The Villa

An average Nora Roberts which means it is very entertaining. This one is most ntable for the character of Maddy, the curious, smart and interesting young teenager who begins to grow up in the course of the book.

I will say that I enjoyed the non-romance parts of this book better. The relationship between Tereza/Eli and David/Pilar felt natural, but I found myself cheesed with Ty and Sophie, I felt this book could have done better without the relationship between them because to be honest, it felt rather forced. This book was great, but I did not feel that the person who murdered Tony was the right person, I was quite surprised and disappointed when the truth was revealed because that fact was just jarring for the story, and I would have loved to see Rene and especially Kris get what was coming to them, the ending was just too quick.

Overall I enjoyed the book and was invested in the characters. I didn't like how quick and neat the book ended though. There was some big stuff there that just got glossed over or waved away like it wasn't all that important and then everything was fine.

Enjoyed learning more about the wine making business through a romance book that had multiple love stories as it involved 3 generations although Sophia as a main character was the least realistic. The added attraction of the murders helped to keep the story interesting although there were so many characters that the beginning got confusing.

I have owned this book for 10 years and never read it. I have picked it up dozens of times to start it, but it simply never caught my attention. Well, I recently started reading it and I am glad.
"The Villa" follows the Giambelli-MacMillan clan throughout an entire season of wine making. There is murder, romance, corporate espionage, and intrigue. The Italian family is fantastic! Although at times you really had to pay attention to keep up with all of the plot twists, it is soooo worth it!

Too many dead bodies, too many bad guys, too many people swapping beds. Oh, yes, also an unfair twist at the end.

Roberts delves into corporate espionage and Intrigue in the wine world but she spends more pages pairing up characters in the bedroom. I found the characters bland and uninteresting.