What to Eat While Reading Roman Crazy

August is the perfect time to curl up with a good book. This hot-and-steamy month is, appropriately, Read-a-Romance Month, 31 days dedicated to swooning and melting, yearning and burning. We asked Bobbi Dumas, founder of this homage to romance novels, to pick her favorite book each week. Naturally, we’ll be complementing her suggestions with something to snack on. And since you’re likely to get hot and bothered, we decided to go with food pairings to help cool you down.

Fleeing her crumbling marriage, protagonist Avery Bardot heads to Rome to start anew — and eat her fill of pizza and gelato. But fate intervenes when she comes face to face with former lover, Marcello Bianchi, on her very first night in the Eternal City.

We can’t think of a better pairing for a Roman romance than this frosty Italian treat.

• Close To You: A Fusion Novel by Kristen Proby
• Don’t Tempt Me by Lori Foster
• The Billionaire Bachelor by Jessica Lemmon