Just as Kate Miller, heroine of WHEN IN ROME, wrapped up her sojourn in Italy with a romantic weekend jaunt to Taormina, Sicily, the hubs and I also capped off our 2007 trip by heading down to the “Pearl of the Mediterranean” for a couple days before heading back to the States.

Taormina, and Sicily as a whole, has an interesting history. The site of Phoenician and Greek colonies and later part of the Roman Empire, the island saw its share of warfare as various forces tried to claim this beautiful, rocky land as their own. From Byzantium to the Normans, then the era of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and finally inclusion in the unification of Italy as a plebiscite… and all the while gathering and maintaining a rich cultural heritage that survives today.

Sicily holds a special place in my heart. Three of four sets of great-grandparents immigrated to the US from Sicily, from two small towns in particular (in fact, their families knew each other!). A couple years before he passed, my paternal grandfather had the opportunity to travel to his father’s hometown of Forza D’Agro, a little north of Taormina, meet his uncles(!), and visit the church where his father was baptized. (That same small town also happens to be the filming location for the Italian settings in “The Godfather Part II”, in case you’d like a little fun movie trivia.)

Anyway, the hubs and I were only Taormina for about two and a half days and didn’t have time to seek out my ancestors’ homes. But it was well worth the train fare.

That’s it for our amazing trip to Italy! I hope you’ve enjoyed these photos. For a full dose of romance, don’t forget to pick up your copy of WHEN IN ROME!

WHEN IN ROME is available now for Kindle – and don’t forget to check out BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE (now available in print from Amazon and Barnes & Noble), the story that started it all!

Want to stay updated on announcements and upcoming releases? Join my email newsletter and follow me on my socials (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube).

No trip to Rome would be complete without checking out the thoroughfare that carried armies, commerce, and travelers to and from Ancient Rome for ages.

Let’s let Kate Miller, heroine of WHEN IN ROME, set the scene for us:

The Metro Line stops just inside the old Aurelian wall. Domenic guides me to a transit stop to catch a bus farther south. It’s a short ride, and we get off on a quaint street that looks like time froze somewhere in the mid-1600’s. After stopping in a little market for fresh bottles of water, we walk the cobbled street, passing ruins as well as currently occupied homes, three catacomb sites bustling with tourists, and sun-washed fields stretching toward the horizon. Traffic is light, except for tourists on foot or locals biking. Occasionally a public transit bus rumbles buy, forcing us to step onto the dirt path beside the road that serves as a sidewalk. An hour or so into our walk, the smaller cobbles abruptly end in a jagged line and give way to large, smooth stones.

Domenic comes to a stop. “Welcome to the Appian Way.”

~ excerpt from WHEN IN ROME

The cool thing about putting my characters on an afternoon trek down the Appian Way is that I could draw directly from my own experience. There’s really nothing quite like stepping onto a roadway that’s been around for literally a couple thousand years.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Next time, we’ll take a jaunt to the beautiful island of Sicily and visit Taormina!

WHEN IN ROME is available now for Kindle – and don’t forget to check out BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE (now available in print from Amazon and Barnes & Noble), the story that started it all!

Want to stay updated on announcements and upcoming releases? Join my email newsletter and follow me on my socials (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube).

In WHEN IN ROME, the second installment of my Sweet Somethings series, heroine Kate Miller makes a split second decision to join an international photography team as they embark on a photo shoot in Rome, Italy’s “Eternal City.”

The story focuses on the development of Kate’s romantic relationship with fellow photographer Domenic Varezzi, but along the way, Kate gets to check out some pretty amazing sites in and around Rome (and later, Taormina in Sicily).

The fun part is that just about everything she experiences comes from my memories of Rome.

In April of 2007, my own Romantic Hero of a Husband (though at the time he was my Romantic Hero of a Boyfriend) and I took a trip to Rome and Taormina when I was off school for spring break.

Now, it’s time for you to join me on a return trip to Rome! Over the next several weeks, we’ll take a photographic journey through The Eternal City, followed by Taormina on Sicily’s Eastern coast. While you’ll have to read WHEN IN ROME to get all the juicy details of Kate Miller’s experiences, I’ll be sharing fun tidbits about my own unforgettable trip to Italy.

WHEN IN ROME is available now for Kindle – and don’t forget to check out BETTER THAN CHOCOLATE (now available in print from Amazon and Barnes & Noble), the story that started it all!

Want to stay updated on announcements and upcoming releases? Join my email newsletter and follow me on my socials (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and YouTube).