As always, Sarah Adams wrote a bingeworthy, delightful, romcom. This closed door yet spicy, and light yet has characters with depth. I love the little Rome, KY community that Adams has created, and my only wish for this book is I would’ve liked a little bit more of the Rome characters she had us fall in love with through the first book. Sarah Adams will always and forever be an auto-buy author for me. The thing I loved most about this book was it felt like Adams was more confident in writing this story, and we were able to see a little more of her personality through these characters. I cannot wait to read her next book in Rome.

Rating: 4/5 stars

I was hesitant to read this as I did not particularly love the first book in this series (When in Rome). To my surprise, I really enjoyed this book. It was very cute (albeit a little predictable), but I appreciated the characters and the character development. Some of the background characters are a little one-dimensional, but the main characters were more fleshed out.

Overall, this was a very cute romance about two people who seem to be opposites (but are they?) coming together.

Fine, but forgettable. "Practice Makes Perfect" is very Hallmark. I suppose the flower shop was a clue. Overall, the story is pretty basic and cliche and the writing is not particularly inspiring.

Lots of telling and not showing, so Annie and Will's relationship is not very engaging or action oriented. Lots of repetitive thoughts and not much character development, especially for Annie. I did like that while Will was not interested in relationships, he is still portrayed as very respectful of the people he dates casually. He is very intentional with his actions and doesn't lead people on.

Heads up: fade-to-black. And while this story is not listed as part of a series, it was very clear that it followed an earlier title - lots of repetitive references to the earlier book that were not relevant to this story.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

omg was I happy to be back in Rome, Kentucky. This book was so freaking perfect I can’t even explain it. Annie and Will were #goals to the max. I saw a lot of myself in Annie and I feel like that’s why I loved this book so much. She’s the quiet, nice one who deep down has a little firecracker in her. Will was the perfect book boyfriend. I loved how patient he was with Annie and how he helped her find that firecracker. I loved the appearances from the sisters, Noah and Amelia. I think their connections made this book even better. I loved how another perfect found their family with the Walker siblings. Will’s quote about being yourself out loud has been stuck in my head since I read it that I wrote it on a post it and put it on my door to read every morning. This book is out now so RUN TO READ IT. I’m so excited for the next Rome, Kentucky story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, and Sarah Adams for allowing me to read the eARC!

Sarah Adams does it again!

We go back to Rome, Kentucky which has easily become one of my favorite small towns.

This is the second book in the When In Rome series. You don’t have to read When In Rome first, but you should because it’s great!

Practice Makes Perfect is told through a dual POV. It follows Annie Walker, who owns the flower shop in town, and Will Griffin. Will Griffin is Amelia’s bodyguard and is back in town for the month to keep Amelia safe due to her upcoming wedding to Annie's brother, Noah.

Annie just wants to find her soulmate. And after a failed first date, she asks for help. Will who doesn’t want love or marriage offers to become her "practice date". Will helps her with tips and tricks on how to be more comfortable on a date. During this they both fall hard for each other.

Annie is one of my favorite characters. She is an introvert that just wants everyone to be happy. I love how she found her true self along the way. I loved watching Will’s walls come down slowly. I am so happy he let Annie in.

My favorite scene was the little league game. I could not stop laughing. All the characters in this book are great!

This is the perfect friends-to-lovers romance with all the Gilmore Girls small-town vibes. Such a great book!

I am so excited for the next book in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is perfection. PERFECTION. Believe me when I tell you I was straight up grinning the entire time. I buddy read this one and our texts back and forth were full-on giddy.

Sarah Adams brings us back to Rome, Kentucky where we last met Amelia and Noah in When in Rome. Annie, Noah’s sister, is the star of Practice Makes Perfect and I think I adore her even more than Amelia. Is that possible?

If you follow Sarah Adams on instagram, you know that she writes romances for the anxious girlies where third act bad behavior doesn’t happen. And as an anxious girlie myself, I thank Sarah for her service. 🫡

Sarah Adams has done it again, folks! When in Rome was amazing, and Practice Makes Perfect just might be even better! I have fallen in love with Rome, Kentucky and I was sad to close the covers on this story at the end. Well, I was reading on my Kindle, so I was sad to turn the last page. It doesn't quite have the same effect, but the sentiment is there, all the same!

I loved reading about Annie and Will. Two total opposites who learned to totally love each other. Annie, girl next door who owns a flower shop, and Will, ex-military and tattooed bad boy, don't seem like they'd go together and Annie was very opposed to it from the beginning. But Will had other plans for her. The wit and banter was strong in this story!

Fake dating is such a popular trope in romance stories, but I loved the spin on it that Sarah Adams wrote - dating practice! Seeing Will with Annie in this way was special. And it was these moments that caused them to draw closer together. Will was super protective of Annie and I love that in a male main character!

Another thing that was perfectly done in this story was the communication. I can't stand a romance novel where the main characters have issues due to a miscommunication...and this is so common. In Practice Makes Perfect, there was plenty of open communication, which helped the story to develop beautifully!

There was a scene in the book - I don't want to spoil anything - but it totally reminded me of a scene from Gilmore Girls when the town had to choose between Luke and Lorelai. And this parallel honestly gave me all the feels!

This book was everything, and I can't wait to spend more time in Rome, Kentucky in the future!

🌷🌷Practice Makes Perfect is absolutely perfect! 🌷🌷

By author; @authorsarahadams

You bet your bottom I paused reading this to look into the pirate romance trope. I adored this book so much. It is a fun lighthearted read that I was able to finish in less than a day. I love how the author is able to quickly give us a little backstory from When in Rome, but moves right into Annie & Will’s story. Absolutely entertaining us from the very opening scene. This is a great spin on the classic Audrey Hepburn movie Funny Face, which of course also happens to be Annie’s personal fav. Will aka William aka Wilbert aka Wilson aka Wildon is a dream of a leading man. His every intention is to accept Annie for the shy nervous awkward perfect woman that she is.

“If some jacka** doesn’t take the time to peel back her layers of nervousness to find out who she really is, he doesn’t deserve to have her when she’s at her most comfortable.” 😍

Gosh, this is the first Sarah Adams book that brought tears to my eyes (in a good way). Annie's feelings hit close to home several times. I loved Annie's journey and growth, and how stupidly William fell in love with her, despite trying to resist.
And here's why I like closed-door romances like this one: it takes unmatchable talent to be able to infuse romance and intimacy in gestures and feelings, and the mundane things without having to take it to the bedroom. Practice Makes Perfect served that and more!
Definitely a keeper!

Thank you to Random House Publishing and the author for the ARC via Netgalley UK. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book! The plot was great and the romance was cute. Would recommend for young adults, cute love story with the normal troupes and was ridiculously adorable

This book was gifted to me by the publisher through NetGallery and all opinions are my own.

#PracticeMakesPerfect #NetGalley

Rome, Kentucky and its nosy little town are at it again in this adorable new RomCom by Sarah Adams. The trope list is epic:
⭐️Friends to Lovers
⭐️Forced Proximity
⭐️Fake Dating
⭐️Bad Boy & Good Girl
⭐️”lessons”/virgin heroine

Dual POV was exactly what this novel needed and getting to know Will Griffin as more than just the “bodyguard” in town from When in Rome (book 1) is what readers were begging for. Sarah Adams delivered! I loved that Will got a story and it’s with “Angel Annie”. Amelia (always obsessed with Audrey Hepburn) sets Will and Annie up for “lessons” so she can find herself a husband eventually. But there’s been some secret pining and the fake dating….. well no spoilers.

SARAH ADAMS DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!!!!! I was such a big fan of the cheat sheet, so when I got to ARC read this one I could not have been more excited and it was so cute. I loved that it had a HEA, and it had Dual POVS, and an adorable epilogue. I don't want to give too much away, but it is so good!

Griffin is peak book boyfriend with his tender heart wrapped in floral tattoos. And his desire for Annie to change absolutely nothing about herself in her quest to become someone different and more exciting. Sarah has written a tender, witty, emotional love story and I adore it to pieces. Will and Annie's journeys as individuals and as a couple were healthy and mature, and I really loved seeing efforts at clear communication and therapy being championed in this story. Honestly, I fell for the bad boy-good girl trope with amazing chemistry between Annie, the girl next door, and Will Griffin, the ex-military, tattooed, emotionally uninvolved, badass bodyguard. Even though they seem like opposites, they find themselves in a pretend relationship to coach Annie to find her future husband, and they are amazingly adorable!

Am I currently in my small-town romance era? yes, yes I am. and Sarah Adams is keeping me here!

“It seems to me, Annie, that we are just waiting for someone to give you permission to be yourself out loud.”

This quote...THIS QUOTE sums up my love for Will...but I'm jumping ahead of everything... let's start from the beginning.

Annie is looking for love...the love her parents had, the type of love she sees around her, and the type of love she reads about it (secretly) in her pirate romance novels. This baby of the family, flower shop-owning, sweet as-pie Annie, is struggling. She feels that she is the reason why she is so bad at dating...it has to be her right?

In comes Will, tattooed covered, commitmentphobe, bodyguard (excuse me an Executive Protection Agent) who is the perfect candidate to teach Annie, and help her practice being better at dating.
What could possibly go wrong? Or better yet, what could go so perfectly right?

This book has quirky small-town side characters that really just MAKE the scene, and really make you want to give up your city life and move to a small town (but not really). There is so much emotional growth in this book that I think everyone could learn from the journey that both Annie AND Will go through.

This book is closed-door, so if that isn't your thing, don't read it. But for me, I honestly didn't mind it, I was more invested in the story of the characters to necessarily need the details of the spice. The banter between Annie and Will is absolutely adorable.

All in all, this book is the perfect book for scratching that small-town romance itch.

Thank you @netgalley and @penguinerandomhouse for the early copy

I didn’t hate the book, but it just seemed very childish to me and extremely naive. I’m definitely ok with fluffy YA romance, but this was cringey to me. The town has a whole meeting of if they should be together? She compares him to a pirate? She said “H-E-Double Hockey Sticks” and they’re 30 years old with a swear jar? It was just a lot of cringe for me. I almost DNF’d but I don’t like to do that with ARCs so I can get the full point of the book in my head for a review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sending this to me for an honest review!

5 ⭐️

I was so graciously given an ARC of this one and let me tell you it’s a 10/10 for me.

Small town Romance
Opposites Attract
Fake dating/Dating Lessons
Emotionally unavailable bad boy
SO much tension and chemistry

I highly recommend you pick this one up!

When in Rome was one of my favorite books from last year so I was so happy to get my hands on this sequel. This did not disappoint! I loved going back to Rome and catching up with the locals - it felt like coming back to see old friends. Annie was a fantastic MC and such kind soul. Will is book boyfriend candidate for sure - who doesn't love a tatted up cinnamon roll?! We definitely will be returning to Rome soon, right @sarahadams?

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy.

This book was a delight. I really enjoyed how funny and sweet it was, and I loved the heroine. I could totally identify with her feeling stuck in how her family and friends all perceived her. She was anxious and kind and real. I would definitely recommend this book to people who like sweet romances, and this is a closed door romance, but very swoony.

Rome, Kentucky, how I missed you! I'm so happy to get back to Rome and reunite with my favorite characters. The main characters, Annie and Will, were introduced in "When in Rome'. Annie is Noah's sister, and she owns the flower shop in town. Will is Amelia's bodyguard... or I mean executive protection agent. Sorry, Will hates when you call him a bodyguard!

Annie and Will pine for each other, but Annie is too shy to say anything about her feelings toward him. Will decides to stay away from Annie because he thinks that he's not good enough for her. When Annie struggles with dating, Amelia comes up with a plan- ask Will to be her dating coach! Although both Annie and Will are initially hesitant about it, they agree to practice date each other.

The tension between the two of them is electric. I love that it was dual narrator so I could see how each of them was really feeling. Will doesn't want a relationship because he grew up with his parents fighting and cheating their way through his childhood. He thinks that all relationships are doomed. Annie wants to find someone special, and she is hurt when she realizes that Will doesn't want that.

As they spend more time together, feelings change and feelings grow. Throughout their time together, both Annie and Will are excellent with communication. It's so sweet how he much he cares about her. Despite his tattoos (which are flowers and butterflies!!), he has a gentle heart that beats with love for Annie. If only he could realize what his feelings mean.

I loved that we got to see more of Amelia and Noah too. Their love story is so beautiful, and I was so happy to spend time with them again.

Overall, I loved Annie and Will- separately and together. Will never wanted to change anything about Annie. He wanted her to be herself, and that's so important.

I loved everything about this book! Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC of this book.

I loved this book so much. It was so adorable I loved the characters, I related to Annie so much. I love the small town and inclusion of Noah and Amelia. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC