in one sitting... this book is no different, there is honestly so much to love about this book, that I could write a very very gushy review, but in the interest of time (yours and mine) lets keep it shortish!

Firstly, their meet cute is hilarious… no spoilers, but Noah is brilliant and I loved him from the moment I met him and he is so dry I love it. "He’s a little grumpy, there’s an edge to him that says careful, I might bite, but then his eyes whisper, but I’ll be gentle."

Secondly, Rae - she is actually as lovely as can be and is so sweet to those that she meets, I loved how she pushes Noah outside of his comfort zone. "He doesn’t find me charming. I’m the most uncharming person in the world to him, and I think I love it."

Thirdly, the secondary characters - oh my goodness, we literally have a treasure trove of goodness here! They are all quirky and amazing in their own ways and I want to live in this town and have everyone know my business - for reals! Not to mention Noah's brilliant and wonderful sisters - I cannot wait to read more about them.

If you love the following:
Grumpy/Sunshine
Flirty Banter
Small town
Surly/broody hero
Heroine in need of someone to see her
Nosy sisters
Hero is a baker
Hot chemistry

Then you need this book like fries need ketchup! Its brilliant and I will love it forever!

“𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘐 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘐’𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐’𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰.”

𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖: rae rose is completely burnt out from her pop star life. she decides to visit the closest she can get to rome and ends up in rome, kentucky. not only does she fall in love with the town, she falls in love with noah too.

𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: sarah adams you rom com genius. i freaking adored everything about this book. we STAN a grumpy sunshine and noah is IT. i was SWOONING over noah and amelia. noah was so tender, so caring, & so loving and amelia was also such a sweetheart and not what you would expect from a pop star. i genuinely rooted for them from the beginning and was so invested in their individual growth as well. and literally every freaking side character in the small town was amazing and made my heart so happy. so, i highly recommend when this one comes out in september!

special thank you to random house publishing group (ballantine), sarah adams & netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
•••

From the author of The Cheat Sheet, this adorable rom-com follows Amelia, a pop star desperate for a vacation. Inspired by her love for Roman Holiday she decides to escape to Rome... Rome, Kentucky that is. She meets a handsome pie shop owner once in Kentucky and the rest is history.
I thought this was such an adorable, heart-warming read. Amelia and Noah were both interesting characters with well-rounded personalities and their love story was funny, romantic, and had a depth to it that not all love stories have. In the town of Rome, Kentucky everyone knows everything about everyone and that small fact plays a big roll in Noah and Amelia's story. I thought all the side characters in Rome, as well as Noah's three sisters, added so much personality to the story without it being too cringy. In fact, this book contained very little cringe at all. So, to the readers that hate when romance novels fall victim to a lot of cringe: pick this one up! I've always loved stories that involve a celebrity trying to stay undercover and this story is no exception. I thought Amelia's background could have been fleshed out a bit more but nevertheless I thought she was a fun, kind, thoughtful protagonist that was a pleasure to read from. I could relate to her love for a classic icon like Audrey Hepburn and I loved getting to see that side of her personality.
This book can best be described as a Hallmark movie in book form. When in Rome delivered on all the pies, burnt pancakes, and warm fuzzy feelings that one could ask for. This is a must read that everyone should pick up next month!!

Amelia Rose, stage name Rae Rose, is three weeks away from going on her world tour and is completely burned out. In homage to her favorite Aubrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she decides to leave in the middle of the night for Rome, Kentucky to take a well needed break from everything.

That night Noah finds Amelia in her broken-down car on his front lawn. Noah reluctantly agrees to let Amelia stay in his guest room while she's waiting for her car to be repaired. Noah is trying to avoid answering questions from his neighbors of who the mysterious girl staying in his house is, while he's busy running his pie shop.

Noah introduces Amelia to small town life and shows her what is like to not be lonely anymore. Noah soon begins to see a different fun side of Amelia, a side that's the opposite of Rae Rose. Along the way Amelia helps to break down the wall Noah has built around his heart. All too soon Amelia has to go back to her life on tour. Somewhere along the way Amelia fell for her grumpy tour guide.

If you are looking for a small town, opposites attract, grumpy sunshine romcom this is the perfect read. Even though this was a closed door romance the chemistry between Amelia and Noah is fire. One of my favorite parts of this novel is their witty banter. It creates so many laughable moments. Amelia's character came to Rome, KY looking for a respite from her pop star life and grumpy Noah was just the person to breathe life back into Amelia again. Sarah Adams did such a wonderful job writing this novel. I truly felt the feelings of the characters and found myself laughing and crying multiple times in the novel. I've never read a Sarah Adams book before, but she is now on my list of auto buy authors.

Rae Rose is a pop sensation, but she starts to realize she feels numb. A few weeks before her upcoming tour, Rae Rose (Amelia) takes inspiration from Audrey Hepburn and flees to Rome in the middle of the night. That is— Rome, Kentucky. It starts to feel like a bad idea though when her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. As luck would have it— she’s actually in Noah Walker’s front yard. After confirming he’s not an axe murderer, Amelia spends the night in his guest room. When Amelia finds out her car is going to take two weeks to fix, and that her reservation is mysteriously gone, Noah offers up his spare room.

Noah is grumpy and standoffish at first. He has had his heart stomped on in the past by an out of towner and is not about to let it happen again. He’s perfectly content watching over his grandma’s pie shop and keeping all women at arm’s length. Unfortunately (or fortunately) life has other plans for him.

The two quickly learn the deeper aspects of the other. Noah learns Amelia is more than her pop-star persona and Amelia learns there’s more to Noah under his grumpy demeanor. When Amelia learns someone she trusted has broke her trust, she wants nothing more than to have Noah by her side. But with Noah’s life in Rome, and Amelia’s on the road, can the two make it work?

I loved reading Sarah Adams Cheat Sheet, so when I saw this one I just HAD to read it. Amelia and Noah’s tension was immaculate!!! They both tried so hard not to fall in love because they knew Amelia was leaving and it would never work out. Noah spent all his time trying to keep her away so he wouldn’t end up hurt again, while Amelia tried to not show her hurt from his rejection.

Read if you like:
• grumpy/sunshine
• celebrity & “normal person” romance
• baker men
• small towns
• Audrey Hepburn / Roman Holiday
• slow burn romance
• closed door romance
• dual pov romance

What a lovely book! I flew through this because I absolutely adored the grumpy/sunshine relationship between Amelia and Noah. They were fun and interesting characters that were a joy to read about!

A premise based off the movie Roman Holiday (Which I haven't seen yet I'm so sorry), Amelia is a famous singer who decides to escape the limelight by fleeing to Rome... Kentucky. She gets stuck staying with a grumpy baker named Noah with problems on his own.

In addition to how great Amelia and Noah was, I loved all of the side characters, especially all of Noah's sisters. Sarah Adams is great at writing really happy and cute romances that are just fun to read!

This is the first book I have read by Sarah Adams. I was going to rate this 3 stars because I can't stand the grumpy sunshine trope but this book got better towards the end. I was so annoyed at how rude Noah was throughout the book and Amelia annoyed me a little bit as well. I did like to see how their friendship built throughout the book though. It was sweet how the town was protective over Amelia and their own people. I did enjoy this one but it wasn't my favorite book. I look forward to reading some other books by Sarah Adams.

I loved this book. When In Rome was the sweetest and funniest book I’ve read all year. At times, my fave hurt from smiling so hard.

Amelia is a famous pop star who just needs a break from her life.

Noah is jaded and uninterested in love. Even when a beautiful pop star ends up stuck in his house and his town.

-forced proximity
-grumpy sunshine
-opposites attract
-small town
-funny

Rome, Kentucky is the most amazing little town. It has Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls) vibes and just makes you want to live there forever.

I love this town, these characters and the sweetest love story.

I’m not typically a closed door romance reader, but I make an exception for Sarah Adams. This book is perfect!

Absolutely loved this book! It was light, humorous and a cute story. The main character of Amelia had a great personality and role, though it took a few chapters in to warm up to. Being a famous singer it could be expected that she is a little pompous, but on the inside she is quite the opposite. As a Gilmore Girls fan, the inspiration and parallels were a perfect addition to the story and helped give the town a close, homey vibe that the reader could clearly feel. A solid ending, as Amelia was able to focus on herself and Noah could come out of his shell more and more.

Really liked it and easy to get swept up in. It's an engaging romance with a meet-cute that just jumps right in. A little bit Hallmark, a little bit Gilmore Girls, a little bit Roman Holiday. The chemistry and banter is so cute, with the opposite personalities creating delightful interactions. Mostly closed door romance but with a lot of attraction going on. I only wish that Amelia played into the “artist” side more, even though she was taking a break, getting inspired and writing song lyrics increasingly that we the readers could see. It would have connected her two sides more and given extra depth. As it was, I had a hard time seeing her as a Pop Star. And the constant spoken and unspoken "we can't be together because..." started to wane over the entirety of the book. It lost strength and dynamic by the end. But the adorableness of the main characters, added in with the great secondary characters, made up for any lag. It really was an enjoyable read.

* I received a free early e-copy from the publisher