⭐3.5 stars⭐
Just finished reading an advanced copy of a book that is being released on May 9th called, An Italian Wedding Adventure. This was about a wedding planner named Sophie. When the wedding planning company Sophie works for merges with a travel company, she comes face to face with her ex, Andreas. The man she proposed to eight years ago but he turned her down. Now they have to work together to create European wedding adventures for clients wanting to tie the knot in an unforgettable way. This was a second chance romance, and the story definitely made you feel like you were on the adventures with the characters. I did feel like there were times when too many side characters were getting thrown at you at once and it got confusing. I also wish this would've been first person dual POV, rather than third person. Also I was waiting for paddleboarding to happen, since that's what's on the cover. But there wasn't any paddleboarding in this book, this book was about mountain climbing, so I feel the cover is misleading. Overall the story was fun and I enjoyed it! 💛📚

Thank you to the author and to the publisher for this ARC of An Italian Wedding Adventure, in exchange for an honest review.

An Italian Wedding Adventure is a second-chance romance set against the picturesque backdrop of Italy. While the mature characters and slow-burn romance offered potential, the story didn't fully captivate me. I found the pacing slow, and the character development lacked depth, leaving me less emotionally invested than I'd hoped. Overall, it was a pleasant read but didn't leave a lasting impression. Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for giving me the opportunity to review this ARC.

I fell in love with Lake Garda while reading Leonie Mack's latest novel. It's definitely on a bucket list of places to visit now. Mack's storytelling is superb and following along Sophie and Andreas' adventure was sweet.

Thank you, NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Review: *An Italian Wedding Adventure* by Leonie Mack**
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 sparkling stars)

If you dream of sun-drenched landscapes, second chances, and slow-burn romance with a hefty side of adventure, *An Italian Wedding Adventure* is your next must-read!

Sophie is a heroine you can’t help but root for — organized, determined, and just vulnerable enough under her professional polish. When her carefully ordered world collides with Andreas, the rugged ex-boyfriend she never quite forgot, sparks fly fast (and feelings even faster). Their chemistry practically sizzles against the stunning Italian backdrops — think mountaintops, ancient villages, and sweeping views you can almost feel through the page.

Leonie Mack delivers a gorgeously layered second-chance romance that’s full of emotion, laughter, and heartache. I loved how Sophie and Andreas are forced not just to revisit their past but also to confront the truths they hid from themselves and each other. The emotional payoff is *so worth it* — tender, hopeful, and completely satisfying.

**Tropes I loved:**
- Second Chance Romance
- Forced Proximity
- Workplace Rivals/Collaboration
- Destination Romance
- Sunshine x Grump
- Emotional Healing Journey

Perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan and Sue Moorcroft, *An Italian Wedding Adventure* made my heart ache and soar all at once. It’s like taking a mini vacation — with a love story waiting at the summit.

*Huge thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for the ARC!*

Lovely book, great story and the scenery and descriptions are amazing. I really like this author lots. Bring on the next book please. Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

sophies wedding destination agency merges with a adventure travel agency, she finds out her Ex boyfriend works there. this is a second chance romance.

Sophie-Leigh es una experimentada organizadora de bodas que, tras años de evitar su pasado, se ve obligada a enfrentarse a él cuando su empresa se fusiona con una agencia de aventuras al aire libre. Allí se reencuentra con Andreas Hinterdorfer, un guía de montaña tirolés con quien compartió un intenso romance años atrás, marcado por la pasión, la juventud… y un doloroso final.
Esto la obliga a colaborar con él, despertando viejos sentimientos, tensiones no resueltas y heridas aún abiertas. A medida que planifican juntos este desafío logístico y emocional, ambos deben confrontar no solo los recuerdos de su fallida relación, sino también sus propias inseguridades y heridas del pasado.



_

Me cayeron mal ambos protagonistas. No me gusto como Sophie es tan dejada e idealiza a Andreas cuando en el pasado el no la valoró y la daba por sentada porque sabia que ella estaba loca por él.



Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest.

What a pure delight this read is! I adored the characters, Sophie and Andreas are likeable characters to get to know and I enjoyed following their story. The plot is full of love and hope, there is sadness there too and everything comes together to make for a wholesome read that truly made me believe in love.
Plus this has the added bonus of being set in some stunning locations, meaning reading this felt like a holiday. What a complete joy this book is!
Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an advance copy.

I really liked the premise of this book, I thought it was different and fun, and I loved that Sarah was the one to propose initially! There were just a few moments that felt unnecessary or just too long, but that was easy to ignore. otherwise, I think this is a cute, quick summer read! thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my digital ARC!!

this is a destination i have always wanted to go to. so i was a mixture of jealous and enthralled by it.
this books was a calming and warming read. i felt the emotions of both our main characters were told brilliantly. you really got to feel how so much of what happened between them all those year ago, still lingers and has changed how they seeing things going forward.
it being left as it was with a disastrous proposal its also feeling very very unfinished. our FMC has an embarrassment factor in there too and the rejection feels ever so real.
in the current day though they are both suddenly flung together. Sophie is a wedding planner, her company has just added adventure wedding to their option list. to help her figure out her current couples wedding adventure package she has to work alongside an expert. turns out this expert is "that" ex. all of a sudden she is forced to work and spend time with Andreas. there is so much that was left unsaid and so much obviously being unsaid right now. spending time together also begins to highlight once again just how much these two meant and mean to each other.
with so much to unpack can both get what happened out in the open and healed. and can they be brave enough this time? has too much time passed? is it worth it?
i love how both our characters were described. and when we got to know just who they are and exactly what led to the end all those years ago it fleshes out the storyline really well. it also make you understand where they meet now and just what they need to do to come together. it also really made me feel for them both and was rooting for them more.
the side characters in this book add a great bounce back to the story and fit in perfectly. they have a realistic and needed role to the plot. this is the couples wedding after all and Leonie does a great job of making them important but not to detract from the main characters own storyline.

A fun, quirky romcom that has great back drops and adventures
I just felt the pace was a little slow for me, I didn't get the hook I was looking for and that the characters were not developed enough for me to really get a connection with them

3.5 stars

Ah, I do love a good wedding, whether real or fictional. I enjoyed the premise of An Italian Wedding Adventure: we've got Sophie and Andreas getting a second shot at what was somewhat of a whirlwind failed relationship from eight years ago that left them both feeling hurt in different ways.

I liked their journey together for the most part, but I found Andreas to be really...childish? Especially for how old his characters is supposed to be. All the wedding planning content was fun, I thought. It reminded me of a middle-grade series I really loved, The Wedding Planner's Daughter, just all the fun (and stressful!) details for trying to plan someone's perfect wedding day. I love those vibes and I definitely got those while reading.

I think I would have liked this a lot more if we got even more of a focus on just the MMC and FMC connection, both from the past and in the present day. There were moments where they were discussing what happened before but we were really just told it, we didn't get to truly see much of those bits on the page and I think that could've made me love the characters instead of just like them, and to see the full start to end progression.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for a copy to read and review! I would give this a shot if you're into tropes like second chance romance, weddings/wedding planning, Italian setting, and also outdoor activities like hiking and mountain climbing.

This was a quick read full of weddings, beautiful scenery and relationships. Wedding planning Sophie is off to Italy to scout out a location for her next wedding, they want up a mountain. Her ex Andreas works meets her at the airport she’s not that pleased. Full of laughs, love and mountains, what can go wrong. A great 4.5 star read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

A perfect summer adventure.

An Italian Wedding Adventure tells the story of wedding planner Sophie and mountain climber Andreas, who, post break-up, haven’t seen each other in years, only to be reunited when Sophie’s company starts a sideline in Adventure Weddings.

I took a little while to get into this, I’ll admit but by the 40% mark, I was sold as Sophie planned the wedding of Lily and Roman (I loved the pair and their families as secondary characters) up a mountain in Italy.

The setting, all of the food details, the wedding plans, all added so much to my enjoyment of their second chance love story. Their own worries and objections around resurrecting their relationship felt realistic as they grappled with what a relationship would mean and their own worries around being hurt.

I think there’s another book coming in the series which I’ll definitely keep an eye out for.

Thanks to Boldwood and Netgalley for this ARC. All views are my own.

An Italian Wedding Adventure is yet another gem from Leonie Mack, filled with yearning, emotions, and a second chance at love.

Eight years after a disastrous proposal ended their relationship, former lovers Sophie and Andreas find themselves thrown together to plan . . . someone else’s wedding. Years of hurt, longing, and heartbreak—along with love and lust—all come surging back with a passion. Add in the beautiful settings and adventures, and I couldn't get enough!

The character development, relationship buildup, and beautiful descriptions really make the book. As Sophie and Andreas work together, they’re forced to confront the past, really talk to each other, learn from their misunderstandings, and figure out what to do with these feelings that always simmered below the surface. The tension is there from the start, and you just wait for it to explode. I loved them both and rooted hard for them to find a way back together.

The book takes place primarily around Lake Garda, Italy, a spectacularly beautiful place. I felt like I was scaling mountains with these characters and enjoying romantic Italian moments too! The mountaintop photo scene was fantastic along with so many beautiful moments.

Sophie is a spirited wedding planner who specializes in destination weddings and is always chasing her next adventure. When an unconventional couple approaches her with a unique wedding request set in the Italian Alps, it leads her straight back to her past—and to Andreas, the ex-boyfriend she hasn’t seen in eight years. Their relationship ended when Sophie proposed and Andreas turned her down.

Now, reunited by work, Sophie and Andreas are forced to revisit their unresolved history. As they collaborate on creating a dream wedding amidst the stunning Alpine scenery, old emotions begin to stir. Through scenic hikes, heart-to-hearts, and the magic of the mountains, the two slowly rebuild their bond and rediscover a connection that may never have fully disappeared.

This light and charming romance is perfect for holiday reading or when you’re craving a bit of escapism. While the chemistry between Sophie and Andreas is sweet, the story could have been enriched by diving deeper into their shared past. And although the setting adds charm, some inaccuracies in the use of Italian might bother detail-oriented readers. Still, it’s a cozy, feel-good tale about second chances and finding love where you left it.

This book was so hard to get into to. It took multiple days for me to get past the first few chapters.
It’s an adorable cover that got me wanting to read it in the first place. It’s a second chance romance. But the MMC seemed to be more into hiking than anything else. I honestly didn’t love nor hate this book. But it was hard to get into so that’s why it’s a 3 star rating as I wouldn’t read it again. But also don’t regret reading it.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to get this ARC and read and review it.

LM is one of my favourite writers. She creates credible and engaging characters I can identify with, and cheer on their journey to a happy ending. She always sets up a premise that is totally authentic and captures my interest in a setting which I want to visit.

Here we have Sophie and Andreas, a wedding planner and a mountaineer. Eight years ago she used Leap Year as the opportunity to ask him to marry her and he rejected her. Now the two companies they work for (Wedding Planner and Outdoor Pursuits) merge and they have to work together. This is so beautiful, I totally loved it. Andreas proves to be a delicious hero whose behaviour becomes very understandable as we learn more about him and watch him dare to be brave because of their love.. Sophie is lovable and complex and it's fascinating to see how she grows and develops as they reconnect.the

What I also loved was the time devoted to our couple. So many books neglect the romance in favour of a cast of thousands who I'm generally not at all interested in. LM doesn't do that. Her subsidiary characters serve a purpose, but they don't overwhelm the main characters.

The writing evokes settings brilliantly. And although I am no fan of outdoor pursuits, LM actually makes me understand why other people are.

A fabulous read, which I got as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.
Highly recommended 5 stars!

I'm not a big second chance trope fan but who could resist Lake Garda?
I love Leonie's books because they are pure entertainment and usually introduce an infusion of cultures, languages and people of diverse backgrounds. Her books are definitely my comfort reads.

This book was really hard to get into and just felt kinda flat.
Like nothing was resolved. The MMC was a man child who couldn’t deal with emotions and the FMC was always the adult trying to understand him. I never saw how they could actually have a happily ever after. Even at the end, he didn’t change at all.
She just kinda gave up and gave in and is gonna live him of the man child he is instead of demanding more from him or finding more.
This would be a 2 star if it wasn’t for the backdrop of hiking and side characters
But while we are on side characters, the MMC had a casual relationship with a hiking student he’s known since she was a teen (if the math is correct) but it’s ok because she knew it’s always casual even though she wanted more?
Ehhh yuck plus she was named Kira, my name, and thus even worse to read.