Thank you to Dell Romance & NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Beg, Borrow, or Steal is Sarah Adams best work yet!!! Being back in the fictional town Rome, Kentucky is one of my happy places! This story felt real and raw, emotional, deeply entertaining and full of so many LOL moments.

It was so refreshing to read a story with Main Characters who were dealing with and facing so many real life situations/feelings. I really appreciated seeing how they worked through these things on their own, and also together. The banter between Jackson and Emily could set a Forrest fire!! How these two ever thought they hated each other is beyond me, because they were sooo clearly made for each other! I loved watching them go from Rivals to building up a friendship, and eventually fall into a relationship.

I also cannot complete my review without mentioning the GENUWINE PONY MOTORCYCLE scene!!!!! It was everything! I literally reread it 3 times and was cackling!! Also, their entire heist also had me LOLing the entire time.

I’m so excited for everyone to read this in January 2025!

Tropes
❤️Small town Romance
❤️Rivals to friends to Lovers
❤️Feuding Teachers, & secret writers
❤️Neighbors
❤️So much banter

Favorite Quotes
“You think you’re unlovable, but I think I’ve never known how to love until knowing you.”

“I don’t need anything from you other than for you to unlock the door for me so I can come lie with you when the darkness is too heavy to crawl out of. And if you need to fight, you can fight with me.

“You are not alone, Emily. I would walk through my worst memories to get to you every single time.”

Such a cute book, filled with cute chemistry banter and fun. Highly recommend. I found the book to be delightful and i was speeding through it. I love how Sarah brought characters in from the previous 2 books tieing i together and furthering their journey. Steamy and fun filled.

A big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
This book felt like I hug I didn’t know I needed. As an oldest daughter afraid of change, I felt very seen and heard by the FMC. I could not get enough of watching her and the MMC banter while their relationship grew from rivals into to something more and them slowly realizing what they meant to each other. I always love coming back to Rome.

This is the third book in the When in Rome series. They are interconnected small town romances centered around a group of siblings. This installment follows oldest sister Emily and her work rival Jackson. I don't know how Sarah Adams did it but this somehow manages to be even cuter than the last two books. It is also super sexy! Emily and Jackson have been rivals for years yet they're drawn to each other in other ways too so naturally when Emily has a top secret emergency Jackson is the only person she can turn to. There's a lot of hijinks! This was such a fun and happy read! These two are the cutest! They also manage to deal with some big emotional issues in their individual lives that help them to grow together.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC.

This was SO freaking fun and cute and sassy. I loved our two MCs and the enemies to lovers vibes. I also love this series overall and it was good to be back in Rome. A great rom com!

I really enjoyed this third installment of this series! I loved the plot, I loved the bickering. I LOVED THE FAMILY. It just really rounded out the first 2 books for me.

Plus Jack? HELLO. He was irritating but in that enemies to lovers way. Plus I loved seeing him grow and stand up to his father. Like BRAVO!

I really liked Emily and her growth throughout the book. It was great to see her finally know when to step back and take care of herself first.

My one complaint is it felt too long. It felt like the plot could have been resolved earlier.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange of an honest review!

OMG THIS BOOK. I think this quickly became one of my favorites from Sarah Adams. I laughed out loud more times than I could count.

I loved this book and while I hadn't read the first 2 books in the series I will be reading the next one because if its Maddie and James's I WILL 100% READ THAT cause James is hot. So is Jake in this and my book loving heart melted at this story.

THIS WAS SO GOOD! Emily and Jack are the perfect mix of cynical and playful, emotional and lighthearted, enemies and lovers. This is absolutely the best book yet in the series, and gave us plenty of the past couples too. I loved the sibling storylines, and seeing Emily and Jack both confront their emotional baggage. It had snarky emails and texts (obsessed), and the small town dynamics really shine in this one. Chapter 16…. Are you kidding me?!?

Also, honorable mention for *that* closet scene. So ridiculous in a fun way.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

If you like the rest of Sarah Adams’ Rome series, you’ll love this. The chemistry had me kicking my feet from the start and had so much depth to it. Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and Adams teaches a masterclass in it with BEG, BORROW, OR STEAL!

Okay this was so cute. A little YA but the characters are older which is a nice touch. It was a bit of a slow burn which kills me but it was all worth it. It had a great storyline with a few subplots thrown in to make it even more relatable. But I truly really liked it. It was the perfect book that wasn’t too series which made it easy to read. I didn’t realize it’s sorta part of a series so I gotta go back and read the others!!

This book was soooo cute!! I don’t always love the enemies to lovers stuff, but this one was so well done. Their growth as individuals, their banter, and how they found each other was so cute. While book 2 was my favorite of the series so far, this one was a close runner up. I loved seeing the siblings in this book and the small town of Rome. I loved that the two main characters were teachers and book lovers/writers. Overall, such a cute read! Thank you so much to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. RUN do not walk to grab your copy on January 7th!

Emily and Jack are second-grade teachers who have been at each other’s throats since college. Emily is a perfectionist, micromanaging her way through life while secretly battling insecurities and a traumatic past relationship. She’s sworn off romance, convinced she’ll never find someone who truly needs her. Jack, her charming archnemesis with abs that deserve their own subplot, returns to Rome after a breakup. Their rivalry—filled with top-tier banter—has been his one constant, but now it’s starting to feel… different.

The story shines as Emily and Jack are forced to team up (for reasons I won’t spoil) and discover that maybe their lifelong competition masks something deeper. Can they really be friends? Nope, absolutely not. But could they be something more?

Sarah Adams has done it again. She infuses her signature humor and warmth into every page. The When in Rome series keeps getting better—and naturally, I’m now craving Madison’s story. Also, can Mabel get her own book too? Gah, I love that woman. This book helped bring me out of a reading slump I didn’t even know I was in.

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ’ʟʟ ɢᴇᴛ….
❥ Small-town charm
❥ Enemies-to-lovers perfection
❥ A heroine with a secret creative side
❥ Banter so good it should be illegal
❥ Found family vibes that will warm your heart

I absolutely adore the When in Rome series, and Beg, Borrow, or Steal is now my favorite of them all!

I loved every minute of this delightfully slow burning enemies to lovers. It was very evident that even when Emily and Jack hated each other, they actually were teetering the thin line between love and hate. Their banter was always so good and I love the morph from their irritated jabs to their playful ribbing between lovers.
Emily is so relatable as the oldest girl sibling and the moment Jack asked her about what she needed my heart broke along with hers because oldest daughters really are the strongest and I knew exactly how she felt.
Jackson is SWOONWORTHY in the extreme and my new favorite MMC in the series. He’s so soft and gentle and I can totally imagine a hot teacher who wears the jewelry his students make him.
I love how well they fit together and the people they make each other. They show up for each other in exactly the way they haven’t let anyone show up for them. Their relationship is so stable and mature and exactly the kind of romance I find myself seeking to read at my age and stage in life.

Beg, Borrow, or Steal was the perfect addition to this series and I loved going back to Rome, Kentucky with all the Walkers and their kooky town.

Thank you so much to Dell for providing me with this much appreciated and anticipated ARC via NetGalley!
Publication date 1/7/25

Sarah Adams has such a sweet vibe to her books. I I particularly enjoyed this one, with its aspects of learning to become vulnerable. That is hard for a lot of successful independent women, and it was nice to see that represented. The story is sweet, fun, quirky, with a lot of laugh out loud one liners. Spice level is low. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

I loved this book. This was my first time reading Sarah Adams and I immediately added her other books to my TBR list. I had no idea until I finished this book that it was the 3rd in the When in Rome series. I like to go in blind so this was a fun surprise! I loved the relationships between siblings and the small-town story so I cannot wait to read the others.

Initially, Emily was off-putting, a little too aggressive for a likable main character, but the longer I read the more I related to her character. At one point Emily refers to herself as a utility sponge - essentially she's of use to you or she's not. This resonated so much to me in various roles that I hold. Though it's often not intentional, sometimes others make us feel like we are only valuable when we are helping them check a box.

Jack & Emily's dynamic was almost annoying but as the layers were peeled back their stories made so much sense. His narcissist father and Emily's tragic childhood made them into adults who guarded their own feelings and prioritized those around them. Their story was so heartwarming. I certainly hope we get to hear more of them in the future! I would love a book with Madison & James.

The When in Rome series by Sarah Adams will always be a favorite of mine. There is something about them that makes them super bingeable and lovable. Just like the first two in this series, I ate this one right up and could not put it down. This book actually reminded me of Beach Read by Emily Henry. We have college rivals, who are both writers and neighbors. Emily was so relatable: doing absolutely everything for her siblings, not wanting to show emotion, and having to be the best in everything she does. I loved Jack so much. He was fun and brought out the best in Emily has well. They are truly a match made in heaven.

Where to begin ? Sarah, the men you write need to be real. The stories you tell are phenomenal. Every book gets better and better. And I truly don’t know how that’s possible because the previous ones are simply amazing. I would read any scrap that Sarah writes. NetGalley, I don’t know what I did to deserve an ARC of this book, but from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Very sweet story my favorite Sarah Adams series! Enemies to lovers, small town romance. Love Emily’s story and can’t wait for Madison’s!

"You are not alone, Emily. I would walk through my worst memories to get to you every time."

She has done it again. This woman knows how to write a swoony rom-com. To be completely honest, I don't think anything Sarah Adams would or could write would ever disappoint me. She's just that good.

I cannot get over the depiction of Emily and her being an older sister. Being the oldest sister myself, it was refreshing getting to see Emily's thoughts throughout the book. I cried at one point at some of Emily's thoughts- they were too relatable. It is so good to read a rom-com that tackles tough stuff in a way that feels genuine.

I am also one that usually skips the spicy chapters, so even with skipping these chapters, the chemistry and steam was still off the charts amazing!

Rome, KY continues to be my dream town, and I already can't wait to read the fourth book! (I hope we get to read about Maddie falling in love! Lowkey hoping it's James 😏)

Thank you NetGalley for providing me the review copy in exchange for an honest review! 💜