Book Review: Rome in Love

Rome in Love 

By: Anita Hughes

★★★

60% out of 100

Teen Book

310 pages

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this from 
St. Martin's Griffin in exchange for an honest-opinion review.
This, however, does not change my opinion in any way, shape, or form. 

Blurb:

When Amelia Tate is cast to play the Audrey Hepburn role in a remake of Roman Holiday, she feels as if all her dreams have come true. She has a handsome boyfriend, is portraying her idol in a major motion picture, and gets to live in beautiful, Italian city of Rome for the next two months. 

Once there, she befriends a young woman named Sophie with whom she begins to explore the city. Together, they discover all the amazing riches that Rome has to offer. But when Amelia's boyfriend breaks up with her over her acting career, her perfect world begins to crumble. 

While moping in her hotel suite, Amelia discovers a stack of letters written by Audrey Hepburn that start to put her own life into perspective. Then, she meets Philip, a handsome journalist who is under the impression that she is a hotel maid, and it appears as if things are finally looking up. The problem is she can never find the right time to tell Philip her true identity. Not to mention that Philip has a few secrets of his own. Can Amelia finally have both the career and love that she's always wanted, or will she be forced to choose again?

With her sensory descriptions of the beautiful sites, decadent food, and high fashion of Rome, Hughes draws readers into this fast-paced and superbly written novel. Rome in Love will capture the hearts of readers everywhere.

What I Thought:

I liked most of the characters, but I was not too fond of our main character, Amelia. I did see character development in Amelia throughout the book, which was nice to see and I sometimes find to be a rare quality in contemporary books. I had very little feelings for Phillip and most of them were pity. I loved Sophie. I loved her giddiness and her extreme bubblyness (is that even a word?) all the time. She was an awesome friend even when she wasn't treated the same way.  I also enjoyed the letters from Aubrey Hepburn. I loved the inside look at her and her personality. I also feel like the book would have been more enjoyable for me if it had been narrated by Aubrey.  The backstage look at the film and the movie making process was also a cool aspect. The pacing was pretty slow, but that is normal for a contemporary/ romance type book. The plot had a good rise and fall, but wasn't amazing. Amelia's romances were one of my main annoyances in this book.  Whit was an annoying character to me, because all he did was try to prevent someone from living their dream. I also saw that Whit was necessary to Amelia's character development. I found Phillip's relationship with Amelia to be unrealistic. Even if you are offered precious money, why would you marry someone after only three weeks of knowing them.

Summary of my Review:

To me this was a romance novel with a few special parts. There were a few parts that I loved, but there were not really enough of those moments.  This book was an easy read and had short chapters, which is something that I love, but this is not something that I would personally recommend.  Rome in Love might suit you if you love romance, but otherwise, I wouldn't read this.