This was a really fun, fluffy summer read. It has all the hallmarks of a good summer beach read rom-com: a fake boyfriend, a year in Italy, and good tension between the two main characters. I did feel like the fighting/misunderstandings between Anna and Jake goes on for a bit too long, so if that's not a trope you enjoy in modern rom-coms, then that's something to be aware of before diving in.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of the book!

it's exactly what you would expect from reading the summary but i found the characters annoyingly insecure

I didn't love this at all. I thought that the premise was good, and judging by the summary, I thought that I would like this. But the execution was not good. The writing or the plot didn't make me want to keep reading at all. I ended up skimming a lot of it. The characters weren't very memorable, and I wasn't attached to any of them. I honestly didn't enjoy this.

DNF at 23%, sorry I just really couldn't get into it, or understand and connect with the characters.

I have read a book by this author in the past and enjoyed it, so when I saw she'd written an enemies to lovers romance set in an Italian castle, I requested that arc SO QUICK!

Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me. I didn't get on with the writing style at all, and found the characters really frustrating. The author told us they felt emotions, but I didn't see it in the characters at all. Anna was stubborn and described as angry/hurt, but none of her behaviour showed that at all. Jake was mean to Anna for no reason all the time - who would act that way towards someone they barely know? Felt like he was a teenager, right down to the compliments he gives her ('nice legs' - who would say that and get a positive reaction ????? creep).

I didn't want these characters to get together, so I just couldn't enjoy this as a romance. DNF at 20%.

Thanks to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and Kathryn Freeman for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing, and I can already tell I will be back to reread it when it officially comes out!

I absolutely adored Jake and Anna and their relationship dynamic. It was nice to see how they were portrayed as complete opposites but in the end, they both needed each other to succeed. And, as always, I was a sucker for fake dating turning into something real. This book also had the boy falls first trope, and I loved that especially in this book because it showed that Jake was more than his tough exterior, It made me so happy when we saw Anna tell Jake how she feels about him despite his past because we all knew that Jake was secretly a softie. I loved that we got to see so much of the background characters and that the author didn't fail to develop them as the book went on.

This book was written wonderfully, I am so thankful for NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC :)

QOTD: Have you ever visited a castle?
My A: Nope! The only castle I've been in was of the blow up variety. 😅
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After reading a few Kathryn Freeman books in the past, I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into going into this one. First of all, let me just say I LOVE the title/cover combo! As soon as I saw this book on NetGalley I wanted to read it based on the cover alone. Throw in an Italian castle, a hunky reformed bad boy and the enemies to lovers/fake Dating mash up and I was SOLD!
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This book was the perfect Sunday read. Not too angsty or heavy, not too long and jammed full of swoony moments, spicy chemistry and a HAE that leaves you satisfied.
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BLURB:
Dream job. Dream house. Fake fiancé.
A year in a gorgeous Italian castle…

When Anna Roberts’ life implodes, an online search leads her to an ad for the ultimate dream job – management of a gorgeous castle on the shores of Lake Como, accommodation included. The only catch? Anna can’t do it alone…
…With the last man on earth she’d choose!
The castle owners will only accept a couple as caretakers, which means Anna needs a man on her arm at the interview. Enter her neighbour, Jake Tucker. Though Anna and Jake have never seen eye-to-eye, Jake’s had a rough few years and an escape to Italy sounds ideal. Yet, when they get the job and jet off, Anna and Jake face an unexpected challenge. Pretending to be a couple is difficult … but pretending the tension simmering between them doesn’t exist is quickly proving impossible!

I was provided an ARC copy of this book for free by NetGalley in return for unbiased reviewed.

Have you ever had a cartoon cover romance come up and smash you on the head with feels you weren't expecting and when its over you aren't sure you are ready to leave the fictional universe? Well, that was me with The Italian Job. This book had everything I was looking for- a romantic setting (a castle in Lake Como anyone), complicated believable characters you wanted to root for despite them driving you crazy with their very well deserved insecurities, and an enemies to lovers plot just to spice up my already beloved dating trope.

The story was rich and delightful and really a wonderful commentary on how frustrating and elating it can be to "start life over' and it was a joy to read. I would highly recommend this book to fans of character driven romance that sweeps them away to far off places.

I thought this book was super cute and gave me all the vacation vibes I needed with the Italian setting. I loved the idea of working in a castle on Lake Como and being part of a community. Of course I love an enemies to lovers story.

This book follows Anna Roberts who recently just had her life turned upside down after she finds out her boyfriend cheated on her. She is now searching for her dream job and finds the perfect position working as a chef in a giant castle in Italy. There is one small problem: she needs to be engaged. The owners will only accept a couple to take care of the castle. Anna cannot do it along and that is when she asks her neighbor, Jake Tucker. Jake Tucker is an ex firefighter who went to jail for fighting. He has had a rough few years and is looking for an escape. Anna and Jake team up to secure this dream job, but this new job comes with more challenges than they expected.

I really liked the idea of this story: working with your enemy with close proximity. However, the overall story was a little slow and I was let down. I do not like when story’s jump to months later. This book lacked details especially when it came to Anna and Jake’s relationship. The reader could see that both characters just wanted to be loved and accepted for who they were. I thought there were side storylines that were unnecessary. Overall, the story was good, but nothing amazing to me.

Special thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Thank you @netgalley and @onemorechapterhc for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Anna Roberts had it all. The perfect job, the perfect house, and the perfect boyfriend. But when the boyfriend cheats, it all goes away. I guess that’s what happens when you work in his restaurant and live in his house. She feels absolutely defeated until she realizes there’s a dream job out there that she never even knew existed. She could run a castle on Lake Como. Too bad the listing says the owners are looking for two partners….

Jake Tucker has always gotten himself into trouble. But he had really tried for the past few years to get it together. He even found a job he loved as a firefighter. Too bad he wound up hitting the wrong guy and wound up in jail. Now no one will hire him. That is until goody goody Anna that lived next to him growing up approaches him with the ridiculous idea of them pretending to be lovers to get a job. Is it really ridiculous though? It is a whole year living in a castle in Italy.

You guys. The tension. The chemistry. The humor. The love that forms. This was such a fun story to read. Not only was it fun to watch Jake and Anna’s relationship develop, but their individual development was also so well written. Throughout the book we see each of them realize their self worth. This is definitely one to pick up!

This one gets 4⭐️‘s from me!

Enemies to lovers, fake dating, and living in a castle? Yes, please!

I loved the Italy setting, and ended up loving the MCs despite not really enjoying their banter initially. They just felt super uncompatible, but hello character development!

This was a fast-paced, Hallmarky read, and I really enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, a great summer read. The storyline is very obvious right from the beginning but it was so much fun to read to get to the inevitable ending. I wasn’t that convinced really about why the two main characters didn’t like each other to start with but I enjoyed the storyline and the many interactions between them that it didn’t really matter! Get your sunbed and get reading this, you will enjoy it!
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book x

The Italian Job is the perfect summer romance book for those with wanderlust and desire to move to a new place.

This book was so much fun to read. Two people who seemingly opposite and dislike each other find themselves having to tolerate each other for a year in Italy. I love the travel aspect of the book. Moving to a new country like Italy to find yourself a bit, new experiences and a fresh start. However they do lie a little to get the place and must pretend to like each other. Their dynamic is very slow burn, lots of tension, sweet moments and I loved how you can see where they start to fall, from where they start to ending. Their bickering and banter was one of my favorite things about the book. How they always take little nicks at each other yet they pretend there’s nothing there but you can just see the tension and the feelings.

I thought this book was such a feel good summer romance that just makes you want to pack up your suitcase and move to another country and try something new. I love the details of Italy and how I almost felt like I was there and wanted to be there with them. Overall, a great read,

The Italian Job is a contemporary romance book that checks off many popular romance tropes. These tropes include: enemies to lovers, relationship of convenience, fake dating, boy/girl next door, forced proximity, slow burn, and miscommunication.

I will admit that I went into this book relatively blind. I love contemporary romance and can appreciate a good slow burn. However, what I did not expect was for this book to be in British English, meaning that there are many words and phrases that I, an American, simply could not understand. I also believe this impacted how I come to view Jack and Anna’s relationship. I had trouble connecting to either character, and found myself annoyed at how Jack seemed to go out of his way to bother Anna. I did not interpret much of his actions as “flirting” and instead felt like they weren’t even enemies, but rather two people who didn’t get along. Similarly, I found their relationship to lack the depth needed to successfully pull off an enemies-to-lovers romance. Why exactly are they enemies? This was never fully fleshed out, and I would argue that Anna calling the cops on Jacks house party at 16 years old hardly warrants them becoming enemies.

As far as Anna is concerned, for being 30 years old I found her to be extremely insecure and dependent on her ex boyfriend. She has no friends, save for her father, and at one point even considers going back to work with her ex because of his influential restaurants. If you’re looking for a confident, empowering FMC, you won’t find her in this book. There were so many times I wanted to grab Anna by the shoulders and shake her, but instead had to settle for releasing a long sigh whenever she did something self deprecating.

At this point you might think I didn’t enjoy the book. Yes, there are some parts I did not like, such as the book taking place in Italy while having virtually no Italian culture or influence in the plot. But truthfully I found it to be an easy read to help me fill in the time during a slump. Enjoyable, but not enough so that I would read it again.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Thank you to HarperCollins UK/One More Chapter and NetGalley for providing me this Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review!]

The Italian Job truly has all of the makings of a great rom-com: enemies to lovers, gorgeous scenery, groveling, spice, and fake dating. I love Anna and Jake and how they are polar opposites, and you always find yourself rooting for them to end up together. Both characters have well developed backstories that makes you connect with Anna and Jake, especially if you've had experiences similar to theirs.

Someone please offer me a job in Italy where I can manage a castle and fake date Jake Tucker at the same time...

4.5 Stars
Thanks to Net Galley, One More Chapter, Harper Collins UK, and Emily Freeman for allowing me to read this ARC.

This is the first contemporary romance that I have read lately that I have adored! It is the story of Anna and Jake, neighbors who have known each other since they were teenagers, but have never gotten along. Jake is a "bad-boy" who has gotten into trouble with "Saint" Anna's dad who is a cop. Fast forward, Jake is 28 and Anna is 30, Jake has just gotten done serving a 2 year sentence of assault after he punched Miles, who happens to be Anna's boyfriend who she just dumped after discovering he cheated on her. Both of them are ready to start over, enter THE DREAM JOB, to go to Italy and care for a castle on Lake Como, SWOON! The only catch they are looking for a married couple team. Now insert one of my favorite tropes--FAKE DATING! Jake and Anna get the job, but will they be able to continue to fool everyone about their relationship, or will it all fall apart?

I already wanted to return to Italy, I adore a good castle story (just got done swooning over Tessa Dare's "When a Scot Ties the Knot"), and fake dating turning into so much more is one of my favorite slow burns. This is also an enemies-to-lovers, but it reads more like opposites-to-lovers or misunderstood-to-lovers. One thing I don't really dig in contemporary romance is when there is instant love, because I just never find that to be believable. I love that these characters have known each other for years, and have to work through some of their baggage, judgements, and misperceptions about one another on their journey to love. A delicious slow burn with lots of mutual pining, the HEA of your dreams, makes this a delightful read that I would highly recommend.

I thought this was a super cute, light, rom com with Italy and castles, it’s basically a dream.
Although I'm not a huge lover of third person, I actually found the writing style and dialogue of this story quite nice. I also loved all the brit slang and it reminded me of my mum and my aunt(both have a ton of brit slang in their vocab)

By 11% I was already feeling quite attached to the characters, Anna in particular. I loved her personality and I adored every conversation she had with Jake. The tension between the two of them was simmering.
A character I did not enjoy as much(specifically in the first like 50%) was Jake. Especially in the beginning, I thought he was just a bit of a douche and was just irritating me every time he opened his mouth. He did get better with time though. By the end I'd grown to like him quite a bit, especially when he was defending and protecting daisy. Some people who DIDN'T get better with time were NIGEL and MILES. they both irritated the shit out of me. ALSO MILES WAS THE COMPLETE UTTER SCUM OF THE EARTH HE LITERALLY HAD ZERO REDEEMING QUALITIES.

My favourite piece of dialogue was:
‘Was that a real kiss?’
‘Yes, Jake tucker. That was a real thank-you kiss.’
‘Just thank you?’
‘For now.’

Overall I thought it was pretty good, so give it a try.

3 stars overall, and I'd read it again!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for sending me an ARC!

📋🖊Loved this put-upon male lead🤗

4.5🌟 stars
I really enjoyed this evolving friends to lovers relationship between ex-fire fighter/ex-con Jake and super organized list making chef Anna. Going from their troubled situations at home in England for their dream of overseas jobs with an idyllic setting on the banks of Lake Como, these two turn their animosity inside out as they build respect and affection for each other. It's very romantic, especially the efforts each makes to support and protect the other.

The romance was heated but not steamy, which is something that really suited my taste. And thanks to the alternating dual perspective, I felt empathy and understanding of the conflicting feelings Anna and especially Jake had to resolve to get to the happy ending.

Jake was in fact my favorite character because he had so many good qualities and, thanks to a jerk, his confidence and job outlook were so dramatically altered. He had to look long and hard for people outside his family who saw past his troubled history to the decent guy he was.

This was the second Kathryn Freeman novel I've read and I really like her writing style; I will doubtless come back for more😊.

Thanks to HarperCollins/One More Chapter and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

Have you ever wanted to put a book down before the conflict so that you didn't have to finish the book and could stay where the characters are happy and in love? Or is it just me?

Well, that was me with The Italian Job. I was so attached to both Jack and Anna that I didn't want to carry on with the book and risk them breaking up. But if I didn't, I wouldn't get to see the beauty of how opposites, while challenging to be around, can help in the areas you may lack. I loved how opposite the characters were. As a reader, I was able to experience the way they used their differences to help each other through their difficulties. I admit I did not feel as connected to Jack initially due to his difficult attitude and lousy self-talk. By the end of this novel, I now miss him. I enjoyed how Kathryn Freeman focused on building the characters and showing their growth while also having a solid plotline. The Italian Job has got me in a summer and vacationing mood!

I want to say a big thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, for allowing me to read this book. A book I will not soon forget and will definitely be recommending.

*I received an ARC from HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and given freely. Quotes used subject to change with publication.

Firstly I’d like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc 😍😍

This book is right up my street!! It’s got all the tropes I love!! Kinda frenemies to lovers and fake dating with a splash of total bad boy who’s a big softie mixed in? Totally winning!! 😍😍 It’s absolutely brilliant!! ❤️❤️ When I sat down to read it, I basically read it in one sitting. I only stopped because it was 2.30am and I thought I’d should probably go to sleep for a little while…😂😂

Anna’s horrible boyfriend does the dirty on her and she has to move home to her dads, not really ideal so she goes in search of her dream job. And she finds it!! Managing an Italian castle for a year? Yes please!! Only catch? She needs to find a partner and quickly!! Enter her super sexy, bad boy neighbour Jake (who for some reason I imagined had some sort of Kurt Cobain vibe going on 😂😅 probably a bit extra of me but I certainly enjoyed it 🔥🔥). They get the job but can they keep up they’re pretence?…

It’s such an incredible read, I loved how the MCs were complete opposites, Anna’s a bit extra (she loves a list!!) and Jakes a bit too relaxed some times but they fit so perfectly at the same time and all the supporting characters are lovely too!! It’s honestly such a great read, please pick it up, you won’t regret it at all!! Especially if you fancy Kurt Cobain 😂😂 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️