Publication Date: April 28, 2020
Publisher: MIRA Books
Rating: ★★★★
Three women. One summer reunion. Secrets will be revealed…
Villa Dolce Vita, a rambling stone house on the Amalfi Coast, sits high above the Gulf of Naples amid dappled lemon groves and fragrant, tumbling bougainvillea. Kim, Colette and Annie all came to the villa in need of escape and in the process forged an unlikely friendship.
Now, years later, Kim has transformed the crumbling house into a luxury retreat and has invited her friends back for the summer to celebrate.
But as friendships are rekindled under the Italian sun, secrets buried in the past will come to light, and not everyone is happy that the three friends are reuniting… Each woman will have things to face up to if they are all to find true happiness and fully embrace the sweet life.
Review:
Thank you Melissa Hill, MIRA Books & NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This novel was a part of the 2020 Spring Reads Blog Tour with Harlequin Books.
“An epic summer read about food, friendship and the magic of Italy, perfect for fans of Mary Kay Andrews and Susan Mallery.” This was the perfect description of this book.
This is my first Melissa Hill novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was romance, drama, laughs, tears, everything that comes in a women’s fiction / contemporary romance novel. I will say, I thought that the romance and drama in this book was written spectacularly.
One of the things I liked the most about this book was the two separate timelines. This novel is set six years ago and in present day. I’m not usually a fan of that type of book, but Melissa Hill did a great job writing it the way she did. I was entranced by the timeline almost. I was waiting to find out what happened then and what was going to happen throughout the story.
The characters were awesome. Simply awesome. When there are too many characters in a novel, I get confused. However, I loved learning about Kim, Colette and Annie. I loved each one of their stories. I really appreciated a woman turning a crumbling house into a luxury business. This book was very big on female empowerment for me and I like that.
There were a lot of secrets revealed in this book. A lot of them. I got a little confused sometimes through the characters, which I mentioned earlier that happens sometimes when there’s too many things going on. However, it was easy to catch back up and realize who’s drama was with who.
Overall, I really enjoyed this Italian women’s fiction novel from Melissa Hill. She really captured my attention with her writing and I cannot wait to read another one by her!
Lacey's Library 