All Roads Lead to Rome is a delightful escape filled with heart, humor, and a whirlwind romance set against the backdrop of stunning Rome. The audiobook does a fantastic job of bringing Astoria “Story” Herriot’s journey to life as she navigates the glamorous yet treacherous world of celebrity dating. The narrator captures Story’s introverted yet determined personality perfectly, making her relatable and endearing. Luca Kinnaird, the charming Scottish celebrity, is equally well-voiced, with his irresistible accent and magnetic presence.

At first, I wasn’t sure what to think of Luca—he seemed a little too slick and perfect. But as the story unfolded, I fell in love with him. He’s full of surprises and depth that I didn’t expect, which made his relationship with Story feel authentic and engaging. Their dynamic is full of fun banter and undeniable chemistry, especially as their fake dating situation turns into something real.

The plot, while somewhat predictable, is elevated by the audiobook’s immersive experience. Rome itself feels like a character, with all the city’s charm brought to life in Story and Luca’s adventures. I could almost taste the gelato and feel the warm Italian breeze. I loved learning about Rome through Story’s eyes!

This is one of my favorite fake dating stories! The emotional depth that is brought to Story’s personal growth, her anxiety about the future, and her budding romance with Luca adds sincerity to the narrative. The pacing is perfect for an audiobook, balancing the lighthearted moments with more intense, heartfelt scenes.

Overall, All Roads Lead to Rome is a charming listen that’s perfect for fans of fake dating tropes, celebrity romance, and those looking for a cozy, romantic getaway—without leaving their headphones.

It wasn't the most amazing book, but I did enjoy most of it. I love the fake dating trope, so I did enjoy that aspect.

All Roads Lead to Rome is an homage to the movie Roman Holiday. Loner Astoria "Story" Herriot, attends an American School in Rome. She runs into Luca Kinnaird as he is attempting to escape from the paparazzi who are chasing him and Jasmine, an international pop star. Story has on the same color dress as Jasmine, so Luca grabs her and has her pretend that she is his tour guide. In exchange for posing as his girlfriend/tour guide, he promises to fund a memorial scholarship for recovering addicts in the name of her late father, who died of an overdose. As Story and Luca attend many society events and tourist attractions, their opposites-attract chemistry kicks in. Story takes Luca to many of her favorite places in Rome and the surrounding countryside, and ultimately ends up accompanying him to Scotland, where she finds out there is more to Luca than meets the eye.

Story has been living in Rome as one of the “Dip Squad,” the kids of the American diplomatic corps stationed in Rome, and she’s soaking in her last summer in the city before starting at Princeton in the fall. One day, as she’s getting gelato on her way home, she gets caught up in Scottish celebrity Luca Kinnaird’s attempts to hide his personal life from the paparazzi. It’s supposed to be a one-time thing, but when the paparazzi assume Story is Luca’s “mystery girlfriend,” she finds herself agreeing to a summer-long fake dating scheme.

As Story and Luca spend the summer exploring Rome, however, they start to develop real feelings for one another (surprise, surprise). But their fake dating scheme is supposed to be hiding Luca’s real relationship with a celebrity who has a huge and loyal fan base, and Story’s future at Princeton could be on the line if she’s discovered to be part of a high-profile international scandal.

This book was a delight. The romance is sweet (and appropriate for a wide range of readers), the banter is fun, and the setting is perfect for an escape any time of year. There are also some subplots about family and addiction that give the novel some depth beyond just a fluffy romance (though we’re here for those, too).

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Delacorte Romance for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

This review will be posted at https://threeheads.works/category/blog/ya-books/ on October 28, 2024.

LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!!! I picked this opposites attract romance up because the cover was cute and I honestly had zero expectations. What I found was a new favorite YA book involving an introverted Princeton bound daughter of an American diplomatic lawyer living in Rome who fake dates and falls for a Scottish member of royalty (not knowing he had a title).

Full of food, Italian sightseeing and tons of paparazzi drama. Perfect for fans of Audrey Hepburn and A Roman holiday. This was great on audio narrated by Teralyn Davis. I have a new auto-buy author and I honestly can't recommend this one enough! Luca was swoony and Astoria (Stori) was a strong, incredibly memorable FMC. HUGE thanks to @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!

CW: parental death from drug overdose, drug addiction

All Roads Lead to Rome is a standalone contemporary YA romance. Astoria is looking forward to graduation and enjoying living in Rome. But when she’s photographed with a celebrity, she finds herself in a spotlight she never asked for. She soon realizes that she might have more in common with the flirty celebrity than she ever imagined. The ending was just chefs kiss and so perfect! I would love to see the author write a sequel or their first year at Oxford together; because I just know they will be off on another epic adventure!

This was cute, it was just a bit boring. I like Story as a character but it felt as if everything was happening to her and she didn't have any agency. I would have preferred if it was dual pov.

I received an arc through netgalley.

loved this romance and her mom wants her to date this guy she has these amazing friends who are all dealing with different relationship issues . loved that she found her way in the job and found love

Astoria finds herself entangled with the rich and famous when she agrees to fake date Luca to help him hide his relationship with a pop star. As she acts as a tour guide for Luca around Rome, they end up getting closer even as they both know Luca's not available and there's an expiration date to their agreement. As the summer comes to an end, Astoria must decide what she wants and what's important to her. Overall, a fun summer read that will take some suspension of disbelief but features great settings.

Another adorable book that's perfect for summer! Not to mention I love a fake-dating trope. I loved both Story and Luca - they were great characters and I loved the development!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really fun book. I enjoyed it a lot. Reading it made me feel like I was on vacation!

All Roads Lead to Rome is the swoony romance we all need this summer. Set in Rome, this sweet story is reminiscent of old Hollywood romances that have you rooting for the main characters to live happily ever after. Watching Story and Luca,s fake dating relationship develop into something more as they explore Rome, attend glamorous parties and events, and share private moments, is pure joy.

Very cute Roman Holliday retelling! Super fun summer read! The scenery, the comedy, the romance! Such a great time!

Thank you Netgalley and Delacorte Romance for the advance copy! Unfortunately, I really struggled to get into this one. I was really excited for the premise but after reading was pretty disappointed with the execution.

I found the characters to lack the depth I was looking for, even in a YA novel. It just all felt very surface level and while the premise is fun and indulgent I tend to like the characters to be more grounded. I struggled with the way the love interest was written, especially his dialogue. He was supposed to be Scottish but his inflections seemed very American, aside from the odd (and very stereotypical) Scottish phrase.

Overall, didn’t end up being my thing, so I wouldn’t recommend.

I loved this book! This was a nice and sweet romance with emotional depth that drew me in and made me feel for the characters. Story was such an enjoyable main character to follow. I adored her bond with Luca, and it was wonderful to watch him encourage her to come out of her shell. The romance, combined with the trip component and character development, made for a very enjoyable read!

A fun, fake dating YA romance set in dreamy Rome, Italy.

Listen, fake dating is a top five trope for me, so I was super excited going in. I was absolutely hooked at the start by how quickly things moved, and was fully on board for the book.

I appreciated looking into the world of the rich and famous, especially in today's era of social media and the monetization of everything possible. It was refreshing to see addiction and substance abuse talked about so openly by the MCs.

That said, this book felt like the definition for "telling" rather than "showing", with much of the plot being told to the FMC, not actually happening to her. The pacing was off, in that some events that were supposedly incredibly significant for the FMC were glossed over, barely two paragraphs, while other conversations and such were drawn out for pages.

I also had a difficult time with the FMc, Astoria "Story" identifying so heavily as "Not Like Other Girls". It felt as though that was truly her only personality trait besides going to Princeton, living in Italy and being vegan. Much of the story just happens to her, with her agency rarely taking affect or mattering in the slightest. Definitely disappointing that she was reduced to so little in her own story.

I enjoyed this book for the most part and am definitely going to read more of Sabrina Fedel's work, but this isn't my favorite.

A huge thank you to Sabrina Fedel, Random House and NetGalley for the ARC!

For a YA love story, I really enjoyed this! I loved all the references to A Roman Holiday (one of my faves) and I would encourage any one who loves this book to watch that movie! This is the perfect companion! All the places they visited made Roma come to life right from the page.

Cute premise but execution wasn’t quite there. There were a few things that didn’t make sense to me: the need to fake date, the need to hide someone in rehab, the other kids not accepting her. Story herself is OK but the constant “she’s not like other girls” gets annoying. The chemistry wasn’t really there and this seemed longer than it needed to be. I loved the setting but the story just wasn’t for me.

Loved this fake dating rom com set in Rome even though it was no Roman Holiday and we'll dealing with a Scottish hero instead of an Italian one.

All Roads Lead to Rome is a standalone contemporary YA romance. Astoria is looking forward to graduation and enjoying living in Rome. But when she’s photographed with a celebrity, she finds herself in a spotlight she never asked for. She soon realizes that she might have more in common with the flirty celebrity than she ever imagined

This was a super cute read. I really enjoyed Astoria in this book - I feel like her anxieties were relatable and I liked her strength. Luca was such a fun, flirty character and I really enjoyed seeing him evolve throughout the book too. Rome is a beautiful city and I enjoyed that it was a setting for this fun book

Overall this was a four star read. I enjoyed the characters and the story, but would have loved some scenes from Luca’s PoV too! This book does touch on some heavy topics so please check triggers if you’re sensitive. This book did have a YA romance plot but no on page smut, so one flame for spice