Review: Rome in Love by Anita Hughes

Title: Rome in Love
Author: Anita Hughes
Format: Paperback
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publish Date: August 4, 2015
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "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 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?"

My Two Cents:

Amelia is an up-and-coming actress who takes on the role that Audrey Hepburn had in the very famous movie, "Roman Holiday." Amelia is escaping from a horrible ex-boyfriend who doesn't seem to understand what she wants out of life. While she knows that this film is could be her big break, she is also interested in trying to mend her broken heart. Enter Philip, a journalist, that Amelia falls for. She assumes that he doesn't know who she is and she wants to keep herself anonymous so she builds a backstory about being a maid at a Roman hotel. Philip quickly realizes who she is actually and can't understand why she's trying to hide who she is. This is a fun romance in a fun city that feels like a old Hollywood movie!

Although there are some moments of spiciness in this book, in a lot of ways, this feels like a throwback to some of the more innocent Hollywood romance movies of the yesteryears. You have a woman who wants her identity mistaken and a handsome gentleman who's trying to get out from under the heavy-handed of his very rich father. Another reason that it feels like the old Hollywood romance movie is because the premise is not all that believable. This isn't to say anything bad about the story but you will need a little bit of suspension of disbelief in order to follow through with the story. To me, it seemed a little unreasonable that Amelia thought that nobody would recognize her when she is a young upcoming starlet who seems to be major fodder for all of the tabloids.

I would be remiss to mention the setting. You also have a wonderful setting in Rome, one of my most favorite cities. The setting is to die for. The author did a great job of capturing the romance of Rome between the descriptions of the cobblestone streets and all of the really amazing, delicious descriptions of the various food that the characters eat throughout. The food itself could be another character, which totally makes sense for place like Rome!

Overall, I really enjoyed the romance of this book. This is a fun light read that I know what I'm going to want to go back to. It definitely seems like a good comfort read to me!