jemmacrosland's reviews
338 reviews

Finally got round to picking up book #2 in the When in Rome series after reading book #1 several months ago. And whilst I was hoping to prefer Practice Makes Perfect more, I think I actually preferred When in Rome as I didn't find PMP to be as unique as the first book.
I really like the main love interests, Annie and Will and together I think they are actually very well-suited despite their differences in personality.
I didn't like the 3rd act conflict in this book and how it was handled, I just didn't see the reasoning behind some of the choices by the characters.
I enjoy Sarah Adams' writing style and these are just escapist romance books that I always look forward to reading.
I just love the small town setting of Rome, Kentucky and I am really looking forward to the 3rd book coming in January 2025. If you also love small-town romance, I would recommend this series to you.
3.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

I got this book in the Afterlight Romance subscription and only knew it was Love Island-inspired and wow, that is exactly what this book is. 
If you don't enjoy Love Island, you will not like this book. I think for me it was just so heavily inspired by the show, it was essentially copy paste and there was no originality in the format, from challenges to re-coupling to the villa, it is identical. For a fun summer read, this book is great for that. 
It has bisexual representation as the two love interests are Cas and Ada. I did feel sorry for Cas, and the way her personality was being interpreted, I cared a lot about her. I didn't feel like we got to know Ada as much, as well as the other islanders. I think as you're fitting an entire summer vacation (2-months?) into one book, it did feel rushed at some points and a bit disjointed as you skipped lengths of time every so often.
I think this was a fun read and would solely recommend it to Love Island fans or if you enjoy dating reality TV, but this book isn't as creative and fresh as I was hoping it would be. 
3.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐

This book screams Susie Dent and I just loved that!
It is a missing woman mystery and I didn't actually know this going into the book. Our main character is Martha, who I wouldn't say is a standout but there are a lot of characters in this story. I would say this is definitely more character driven than plot driven, so more similar to books such as The Thursday Murder Club, where you have that focus on the characters and their connections. I also love workplace mysteries and how much you trust your colleagues, I really liked this academia setting of Oxford.
I think I lost a little interest in the middle of the book, it didn't keep my attention unfortunately as it just felt too long until the action kicked in for the ending. I'll hide this as a spoiler but it is very mild

there is a lot of Shakespeare in this book, and I have very little knowledge myself so I didn't get as much enjoyment from this storyline as others would.

I was surprised by some of the twists and reveals, it definitely went in a direction I wasn't anticipating. I would love to see if Susie Dent decides to publish more fiction in the future as I loved the focus on language and all the random words I learned.
3.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, Bonnier Books UK and Susie Dent for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy. 

 I was highly anticipating this novel with an AI robot after reading Annie Bot and trying to find similar books. However, this one wasn't nearly as captivating and well-explored unfortunately.
I did read it in one sitting and I was intrigued, but the story took a turn that I wasn't a fan of.
This book just felt so disjointed, I didn't like the writing style of the very short paragraphs and bouncing around timelines and storylines. I did however feel a lot for these characters and I thought they were well established. I liked Dolores' POV for the most part but just felt frustrated with the lack of direction her story could have taken.
I really wanted to love this one but sadly, I would rate this book 2.5 stars.