I always have a hard time with rating Sarah Adams books. Maybe it’s a me thing, but they’re not my favorites - except they always end up sticking in my head long-term.

📕 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Beg, Borrow or Steal by Sarah Adams

📙 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: When in Rome character series. Book 3.

📗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: E-book on Kindle. Borrowed through Libby app.

📘 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Small town romance

📔 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: Enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, found family, banter for days.

📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Emily’s arch nemesis Jack left town to get married last winter. Now he’s back - decidedly not married - and she realizes she missed sparring with him.

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: The When in Rome series has been so great - all three books. And Beg, Borrow or Steal met my sky-high expectations. And if I’m being honest, I’m so going to read the fourth and final book of the series. 

But there’s just something that always leads me away from that five-star rating. This time, the spice felt almost lacking - because with two characters so full of tension you want an explosion and what I got was a lot of “use your imagination.” 

Also, and I can’t honestly remember if it was like that in the other two books, but her writing heavily relied on quips in parenthesis this time around. It ruined my reading pace and left me frustrated. There was zero need for the majority of them. 

Which leaves me a bit frustrated because Emily IS me. And I loved her entire arc in this story. Jack was swoony and I loved their banter so much, but Emily was the star, and that’s writing I can get behind. 

I’m just always left looking for more from her books, and this was much of that same feeling.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 2.5/5 🌶🌶