The Italian Villa by Daniela Sacerdoti follows Callie, a small-town waitress in the U.S who has had a difficult childhood. On her twenty-first birthday, Callie's former social worker gives her a letter that tells her two things: her biological parents were actually her adoptive parents, and she has inherited a house in Italy. Callie's world is shaken up and she decides to go to Italy to find out the truth about her birth family and why she has inherited this villa. In the villa she discovers a diary from WWII and starts reading it hoping to find some sort of family history.

What I loved:

I absolutely loved the Italian backdrop for this book. I was craving all the pasta and I really wish we got more of Callie being submerged in the Italian culture! I wanted more pasta making scenes! The mystery around Callie's birth parents was intriguing enough to keep reading and the romance in it was good. Predictable but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

What fell flat:
The dialogue was quite awkward at times and I knew the exact arguments that were going to happen each time. I really felt like there could have been more substance to them, especially the argument between Callie and Tommaso...it was too overly and unnecessarily dramatic. Like that conversation was just left me thinking..'okay why are we mad?". Also the final family twist was again predictable. I felt like I knew it from the very beginning. There was also the strangest character-Sofia (I think was her name)--like this girl just came out of nowhere and really had no purpose in the story. So this is marketed as a historical fiction. It included the diary in the novel and Callie would read it sometimes. It was odd though because the diary was not written like an actual diary entry, there were full on dialogues and character thoughts in there. It just would have made more sense to make it an actual story line rather than in diary format.

This one was just not for me.

This is a lovely story. It is about family secrets, love and betrayal. The stories told in two timelines made it an interesting read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Italian Villa by Daniela Sacerdoti has great characters in a story about a woman given some stunning news and finding her past halfway around the world. I really enjoyed the diary being woven into the story to provide the background info and would be interested in a story on Elisa herself. I read the book fairly quickly and hope we get a sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

On her twenty-first birthday Callie discovers that she is adopted and has inherited a villa in a remote Italian village from her birth mother. The news both overwhelm and excite her as we soon find out that her adoptive parents died in a tragic accident when she was a child. Inspired by the prospect that she may still have living relations, she embarks on an adventure that will take her to her new home and reveal the family she never knew she had. When she discovers a stack of old handwritten letters from someone called Elisa, she is certain that she is even closer to finding out the truth about her birth parents.

My favourite aspect of this book was most definitely the setting. The gorgeous Montevino is portrayed as a blissful and cozy Italian village with a strong sense of community and a slower pace of life. The author develops this idea beautifully and the eloquent and poetic writing perfectly match the setting. I was also impressed by her ability to explore complex family relationships, in particular when addressing Elisa and her family which mirrors Callie's in many ways.

There were several minor characters in this book which stood out for different reasons: Flora for her stubbornness and Elisa for her determination. I could not warm to the male characters and found Callie's love interest uninteresting but I think that this is ultimately a personal feeling as I don't always appreciate romance enough in Historical Fiction. However, this minor touch wasn't enough to sway my original feelings of the book.

The Italian Villa is a literary gem which transports the reader on an adventure and interprets hard hitting topics such as loneliness and family relationships with ease. I devoured it in just two sittings and was left with a feeling of warmth and serenity which stayed with me for a long time. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to escape to another place and time and join a charming main character on an exciting adventure.

I’ve not read this author before but love all things Italy. The storylines intrigued me from the start and I was quickly drawn in to the characters of Callie, Flora and Elisa. This is a beautiful story and I really enjoyed reading it!

I am avid reader of Daniela Sacerdoti's books and have read all her Glen Avich and Seal Island series. As you can see by that beautiful cover, her latest book is a departure from her Scottish based series and is set instead in Italy. It's a dual time line story and begins when Callie gets a letter on her 21st birthday which changes all she thought she knew about her family. Callie lives in Texas and has spent most of her life in care after her parents died in a house fire when she was young. Despite having a difficult time, she has managed to become an independent young woman, has a job she enjoys, has her own small apartment and is saving to go to college. But the contents of the letter send her instead to a small village in Italy, Montevino.

Throughout the book Daniela Sacerdoti brought Italy vividly to life. It's not surprising considering that she was born and brought up in Italy but the sense of place was just brilliantly done. The churches, cafes, village squares, old towns and mountain hamlets were so beautifully described. This is something I feel the author has a real talent for as that sense of place was so evident in her Glen Avich and Seal Island books too.

As well as the modern day story, there is a bit of a mystery from the past to be solved as Callie has been given a journal written by a female Italian doctor during the Second World War. Although she knows the name of the writer of the journal, Elisa, she does not know how she was connected to Callie's family although she's sure she must have been. Callie feels lots of connections to the past whether it's through the old clothes she finds which belonged to the Stella women, or the people in the diary having similar dilemmas and feelings to her. There were lots of secrets to be uncovered from the diary, about Callie's family and right into the present day with the villagers she meets and comes to know. It was lovely to read about her beginning to feel a real sense of belonging and of having found her place in Montevino and joining a long line of strong Stella women.

The part of the story set in World War Two was based on a real events and inspired by the author's grandmother's own memories of the war. Daniela Sacerdoti has woven the historical and contemporary strands of her story together beautifully. The result is a book with emotionally satisfying romances both in the past and present.

Loved the atmosphere and setting, and this was beautifully paced. Thanks for giving me the chance to review.

Every time I read a Daniela Sacerdoti, it leaves a hollow in my chest where my heart used to be as her writing melts my heart completely. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Callie in Texas came to know on her 21st birthday that she was adopted and her ancestry was as rich as the landscapes of Italy. A letter from her birth mother gave her the keys of the ancestral home, and a diary narrated by her Elise Stella, telling her the incidents of 1938, of a couple in love, trying to escape Mussolini's call to war.

Told in dual timelines, I loved the way the story unfurled so gently into the chambers of my heart, each showing me the beauty that was this author's writing. Emotions swayed in the gentle breeze to be carried away in the gust that blew into the yonder as I read this book from the comforts of my couch. History was never so rich as told in these pages, love was never so big, and hope never so loud.

The characters were strong as only women can be, their hearts encompassing their love and duty. I could feel the words of the diary in my heart and see it in front of the eyes as I continued reading. How she fought the circumstances of her life to become a doctor touched my heart especially.

Few questions and reactions felt off, but those were negligible. The stories of the women blew me away, they threw me into the tough times. They evolved all around me telling me about their secrets and romance, making me feel their emotions during times of strife.

Ah, a book with feels was this. A compelling read.

Loved it!! Beautiful story and wonderful descriptions of Italy. I would love to inherit a house in Italy, bonus if it also comes with a handsome neighbor who owns a cute dog. Loved the characters, story and writing style. How did Callie survive the fire? Maybe I missed something. Would Callie's Italian be that good? I loved reading about Elisa, her story was my favorite part of the book. I couldn't wait to find out how Callie and Elisa's story would connect to each other. Tommaso's reaction was way over the top when he finds out who Callie's father was. Seriously???!!! It's not like she got to pick her parents, plus she was adopted and had know idea who they were. Other than that, Tommaso was pretty much the perfect guy.

Definitely recommend the book, especially if you enjoy historical fiction with a bit of romance. I look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bookouture through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Callie Di Giacamo is at a bit of a standstill. Having spent most of her life in foster care after the death of her parents, she isn’t sure what to do with herself. On her 21st birthday, Callie shockingly finds out she was adopted. She also is given the deed to a house in a remote Italian village, a box filled with old momentos... and a diary. Callie ventures to Italy to see if she can find out more about the family she was born to, and try to sort out her lonely, solitary life. This journey is interwoven with diary excerpts from an ancestor of Callies during WWII, along with romance and mystery. This was my first Daniela Sacerdoti novel, and I eagerly will go I search of more! I so enjoyed the Italian words and phrases used in this novel, as well as the delicious description of the Italian food, and, my favourite: a shout-out to the famous Leones, a favourite candy maker in Italy, which brought me back memories of a prior trip to Italy and was my personal connection to the book!

Two perspectives, two women whose lives have been full of challenge, and the one thread that brings them together as the story progresses. Starting with Callie, living in Texas and struggling with ‘finding her place’ in the world, particularly since the death of her parents and her placement in foster care as a pre-teen. Now just turned 21, she’s working all the hours she can, and saving money to go to university – direction still unknown. Out of the system for 3 years, and never ‘looking back’ or so she tells herself, receiving a call from her social worker who won’t take no for an answer is a shock – discovering a letter that explains she was adopted, and she was to meet with a lawyer only adds to her confusion and very understandable curiosity about her birth, parents, and why they never told her earlier.

The lawyer’s office provides her with a few answers – the first, a bequest of a villa in a small mountainside Italian town, the second – a letter from her birth mother and a diary from another ancestor – set in the years just before and through World War II. Elisa shares the story of ‘wanting more’ than to work in the rice fields and become just another woman of the Stella line – a healer and midwife – she wants to go to medical school. Rare in the 1930’s – even rarer for a young woman from their little town. But she tells her hopes and dreams to the diary – and Callie is instantly engaged and enchanted. Off to Italy she goes, intending to meet with the Italian lawyers in charge of the will, see the villa, perhaps hope to find family members – and then return to Texas and the little, safe, methodical life she has created for herself.

The story unfolds to bring Callie closer to her roots, with plenty of needed answers and a level of emotional connection to her personal history that, is necessarily, mostly because of proximity of the small town and it’s remote location, intertwined with people of the present day, and the histories that defined them, separated them, and once again helped to bring them together. With a lovely romance thread, plenty of answered questions and a chance at a new life that is defined with all that Callie hoped for as a child, including options and directions she never thought she would have. With history, present, imagery and emotion all wound together – with not a few moments of ‘high drama’ the story is wonderful to read and will fuel your desire for more historical fiction titles that mix actual events with fiction and leave you feeling more informed and enlightened.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aCw/” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

Full Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for writing an impartial review.

What makes historical fiction my favorite literary genre is the ability to learn more about history while disappearing into a good story. And THE ITALIAN VILLA gave me both.

Author Daniela Sacerdoti uses a structure I find many contemporary authors turn to these days -- telling two distinct stories of two characters from different time periods and only fully explaining how the two stories connect at the very end of the book:
• The first story belongs to Callie, a self-reliant Texas waitress who grew up in foster care after her parents died, and is now trying to figure out what to do with her life.
• A second story is Elise's. She is an ambitious woman living in a small Italian village who wants to become a doctor at a time when women simply did not do that. And she makes that commitment on the brink of World War II. Her story is told through her diary, which suddenly comes into Callie's possession.

I won't spoil the pleasure of discovering for yourselves how the lives of these two determined young women evolve -- but I will say their stories are compelling and will keep you turning page after page. (I read the book in 2 days). There are long-buried family secrets to be uncovered. Plenty of romance, even for reluctant lovers. You'll experience the slower pace of contemporary life in a small Italian village, where everyday gossip and interpersonal feuds sometimes originate in the history of families that have lived together for generations. And, of course, there's also the death, random violence, and uncertainly of living during wartime.

My one criticism of the writing is a periodic tendency toward trite phrases. But I did not find that kept me from enjoying this novel.

A beautifully written novel a novel that made me smile had me sad but kept me turning the pages.The scenery the women their life issues were so vivid so emotionally moving.A book to cuddle up with and take off to the Italian Villa and join these women,# netgalley #bookouture

elcome to the Italian mountains! Here you’re transported to a beautiful Italian village. It’s fictional but based on a real place which adds a very nice edge to all the descriptions and cultural themes in the book. I think I even put on a few calories whilst reading about the food, it was that atmospheric.

The premise was compelling from the start - Callie, a young American girl is left a house in Italy. She goes to investigate and so begins the story of a family, a history, a war and a journey. Since Callie is adopted, she has more to discover than most and she does discover a great deal. This made the book flow nicely, as we float from modern day to WW11. The story of her grandmother is told via diaries left behind as as the pages turn, the story comes to life from each an every one making it a novel you really have to keep reading. There’s a lovely flow and pace to how it all unfolds.

Flora, the woman Callie meets in the present day, the mountain community, the pride and history of this small place were just glorious to read about. There’s so much at stake here as one ‘outsider’ desperate for the truth looks set to upset more than just the apple cart.

The novel is packed full with human emotions, raw and realistic. It was a compelling read and I now have an urge to move to Italy and find somewhere similar to live myself. There’s something very charming about traditional Italian villages!

You can always rely on Daniela Sacerdotti to take you on a literary journey!

Cassie's Family

Imagine you are 21 years old, your parents died when you were ten, and that you grew up in an orphanage and foster homes. You are finally on your own, you have a job, friends, and a small home. Now you receive a letter in the mail from an attorney in Italy. Italy is a long way from America. It says you have inherited a house in Italy from your birth mother. Wait a minute, your parents died when you were ten. This must be a mistake. You call the lawyer, it is no mistake, your parents were your adoptive parents. Okay, who are my parents?

Cassie goes to Italy. The story you will read within these pages is that of Cassie and Tommaso, And Cassie's family. It is also the story of her great grandmother Elisa and Leo during WWII. The story of her great grandmother is told through the journal left for her at the lawyer's office to be given to her when she turned Twenty One.

The story is of finding love, of forgiveness, self discovery and courage. It is the story of Cassie finding her family in the present and the past.

This was a wonderful read, I really enjoyed it, and I would recommend it.


Thanks to Daniela Sacerdoti, Bookouture, and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review an advance copy of this book.

Bookouture
02-17-2020

This is the first book I have read by this author. I enjoyed the book as a whole, but only gave it 4 stars because I thought the characters lacked depth. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. I’d be happy to read another book by Daniela.

A beautiful story of both a modern day and historical Italian alpine town that is full to the brim with food, secrets and soul.
The story of Callie tugged at the heartstrings as she tackles revelations regarding her upbringing and roots as she turns 21, previously living in Texas with her job and her friends, she finds herself pulled to Italy after receiving a letter that leads her on a huge path of discovery.
I have previously loved Daniela Sacerdoti's Scottish based novels so I was thrilled to see she has turned to her own Italian roots for this latest standalone novel. The setting is stunning and you feel truly one of the community, the warmth, curiosity and kindness of the mountain town spread through the pages and as you read about its haunting history from WW2 it becomes even more special.
I really felt a strong attachment to Flora, she's clearly struggling with a lot and her whole life is turned upside down by the arrival of Callie and all the family memories that come tumbling out along with it. Her strong but prickly outer surface hides a fragile and broken, lonely existence and I could feel her mixed emotions at meeting her niece and the family house becoming a home again.

I loved this book so much and really recommend it for a heartfelt, gripping, entertaining read.

Loved this book, plenty of twists and turns to keep interest high. Great story and characters. Couldn't stop reading!

A nice feel good story. I enjoyed the characters and had pretty much figured out a few things before Callie did.
Looking forward to more if this story line continues.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookoutre for the early copy

From the moment I opened this book I was hooked. This is a beautifully written story with characters that tug at your heartstrings from the second they’re introduced. You can’t help but fall in love with them and the tiny village in Italy where it takes place. The author is so descriptive you feel as though you’re really there, as if you can smell the fresh air of the Italian mountains, the taste of fresh pesto and chocolate. I devoured this book in no time I was that drawn in. I’d love to see this story continue as it was so easy to become invested in the lives of these characters!

This story follows Callie, who on her 21st birthday receives the shock of a lifetime. She not only finds out she’s adopted but that she’s inherited a house in Italy. This sets her out on a quest of self discovery. She wants to know who she is, who her family was and where they came from. Armed with a diary that once belonged to her great great grandmother, she discovers she comes from a long line of healers and their strength got them through the darkest of times. Secrets, lies and love run through this story beautifully and with such angst you can’t wait to turn the page to find out what happens next...which is why I finished this book at 3 in the morning!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture and Daniela Sacerdoti for the advanced copy! It truly was a pleasure to read!