Royally Roma by Teri Wilson

 Royally Roma by Teri Wilson

 Blurb:

In this charming, modern retelling of the classic Audrey Hepburn film Roman Holiday, a royal prince tries to escape his hectic and rigid life and ends up leading a young graduate student on a chase through the Eternal City.

Julia Costa is too busy trying to complete her PhD while also holding down a full-time job as a private tour guide in Rome to keep up with celebrity gossip. So when she crosses paths with a real, actual prince, she mistakes him for a client and takes him on a daylong tour of the city.

Intrigued by the idea of spending time with someone who obviously has no idea who he is, and delighted at the prospect of a day free of royal obligations, Niccolo La Torre, Crown Prince of Lazaretto, acts on impulse and assumes the role of Julia’s client. He swears to himself that he’ll return to his royal duties after only half a day…but he’s having the time of his life.

Until Julia presents him with the bill. Since he snuck out of the hotel without so much as a dime, he tries to escape, only to discover that she won’t let him out of her sight until he can pay her back. She’s determined to get her money…and perhaps more from the handsome stranger she’s fallen for. 



Somehow, despite the fact that this is a really nice story, it didn't really enthrall me. It was a nice read and it was sweet (and sometimes a bit frustrating) to read how those two explore Rome and get to know each other. Nevertheless, after having read half the book, I put it aside and forgot about it for a while. So - nice but obviously not the kind of book that keeps me glued to my reader.

Somehow Niccolo's Attempts at fleeing his responsibilities (and his bodyguards) were not really convincing and he himself and his actions did sometimes appear a bit, well, not really pathetic but a bit weak.

Oh, Niccolo? Right. Niccolo and Julia are our main characters. Juluia who just works and tries to get by while finishing her studies and Niccolo La Torre, Crown Prince of Lazaretto.
When Niccolo or "His Royal Hotness" as the newspapers hve christened him, grasps at the opportunity of being someone else, just a simple tourist, for a day, his life is changed forever. Or maybe it is the kidnapping that changes him?
As far as Julia is concerned, well, it's not every day that a girl has to reasort to kidnapping, so , yes, talk about a life chainging incident taking place. And when her plain tourist, actually her plain, kidnapped tourist, turns out to be a real prince, well, that's got "trouble" written all over it -  in capital letters! So far so....not really good. Right?

At the end of the book I was a bit frustrated because it felt as if everything was a bit rushed and somehow, miraculously, all those very obvious and insurmountable problems vanish in thin air.
Sooooo....I enjoyed reading this book on the whole but I won't reread very often.

★★★