Italian Summer Books 1-4
Romance in Italy, set against the magical backdrop of Bellagio, Verona and Rome.
** Books 1-4 of the Italian Summer Series are now in one boxed set: **
It Takes Two (Book 1)
All That Glitters (Book 2)
Fool’s Gold (Book 3)
Roman Encounter (Book 4)
It Takes Two
Rona Fernández’s visits to the charming Gioberti’s restaurant had raised some eyebrows but nobody was overly suspicious of why she would go alone each evening.
Not even her husband.
Besides, a harmless flirtation every now and then isn’t such a bad thing. As long it stays that way.
All That Glitters
A chance encounter at a luxury hotel leads to a sizzling romance between unlucky-in-love Andrea Brunelli and the gorgeous Riley James.
But her nights of passion lead to more than she had bargained for and Andrea soon discovers that there is a price to pay.
Is her passionate new romance all that it is set up to be or is there more to it than meets the eye?
Fool’s Gold
Leo Carrera takes a chance when he invests in Andrea Brunelli’s business. It seems to be a wise decision but falling for her isn’t, especially when the feelings aren’t mutual and she seems to attract every loser in sight.
But he’s a patient man and he’s willing to wait.
Andrea knows that having Leo by her side has been the biggest help, especially during the last few rocky months. He’s been a tower of strength, her steady rock, her go-to guy.
The only problem is that sometimes, the way he looks at her makes her skin tingle, sets her heartrate rocketing and her pulse racing.
But he’s so calm and laid back, he barely realizes the effect he’s having on her.
So when another business associate takes an interest in her, what’s a girl to do?
Roman Encounter
Gina Morosini has spent her life pleasing others and putting her own dreams and wishes on hold. People gravitate towards her with their own problems, never stopping to wonder what might be going on in her life.
When the pressure intensifies and her personal life falls apart, a week in Rome provides the escape she desperately needs.
Christian Russo is a stud. Over-confident and self-serving, he’s only interested in doing what’s best for him. And right now, working for a training company in Rome isn’t it.
He can do better, and he knows it. But even a player like Russo needs help sometimes, especially when his résumé needs to sparkle.
Asking the quiet mouse of a woman for help works out well for him and leads Gina and Christian on a journey that neither of them expected.
The Italian Summer Series is a spin-off from the Honeymoon Series:
Honeymoon For One
Honeymoon For Three
Honeymoon Blues
Honeymoon Bliss
Baby Steps
ITALIAN SUMMER SERIES: It Takes Two All That Glitters Fool’s Gold Roman Encounter November Sun New Beginnings
My Review:
It Takes Two
This book was really hard on my emotions to read. I’m not a parent, so I wasn’t able to connect with that aspect of Rona’s life, but the feelings of a neglected wife resonated with me. I found it very easy to understand why she would make so many unwise decisions. I’m not sure I got a good feel for who Carlos was, though. He’s working hard to do the best for his family financially, but it felt to me like that was all the effort he was putting in to his family. What I couldn’t understand was why Rona was the only one everyone blamed. Yes, she was being selfish and made some very bad decisions in the moment, but the reasons she made those decisions were still valid. And maybe it all comes down to my own worldview. My experiences lead me to view this story from the perspective of the partner that felt left behind. And I know very well that in any relationship, it takes both partners to get anywhere – good or bad.
All That Glitters
I’m not a fan of the love triangle. I’m sure it comes from being on the losing side of one. But I am a sucker for any story that can make me cheer for the bad guy. A villain as the hero is an entirely underrepresented area of fiction in all media. This story made me want the villain to win. It was an emotional roller-coaster as I fought with myself over that desire. Andrea, Riley and Leo are extremely complex characters. I’m making some assumptions about Leo since we don’t know a lot about him yet. But my beliefs about Andrea and Riley are proven out in this book. My heart hurt watching these three as they tried to find their places in their world. I wanted everyone to get what they wanted, even though there was no way for that to work out in the end. There’s a reason why the phrase “too good to be true” is so universal. There’s a fundamental truth that’s been proven over and over within it.
Fool's Gold
Well, this book succeeded in making me feel something. The shame of it is, what I feel is frustration. There’s obviously another book that‘s not directly part of this series that takes place before the events of this one. There are references to things that I haven’t read that left me wondering “what the heck did I just miss?” It’s my opinion that this is not a stand-alone book. I’m also wondering if I read the same book as other reviewers. I have no patience for lead characters who can’t be bothered to talk out their problems, stick their heads in the sand, and behave in ways that suggest they’re just too stupid to live. What happened to the Andrea I fell in love with in the previous book? Where’s the Riley that charmed me into cheering for him? Thank heavens this book had Leo. Because, in that Bermuda Triangle of emotional disasters, he was the only character I could remotely connect with. I thought Leo deserved a much better partner than Andrea. This was not the story I’d been hoping for with these characters.
Roman Encounter
This book leaves me feeling very conflicted. It’s well written, complex and emotional. It’s just that there’s a lot more story here than I felt I really needed. My reality-TV-loving heart adored seeing all the angst and drama, but it got to be too heavy for me after a while. I really liked Gina as a character. I understand all her people-pleasing tendencies and could easily wrap my head around why she does a lot of the things she does. I still haven’t quite made up my mind about Christian. I love that he seems to make Gina happy. That makes me happy. However, there are some monumental jerk-like behaviors that I wasn’t so impressed with. I guess I’ll have to reserve judgement until I see how their follow-up book plays out.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Booksprout.
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