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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3.5 ☆
”the dream has always been finding someone i love, that i want to spend the rest of my life with. you’re my dream.”
⤳ such a lovely story with amazing character development!
”the dream has always been finding someone i love, that i want to spend the rest of my life with. you’re my dream.”
⤳ such a lovely story with amazing character development!
Sweet love story involving families who lived next door to each other. Loved the Italian castle setting.
Well, hallelujah, a rom-com I can finally award 5 stars! Why, below.
Used both sexually and in her job as a chef, business-minded Anna thinks she'll never be able to escape the long arm of her wealthy ex, whose family owns 3 restaurants she'll probably never be able to work at again. To top it off, he starts bad-mouthing her publicly, calling her a failure in bed. Living again with her dad because she can no longer afford rent, and still traumatized that her mom abandoned her at age 10, she is confused and hurt. No, she's absolutely shattered. Is she at all lovable? Why does everybody seem to abandon her?
Jake, the perennial boy next door, who'd massively irritated her in her early teens, has grown up and come home again after serving 6 months in prison for punching this same restaurateur, who had spread nasty rumors about his sister, Daisy. Because Jake had had previous scrapes with the law (traumatized by his dad's sudden death while they were playing ball when he was 12), he can no longer be the respectable firefighter he'd been, to honor his dad's moral code. He's lost his pride and earned rough edges. He calls prim Anna "Saint Anna." But oh, she is "stacked," "must be double-Ds," he thinks--with glowing olive skin and silky mahogany hair. To Anna's mind, "bad boy" Jake "oozes sex" and knows how to flaunt it; he's had a string of girls and women. When Anna was 18, he was throwing a party in his mom's absence, and Anna alerted her dad after hearing a girl scream, because Jake's sister was only 16. Turned out, said girl wasn't in any danger; she was merely in the throws of great sex- with Jake. Then there's the complication of her dad, the former chief of police, who'd had a lot of police contact with Jake in the past.
Anna decides to be fierce rather than faint--or maybe she's just foolish?--she begins researching dream jobs. There's one in Lake Como, Italy; there's a castle (with turrets!) in need of a chef and caretaker. She even speaks Italian, as it was her mother's native country (and likely she's still living there, somewhere.) Sadly, a couple is required.
Jake has only low-paying gigs doing small residential repair jobs, mostly for homeowners who shun him as a person because of his record--and don't pay him to scale. He needs to get away somewhere. As they both need to escape, Anna comes up with the notion they should fake being a couple to take the job. Gobsmacked, he reluctantly agrees.
And the rest is the classic tale: from aversion to ardor. So. Why does it rate 5 stars? There's no mention of squirting pussy, or any other colloquial, sex language, no intimate descriptions of his dick, no loving the taste of her like honey (although oral sex is subtly implied). She doesn't secretly desire to be spanked. He makes no demands of her sexually, he doesn't dictate--or even mention--what SHE should do for HIM. He doesn't speak to her as though she's his baby. In bed, they are truly equals. Their sex lives remain essentially private. This leaves the door open to imagination--always better than step-by-step exposition, as sexual proclivities vary widely. (I was once shocked to read a rom-com graphically describing the use of anal plugs.)
But. The very best part is, while Freeman avoids the most common pitfalls of rom-coms, she focuses in on what's most true about genuine love: as when his finger thoughtfully strokes her cheek and he plants a soft kiss there, or cups her chin to kiss her forehead, or the top of her head. Or simply how he touches her even when people are around, not aggressively, not sexually, but simply as a part of who they are. It's not about sex (although they have a lot of that!)--it's about real tenderness.
Long after the sex gets old, when two people love each other, what remains, hopefully--and perhaps rarely--is tenderness.
I find essential tenderness to be the missing element in most rom-coms. Here, the author allows tenderness to flourish as the main ingredient in the feast of love. Sympatico!
Used both sexually and in her job as a chef, business-minded Anna thinks she'll never be able to escape the long arm of her wealthy ex, whose family owns 3 restaurants she'll probably never be able to work at again. To top it off, he starts bad-mouthing her publicly, calling her a failure in bed. Living again with her dad because she can no longer afford rent, and still traumatized that her mom abandoned her at age 10, she is confused and hurt. No, she's absolutely shattered. Is she at all lovable? Why does everybody seem to abandon her?
Jake, the perennial boy next door, who'd massively irritated her in her early teens, has grown up and come home again after serving 6 months in prison for punching this same restaurateur, who had spread nasty rumors about his sister, Daisy. Because Jake had had previous scrapes with the law (traumatized by his dad's sudden death while they were playing ball when he was 12), he can no longer be the respectable firefighter he'd been, to honor his dad's moral code. He's lost his pride and earned rough edges. He calls prim Anna "Saint Anna." But oh, she is "stacked," "must be double-Ds," he thinks--with glowing olive skin and silky mahogany hair. To Anna's mind, "bad boy" Jake "oozes sex" and knows how to flaunt it; he's had a string of girls and women. When Anna was 18, he was throwing a party in his mom's absence, and Anna alerted her dad after hearing a girl scream, because Jake's sister was only 16. Turned out, said girl wasn't in any danger; she was merely in the throws of great sex- with Jake. Then there's the complication of her dad, the former chief of police, who'd had a lot of police contact with Jake in the past.
Anna decides to be fierce rather than faint--or maybe she's just foolish?--she begins researching dream jobs. There's one in Lake Como, Italy; there's a castle (with turrets!) in need of a chef and caretaker. She even speaks Italian, as it was her mother's native country (and likely she's still living there, somewhere.) Sadly, a couple is required.
Jake has only low-paying gigs doing small residential repair jobs, mostly for homeowners who shun him as a person because of his record--and don't pay him to scale. He needs to get away somewhere. As they both need to escape, Anna comes up with the notion they should fake being a couple to take the job. Gobsmacked, he reluctantly agrees.
And the rest is the classic tale: from aversion to ardor. So. Why does it rate 5 stars? There's no mention of squirting pussy, or any other colloquial, sex language, no intimate descriptions of his dick, no loving the taste of her like honey (although oral sex is subtly implied). She doesn't secretly desire to be spanked. He makes no demands of her sexually, he doesn't dictate--or even mention--what SHE should do for HIM. He doesn't speak to her as though she's his baby. In bed, they are truly equals. Their sex lives remain essentially private. This leaves the door open to imagination--always better than step-by-step exposition, as sexual proclivities vary widely. (I was once shocked to read a rom-com graphically describing the use of anal plugs.)
But. The very best part is, while Freeman avoids the most common pitfalls of rom-coms, she focuses in on what's most true about genuine love: as when his finger thoughtfully strokes her cheek and he plants a soft kiss there, or cups her chin to kiss her forehead, or the top of her head. Or simply how he touches her even when people are around, not aggressively, not sexually, but simply as a part of who they are. It's not about sex (although they have a lot of that!)--it's about real tenderness.
Long after the sex gets old, when two people love each other, what remains, hopefully--and perhaps rarely--is tenderness.
I find essential tenderness to be the missing element in most rom-coms. Here, the author allows tenderness to flourish as the main ingredient in the feast of love. Sympatico!
With "fake relationship" one of my big favourite romance tropes, it's no surprise that I enjoyed following Anna and Jake to the Italian castle where Anna's dream job and Jake's chance to escape a bad reputation led them, pretending to be a couple when they could barely tolerate each other.
Usually with that trope, I particularly like the part of story in which the relationship is still fake, and it was like that with this book but still, it suceeded in keeping me interested after that, both because I had grown very attached to the characters by then and because I was curious to see how the now real couple's employers and new friends would react when the secrets would be revealed. So I really enjoyed the whole story.
Merged review:
With "fake relationship" one of my big favourite romance tropes, it's no surprise that I enjoyed following Anna and Jake to the Italian castle where Anna's dream job and Jake's chance to escape a bad reputation led them, pretending to be a couple when they could barely tolerate each other.
Usually with that trope, I particularly like the part of story in which the relationship is still fake, and it was like that with this book but still, it suceeded in keeping me interested after that, both because I had grown very attached to the characters by then and because I was curious to see how the now real couple's employers and new friends would react when the secrets would be revealed. So I really enjoyed the whole story.
Usually with that trope, I particularly like the part of story in which the relationship is still fake, and it was like that with this book but still, it suceeded in keeping me interested after that, both because I had grown very attached to the characters by then and because I was curious to see how the now real couple's employers and new friends would react when the secrets would be revealed. So I really enjoyed the whole story.
Merged review:
With "fake relationship" one of my big favourite romance tropes, it's no surprise that I enjoyed following Anna and Jake to the Italian castle where Anna's dream job and Jake's chance to escape a bad reputation led them, pretending to be a couple when they could barely tolerate each other.
Usually with that trope, I particularly like the part of story in which the relationship is still fake, and it was like that with this book but still, it suceeded in keeping me interested after that, both because I had grown very attached to the characters by then and because I was curious to see how the now real couple's employers and new friends would react when the secrets would be revealed. So I really enjoyed the whole story.
3.5 stars
I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a quick, easy romance read, especially if you’re travelling or going on holiday to Italy.
This book includes a few of my fave tropes - enemies to lovers, fake relationship and forced proximity.
I really enjoyed how their relationship developed and how they supported each other while working through their traumas.
This story is definitely more focused on their relationship rather than plot, but it’s still a really cute read.
I loved that the book was set in a castle in Lake Como, it was such a beautiful setting and it was described so well that I felt transported there.
I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a quick, easy romance read, especially if you’re travelling or going on holiday to Italy.
This book includes a few of my fave tropes - enemies to lovers, fake relationship and forced proximity.
I really enjoyed how their relationship developed and how they supported each other while working through their traumas.
This story is definitely more focused on their relationship rather than plot, but it’s still a really cute read.
I loved that the book was set in a castle in Lake Como, it was such a beautiful setting and it was described so well that I felt transported there.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
Kathryn Freeman has done it again. I always just end up falling in love with her characters, Anna and Jake were no exception! I loved them both from the minute they were introduced and loved going between each character as the narrator.
The side characters were written so brilliantly as usual too.
Can't wait for Kathryn's next book!
Merged review:
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
Kathryn Freeman has done it again. I always just end up falling in love with her characters, Anna and Jake were no exception! I loved them both from the minute they were introduced and loved going between each character as the narrator.
The side characters were written so brilliantly as usual too.
Can't wait for Kathryn's next book!
Kathryn Freeman has done it again. I always just end up falling in love with her characters, Anna and Jake were no exception! I loved them both from the minute they were introduced and loved going between each character as the narrator.
The side characters were written so brilliantly as usual too.
Can't wait for Kathryn's next book!
Merged review:
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
Kathryn Freeman has done it again. I always just end up falling in love with her characters, Anna and Jake were no exception! I loved them both from the minute they were introduced and loved going between each character as the narrator.
The side characters were written so brilliantly as usual too.
Can't wait for Kathryn's next book!
lighthearted
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
Anna's life has just turned upside down. She broke up with her boyfriend after she caught him cheating and lost her job and house at the same time. Back at her father's house, she looks for the dream job. And she finds it. Management of the gorgeous castle on the shore of Lake Come. Only, the owners want to hire a couple. There is someone she could ask, Jake.
Jake was her neighbour, but they never got along. He has had a tough past few years and going away to Italy for a while doesn't sound so bad.
At first, it's hard to pretend, but the more they talk, the more they connect and the sparks fly.
It's a fun fake to real romance, but that wasn't my favourite part. I loved the dialogues and the way they communicated. They butted heads a lot and were mean to each other, but somehow they worked out all of their issues- talking, apologising, and making up for the mistakes. (It's so rare to see that in books...)
Anna and Jake were both very well developed, they had depth, flaws and weaknesses, quirks, and past,... and it made them pop out of the pages, it made them real and I was rooting for them from the start.
Highly recommend!
Thank you Netgalley and One More Chapter for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Jake was her neighbour, but they never got along. He has had a tough past few years and going away to Italy for a while doesn't sound so bad.
At first, it's hard to pretend, but the more they talk, the more they connect and the sparks fly.
It's a fun fake to real romance, but that wasn't my favourite part. I loved the dialogues and the way they communicated. They butted heads a lot and were mean to each other, but somehow they worked out all of their issues- talking, apologising, and making up for the mistakes. (It's so rare to see that in books...)
Anna and Jake were both very well developed, they had depth, flaws and weaknesses, quirks, and past,... and it made them pop out of the pages, it made them real and I was rooting for them from the start.
Highly recommend!
Thank you Netgalley and One More Chapter for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.