"Reluctantly Matched" by Shanna Delaney

Samantha is finally realizing the dream of her young life – traveling to Florence to see and study its great works of art and especially its sculpture. Raised by her grandmother, her art studies in college were cut short when her grandmother developed Alzheimer’s. Her travel to Florence, however, has been beset by delays and canceled flights, and she’s already lost two days. She’s almost bumped from the flight she’s finally on, when a handsome man intervenes with the flight attendant, enabling her to get a seat in first class – and finally some sleep.

Landing in Florence, she’s almost robbed when the handsome stranger, Edo, once again intervenes. He realizes she’s booked her vacation stay at his family’s home outside Florence. It’s the family business he left Italy six years before to try to avoid. He also left a girlfriend who wasn’t interested in moving to the United States. 

Edo’s mother wants grandchildren, and she spots a possible opportunity in Samantha. Her rather obvious matchmaking begins to pay off, when Edo seems less and less reluctant to escort Samantha around Florence and its treasures. He begins to see not only his city but also his home and family with Samantha’s eyes. For her part, Samantha finds herself falling in love, but her vacation will be ending, and she has to return to life in the United States.

Reluctantly Matched by Shanna Delaney is the story of Samantha and Edo, and it’s also the story of Florence and the surrounding countryside, as much a character as the two protagonists. 

Delaney is the author of three romance novels in her Italian Bachelors series: Accidentally Enemies (set in Venice), Reluctantly Matched, and Hesitantly Reunited (set in Rome). She’s also published a related novella, Love in Terminal B. Reluctantly Matched was formerly entitled Finding Love in Florence, until renamed with the new series title.

Reluctantly Matched is an engaging tale of two people, one American and the other Italian, who discover each other and love in one of Italy’s most beautiful cities.

Top photograph by Heidi Kaden via Unsplash. Used with permission.