Publication Date: 20th July 2023
Genre: Contemporary Drama, Romance (Multi Timeline)
2.7 Stars (minority opinion)
One Liner: An easy read
Carina is marrying her childhood sweetheart, Giorgio, who has secrets of his own and isn’t who he appears to be. Edie is Carina’s friend and bridesmaid. This emerging Hwood actress has secrets she cannot reveal. Phillipa, Carina’s mother, has a happy life but finds things drifting apart. Complications arise when her former lover enters the scene.
Tom arrives at the location, hired as Carina’s temporary bodyguard. With strange gifts and odd threats, it’s clear something sinister is happing behind the scenes. But what?
Set on the beautiful Amalfi Coast, the book deals with how the lives of multiple people change over a few days.
The story comes in the third-person POV of several characters.
What I Like:
I mainly requested the book for the setting, and it does full justice to this. Be it Villa Amore, the Amalfi Coast, vineyards, or the Sicilian background, everything comes alive on the page. However, it’s not overly descriptive for the reader to lose interest.
The pace is amazing. This book has almost 400 pages (384-400), but it is easy to read in a couple of sitting. Even with so much happening, I could breeze through the content without any difficulty.
The writing style is easy, almost too easy, and highly simplified. While this adds to the pace, it doesn’t evoke enough emotions to connect with the characters. Still, I wanted Giorgio to get his due for being an absolute douchebag, so one character did inspire strong emotions in me.
A certain small yet highly influential character says, ‘No man is worth losing your self-respect…’ Indeed! (I’d make it gender-neutral, but it fits the context)
The parallels between Phillipa and Carina’s lives are interesting. Though it doesn’t do justice to their ‘intelligence’, it offers a little something to ponder about in a mother-daughter relationship. (Not sure if this was intended, but anyhoo).
What Could Have Been Better for Me:
Well, a family drama thrives on drama and interesting characters. You gotta have secret keepers, victims, collateral damage, heroes, villains, grey characters, et al. While the book has them all, none of them except that scum Giorgio makes an impact (at least for me).
The multiple third-person POV works to an extent in providing their thoughts, but the voice shifts repeatedly from one person to another. At the same time, it’s not omnipresent narration either. This makes it hard to connect with the characters.
The dialogue is nice, but I didn’t like it. The conversations sound off in many places. It’s like the characters are acting their part in a play rather than being themselves on paper.
The actual story is set in 2005. While books set in the past only recreate a similar setting, this one feels like it was written at the same time but dusted and edited for publishing in 2023. Not sure I can explain it right, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the book is an old manuscript.
I was hoping Giorgio would face the music for his actions. While he does to a minor extent, the book sadly sweeps a good portion of it under the carpet. Financial fraud is one thing, infidelity and mistreating women is another matter. He isn’t even questioned about it. That is NOT acceptable.
The main and side characters could have been much better but end up as cardboard cutouts. Also, a major development made me roll my eyes at the FMC. This could have been achieved in better ways.
To summarize, Secrets of the Villa Amore is an easy and light read despite the complex plot. It’s nothing great or memorable, though. A time pass read.
Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK (Fiction), for the eARC.
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