This one was a bit of a slow start for me. The first several chapters, the pacing felt off to me. Once I got into the story, however, I really started to enjoy it. I had such a hard time accepting Luca as a worthy love interest at first, but he grew on me as the story went on. The character development of both Luca and Story was very well done. I felt very connected to them by the end.

Rating: 4.75⭐️

I absolutely loved this book and the main female and male characters! Both the MFC and MMC had good character arcs, and I enjoyed seeing both of them growing as their relationship evolved. The setting of the book was wonderful, and it ended up being very impactful for both of the character's. One of my favorite parts of the book, was how the MFC and the MMC helped each other with the issues that they were going through, and that they made each other better versions of themselves. I thought that the ending was a perfect way to close the book, and I was very satisfied with how the MFC and the MMC ended up. This book is perfect for summer especially if you're going to be traveling in Europe. I read this book on the plane on my way to Rome and it made me very excited for my trip!🍝🇮🇹

The good:
The book was a quick and easy read and Luca was a good “book boyfriend” who listened to Story, accommodated her needs and stood up for her.

The bad:
Story gives off major “not like other girls” vibes, which made her pretty insufferable at times. Also, I’m not sold on the plot of this book. I have no idea why Luca would be considered famous enough to have paparazzi following him (and by extension Story) or why Story’s friends would recognize him. Additionally, why does he need a “fake girlfriend”? What was he planning to do to keep his relationship with Jasmine a secret before he ran into Story? I have no idea why Jasmine would suggest or agree to the arrangement either.

Somewhat unrelated, but I also find it odd that there aren’t swarms of people at some of these tourist sites in Rome in the middle of summer…

Overall, I thought the writing was pretty good for a debut (there were parts that dragged a bit, but overall I was engaged and it was easy to get through). I would be interested in picking up future books by this author. However, I think this book needed more editing.

2.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

TW: addiction

This book should be everything I love: celebrity romance, fake dating, travel romance and a gender-swapped "Roman Holiday" adaptation. And yet, something just let me down; Don't get me wrong, this novel was still well-written with compelling language that reads quickly. But, something about the characters just lacked a certain sizzle or pop for me personally, like I struggled to connect to them and thus care about their journey. However, as a travel romance, this one is absolutely fun and cute. And the inclusion of Edinburgh just made my heart happy.

A good tale about an interesting couple. The settings are great and the plot fun. While I wish that there had been more conflict before the big moment, I understand that the fairy tale nature of this story perhaps does not allow for such a move. Also, I would have liked to see more of Jack, who had potential as a character. Overall, though, I think this works very well as a young adult novel!

I am OBSESSED with this book!! At first I wasn't sure what to expect, and before I knew it, I couldn't stop reading. I love Story and Luca SO much. I love how everything played out. Perfect, cute YA read! Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for this free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to netgalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Romance for allowing me to read this book. This was such a fun and cute romance.

This was such a fun surprise! When I started this book, I didn’t realize the main characters were so young. My level of excitement dropped for a moment, but I’ll tell you I got sucked into this sweet story so quickly. It had all the feels of the nostalgic Princess Diaries type of stories while being based off Audrey Hepburn’s Roman Holiday.

Story has just graduated high school & is living with her mom in Rome (who works as an attorney for the US embassy) when she runs into Luca, a Scottish heartthrob. Story and Luca end up fake dating for the summer for reasons you’ll have to read about. Their fake dates take you all over Rome, but not to all the expected tourist spots. They spend time together in the lesser known & more locally-known Roman spots and begin to develop a true friendship. But can that blossom into more?

I loved how genuine Story and Luca are in this book. Yes, they’re young. Yes, it’s easy to criticize their ability to know what love really is at their age. That said, it’s a story that is allowed to write its own rules & take you on a beautiful trip through Rome as we get to know these characters. I was transported to all of these beautiful spots in Rome. Even the supporting characters were perfectly written and executed.

This is the perfect book to read over the summer. It would make for an ideal summer vacation read. It’s clean, sweet, and takes you for a beautiful ride.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Books/Delacorte Press for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Be sure to check this book out when it releases in June!

📖 ARC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @getunderlined for an early copy of All Roads Lead to Rome by @sabrinafedel. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Release date: June 18th, 2024

Blurb: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63107018-all-roads-lead-to-rome?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=cXAj2Su4Ok&rank=1

🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑

All Roads Lead to Rome starts with Astoria “Story”, an ordinary girl/daughter of a diplomat, who finds herself involved in a fake-dating scheme with Luca, a Scottish celebrity who’s secretly dating popstar Jasmine; they try to cover up Luca and Jasmine’s secret relationship by Luca pretending to date Story instead, in exchange for Luca funding a scholarship in Story’s dad’s memory. As Luca and Story pretend to date by being seen together by the paparazzi touring all the beautiful sights and devouring all the delicious food Rome has to offer, they get to know each other, and their pretending turns into something friendlier and friendlier (yes, spoiler alert! They fall in love!).

A happy ending aside, I truly enjoyed how Luca and Story lifted each other and gave each other life realizations that they would not have found soon enough if they had not met by chance. Luca has encouraged Story to come out of her shell and has built up her confidence to stand up for herself, which had a huge impact and some girl power towards the end of the novel. Meanwhile, through Story’s optimism and point of view, Luca has realized that there’s more to life than fame and fortune, and this has made him appreciate what life has to offer.

I truly enjoyed how the main characters’ chemistry blossomed from acquaintances to friends, and eventually to romance; their romantic chemistry, although gradual in the making, was heartfelt, but what I enjoyed the most was how much they valued their friendship from the very beginning. I also loved seeing Rome through these characters’ eyes and how much the author has beautifully described some of its hidden gems. It makes me hopeful to be able to travel to Rome sometime soon.

I started out loving the book. But as the story continued it felt unbelievable. I didn’t understand why Luca didn’t just find another girl to date. Why take the same girl out when the thing she’s proposing makes things more intricate than necessary? I did enjoy the history lessons when they’re together but most of the other interactions were lacking. I wish we saw more interaction with her mother because otherwise her life seemed pretty lonely. I was not a fan of the girlfriend being nasty and jealous. It felt cliche and made even less sense why Luca would date her. The ending was sweet but very formulaic. Overall, I liked the story but and would still suggest others check it out but it was only an okay read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the arc.

I enjoyed reading this book, it had everything that I was hoping for in a romance novel. The concept worked well overall and thought the characters were everything that I wanted. I enjoyed the cover and that it left me wanting to read this book. Sabrina Fedel has a great writing style and left me wanting to read more from her. It uses the diplomat element perfectly and I was glad I got to go on this journey with the characters.

As a HUGE fan of Audrey Hepburn and <i>Roman Holiday</i>, I was super excited to get my hands on this book. It’s kind of a gender-swapped reimagining of that movie. Instead of a princess (Audrey Hepburn) and reporter (Gregory Peck), this book follows Story, a regular girl, who fake dates Luca, an influencer.

I absolutely loved the Roman setting! Story, who has been studying abroad there and knows the area reasonably well, becomes Luca’s tour guide and they go to many spots all over Rome. It made me want to book a vacation there! The setting really came to life.

Luca and Story were characters from very different backgrounds, but it was fun to see them get to know each other and see their worlds collide.

This also touches on the subject of addiction, but it felt very surface level, and felt almost out of place in a sweet contemporary like this.

I thought the second half was slower than the first half (which I absolutely flew through), but this was a cute read and I’d recommend it, especially to those who love Rome and/or old movies!


<b>3.5 stars, rounded up </b>

“All Roads Lead to Rome” is an Italian dream! This story will transport you directly to Rome! Story is a relatable main character, as she deals with her snobby classmates, and joins the lives of the rich and famous. It was great to see the character growth during this fun and lively romance!

For those who love:
🛵 Italian setting
🛵 Travel Romances
🛵 He’s Famous, She’s not
🛵 Love Triangle?
🛵 “Roman Holiday”
🛵 Fake Dating
🛵 “The Lizzie McGuire Movie”

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a cute romance, that hits all the feel good parts of my heart. I mean it's in Rome and has a fake dating troupe. I love the imagery and getting the accounts of all these romantic must see places. The slow burn and that butterflies in your stomach feeling when fake feelings turn real just had my heart skipping a beat!

I really enjoyed this YA romance. I thought it was well written and liked all the main characters. I thought this book was so cute. I liked the fake dating scenario. I highly recommend if you are looking for a sweet romance to read. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in return for an honest review!

For a YA novel, this book has fantastic deep conversations about addiction, bullying, and identity. Throw in famous person-regular person, supportive families, and Roma as the background and you have yourself a winner.

Such a cute Young Adult fake dating romance! I'll definitely be rereading All Roads Lead to Rome pretty soon!!😍

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me access to this ARC! I have to admit I was floored on the first page with Story looking out the window from the Keats-Shelley House in Rome because I stood looking out that very same window the last time I visited Rome! Needless to say, I was hooked. The locations (Italy and Scotland) are what drew me to this book in the first place because those are two of my favorite travel destinations, and they didn’t disappoint. I loved the descriptions of the locations, the food, and the clothing. A few moments in the first half were a choppy (short sentences, stilted dialogue) and there are a few typos (I think, or just poor writing?) in this ARC that took my mind out of the story momentarily. The ending was
sweeter than I expected — I was thinking along the lines of Roman Holiday. Overall it was a fun story and the characters were endearing.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND PUBLISHER FOR THIS ADVANCE REVIEW COPY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.

Starting of the book was catchy.  Story, an American girl in Italy is treated like an outcast by her fellows. She is happy living in the shadows and waiting to start university. But a girl can't live like this in a romcom so she bumped into a guy and from there, a fake dating trope started. She doesn't know who this guy is and why paparazzi are always following him (she should've googled but for the sake of the story she didn't). I liked Story and Luca's friendship but not a fan of their chemistry. This book was kind of a roller coaster, I started to like it, but then something happened and I lost track of the story and this pattern kept going on throughout the book. I felt like there were several filler characters. All of the history dumping was not my cup of tea so I skipped a good chunk of that. The book had potential but it got wasted like common sense in this story.

2.7 stars!!!! I liked this book but it definitely fell a little flat for me!! I think I wanted more of the romance and I just didn't get that at like the end. I also wasn't a big fan of luca I feel like I didn't get his personality that much, This book is definitely plot driven then character driven which isn't a bad thing don't get me wrong but it just wasn't my favorite thing!! I think this is a really cute and fast paced romance book if you want something quick!! The girl in this book her name is Story and I thought she was really cute I love the mother and daughter relationship in this book it was so cute!!