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Monday, August 03, 2020

ROMEANTICALLY CHALLENGED (WHEN IN ROME #1)

Growing up the lone Asian in a community of WASPs, Annie has always felt out of place.  Her solution?  Start a family of her own. Not easy when every man she’s dated, including her ex-fiancé, finds “his person” right after breaking up with Annie. Even worse than canceling the wedding eight weeks beforehand?  Learning the “other woman” plans to walk down the aisle wearing her wedding gown. New plan—find a fresh, man-free start. Too bad her exit strategy unexpectedly lands her working at a hospital in Rome, Rhode Island, rather than Rome, Italy, and sharing a cabin with a big, brooding, and annoyingly hot male roommate.

Home on medical leave after covering a literally explosive story in China, investigative photojournalist Emmitt embarks on his most important assignment—cementing his place in his daughter’s life. Three men and a baby might work in the movies, but with a stepdad and devoted uncle competing for Paisley’s attention, Emmitt has lost his place at the family table. Then there’s the adorably sexy squatter in his cabin, who poses another problem, one he’d very much like to solve up close and personal. But he can’t win—Annie has sworn off men, Paisley’s gone boy crazy, and Emmitt’s estranged father reappears with a secret that changes everything.

Annie and Emmitt are about to discover love comes in many forms, and sometimes the best families are the ones we make.

Release Date: July 28, 2020
Kensington Books
When in Rome #1
Contemporary Romance
Review copy provided by publisher

Liza's Review:

Romeantically Challenged is the first book in the When in Rome series from Marina Adair. I adored this rom-con and can't wait to visit Rome, Rhode Island again.

Anh Nhi (Annie) Walsh was born in Vietnam,  adopted by white parents and grew up in a predominately white community. She has always felt a bit like she was straddling 2 different worlds and not really fitting into either. When her ex-fiancé finds the love of his life not long after they break up, and keeps the venue they were going to use, she decides to head to Rome...Rhode Island, not Italy. She has rented a cabin for her stay and is unpleasantly surprised when the owner, Emmitt Bradley shows back up following an accident in China that puts him on indefinite medical leave, and suggests they become roommates.

I absolutely adored both Annie and Emmitt. Their banter from the moment they met kept me laughing out loud for much of the book. It was so apparent they were insanely attracted to one another from the first, and I loved their journey. They each had to not only learn to trust again, but learn to accept who they each were along the way. I felt like Annie and Emmitt each learned more about themselves as they spent more and more time together. While their romance was a pretty big focus of the book, family was every bit as important as the romance. Emmitt had pretty much created his own unconventional family with his daughter Paisley, her uncle Levi and her step-dad Gray, since Emmitt is estranged from his father. I loved that Annie was able to help Emmitt work on his relationship with his daughter.

Romeantically Challenged was a wonderful rom-con. Ms. Adair gives her readers a roller coaster of a ride where you could be laughing at one moment and crying either happy or sad tears in the next moment. I love stories that pull me in and pull out all the emotional stops, and Romeantically Challenged was just that type of book.


Rating: 4 Stars (B+)

***Marina Adair is offering up one (1) digital copy to one lucky winner. Please comment on this post by Thursday August 6 to be eligible to win.****

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