An Italian Wedding Adventure by Leonie Mack

 

Sophie is a wedding planner who goes above and beyond for her clients, so if they want to have a wedding that includes climbing mountains in Italy, then she can make that happen. Given that more couples are wanting adventure/destination weddings she flippantly suggests to her boss that maybe they should join forces with an adventure company. She is still a bit shocked when her boss announces that they are merging with one. Of course it happens to be the company where her ex,  Andreas, works.

Eight years previously Sophie and Andreas had a brief but very deep relationship. On February 29th she proposed to him, but he said no, leaving a heartbroken Sophie behind to pick up the pieces. She moved on, married and then divorced, but Andreas has always had a bit of her heart.

Having to spend time in Italy scouting for the ideal wedding location, Sophie and Andreas are forced to spend time together, and they are both still very attracted to each other. Andreas avoids any kind of emotional attachment, mainly because he knows how dangerous it is when he goes climbing on some of the biggest mountains in the world, and he also knows how traumatic it is for those that are left behind when something goes wrong. He has seen it in his own world when his best friend died during a climb. 

There are times when Andreas is a bit frustrating. He is so closed off to the idea of allowing himself to even be open to have a relationship, despite the pressure he is getting from his family. 

Part of the charm of this book lies in it's setting in Northern Italy, close to the German border. Historically the border has moved many times over the centuries, with the area sometimes being German and other times Italian, and this is reflected in the language, food and characters. Coincidentally, I was watching the new Tucci in Italy series, and Stanley Tucci visited this area in one of the episodes. I love that Leonie Mack takes us to Italy, but not just Tuscany or the Amalfi coast. She takes us to the lesser visited parts of Italy and makes me wish that we were going back to visit some of these fantastic locations.

Bearing in mind that the most climbing I do is off the couch or occasionally out of the bath, the adventure stuff is not really my jam, but the idea of seeing all that gorgeous scenery overlooking the lake - that I would love. There were times that the technical terms got a bit draggy for me, but I do think it was great that they were there, and it is clear that the author has done a lot of the things that she is talking about. 

We did, however, have a location wedding. Ours was just the two of us on a beach in Vanuatu, so a little less strenous!

This is the first in a series, and we have already met some of the people who are going to feature in the future books! The next one is due to be released in September and I am already looking forward to reading it

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy.

Rating 4.5/5