3.5 STARS ✮ ALICE CLAYTON & NINA BOCCI

Roman Crazy

Broads Abroad #1

by

Alice Clayton & Nina Bocci

When you find your husband balls deep inside of his secretary it will set off a lot of emotions. Decisions have to be made, bridges have to be burned. When Avery is faced with this picture she doesn't think about it for long, she decides to go to Italy and see her friend Daisy, handling all the divorce matters from there. On the day of her arrival Daisy takes her out to introduce her to friends. A pair of familiar, yet very angry eyes throw her back into her younger self when she had the prerogative of youth of being irresponsible. When she fell in love with a beautiful Italian guy during her study abroad program in Barcelona. When life was easy and so was love. 

...I was focused on a pair of wide, equally shocked Italian eyes peering over the table. Eyes that I'd recognize anywhere, and they were staring down at me. Forty percent stunned, 10 percent curious and a whole lotta angry.

I will tell you upfront: This book will ring safety bells. It deals with a topic that can never be black and white and if you are like me you know that there will always be grey areas. We all make mistakes and what defines us is how we deal with them and handle the consequences. Now, having said that I urge you to read this book even if you think it might not be for you. This story is despite all like a summer breeze, light, warm and colorful. 

I'm italophile. There  is no way living in a country sharing a border with Bella Italia that you are not. I have been vacationing there since I was 11 and there is no way I'll ever stop. The way these two authors described Italy gave me a second week of vacation there. Their imageries are vivid, full of colors and oh my god, I could even taste the food on my tongue. Italy is the real star in this story.

Avery is sassy but also a hot mess and flawed. She is confused pretty much about everything after finding her husband cheating on her. Who wouldn't be though? Especially when you run into the love of your life who makes you question everything about your past. Finding out that the choices you made in life may not have been the best, neither for you nor for everyone else involved. Owning up to them and avoiding making the same mistakes again. And above all, staying true to yourself and putting yourself first for once in your life. 

Marcello is oh so dreamy. Beneath the beautiful facade is a sweet man with deep emotions and a huge capacity to forgive. And since it's romance he is also amazing with his hands mouth and...everything else that entails using his body ;)

The way he held my face in his hands when he pushed into me. The way he swept kisses along my spine, smoothing the skin with barely there brushes. The way I caught him staring at me as I came apart under his tongue, as though if he blinked I might've disappeared. And the way he said my name when he came apart, his lips swollen from my frantic kisses, chanting like Avery was the only word he knew. 

I did have a minor issue with one or two facts that weren't accurate but I could overlook them since the rest was really spot-on. I loved Marcello and Avery together. There was this instant connection you only get to see in second chance romances, the tether that connects the main characters after all this time. 

"That's my tesoro", he said tenderly, leaning up to kiss me again

I have to say I had conflicting thoughts (highlight) about how the main characters handled the cheating part. Avery's growth came very late and only when she was confronted with Marcello giving her a bit of her own medicine.

I wish we would have gotten a dual POV but I realize that the way the story enfolded until the end wouldn't have worked. Still, a little bit of Marcello's take on it wouldn't have hurt especially towards the end. The storytelling was fabulous and oh I loved the dialogues. The ending was rather abrupt though and I would have loved an epilogue and see how these two would be doing farther in the future. 


It was still an enjoyable and cute read and I can't wait to see where this author duo is taking us next and who Avery's best friend Daisy will end up with! 

"Christ, Daisy, keep up! I slept with your friend Marcello in Barcelona when I was in college!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"And you never told me?"
"Yes!"
"No!"