3 ⭐️ | A sweet second-chance romance in the Italian Alps!

This was my first read from Leonie Mack, and while I thought it was cute overall, it wasn’t a favorite for me. The setting was absolutely charming—Italy, mountain views, and weddings? Yes, please! I also really enjoyed the second-chance romance trope. Sophie and Andreas have history, and I was curious to see how it would all unfold, especially with that unique Leap Day proposal twist.

The emotional tension between them was well done, and I appreciated the slow unraveling of their past. That said, I struggled a bit with the third-person POV—I personally prefer first-person narration to feel more connected to the characters. Because of that, I felt a little more distant from Sophie and Andreas than I would’ve liked.

Still, if you're a fan of destination romances and stories about reignited love, this one might be worth picking up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Genre: Romance / Contemporary
Read if you like: Second chances, destination weddings, and a bit of mountain adventure!

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Years after Sophie ended her relationship with Andreas, they meet again, this time to plan a wedding, for another couple.

The past feelings of heartbreak, hurt, as well as love that each of them felt are once back.

As they both work together to finalise details that the couple want, Sophie and Andreas talk about what happened when they were last together. They realise where they went wrong and how they feel, and what to do about those feelings.

The book is set around Lake Garda in Italy and it was a beautiful setting. The descriptions were of the area had you feeling as you were there with Sophie and Andreas.

I highly recommend this book.

Leonie Mack's 'An Italian Wedding Adventure' is a charming getaway to the breathtaking scenery of Italy, mostly around Lake Garda. The book reunites former lovers Sophie, a wedding planner, and Andreas, a mountain climber, when their companies are merged, and they are compelled to work together on an adventure wedding.

The author vividly brings the Italian surroundings to life so that it's almost like another character. Descriptions of mountains and lakes are especially captivating. Some readers may find the introduction somewhat slow, but the romance unfolds beautifully as Sophie and Andreas deal with rekindled passion amidst wedding festivities and stunning vistas.

The chemistry between the lead characters brews in the background, and their quest for dealing with the past and uncovering a second chance at love makes up the crux of the story. Romance fans with a scenic setting and a dash of adventure will probably enjoy 'An Italian Wedding Adventure' as a sweet and delightful read.

This sweet romance is a perfect holiday read, set against the stunning backdrop of the Italian mountains. The light writing, featuring two points of view, brings the characters' emotions to life, though the perspective switches sometimes felt random. The "will they, won’t they" dynamic kept things interesting, even as the main characters' feelings went in circles. While the pacing was good and the chapters flowed smoothly, the lack of depth for some secondary characters and the vague hints about the past relationship left me guessing.

The long, split chapters gave enough space for the story to unfold while keeping things engaging with other plot events. The book's settings were beautifully described, making me feel like I was right there in Italy. Overall, it's a charming read with great emotional tension, lovely descriptions, and a steady pace, though it could’ve used more clarity around the characters’ past.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Let me start by saying I absolutely loved the immediate foreboding/foreshadowing of the opening sentence. A few pages later, when the author mentioned the FMCs "obsessively overthinking consciousness", I was ready to get into the drama - and it didn't take long!

The POV flips quite pleasantly between Sophie (FMC) and Andreas (MMC), and I was never frustrated and left hanging as I've been with similar narratives. I enjoyed being in both of their heads to see the differences in perspective of situations, past and present.

As a former hiker, I empathized with Sophie in her drive to keep up and prove herself among more athletic peers. Focusing on the niche hobby was a fun change from 'typical' romance novels. I think even if you were not familiar with hiking/climbing terminology, you could easily follow the activities being described throughout the book.

Leonie Mack provided one of my new favorite quotes to describe the feeling of wanting to share everything with your spouse: "That's love, huh? You haven't really seen anything until the other one has seen it too."

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an e-arc of this book!

This was a really lovely second chance romance story with two likeable main characters.

Sophie is an overseas wedding planner and the company she works for merges with an outdoor adventure business in order to provide ‘Adventure Wedding’ packages. The only problem is that Andreas, an Italian mountain climber works for the company and Sophie has history with him which left her brokenhearted. Working together to plan a mountaintop wedding in Italy, old feelings are dragged up and they are forced to face their awkward past.

I loved the character of Sophie, she was likeable, warm and friendly whereas Andreas is quite standoffish and grumpy but you learn to understand why he’s like that.

The book is written from both Sophie and Andreas’ perspectives with chapters dedicated to each character. This helped to gain more of a background on each character and what they’re thinking.

Overall I really like this book. It was easy to read, the setting was described beautifully and I will definitely read more from this author.

Thank you to Boldwood, Leonie Mack and Netgalley for the arc.

I'm never disappointed with a Leonie Mack book. I love books featuring travel and Italy in particular and Leonie researches her subject matter, both Italy and the careers of her protagonists, to such an in-depth level she must surely deserve an award. I love learning new terms in Italian (I consider myself relatively fluent) and I really enjoy learning about parts of the country I've not been to - and hopefully I then get to add them to my bucket list! I can't say I'll be climbing - not fit enough and too scared - but I admire those who do.
The chemistry between Sophie and Andreas is tangible - and frustrating! The side plot of the wedding itself is heartwarming and the
insecurities and doubts that the two main characters have is a pleasure to read. That plus the secondary characters confirms Leonie Mack as one of my go-to authors.

I'm torn between 3 and 4 stars for this one!

Sophie-Leigh is divorced but works as a wedding planner, in a job she excels at but everyday makes her think about her own failings. one day, an odd twist of adventure finds one of those failings back in her life...but can Sophie resist him

At the start, it felt a little slow but I gradually warmed up to the setting, the characters and the story itself. It's not a particularly taxing read but it is an enjoyable one and I've never read a romance book set against the back drop of climbing mountains!

It is an easy read - one for mountaineers who like a romance!

The Italian lakes are a fabulous place to be and were probably the thing I enjoyed most in the second chance romance book. I’m not, however, a mountain climber nor do I have any interest in it so the detailed descriptions fell flat for me. There’s a predictable ending as there is in this type of romance but a pleasant enough book.

The writing was light and featured two points of view. Whilst it suddenly went from one point of view to the other in a seemly random fashion, it worked, and I enjoyed reading about how each character was feeling in certain situations. There was quite a lot of to and fro with each character not believing the other had feelings for them, and them trying to explain themselves to one another, but it all came together well.

The chapters were long and sometimes split. This meant that you got a good chunk of the story before moving on. Whilst the main characters' feelings kept going round in circles, the rest of the story moved on well. There were plenty of things going on to keep your attention whilst the main characters were trying to sort through their feelings.

There was a good flow to the book. The chapters ran smoothly together and made for an easy read.

The pace of the story was good. Despite the long chapters and the main characters not knowing what the other was thinking, you kept moving forward. There were clear movements of time grounding the story and helping it to keep moving.

The characters were good. I loved that we got to see what each of the main characters' were thinking. As the reader you were therefore armed with knowledge that the characters didn't have, making you really want for them to just be clear with each other and for them to both have a happy ending. I also enjoyed how the surrounding characters added to the suspense of the will they, won't they, and helped the main characters to sort through their feelings.

Lastly the settings. I loved the Italian mountain setting. There were some wonderful descriptions which really gave the story life and a sense of wonder. I would love to see it in real life for myself.

Overall a lovely read, full of will they, won't they suspense and brought to life with wonderful descriptions of the settings.

For me to enjoy a romance, I do have to see what the MC sees in the love interest. The love interest here is a mountaineer, and from what I've read, I thought he was the most unattractive, unappealing character I've read about in a long time. I couldn't see him growing on me, and so I couldn't see myself enjoying the romance, which is why I decided to DNF.

Always love a book set in Italy, especially a second time around romance. Did struggle with this one to start with. I have no experience of climbing and it got a bit intense for me.
Easy read while relaxing on a sunny lounger.

For me, the book was really hard to get into at first.
This was partly because the POV changes were not clear sometimes. It got confusing for me, especially when more characters came along.

The further I read, the more I enjoyed reading this book! The way of writing gave me the feeling that I was climbing along with Sophie and Andreas.
I loved the setting where this book takes place and how the author describes the details of mountain climbing and the areas that the characters visited.
It made the rest of the book a nice and smoother read for me!

However, I'm confused about the ending.
The story was going well, and I loved it, but the ending just felt weird.I'm not sure what the author's intention was to end the book this way. Nevertheless, it left me with a little deception.

I want to thank Boldwood books and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is a second chance romance, and I want to say up front that I've read other stories by the author and really enjoyed them, but this one missed the mark for me...starting with the cover, which really doesn't depict what the story itself is about. Sophie and Andreas have history, and then they are thrown back together in a business setting and forced to reconcile the past and move forward - that's the second chance part. There are other characters, some which are necessary, some who are simply in the way, and one that felt like she was being set up as the protagonist of a future book, and the storyline between Sophie and Andreas is interesting. Some of the things that fell flat for me, however, included the adventure part of the story -- if you don't know anything about climbing, you'll be a little lost at times as the author simply throws out terms and places without much explanation. Additionally, when we have specific destinations, the setting is usually a character in itself, but I've never been to this part of Italy and really can't picture it or what they were doing where even after finishing the story. For all of that...three stars.

Sophie is a wedding planner who attends a merger meeting. Her company is acquiring an adventure excursion company which she thinks is perfect because she is working with a couple that wants a mountain climbing wedding on top of a summit in Italy. Little does she know that the top guide at the excursion company is her ex and now they have to work together to make this wedding happen. This was not my favorite. The story is a second chance romance but I felt no chemistry between the main characters. Also, this book is heavy in mountain climbing vocabulary. If you aren’t familiar with mountain climbing, then you’ll be lost because there is little explanation of what’s being talked about. I had a hard time picturing the actual climbing part. I actually had a hard time picturing the part of Italy they were in. The story focused more on their reimagining of their relationship. I like Leonie Mack’s writing and have enjoyed books by her in the past, but this just didn’t come together for me.

The first thing I want to say is that I’d never thought I’d use the concept granola boy for a book, but here I am. That’s the MMC, as in this Ken’s job is granola boy. If you’ve never heard of it its basically those guys who wear Patagonia and Arc'teryx and like outdoors activities, particularly hiking (and they carry like protein bars AND granola bars, hence the name).
So with that new type of main character explained, now I can dive in.
Sophie is a destination wedding planner, she’s good at it and almost has it down to an art. Come in a new couple who want a destination adventure wedding and she’s almost at a loss, except it turns out she used to be the outdoorsy type too so she gets what they’re talking about, but it brings her memories.
Fast forward, she comes face to face with those memories, or more like the guy those memories include: Andreas. The granola boy who is basically allergic to the mere mention of the word marriage. Now they must plan the wedding together while trying (and failing) to keep the memories at bay.

It took me like three seconds to feel like I knew the characters, you know that wanting to be a fly on the wall? That’s how the author made it feel with her writing: up front conversations, lively descriptions of the places (and I mean who doesn’t want to be transported to towns and mountains on an Italian lakeside).
I felt the struggles Sophie faced, like she was a friend telling me. I really enjoyed that, now come to think of it. I wanted to tell her things about Andreas, because it was so real.

At first I thought it would be a summer-like perfect read but it’s actually really nice for anytime (in my case spring and not anywhere near a vacation) because it takes you to beautiful little towns in Italy. So reading it is like an escapade. I could totally picture it like a movie in my head while reading it, and I enjoyed that so much because it made it lighter and more fun.

There’s some stuff that could’ve been dug a little deeper to make it more meaningful and that was just mentioned in passing and left at that… but overall, like I said, a light fun read that takes you away.

I always enjoy a good love story set in the beautiful backdrop of Italy. Wedding planner Sophie proposed to the love of her life eight years ago, but he turned her down. This left her heartbroken with a lot of unanswered questions. She tried to put him out of her mind and move on with her life. Now the wedding planning company she works for has merged with the outdoor adventure company that he works for, putting them awkwardly together in a situation where they can no longer ignore the strong feelings they still have for each other.

I feel like it takes a long time to get through the story of their feelings for each other then and now. The attraction is undeniable, but they are both stubborn and resolving their painful pasts doesn’t come easy. There seem to be a lot of characters to keep track of, and I’m not sure they were all necessary.

This is a fun story for those who love outdoor activities, travel and adventure.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review.

I wasn’t sure when I first started this book, but I was really glad I continued with it. A really great story, which explores whether that one true love exists. A happy, warm Summer read, exactly the kind of book you want to read on your holidays.

This was one of those books that I went into it blind, not realizing what the tropes were, and once I realized it was a second-chance romance, I was feeling very nervous about whether or not I would enjoy the book. It is probably one of my least favorite tropes, and the beginning of this book was very irritating in terms of how the characters felt about each other. It felt very immature and both of the characters are 30+. Luckily, as the story progressed, I did see the character growth that made each character a bit more lovable. Although, there were definitely times where I felt like certain things were glossed over in terms of feelings and thoughts and some of the situations in general.

The POV switching was also not particularly clear to me, but didn't detract from the experience tooo much. in general it's a very straightforward second-chance romance where it was kind of like the right person at the wrong time and they figured out the emotional blocks that kept them from being together in the first place (for the most part). I'm still not totally convinced by their relationship if I'm going to be completely honest, but I'm also just a bit skeptical of second chance romance in general, so that might just be a me thing. In my opinion, it was nothing to write home about, but I really enjoyed her other most recent book, so I'm willing to give this author another chance. Unfortunately, this one definitely did not blow me out of the water.

I don't usually read anything that is second chance romance, but something about this book may have changed my mind about this in the future. This was an easy book to read, slightly difficult to get into in the beginning of the book but that past quickly. Wedding planner Sophie works for I Do, and she has been tasked with arranging a ceremony on a mountain summit, in order to do so, I Do merge with an outdoor adventure company, where she meets her ex Andreas. The tension through out this story was so good, the characters were so well described and development was great. Andreas really remind me of my older brother quite a lot because he is really the real life Andreas, and I think because of that I really undersood his mind and all his decisions regarding family, weddings and of course Sophie. This book feels perfect for reading this summer. And all in all I enjoyed reading this book.