When in Rome...: A Novel of Piazzas and Passion

by Gemma Townley

When in Rome, do as Audrey Hepburn would do. Failing that, run off with your ex-boyfriend, carry suspicious packages through customs, and lie to the person who loves you. . . .

Georgie Beauchamp is totally happy and in love with her wonderful, dependable boyfriend, David. So why does she always daydream about running into her gorgeous ex-boyfriend Mike? It can’t mean she’s still in love with him—especially since the cad dumped her so horribly. As luck would have it, when Georgie’s daydream actually comes true, she is dressed in unglamorous sweats and carrying a curtain rod down the street, while Mike is driving an expensive sports car and looking better than Brad Pitt at the Oscars. She longs to have the glamorous life Mike can offer—and starts to think that he might want her back in his arms.

But when he invites her for a weekend in Rome, Georgie is torn. David has always said he’d take her there for the romantic getaway of a lifetime, but his work keeps him totally tied up. So she must choose: David, all comfort and reliability, or Mike, all flirtation and butterfly-stomachs. The decision isn’t too hard to make, and faster than she can say Vespa, she’s off to Rome with Mike, full of plans to frolic on the Spanish Steps and sip wine in intimate trattorias. But when David shows up unexpectedly, this roman holiday gets a hell of a lot more complicated. . . .

• ISBN10: 0345478975
• ISBN13: 9780345478979
• Publish Date: 29 March 2005 (first published 1 January 2004)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 264
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

Gemma Townley is an author I’ve been wanting to read for ages. She’s the sister of Sophie Kinsella so I wanted to see how her writing style compared to that of her sister. Her first few novels only came out in the USA, but more recently her Jessica Wild trilogy has been released in the UK so she does seem to be getting herself a market over here. Whether there’ll be any more UK releases from Gemma remains to be seen. With my brand new Kindle at hand, I decided to purchase When In Rome, which is one of Gemma’s earlier books and I was looking forward to reading it. Although there were points of the book that made me want to scream, overall I would definitely read another of Gemma’s novels.

When In Rome, it seems, is based on the movie Roman Holiday. Not that I’ve seen the movie, but with the many, many (!) references to how the trip to Rome is Georgie’s very own Roman Holiday, I presume she’s tried to re-create the movie of the same name. However, the novel is actually only set in Rome for about 20 pages making the synopsis just a bit mis-leading. I expected the bulk of the novel to take place in Rome, but it doesn’t. Instead most of the novel takes place in London, more particularly where Georgie works and in her flat. It did take me a bit to get into the book. It just seemed very sedate to start, as Georgie found herself wondering whether boyfriend David was the one for her or whether she should give ex Mike a second chance. I saw through Mike almost immediately, meaning that I spent the majority of the novel waiting for Georgie to catch up (which she doesn’t until the end of the novel).

But what ruined the novel for me was Georgie herself. I have never met a more annoying heroine ever. She is so arrogant, thinking Mike is back just for her, and thinking it’s OK to play two men the way she does. She’s shameful. After Mike invites her to Rome, she continually say’s that it’s “no big deal” and after she and David argue she speaks about “keeping her options open”. She really got on the wrong side of me. I’ve never met a more conceited female character. And her naivety and stupidity knows no bounds. Nobody, nobody, is as dense as Georgie. And I was continually shaking my head at how willing she was to do Mike’s bidding without knowing what she was really doing. I just can’t believe somebody would be that stupid. I figured it out no problem, and it made me so sad that Townley made her heroine such a total moron. I found Mike to be very one-dimensional (he was paper thin and I read him like a book). However I did have a bit of a soft spot for David, Georgie’s boyfriend, despite the fact he sometimes treated Georgie like a moron (whether she was one or not!)

Despite all my negative feelings toward Georgie, I did whizz through the novel, and despite how predictable it was (oh so predictable) it wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read. In fact, I did for the most part enjoy it. Sure I’d have liked a bit less of the predictable. In fact, if I didn’t already know for sure I haven’t read the book I would assume that I had because it was so so easy to guess what Mike was up to and what David was hiding. But it was a quick, easy and taxless read and I will definitely be reading Gemma’s other novels. I just hope their titles and covers refer to the book a little bit more. For what it’s worth, the descriptions of Rome were beautiful, there just wasn’t enough for me as the book only spends a matter of pages there. I must admit, I do feel bad writing this review, as I did want to love the book but it just didn’t spark for me. It had promise and it was amusing at some points but a few aspects ruined the book just a little bit.