The Villa

By: Nora Roberts

Narrated by: Laural Merlington

Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Sophia Giambelli has never worried about competition. For three generations, the Giambelli wines have been renowned for their quality - from Napa Valley to Italy, and throughout the world. The pride of the Giambelli family and a top PR executive, Sophia loves her job - and excels at it.

But things are about to change at Villa Giambelli. Tereza, the matriarch, has announced a merger with the MacMillan family's winery - and Sophia will be assuming a new role.

As a savvy businesswoman, she knows she must be prepared for anything...but she isn't prepared for Tyler MacMillan. They've been ordered to work together very closely, to facilitate the merger. Sophia must teach Tyler the finer points of marketing - and Ty, in turn, shows her how to get down and dirty, to use the sun, rain, and earth to coax the sweetest grapes from the vineyard.

As they toil together, both in and out of the fields, Sophia is torn between a powerful attraction and a professional rivalry. At the end of the season, the course of the company's future - and the legacy of the villa - may take an entirely new direction. And when acts of sabotage threaten both the family business and the family itself, Sophia's quest will be not only for dominance, but also for survival.

©2004 Nora Roberts (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Superb story

This is a really great story. The story construction was really good — good pacing, no waste. This is a feel good HEA, which is why I listen.

Characters are believable and most are likable.

The only flaw in the story deals with security. How does a multimillion or near billion dollar company not have security? However, I will concede that the author needed to make some events possible by not having security.

PROs:
- I’m not Italian nor do I speak Italian, but the narrator seemed to do a great job on the Italian parts.

CONs:
- The narrator had difficulty creating different voices for the various characters.

LoveNR123

I loved this story. The ending was truly a surprise and a bit out of in left field.

Loved it!

I love Nora Roberts' books, but this was definitely one of my favorites. I highly recommend this book.

Good one!

I enjoyed this one very much. Kind of sad it ended. Good story line, development of characters, learned more about winemaking, enjoyed the two locations in US and Europe.

Wonderful!

I loved this book! The characters were great, as well as the story line and the narrator. I didn't want it to end. I will listen too it again. I'm not a huge Nora Roberts fan but I really enjoyed this book!

Enjoyed

I am a NR fan. This was a complicated plot. I had some problems figuring out the characters but that is just a problem of "listening". Intriquing plot from my perspective. I loved everything about this book. This is a great vacation read.

Nora is always a good bet!

What did you love best about The Villa?

Greatly appreciate the varied locations and detailed of the storyline. Characters strong and believable. A story that could happen. Nora Roberts proves she can come up with something new.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sophie. Strong, indepedant, but human.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene when teens acted and talked like true teens. You know Nora has been around teens herself. Real, yet still funny.

Loved it!

I loved this book ! Kinda reminded me of my favorite show " Falcon Crest" . NRA Roberts is such a good writer in creating a whole story with different characters and angles that work perfectly transferring you to a different world. So so so good and the narrator choice was perfect for this book.

Great read

I read this book when it first came out and totally enjoyed it. Now having it read to me was even better. I really like Nora's books.

Slow start

It was kind of a slow start and took me a little while to get into the book. Over all it was a very good book once I got into it. The narration was excellent. I also didn’t know who the killer was until the end of the book.