Villa of Sun and Secrets

By: Jennifer Bohnet

Narrated by: Julia Franklin

Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

It's never too late to live the dream.... 

Carla Sullivan’s 50th birthday is fast approaching when her whole world is turned upside down. Discovering her feckless husband is having yet another affair and following her mother’s death, she is in need of an escape. Finding an envelope addressed to her mother’s estranged sister Josette in the south of France gives Carla the perfect plan. 

Seizing the moment, she packs her bags and heads to Antibes to seek out the enigma known as Tante Josette. But as the two women begin to forge a tentative relationship, family secrets start to unravel, forcing Carla to question her life as she has always known it. 

A heartwarming tale on the beautiful French Riviera that will keep you guessing. From the best-selling author of Summer at Coastguard Cottages, The Little Kiosk by the Sea and Rosie's Little Cafe on the Riviera. Perfect for fans of Jill Mansell and Fern Britton.

©2019 Jennifer Bohnet (P)2019 Boldwood Books Ltd

Critic reviews

"Unputdownable, a heartwarming story of love, family and friendship in the glorious south of France. What’s not to love!" (Lucy Coleman)

Dreadful recording

Audio quality makes it virtually impossible to listen to. Had to stop at chapter 7. Could not understand a word, the French accents are completely over done. Very disappointing

I want more!

Ms. Bohnet speaks to every woman who has been taken advantage of by an all consuming and cheating spouse, showing that forgiveness and value of oneself can open a path to wonderful new beginnings!

Villa of Sun and Secrets

Villa of Sun and Secrets. I tried several times to get into this book because the narrater was so over the top. I finally just read it. As the book progressed her voice settled a bit. I absolutely loved the book I did not want it to end. If you have been there you feel as if you are there again.

Heartwarming story

I loved the readers accents, the writers descriptions and the story of triumph over life’s sorrows.

Very slow and boring

The story was too long, too contrived, too dull and the horrible accents of the reader were extremely irritating. I did listen all the way through hoping for some improvement but there was none.

Very Imaginative!

Never a dull moment in this creative and unpredictable book. Very difficult to put down. Excellent job!!

Great storyline

Enjoy this book all around!! Keep me interested right up to the end!! On to the next one

loved it! Clean romance!

Good storyline. romance that stayed clean. Hard to find authors that don't cave in to write explicit crap into their books. Refreshing!

Great story!

I have really enjoyed every book especially this one. Keep up the good work and the story telling!

Very entertaining!

This audiobook was very lovely to listen to. Clean , no language or 🔥. Makes you feel like you’re on a vacation with a bit of intrigue! Highly recommend this author.

narration dreadful

couldn't finish this book due to the narration. Do the authors not listen to a sample before letting it go out to audible?

A Wonderful listen

Dear Readers
Having spent five summers in Antibe with my beloved wife ,before she died last year, this book brought back glorious memories of our visits The story great in character and place ,filled me with joy.Thank you Author and Reader for the many hours spent in your company .No doubt I will return to re-read it again

Predictable but still enjoyable

If you fancy an extended stay in the South of France, with an unchallenging, predictable but fair paced plot, I recommend this book. I listened to it free as it is in the Plus Catalogue section.

I liked all the characters, but the best part was the description of pool-side suppers, the ice-cold rose wine and the lovely food. It is never really tense and nothing bad happens.

The narration is definitely in the 'this is theatrical acting' zone, but JF is very good at all the accents, and switches effortlessly between say, Scottish, to French, or Italian, so there are no painful moments.

I really enjoyed it and the fact that is was free is a real bonus - thank you!

Struggled with the accents

I quite enjoyed the story although it was fairly predictable. I found the French and Italian accents were far too strong to be comfortable to listen to, authentic or not.
Apart from that the performance was good.

Didn’t finish

I struggled to tune into the narrator especially when she was doing the French accent. I returned , shame.

story wained in last quarter

I enjoyed the story to start with and enjoyed the narrator. I started to get bored after 'the secret' was out and made the mistake of looking at reviews. One ruined the rest of the book by giving a huge spoiler for the only interesting bit left! Because of this I did not finish the book which I felt was dragging on anyway. There were lovely depictions of life in France but I was expecting an announcement that one character was an alcoholic, the amount of wine guzzled at every opportunity remarkable. It was a shame the thread about developing a guest house was not explored much further.

Another wonderful holiday book

Thought I had guessed the ending, how wrong I was, a twist around every corner. Ready for the next audio book.

Lovely

A delightful read!
A great book to read after something heavy when you still want a page turner with engaging and likeable characters with mystery but also feel good.

Somehow finished this

I think I only managed to listen to this because I'm desperate for a holiday somewhere sunny. 😂

Storyline is average, plods a bit and is quite predictable but fine for switching your mind off after work. I feel a significant amount of editing could still have been done, the character's actions/reactions are not believable, and there was a lot of 'we just need time to get to know each other' - could have been a drinking game, they said it so often.

However, what could have elevated this audiobook a little but actually made it worse was the cringey narration. Sometimes I almost thought the narrator had a tone of 'obviously this is what happens next, do you really need me to spell it out?'

Would not recommend. If you want a well-written book set in a Mediterranean villa for a bit of imaginary sunshine I suggest The Enchanted April.

loved it.

very good story but the narrator's accents were a bit strong until you got used to them. Nice that the story was about the "older generations" for a change.