Book Review | All Roads Lead to Rome by Sabrina Fedel

Title: All Roads Lead to Rome
Author: Sabrina Fedel
Genre: YA Contemporary / Romance
Publication Date: June 18th, 2024
Publisher: Delacorte
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to the publisher for a complimentary earc to review!

“When the daughter of a diplomat fake dates a Scottish celebrity in Italy, she soon finds herself living her own Roman Holiday until the feelings get real and the paparazzi’s knives come out.

Introverted, slightly anxious Astoria “Story” Herriot knows everything about Rome—her mom’s an attorney here and the two of them are living la dolce vita… at least until Story’s off to college in the fall.

But when Story is in the wrong gelato shop at the right time, she’s swept up in a fake dating scheme with Scottish heartthrob, Luca Kinnaird, to protect his relationship with a pop princess. There’s something in it for her, too—Luca promises to help fund a scholarship in her dad’s memory. Soon she’s showing Luca the best cafés, sightseeing at the Mouth of Truth, and picnicking at the ruins of the Abbey of Santa Maria del Piano. Story’s travel guide skills are 10/10, but what she knows about being a celebrity—or having feelings for one? Zero.

Pretending to be Luca’s guide—then his girlfriend—gets the paparazzi’s attention . . . and what’s true and what’s fake gets blurry as their different worlds crash together. Sophisticated, hot, rich, and with the most charming accent ever, Luca is full of surprises. And maybe, too, is Story’s perfectly planned future.

It’s a fairy-tale romance in the Eternal City…will it have a fairy tale ending?” (Goodreads)

I really loved the cover of this one and the idea of a fun time in Rome. I have always wanted to go there.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Astoria “Story”. She is living with her mom in Rome and will be off to college in the fall. It’s now or never to really see the sights! I really enjoyed seeing where the story went. I always like how paparazzi can cause some issues for celebrities in books and can change one person’s life. Their meeting was cute and very surprising! The scenery and tourists spots they visited made me feel like I was there. I am so ready for a vacation because of this book!

My problem and why this book wasn’t rated higher was the main character. She was fine for the most part but being the “not like other girls” got old and the way she treated people wasn’t any better than how some were treating her. She was better in the beginning but the status of her relationship and social media got the best of her and made her attitude worse in the second half. I get that it’s an important topic to have especially in a world filled with social media, but I just couldn’t stand her ha.

Overall, this was a decent book and I would definitely check out another book by this author.