In the first book in this Italian Escape series, the story was focused on how 75-year-old Ronnie helped a woman named Beth to see life in a new light. In this story, this book also explores Ronnie’s past. We learn how Ronnie came to live in Rome. Also, Ronnie’s daughter Nadia is pregnant, and Ronnie longs for the chance to better her relationship with her daughter, and is very much looking forward to becoming a grandmother. Meanwhile her Rome apartment has a new guest.

This powerful story explores the lives of these women. In fact, although less than 300 pages, this story is well packed. Quite readable, as it was interesting to s learn more about Ronnie, how she navigated her relationship with her daughter, and what her connection to her newest guest was.

Then, factoring in the beautiful backdrop of the story and everything came together flawlessly. Kerry Fisher draws you in to her wonderful characters and it was great imagining myself in picturesque Rome with these wonderful people.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

This is the second installment in the Italian Escape series and this book did NOT disappoint. While the concept of the book was the same as the first one – a British woman comes to stay in the Rome apartment to try and look at life a different way, there was so much more to this one. This book really focuses on the mother-daughter relationship between Ronnie and Nadia. We come to understand Ronnie more and learn more about her background and what made her the way that she is. There is also a surprise twist in the book which made the book even better! This book really touched my heart because my relationship with my mother isn’t the best – she has never accepted some of her shortcomings. And she doesn’t understand my way of parenting as I am trying to break generational trauma. This book gives one hope that being open and honest can help mend that relationship. It really touched my heart. I really hope that there is a third installment of this series. The author did hint at one a bit, and I’m looking forward to it!

Wow! This book is better than the first and unleashes a flood of feels! I do recommend reading the series in order as the first book is absolutely wonderful, but also is a major foundation upon which this story is built. In this book our host in Rome, Ronnie, becomes not only the host of broken women, but unravels the mystery that made her the broken woman that she was/is as well. I said the first book was wonderfully entertaining as well as inspiring and I must say that it also applies to this book. This series, this book in particular, really drives home the point that everyone has their own perspective of life events as each person has their own personality and relationships to the people involved. I read both the first book and this book back-to-back and must say that I am bereft that I am leaving Rome, Ronnie and Marina without a return visit already listed on the docket! While this could easily be just a two-book series, I really, really, really hope the author sees fit to allow us more visits to Rome, Ronnie and Marina!!! Grab these books, a cuppa and cuddle in for a wonderful afternoon or two of entertainment!

Although I didn’t get a chance to read the debut, I was still able to enjoy this one as a stand-alone. Having said that, I do think I will go back and read the first book because there is some backstory to the characters that I think I would have benefited from learning a bit more of going into this one. Overall though, this can for sure be read as is.
There are four women at various stages in their lives in this story: one needing to rethink whether she is in need of a life change while she deals with the wounds of her childhood, one struggling with being ditched for someone else and another dealing with the comes of blind love.
I loved the theme of found family that ran through this story. These women all had various family issues and managed to find each other at a time when they needed it most, some in their twilight years, and became the family they didn’t have. They also learned from each others past mistakes! It’s so easy to try and keep your mistakes hidden, but they brought them to light and made them learning experiences, while not coming across as super philosophical or having it hammered into the reader. And it was funny at times! People tend to think of menopausal (or older) women as sitting around in their rocking chairs with a grumpy face, but not these women! They were active, inspired and insightful.
My favorite quote from the book, although there were several, is probably this one: “ Life can on,y be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

This is a review of the first and second instalment in this series.
I'm always a bit wary of some books set in any Italian historical city because they can be a sort of mix between a tourist guide and a fantasy.
This is not one of those cases, this is a series of poignant and life affirming books with some sad moments and hope.
I love Ronnie, her secrets and lover her guests and how her life can change.
Well plotted and compelling. Ronnie must be a millionaire to own and entire building in Rome but this detail is part of the suspension of belief.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The sequel to the first book, this takes us right back in 74 year old Ronnie’s life. With a daughter Nadia turning out of the blue, heavily pregnant but still acerbic as ever, Ronnie has to steer a path between the past heavily obscured by her daughters view of the past, which was very much in favour of Ronnie’s husband now dead.

As was common years ago, one was stoic about many subjects - unfaithfulness, domestic abuse. There was no recourse, no counselling available and one got on with life. Maybe Ronnie closed her eyes to the infidelity, but in the case of the abuse she thought she did the right thing in order to protect a youngster. In hindsight it was not right but that is neither here nor there.

Now faced with her past in a double whammy she faces not only her own daughter but the girl she protected all those years ago from an abusive father. Will taking sides cause irrevocable damage to the relationship she is craving to build with both her daughter and grand daughter. Is the decision to live in Rome going to create a bigger rift. Can Ronnie move back to England after so many years and live there.

The story of family, sacrifices, questions of how, why and what does one do is eternal. Trying to balance it all is hard sometimes not pleasing to all.

This is the second in this wonderful engaging series based in Rome. I had loved the first in series and enjoyed this next book . Thank you to the publisher, the author and to Net Galley for the opportunity. This next book features Ronnie the owner of a apartment house in Rome near the Vatican. Ronnie has made it her mission in life to open her apartments to women of a certain age starting over in life. She has changed their lives and enjoyed seeing positive changes in her guest. In this book her selfish daughter arrives pregnant and Ronnie is challenged to forge not only a relationship with her but deal with the pregnancy. As she helps her daughter Rome works its magic and both are forever changed.

This is a fun read to find out more about Ronnie and her life in Rome. The author brings Rome alive for the reader. You will feel as if you took a walking tour of Rome and as if you can taste the food . A fun read.

Dredging up past mistakes to heal rifts: moving😣

4-4.5🌟stars
I was really glad to find out more about British expat widow Veronica (Ronnie) in this second novel in Kerry Fisher's Rome Apartment duology. This book roped me in with its strong emotional content as it hops back and forth between the present and the 1970's, from Rome to Cornwall in southwest England. Ronnie's story is very moving as she tries to connect with her resentful daughter, maintain a presence in her new granddaughter's life and deal with her guilt and regrets from a youthful love affair in Cornwall with a married man that ended tragically. Fisher does a realistic job of highlighting the eternal struggles within families when life throws curves to pull them apart.

I did not find Ronnie's daughter Nadia a very sympathetic character but her troubled relationship with Ronnie is understandable as their history is revealed. What caught my sympathies most in this book was the relationship between Ronnie and the young daughters of her "soon to be divorced" lover Eddie and how that affects Ronnie's ability to connect with her husband and daughter. And Ronnie's determination to heal the rift with Nadia. Powerful stuff, all with a backdrop of summer days in beautiful Rome, where each excursion reveals a treasure of art, history or just a piece of joyful living. Even a quiet cemetery!

Although I fully enjoyed this novel I preferred the romance and personal transformation for Beth in The Rome Apartment, the first book in the set. Still, both are great stories that I wholeheartedly recommend.

Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Oh wow, this is the story of Ronnie, and how she came to be living in Rome and what has made her the woman she is.

Ronnie is living in Rome, whilst giving middle-aged British women a chance to rediscover themselves by staying in one of her villas for 3 months, being set tasks by Ronnie and her best friend Marina.

When Ronnie's daughter Nadia shows up one day, pregnant and alone, it really throws Ronnie. Ronnie and Nadia have always had a difficult relationship and with pregnancy hormones running amok as well as Ronnie's deep-seated guilt from the past, it ends up being an emotionally fraught time for both of them. And then there is Annie, their latest UK guest, who has some secrets of her own.....

Such an amazing story, full of connections between women and all those emotions to deal with (or not, as the case may be).

Families, blood and otherwise, are always tricky things to try and navigate.

I think the author does a great job of dealing with all the different personalities and I have to admit wincing a bit when Nadia said certain things because it reminds me of when my own daughter first became a mother.

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

Looking for a story that will take you on a perfect escape from reality and life?
The first book in the series, The Rome Apartment, took us to the most beautiful city in the world, Rome. Secrets at the Rome Apartment continues to take us on a journey through the city of Rome.
A story about women uplifting each other, rediscovery themselves, second chances and trying to fix past mistakes.
Both books are perfect summer reading that I highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Intention and outcome have proved mismatched in Secrets at the Rome Apartment (The Italian Escape Book 2) by Kerry Fisher.

This was a fun read and very atmospheric. It was a good story with an interesting plot and a great locale. It had a solid ending. 75-year-old Ronnie has made it her mission to help women of a certain age rediscover themselves. The owner of a palazzo in Rome, she has left her troubled past behind and reinvented herself in the most beautiful city in the world. And now she helps other women to do the same. Renting out her spare apartment for three months at a time, Ronnie invites her guests to take on a series of challenges that will help them to embrace beauty and joy, to rediscover themselves, and to live their lives to the full.

However, she thinks she can bend the person to her will and shape them the way she sees fit, which doesn't always turn out the way she wants, and it is quite skewed thinking.

Plus, what a great cover. The cover drew me in, and the story and the author's writing style kept me invested.

A good solid book and one I would recommend; 4 out of 5 stars for me.

#SecretsattheRomeApartment #NetGalley @bookouture

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this eCopy to review

I loved book 1 in this series so was very happy not to have to wait to read book 2 and it is just as good. Again it has very positive messages about living your best life, but you have to work hard to find yourself and change it.

This book focuses more on Ronnie's past and why she has such a difficult relationship with her daughter Nadia. Please note this book does feature Domestic abuse which may be triggering for some and difficult family relationships. By the end of the book as all Ronnie's secrets come out, she is able to build a closer relationship with her daughter which I loved

Again the descriptions of Rome are amazing and I loved all the characters. A wonderful read.

This book should come with a disclaimer as once you start reading you aren’t going to want to walk away.
I don't wanna be dramatic, but this book was brilliant.

I liked book 1, and it made a refreshing change to have book 2 in my hands just as quickly.

An unusual timeline with Cornwall featuring heavily. Being Cornish i am always a tad cynical about books in Cornwall, but this worked for me with it being woven in and out.

Sentimental and thoughtful.

This is a nice sequel, The Italian Escape is a good series about women who uplift each other, and more is revealed about Ronnie in this installment, and her relationship with her daughter Nadia. It is a short book, as a huge part of the ARC/ebook is composed of samples for other novels.

The sequel was as good as the debut!

There are four women who hold up the story in this sequel; one needing to recalibrate and assess what she wants from her future while nursing deep wounds from her childhood, one struggling to cope after being left at a precarious point in her life, one searching for her place after being ditched for someone else, and another dealing with the consequences of blind love.

Through these characters, the author explores family, found family, love and second chances. She points out the danger of going along with things, of taking things at face value, of not slowing down to enjoy life, of tethering ourselves to our past when our anchors aren’t what we thought they were, and of the continual need to be right.

Along the way I got
(1) wanderlust to see The Galleria Spada, Borromini’s architectural wonders, and Diavu’s paintings of perspective.
(2) encouragement to build a bonfire of all my mistakes, to excavate all that is good and wise, and fashion something original, true and powerful from the embers.
(3) caught up in giggles (“Two batty old women who think they’re somehow the messiahs of the menopausal.”)
4) inspiration to add a crodino (a Campari without the alcohol) to my summer sipping menu!

🤩Most of all, I LOVED THE THEME OF PERSPECTIVE so tightly woven throughout this spectacular story AND an author who didn’t hammer the theme each time it appeared. When I saw it, I smiled and was thankful that the author left me room to make the connections myself!

Quotes I’m still thinking about:

“For every negative, every thing that annoys us, there is often a positive if we look hard enough.”

“No one ever argued their way to happiness.”

“Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forwards.”

Please tell me there’s a sequel! Worthy of all the stars.

I was gifted this copy by Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

The continue of Ronnie's story. Secrets come to the surface. Good second book from Kerry as she tells more about Ronnie and her daughter Nina. Good sequel.

Secrets at the Rome Apartment, by Kerry Fisher is a first rate family drama, filled with tidbits about life choices and living one’s own to the fullest and especially being honest with oneself about past events. The characters feel real and easy to empathize with. The setting excursions are beautifully done and informative. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.