Guest Post - When In Rome... by Robert Enright - Rome Week

Rome was a city I had always wanted to travel to. As a big lover of Italian food and beer, I wanted to gorge myself, whilst also seeing the wonderful sights such as The Colosseum, the Vatican and the Roman Forum. So I took my partner for her birthday in 2015 and it was absolutely brilliant.

Now straight away, we were conned. That’s right, due to our lack of research, we didn’t realise how easy it would be to get to our hotel from the main train station. Instead of a 10 minute, 6 Euro train ride, we got swindled by a cabbie for 35 Euro’s. You live and learn!! It didn’t detract from what an unbelievable few days we had.

After checking in, we walked a few streets to a small, local pizza house and had dinner. Sat on the roadside, watching Rome tick by and eating genuine, Italian pizza was lovely. Add a pint of Moretti and I was laughing. We then proceeded down towards the Vatican, the massive buildings hidden by the surrounding walls. Whilst Sophie suggested we go straight ahead, I was sure we would get there quicker if we went right. I was wrong. We ended up walking the entire way round the Vatican, before we made it, the sun having set and Sophie reminding me she was in the right. Still – it was beautiful!

The next day was Sophie’s actual birthday so we hopped on an early train and had breakfast opposite the Colosseum. The heat blazed down upon us all as we wandered around the incredible structure, our guide was a small, overly animated Italian woman that we wanted to keep. The tour was fascinating and I would recommend it to anyone who goes to Rome. The sheer size of the building is incredible. The tour also took us to The Roman Forum, another brilliant march through history. The old city, reduced to rubble, is the perfect setting for a gothic horror book. Hmmm….

Once we finished that tour we headed back to the city centre, only to find the always beautiful Trevi fountain covered in scaffolding. Not to be undone, we marched up the Spanish Steps and had some lunch just outside The Pantheon. The tourist dream come true! The true highlight however was hiring Segways and racing each other through the massive park at the top of the hill, annoying Sophie with my endless video’s of me being an irritating travel presenter. 

We spent our final evening strolling through the city, stumbling across an evening market and some bizarre drama show in the park. We had dinner at a lovely little restaurant down a side street, where a live violinist played and demanded money. With a heavy heart, we left the next day but made a promise to return one day.

If you haven’t been to Rome, go! It’s so beautiful (although I was stunned at how much graffiti there was) and there is so much to see. As an author, I am doing my level best to set a book in this city, as the architecture and the landmarks are second to none! I fell in love with Rome, and I always knew I would. (Although we did have Gelato twice a day, every day. So maybe my waist line didn't love it that much!)

Sounds like your partner and you had a wonderful trip to Rome, and I feel as though we were there alongside you. Thank you for sharing Rob.

About Robert Enright

Born and raised in North West London and now residing in Hertfordshire, Robert Enright has been writing for over 10 years. His debut novel – ONE BY ONE – was self published on Amazon in March 2015, receiving critical acclaim and was nominated for Books Go Social Book of the Year 2015. The violent, revenge thriller gave Rob a path into crime fiction, but the constantly embraced geek within him went a different way.

2016 will see the release of DOORWAYS – published by Urbane Publications – the first in the Bermuda Jones series, a dark sci-fi about an agency dealing with the threat of a parallel world. He can’t wait to write the whole series – if he can put down his Xbox controller or his Nerf Guns!


Follow Rob on Twitter https://twitter.com/REnright_Author
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robenrightauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robenrightauthor/
Purchase - Doorways: Jones Case File - http://amzn.to/2kwATbc

Book Review - Roman's Having Sex Again by Nikki Ashton - Rome Week

Well it wouldn't be one of my feature week's without at least one book that is tenuously linked to the theme, so when I was offered the chance to review and take part in the release day blitz for Roman's Having Sex Again, I just couldn't resist. After all, Romans are from Rome....once you have finished groaning, please enjoy my review! 

Amazon UK

Title: Roman's Having Sex Again

Author: Nikki Ashton

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Author supplied review copy

Publisher: Self Published

Publication Date: 28th February

Rating: 4 Stars

"My life is shite, and more boring than an iced finger – it’s basically bread for goodness sake; where’s the cream? To top it all off my boss, Roman ‘The Ego’ Hepburn, hates me."

Summer James has suffered a devastating change to her life, one that could shape her future and to make matters worse she now has a new boss. Not such a major problem, some would think, but that boss is Roman Hepburn. He's rude, grouchy and impatient and has a damn fine ass!

Very quickly her feelings for the dark, brooding, Roman change and it soon becomes evident that some highly charged sexual tension has been bubbling under the surface, and Roman makes it clear that he intends to make Summer his.

Will Roman succeed in getting the girl, and if he does will he succeed in keeping the girl? Or will circumstances and Roman's hilariously strange, but loveable family, send Summer tottering to the hills on her six inch heels?

This is a sexy, fun romance with some laugh out loud moments. Full of quirky characters, broody men and feisty women you won't be disappointed.

This book contains some sex scenes and bad language

Great mix of humour and a romance brimming with sexual tension, in addition to a storyline with far more serious undertones. 

As the first book I have read by this author, I really had no idea what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I enjoyed this book. The interactions between Roman and Summer were fabulous right from their first meeting. It was clear there was a spark of attraction between them, but then Roman turned into a nightmare boss, and Summer had to fight her growing feelings for him. 

The story is written in an easy to read style, and the author has come up with some fantastic characters. My favourite characters just for the humour involved with them are Roman's parents. The first time they meet Summer will definitely raise a laugh or two, and had me smiling, while also cringing in embarrassment for Roman. 

In fact Roman's mother is the one that comes out with the memorable line, in celebration, that has become the title of the book. To give you an idea her name is Twinkle, and she named her children after things to do with Audrey Hepburn, which when you discover certain facts becomes hilarious. 

There are some more serious topics in the story too, including Summer's health worries, and the secret that makes Roman the way he is. I won't go into any more detail, but it is always good to see a bit of depth in a romance novel, and this definitely gives it a slightly grittier edge. 

Overall though Roman's Having Sex Again is a relatively light hearted and easy to read romantic comedy, with plenty of sex, some great sibling dynamics, a bad guy, a few secrets and generally all around good feel to it. 

Thank you so much to Laura Barnard for this copy of the book which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

BIO

Nikki lives in Cheshire with her husband, two dogs and lovely mother-in-law who supplies her with endless cups of tea. She writes romance with a touch of humour and lots of love, and hopes that she puts a smile on her reader's faces. Her ambitions of becoming a writer started at the age of 10 when she started writing poetry at school, and was given the honour of reading one of her poems to the rest of her year group (a truly embarrassing experience that she will never forget).
Nikki is grateful for the wide variety of strange and wonderful people in her life, otherwise she'd never know what to write about! She is currently talking to family and friends, finding out their innermost secrets in readiness for her next book.

Although all Nikki's books are stand alone stories characters do make 'guest

appearances'. So, the best order to read them is:

Guess Who I Pulled Last Night

No Bra Required

Get Your Kit Off

Rock Stars Don't Like Big Knickers

Rock Stars Don't Like Ugly Bras

Rock Stars Do Like Christmas

Cheese Tarts & Fluffy Socks

Goodreads link - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33918586-roman-s-having-sex-again?from_search=true

Head on over to Nikki's facebook page to enter her giveaway - https://www.facebook.com/NikkiAshtonBooks/

CONNECT WITH NIKKI
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/NikkiAshtonBooks/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/NikkerAsh
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nikkiashtonauthor/
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7085471.Nikki_Ashton

Pinterest - https://uk.pinterest.com/davnikash/

Guest Post - All Roads Lead to Rome by Nicky Wells - Rome Week

When I was younger, I used to hang out in Rome with my friends. That sounds cool, huh? Like I had the jetsetting lifestyle and all that. You couldn’t be more wrong. “Rome” was a café-bar-cum-ice-cream-parlour down the road from where I lived. It opened up one day when I was about eleven. Overnight, the front of a pretty ordinary 1960s shop acquired a lime-wash, marble pillars, and a green vine trailing its way towards the first-floor windows. The marble was fake, but the vine was real.

And inside—wow. The old folks said the place had some kind of identity crisis, didn’t know what it wanted to be: Café? Bar? Ice-cream parlour? But my friends and I, we thought it was marvellous. As you walked in, you were greeted by a large counter groaning under the weight of pastries. Further back, the bar was made of shiny dark mahogany, with glass shelves full of Italian beers, wines and fancy liqueurs. At the far end, the ice cream counter offered flavours of “gelato” that nobody had ever seen before or knew how to pronounce. Stracciatella soon became my favourite.

The place was furnished with rickety, mismatched wooden tables and chairs without table cloths, and the walls were beige-washed. I say that because the colour was irregular, like a white-wash, except it wasn’t white and it wasn’t brown. It should have looked dirty and horrible, but it was amazing, especially with all the hanging baskets of flowers and the artful patterns of tiny coloured tiles and mirrors.

Pretty soon, Rome was where we congregated to do our homework. Rome was where we went on our first dates. Rome was where we drowned our first heartaches in ice cream. And Rome was where we had our first, totally illegal, taste of alcohol when Joe—short for Giovanni—made us his special Limoncello ice cream cocktail on our fourteenth birthdays. It was heavy on the ice cream, and the Limoncello only made a token guest appearance, but we loved it.

Joe was the beating heart and soul of Rome. He and his wife Anna owned the place. They were from Italy, and their English was broken (if you wanted to be generous) to non-existent (if you were brutally honest). Yet somehow, we managed to communicate, and it was Joe who listened to our woes, Joe who advised us how to fix arguments and bikes, and Joe who straightened out our mathematical confusion. In Rome, we listened to Italian music, twisted our tongues around some basic Italian phrases, tried out Italian coffee, and feasted on Italian pastries and bread.

And then, as abruptly as it had opened, Rome disappeared. One day, the place was boarded up, and Joe and Anna were gone. Just like that. 

Needless to say, we were bereft. Tears were shed and desperate attempts were made to trace Joe and Anna, but it was as though they’d never existed. The whispers started—about how Joe and Anna had been illegals, had been spies, criminals on the run, mobsters, you name it.

Me, I was grieving and angry. How could Joe and Anna leave like that, without a word, like our friendship didn’t mean a thing? In time, the grief and anger turned to sweet nostalgia. If it hadn’t been for Rome, I’d have probably never thought of leaving the village. But the glimpse of another world proved irresistible, and I applied to uni in London. I became a translator and interpreter, Italian being one of my six languages, and I travelled a lot. It was because of Rome that I saw the world before I settled back in London with a husband and—later—two kids.

Imagine my surprise then when twenty years later, on a business trip to Rome—yes, the actual place—I stumbled across a place called “GiovAnna’s”. Marble pillars outside, a vine trailing up the front, and, just visible from my vantage point on the road, a counter groaning under the weight of pastries.

I stood there, on the Vicolo dei Modelli, just round the corner from the Trevi Fountain, in the glaring heat of noon in the middle of July, and time and space slipped away from me. My heartbeat skittered and fluttered as flashbacks assaulted me hard and fast. Could it be?

Hesitantly, I stepped over the threshold. The inside was larger, much larger, than I remembered—but of course, I didn’t remember this place at all. Yet, the furniture and beige-wash and colourful tiles were all the same. The place was busy, evidently popular with tourists, and my eyes scanned the bar impatiently. Disappointment lodged in my throat when the barman turned out to a young woman, and the ice-cream server a teenager.

“Mia Bella! At last!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when a hand alighted on my shoulder and I found myself being gently spun around. I locked eyes with Joe, a much older version of himself, but his voice hadn’t changed.

“Mia Bella,” he repeated. “You found us. What took you so long?”

I shook my head. “Why did you leave? You didn’t even say goodbye!”

“You learned our language!” Joe broke into a big smile at my Italian phrases and continued our conversation in his native tongue. “And I’m sorry we left. That’s a long story. Come.”

He took my hand and led me towards a table at the back. He sat me down, ordered some food, and summoned Anna. And at last the story emerged. As a young woman, Anna had witnessed a vicious crime. She had given testimony at trial, and then she and her husband had fled the country that very same night after a policeman warned them they wouldn’t be safe. They went to France, but that wasn’t far enough. Therefore, they decided to hide where no-one would expect them, namely in rainy old England. They picked an obscure place in the middle of nowhere and poured what little money they had in a small eatery. They laid low for six years, but they got ratted out again. They went to Denmark next, and then to Hungary. It was only a year ago that they finally received the all-clear and settled back in Rome.

“It was worth it,” Anna offered quietly. “Justice was done, we are still alive, and we made many friends along the way. And now we have this.” She made an effusive hand gesture and smiled.

“And this.” Joe pointed towards a pinboard covered in smiling faces, all with names and dates. “Our friends, they keep finding us, and they tell us stories of their lives. Now’s your turn,” Joe smiled. “What brought you to Rome?”

What a fascinating story Nicky, and its really made me smile. I love that you have shared this with us as part of Rome Week!

Cat Hope doesn’t want to go to prison. She needs a job, and she needs it fast: judge’s orders.

Kay Mahon, office worker by day and hacker by night, is on the run from a past life that he’d rather not remember.

When their paths cross, they discover that the night that derailed Cat’s future nineteen long years ago also changed the path of Kay’s life. Confused and intrigued, they begin to investigate the truth behind the deaths of the successful rock star couple Jackie and Adam Hope. Little do they know that their quest is putting Cat in grave danger. 

Purchase Dead Hope on Amazon UK or Amazon US

About Nicky Wells: Love & Thrills

Nicky Wells writes captivating romance and breathtaking thrillers featuring famous (or infamous!) feisty heroes and extraordinary villains. DEAD HOPE is her eighth book and the first published novel in her “Wake Up Dead” themed thriller series, with the next two books scheduled for release through the course of 2017 and 2018. Nicky has previously published seven works of romantic fiction both with US publishing house, Sapphire Star Publishing, and independently.

Born in Germany, Nicky moved to the United Kingdom in 1993 and currently lives in Lincoln with her husband and their two boys. She loves listening to rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters. When she’s not writing, she’s hopelessly addicted to reading crime novels by the truck load.

Nicky’s books: Sophie’s Turn | Sophie’s Run | Sophie’s Encore | Spirits of Christmas

| Fallen for Rock | Fairy Tale in New York | Seven Years Bad Sex

Join Nicky: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon | Goodreads | Pinterest | Google+

Book Review - To Rome, with Love by T. A. Williams - Rome Week

Amazon UK

Title: To Rome, With Love

Author: T. A. Williams

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: HQ Digital

Publication Date: 17th February 2017 

Rating: 5 Stars

Escape to Italy this summer with this fabulously feel-good beach read!

A summer of second chances…

Just a week before her big day, Sarah returns home to find a note from her husband-to-be – the wedding’s off! So when her boss decides to send her on an epic cycling trip, from Venice to Rome, it seems like the perfect distraction…

Although she never expected the distraction to come in the form of her oh-so-handsome, but slightly serious, cycling companion, Miles. And with still 600 miles of beautiful scenery, mouthwatering food and delicious wine yet to cover, anything could happen!

Pure joy to read, this is without a doubt one of my favourite T. A Williams books of all time. It combines in the perfect ratio, a lot of the elements I love in a book in just one compact parcel.  Let's see well there is Italy, a cycling holiday, mouth watering food, romance, chocolate labradors, and some really good characters, which combined make To Rome, With Love a winner in my eyes. 

Sarah is the space of a couple of weeks goes from her wedding being called off a week before, by a note no less, to a week after when the wedding was going to be, in Italy leading a group  of tourists on a Venice to Rome cycling trip. She has guided holidays in the past and speaks fluent Italian, and not only that is a keen cycler. 

What could be good, or could turn out to be a disaster are her brand new bosses coming along on the trip too, brothers Miles and Paul hall, who are both gorgeous, but with quite different personalities. 

The group of people on the trip thankfully are all really good cyclers and have a great mix of personalities, and nationalities. Sometimes on group holidays you will just have arguments galore but this group seemed to get on and were all really supportive of each other. 

What brought this book alive though was the trip itself, with the descriptions of all the little towns and villages that Sarah and the group travel through and stop in on the way to Rome. I feel as though I know a lot more about that part of Italy now, and although I may have heard of some of the places featured, I had never known about others, but now have a good picture in my mind of them,. 

Miles was brilliant at providing additional information at some of the places, such as the history, or restaurant recommendations. Just about everything eaten by the cast of this book on this trip sounded delicious, and left me really hungry. There was seafood in more coastal towns, to a menu of assorted pasta dishes in Ravenna. 

If you are a fan of T.A. Williams you may by now have spotted that the majority of his books feature a chocolate labrador somewhere in them. Now obviously having a dog going along on an epic bike ride would not have been practical, instead there is a gorgeous pair of black labs featured, and they are very gentle and utterly adorable, and featured quite heavily while they were around! 

Given this was a holiday, as well a a charity  bike ride, it probably comes as no surprise that some new romantic attachments were formed between some of the characters, and they were all lovely to hear about. Nothing in huge details, but definitely some potential romances that may last past the end of the trip. 

From Venice, to Rome, this is many kilometres of pure pleasure to read, travelling alongside Sarah and her group, with T.A Williams trademark easy to read writing style and just all around good summery feeling emanating from this book.  However even this wonderful story couldn't change my mind about one thing....my preferred method personally of going from Venice to Rome, is still cruise ship, which is far more relaxing, and you can still get great scenery! 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and HQ Digital for this copy of the book which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Fab Firsts - Q&A with T.A. Williams - Rome Week

Fab Firsts is my new regular Sunday feature, that is going to be highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives. When reviewing books for this feature, there will be a mix of debuts, first books in a series, the first time I read an author, and possibly other firsts depending on what I can think of!

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts, while making some sort of dent in my review and paperback TBRs which are my current main focus!

Today on Fab Firsts, I’ve got TA Williams, otherwise known as Trevor Williams. You may already know his What Happens… series, romantic comedies set in all sorts of lovely parts of the world. This month sees the publication of Trevor’s tenth book, To Rome with Love and, as the title implies, it’s set in sunny Italy. This book marks the start of a new series of To ??? with Love and he’s going to tell us a bit more about it here.

1. Can you tell us a bit about this first book in the new series?

First of all thanks, as ever, to you, Rachel for the support you have given me throughout my writing career. I really appreciate it. One of the nicest things about being a writer is that I’ve been able to make friends with a whole host of like-minded people from all over the world. 

Anyway… the new book: To Rome with Love. The What Happens… series has been pretty successful so, after five of them, the idea is to make this the start of a new series of romantic comedies. The book opens with Sarah receiving a body blow – just one week before getting married, her husband-to-be gets cold feet. The wedding’s off and her heart is broken. Sarah works for a big tour operator and she finds herself sent off almost immediately to look after a bunch of people doing a charity bike ride from Venice to Rome. She’s a fit girl so the cycling doesn’t frighten her. It’s having to be charming and cheerful for two weeks without a break, when all she feels like doing is locking herself away and crying her eyes out. She finds herself in the company of brooding, serious Miles but, to her surprise, she finds herself getting drawn closer and closer to him, even if she can’t quite make him out. And with still 600 miles of beautiful scenery, mouthwatering food and delicious wine yet to cover, anything could happen (and it does…).

2. What was your original inspiration to become a writer, and to write your debut?

I started writing when I was 13 (that’s over half a century ago now). That 44 page book, written in pencil with more spelling mistakes than I care to admit to, was the start of a life-long obsession with the written word. I’ve always loved telling stories, so I suppose it was a natural progression. As for this new series of romcoms and To Rome with Love, the inspiration was easy. I do a lot of cycling and over the past twenty years I’ve cycled with a bunch of friends just about all over western Europe, crossing France, Spain and Italy from west to east and then from north to south. The bike ride in To Rome with Love is one we did a few years back from Venice to Rome, riding through some fabulous countryside, visiting amazing historic places and swimming in the warm Mediterranean. I just knew I had to write a book about it.

3. How long did it take you to write?

I’m a binge writer. Once I’ve made up my mind about the story, I just sit down and get on with it. I gave up my day job a few years back so I can blast on, almost without a break. Correction – I do take breaks, and frequent ones, because I knackered my back windsurfing year ago and if I sit for too long at the computer I tend to set solid. So I am constantly getting up, walking round the village, and making far too many mugs of tea. So the honest answer is that I wrote the first draft of the book in about 6 weeks. It then took another 6 weeks of edits and rewrites to get it to its final form.

4. If you could do anything differently in retrospect, what would you change about the book or how you went about it?

Not a lot, I’m pleased to say. I quite like this one. I just hope the readers do too.

5. Was your first book self or traditionally published, and how did you go about making that decision?

I have the utmost respect for people who choose to go down the self-publishing route. There’s no doubt that gives you so much freedom. I’m pretty rubbish at anything to do with computers so I did my best to find somebody who would look after that side of things for me. I was lucky enough to find a good publisher, formerly Carina, now HQ, both part of the colossus that is Harper Collins, and they take all the decisions out of my hands and this frees me up to do what I really want to do – to write.

6. Do you have any tips for other first time authors?

Tip one – persevere. There will come a time, maybe even after just a few pages, but more probably when you’re about halfway through, when you decide that what you’re writing is rubbish and should be shredded. Don’t give up. Just keep writing.

Tip two – don’t imagine that when you finally write the words, The End, that you have finished. Open a bottle of booze, celebrate what is a fantastic achievement and then start reading and rewriting. To give you a rough idea, my previous book, Chasing Shadows, came to 120,000 words the first time I wrote it. After numerous rewrites, some radical pruning and a number of fairly major changes of direction, the finished book that came out in January was just under 90,000 words.

Tip Three – don’t do it for the money. There’s a wonderful line in that excellent movie, Get Shorty, where Gene Hackman advises a client, “The only kind of writing that makes money is ransom notes”. You might be very lucky and strike it rich, but most writers don’t. So, write because you want to write, not for the fame or fortune.

Other firsts in my life:

First book I bought – For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway. Great book.

First holiday – Really showing my age here. We went on a family holiday when I was little in my parents’ Morris Minor. The holiday was in France and, to get there, we flew with the car. That’s right, I can still remember getting into the big old ex-RAF transport aircraft while my dad drove the car up a ramp into the bowels of the plane. Next time Easyjet try to charge you £20 for a suitcase in the hold, try to work out how much they’d charge for a car.

First Sport – no question, rugby. I love the game.

First pet – a black cat called Mephistopheles.

Thank you so much Trevor for taking the time to talk to us today about your new series, starting with To Rome, With Love, which I have also reviewed today.

Author bio:
   My name is Trevor Williams. I write under the androgynous name T A Williams because 65% of books are read by women. In my first book, "Dirty Minds" one of the (female) characters suggests the imbalance is due to the fact that men spend too much time getting drunk and watching football. I couldn't possibly comment. Ask my wife...

      I've written all sorts: thrillers, historical novels, short stories and now I'm enjoying myself hugely writing humour and romance. Romantic comedies are what we all need from time to time. Life isn’t always very fair. It isn’t always a lot of fun, but when it is, we need to embrace it. 

   I’m originally from Exeter, and I’ve lived all over Europe, but now I live in a little village in sleepy Devon, tucked away down here in south west England. I love the place. That’s why you’ll find leafy lanes and thatched cottages in most of my books. Oh, yes, and a black Labrador.
  
   My most recent books, published by Harper Collins, are the What happens… series. What happens in Tuscany reached #1 in the Amazon.uk Romantic Comedy chart recently and What Happens on the Beach, the last in the series, came out in July. I’ve just finished writing two more romcoms, the first one, To Rome with Love, coming out next February and I also have a timeslip romantic thriller, Chasing Shadows, that came out in January.


Links:
Website: www.tawilliamsbooks.com
Amazon UK: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MTJW0ZF/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/TAWilliamsBooks
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TrevorWilliamsBooks

Book Review - Rome is Where The Heart Is by Tilly Tennant - Rome Week

Amazon UK

Title: Rome is Where The Heart Is

Author: Tilly Tennant

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Bookouture

Publication Date: 9th March 2017

Rating: 4 Stars

Can a holiday romance ever have a happy ending? Escape with Kate to the sun-drenched city of Rome where a love affair is just about to begin …

When Kate’s husband Matt dumps her on Friday 13th she decides enough is enough – it’s time for her to have some fun and so she hops on a plane to Rome. A week of grappa and gelato in pavement cafes under azure blue skies will be just what the doctor ordered.

What she doesn’t count on is meeting and falling for sexy policeman Alessandro. But the course of true love doesn’t run smoothly – Alessandro has five meddling sisters, a fearsome mama and a beautiful ex Orazia. They’re all certain that Kate is not the girl for him.

Can Kate and Alessandro’s love last the distance? Or will she return home with the one souvenir she doesn’t want – a broken heart …

When you see Rome in the title of a book what do you think of? I know I think of good Italian food, a city steeped in history and sexy Italian men. Ok so my thoughts may be a bit stereotypical, but Rome is Where the Heart is has all of that and a good deal more too - for this is a book featuring at least half the story in The Eternal City, but takes in another side to the city too. 

Yes there is Italian food, how could you have a book like this without it, and Kate ends up having some great meals with two very different men in the city - Jamie who she meets at the airport, and Alessandro who she meets for the first time at The Spanish Steps. One of them even take her to have a good Italian meal with the whole family, so you get a good insight as to a large Italian family dynamic at work, and I must say I really enjoyed his sisters and mother. 

Both Jamie and Alessandro are happy to take on the role of tour guide on various days of Kate's week in Rome, and we see The Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and The Vatican amongst the other smaller sites. In fact The Colosseum plays its part in Kate's second meeting with Alessandro. I should mention that he is a Roman policeman! 

Kate has not come to Rome to look for love, more to try and start making her own way in the world, after her decree absolute comes through in her recent divorce. However fate has other plans for her! 

This is a highly enjoyable story that is a pleasure to read, and definitely shows another dimension to Tilly Tennant's writing, especially with some of the more serious story threads that are intermingled with the fun. Jamie is heavily involved with one of the more serious stories, as is Lily, Kate's younger sister who I really felt for. 

Rome is Where The Heart Is, gives an energetic look at Rome, and is also a lovely story of the closeness of sisters, with most of the story set to the most glorious of backdrops. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Guest Post - Writing Rome by Tilly Tennant - Rome Week

Writing unfamiliar locations, while taking you to a place where you can let your imagination run wild, also presents its own challenges, and if it’s a real place you have a duty to get it right. You can visit a place but many locations, particularly large cities, change so quickly that by the time you get to write the story your details are already out of date. This happened to me once writing a YA book where I set a scene in Los Angeles. Naively, or perhaps arrogantly, I assumed that a holiday there fifteen years previously qualified me to describe it, to build the details into my book world. I recalled a particular building and wrote about it, only to have it pointed out by my editor that the building in question had been renamed since my visit and all my references to it were incorrect.  It made me realise that personal experience was not enough to get it right.   

So when I started Rome is Where the Heart is, I relied on lots of different resources to build the world Kate was experiencing. While visiting will let you soak up the real atmosphere of a place, you need hard facts too.  If wanted to get her from A to B I had to study maps of the city and figure how long it might take to walk or public transport timetables to decide which bus she might catch. I had to trawl through photos of buildings that might not be so familiar to tourists, such as the police station, so that I could give the reader a mental picture of these locations when they featured in the story. I watched endless YouTube videos of tourists’ visits to gain the tiny nuances of experience that vary from person to person so I could lend authenticity to the scene I was trying to set.  I spent hours staring at real time webcam footage from iconic landmarks to watch how visitors engaged with their surroundings, gaining inspiration and real human stories from simply seeing their reactions.  I even had to research customs and laws, things like what the Italian police carried with them on duty so I knew what to put on Alessandro’s belt, as well as everyday mundanities like shop opening times and gelato recipes. I don’t think I’ve ever been so knowledgeable about a place as I was once I’d finished this series! 

Reaching out to friends and readers was another appreciated resource, and I had invaluable help from one multilingual friend who translated my English into Italian to lend the dialogue some authenticity.  Google translate, while useful in a functional capacity, is just not the same. Friends shared their anecdotes of visiting too, so there was a wealth of inspiration to draw on from other’s experiences of the city.   

The more I’ve learned about Rome the more I’ve fallen in love with it. If you spend long enough immersed in such a beautiful and fascinating place it’s difficult not to allow it space in your heart. My greatest reward for all the time I’ve spent on this series of books would be that readers turn the last page loving Rome too. 

Thank you so much Tilly for sharing with us the lengths you have gone to research Rome, and I have to say it really shows in Rome is Where The Heart is which I really enjoyed.

Can a holiday romance ever have a happy ending? Escape with Kate to the sun-drenched city of Rome where a love affair is just about to begin …

When Kate’s husband Matt dumps her on Friday 13th she decides enough is enough – it’s time for her to have some fun and so she hops on a plane to Rome. A week of grappa and gelato in pavement cafes under azure blue skies will be just what the doctor ordered.

What she doesn’t count on is meeting and falling for sexy policeman Alessandro. But the course of true love doesn’t run smoothly – Alessandro has five meddling sisters, a fearsome mama and a beautiful ex Orazia. They’re all certain that Kate is not the girl for him.

Can Kate and Alessandro’s love last the distance? Or will she return home with the one souvenir she doesn’t want – a broken heart …

Fall in love with the colourful cafes and the cobbled piazzas of Rome and follow Kate’s dreams and her heart in this enchanting escapist read. Perfect for fans of Debbie Johnson and Carol Matthews.

Available for pre-order now on Amazon UK

About Tilly Tennant

Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop girl, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing, graduating in 2009. She wrote a novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and has not stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor, and considers herself very lucky that this enables her to read many wonderful books before the rest of the world gets them. You can catch her on Twitter @TillyTenWriter or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TillyTennant/ You can also check out her blog at www.tillytennant.com

Guest Post - I Love The Colosseum by Jules Wake - Rome Week

When you’re writing a book set in Rome, the biggest problem is deciding how to chose which of the many amazing sights to include.  The Eternal City, as it is known, is like no other. Modern meets ancient in the most unlikely juxtapositions, first century aqueducts crossing busy ring-roads, the Colosseum rooted alongside speeding cars and the ruined buildings of the Palatine smack bang in the middle of a busy city centre. 

As I’ve been fascinated by the Romans since I was at primary school, the Colosseum was my must-see site in the city and I had to include it in the book.  

It’s one of my favourite buildings in the world, which is probably obvious to readers of From Rome With Love as I just had to take my hero and heroine there.  The Colosseum is the most amazing place, not just in terms of the vast structure, but also its complexity and history.  How on earth did the Romans build this huge edifice without the benefit of modern technology and power tools?

I also marvel at the sophistication behind the design, the features of which are still seen today in modern stadiums. The Colosseum was constructed with a series of 76 passageways behind the tiers of seats called vomitorium which enabled 50,000 people to reach and leave their seats in 15 minutes. Interesting fact: The word vomit comes from this, meaning to spew out. 

More importantly, whether you’ve seen the film Gladiator or not, there’s an incredible atmosphere when you stand on one of the tiers looking down into the huge oval arena.  It’s so easy to imagine the human history here; the Christians facing not just lions but any number of ferocious beasts, executions, animal hunts and gladiatorial combat with the audience, rich and poor, shouting and baying for blood. 

Sorry, as usual when it comes to the Colosseum, I tend to get a little carried away! Which brings home that one of the hardest things about writing this book was getting the balance right between describing the places and not sounding too much like a guide book. 

 My hero and heroine did also visit plenty of other famous tourist sites including the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s Basilica but there are many more I could have included.  I hope I did justice to the city of Rome, with the ones I chose to feature, and that readers feel I’ve given them a brief glimpse of this wonderful city.  

Well Jules, I think it is clear to say that you definitely love The Colosseum! Thank you so much for sharing your passion with us.

Jules Wake

An avid reader, Jules Wake started writing when she ran out of books by her favourite authors. Her books combine some of her favourite activities, food, wine and travel.  She draws on her experience as a PR in the food and drink industry, where she had to go on lots of press trips to dreadful places like Paris, Milan, Turin and Amsterdam as well as the period she spent working (hic!) for several wineries and vineyards in Marlborough, the Sauvignon Blanc capital of New Zealand. 
She is allergic to dust, and finds writing the perfect alternative to housework.

www.juleswake.co.uk 
@juleswake
https://www.facebook.com/juleswake.co.uk/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rome-Love-perfect-feel-good-romance-ebook/dp/B01KVEXOJI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= 

Amazon UK

If you can’t stand the heat…

Rome is the city of love and seduction, right? Not if you find yourself staying in a beautiful apartment with your childhood-friend-turned-arch-enemy, Will Ryan…no matter how hot he is!

Romance is the last thing on Lisa’s mind. She’s got more important things to focus on, like hunting down her estranged father. Except when her search falls at the first hurdle, Will doesn’t just help her get back on track, he also shares the romantic sights – and exquisite tastes – of the Eternal City, and Lisa starts to wonder if it’s not just Rome seducing her.

Only, as Lisa and Will dig into the past, neither of them is prepared for the long-buried secrets they reveal. Secrets that will turn both their world’s upside down …

Book Review - From Rome with Love by Jules Wake - Rome Week

Amazon UK

Title: From Rome With Love

Author: Jules Wake

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Harper Impulse

Publication Date: 13th January 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

If you can’t stand the heat…

Rome is the city of love and seduction, right? Not if you find yourself staying in a beautiful apartment with your childhood-friend-turned-arch-enemy, Will Ryan…no matter how hot he is!

Romance is the last thing on Lisa’s mind. She’s got more important things to focus on, like hunting down her estranged father. Except when her search falls at the first hurdle, Will doesn’t just help her get back on track, he also shares the romantic sights – and exquisite tastes – of the Eternal City, and Lisa starts to wonder if it’s not just Rome seducing her.

Only, as Lisa and Will dig into the past, neither of them is prepared for the long-buried secrets they reveal. Secrets that will turn both their world’s upside down …

Such a joy to be back reading the From ...with love series, and I feel as though I haven't been away, with the story telling just as brilliant as the others. There is just such a comfortable feel to this book, its as though you are reading about old friends, but in reality Lisa and Will haven't been the focus of the others in the series, so its just clever writing making you feel as though you know them rather fast. 

That being said, Siena and Laurie from the first two books do play a part in this one, but as From Rome With Love works as a standalone, you don't need to know them to in advance, but for anyone like me that has read them all, it is great to catch up with characters I love. 

I feel as though I have had a fantastic trip to Rome through this story, taking in not only some of the major tourist attractions, but thanks to Will wanting to setup an authentic Italian restaurant, there is a lot of bellissimo Italian food. Lisa isn't the most adventurous eater, so its lovely to see her trusting Will, with trying some new delicacies, despite the fact the pair of them don't tend to get on. 

Lisa is a lovely main character, she has a fear of heights, has never travelled alone before, and absolutely loves her Nan, and her guide book!  Lisa has only agreed to this trip to Rome, in order to meet her estranged father, and allows a friend to give her free accommodation in Rome to save on money. However Giovanni appears to have other ideas. 

Their first day sightseeing together gives important insights into both of their personalities, so its rather a relief that Will had managed to arrange his research trip to Rome, for the same dates as Lisa. Will helps Lisa with the search for her father, and I could see that the pair were growing closer over the days in Rome, even if they were denying it. There are definitely some surprises in store, as things are never as they seem. 

With Lisa's guide book obsession, I learnt a lot about the Colosseum and also the Sistine Chapel, and I would have loved to gone to the Trevi Fountain with her. Then again I'd have also been happy with Giovanni's first night choice of things to do, but Lisa and Will weren't as enthralled at watching Rome vs Lazio in a Roman bar! 

From Rome with Love blends in a perfect mix...Italian food, the city of Rome, romance, hidden family secrets, friendship and fabulous descriptive storytelling, in  a wonderful story that I loved every second of. 

Thank you to Harper Impulse and Netgalley for this copy of the book which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.