I do look forward to new books from Julie Caplin and I was delighted to read this one. I know I can always rely on her writing to deliver both a wonderful romance and a culinary delight. I always end up feeling the warmth of the romance with a desire to eat some of the delights from the pages. This time, my foodie nemesis was pasta. 

A Villa with a View is a fabulous enemies to lovers story that delivered on every level. Lia was totally relatable and I could feel her displacement as she discovered that she was not truly part of the family that she’d grown up with, yet neither was she a part of the Italian family that she was getting to know. In my dreams I have a creative talent, but I could absolutely envisage her art creations and honestly feel that I have a new respect for the medium. 

Raphael – Raph – was almost perfect as a leading man. His clear distrust of the woman claiming to be the long lost daughter of his own stepfather was evident, and a tangible obstacle to them ever feeling more than friction between each other. As a reader, I didn’t need to dig to deeply to uncover the fact that he had good reasons for rejecting her claim. 

As I have come to expect, a major character was definitely the sights and scenes of the Amalfi Coast. With perfect descriptions of the surrounding area, it was natural that I could almost feel the sun shining and hear the Mediterranean waves crashing on the beach. Julie has a gift when it comes to describing the gorgeous settings for her books. 

As her characters developed, I discovered more about Lia and Raph, but also about their families. I loved Leo, he seemed like an excitable Labrador, finding fun in the simplicity of life. What wasn’t immediately obvious was that he was hiding a more serious side. The story is mainly in the company of Lia’s Italian family, but we do get to see how much love was in her home life before the devastating discovery which saw her life upturned. 

This is a corker of a story and I cannot recommend it enough.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW


Review for 'A Villa With A View' by Julie Caplin.

Read and reviewed for Julie Caplin, One More Chapter Publishing, Harper Collins UK, NetGalley and Rachel's Random Resources Tours.

Publication date 29th February 2024.

This is the first book I have read by this author but it most definitely won't be my last!! It is also the eleventh book in Julie's 'Romantic Escapes' series but can be read as a standalone.

This novel consists of 37 chapters and an epilogue The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book has fantastic descriptions that set you straight in the scenes. The cover, title and synopsis suit the storyline perfectly.

Where the heck have you been hiding all my life Julie!!! Love, LOVE, LOVED this absolutely beautiful page turner!! An absolute must read!!!

OMG!!! I to get stuck in to all of Julie's previous books!! They are just guaranteed to be stunning!! I absolutely adored the gorgeous storyline An absolutely stunning book that takes you away from wherever you are when you turn the first page of this book, in my case on a sofa curled up under a fleece in rainy dreary Wales, and delivers you to the stunning Amalfi coast in Italy!! I went from feeling cold to feeling the sun on my face, smelling the zest of lemons in the air and tasting them on my tongue and feeling the stunning sights of the Amalfi Coast. Julie really does make the scent and taste of the lemons and pasta explode into the readers senses and I was absolutely devastated when I came to the end of my holiday and had to pack my bags to swap the Italian sun for the Welsh rain again! In this beautiful book we meet Lia who has just discovered that the person she thought was her father is not actually related to her and that her real father is an Italian actor. Lia has travelled to the Amalfi Coast to meet him but is refused entry to her father's beautiful villa by his business manager Raphael who refuses to believe her claims. Lia produces an old photo as evidence but Raph is still determined to prove that she is not who she says she is and must have an ulterior motive. This is a story filled with stunning surroundings, enemies to lovers, passion, suspicion, secrets, stunning food, chaos, family, drama and absolutely everything you could want in a gorgeous page turner!!! I was completely invested in this book from the very first page and was hooked throughout. I just could not put it down and ended up devouring it in one sitting!! Julie's stunning evocative writing skills really do bring the locations, emotions and the characters to life!! This is one of those books that is very easy to read and perfect for any reading situations whether you are laying on a beach or curled up in front of a fire. It is an absolutely ideal read for anyone who is looking for a beautiful and addictive read that will have you hooked from beginning to end. I absolutely LOVED the realism of this storyline which made it so easy to picture everything that was going on which had been helped by Julie's fantastic evocative writing skills. I cannot wait to get hooked into more of her books so I hope she is busy writing her one while I get stuck into her previous books!! This is definitely one of those books that will turn a frown upside down and make life seem a lot brighter. I cannot wait to devour the rest of the books in this series and travel from Wales to other stunning places that Julie takes her characters on over and over again. One moment I'm sitting on a sofa in rainy Wales and the next I'm devouring pasta in Italy!!! What are you waiting for grab your copy of this stunning escapism and get your sun-cream out for Italy today!!

Although this is the eleventh book in the series I had absolutely no problems reading it without the others although I definitely cannot wait to get stuck into the rest!!

Well done Julie on an absolutely beautiful book!!! This may be the first book I have read by her but I cannot wait to get hold of more books by this extremely talented author!!!

The characters were all an eclectic mix and each one of them were realistic and strong. I was completely invested in them all. It also makes them more realistic, believable and made me feel even more for them than I normally would. They each had their own unique personalities with positive and negative behaviours. The majority of the book surrounds Lia but we also get to see what is going on from Raph's perspective which I enjoyed as it gives a bigger picture to how the characters are feeling. I absolutely loved both Lia and Raph as individuals but also when they are together as I loved 'watching' their fiery and lively interactions and seeing them develop together and separately. I love the fact that they are determined not to like each other even when they are so similar in regards to their career focused minds along with the fact they are both the 'outsiders' of their families. This book is a fantastic friends to lovers romance with characters that suit that description absolutely perfectly!! It wasn't just Lia and Raph I was invested in and enjoyed getting to meet but many of the other fantastic characters too including Ernesto's lovely wife Aurelia and the rest of the family who are very entertaining, boisterous and a little bit bonkers!!! Julie clearly cares about her characters as she has made them and their personalities very in depth and gives them realistic qualities from weaknesses to strengths along with insecurities. I loved getting to know them and am looking forward to meeting more characters that she has created. Her absolutely fantastic evocative writing skills makes them leap off the pages and come to life right before your eyes and I was sad to have to say Goodbye to them! Each and every one of the characters are memorable and unique in their own ways and they are a group that I wont be forgetting any time soon! A stunning rom com and an amazing group of unforgettable characters!!!

Pick up this book and get lost in this absolutely gorgeous page turner! This has got to be one of the most stunning escapism books I have ever read 💜!!!

Congratulations Julie on an absolutely stunning read that I just could not put down!!! I am absolutely mind blown that I have never read any of your absolutely gorgeous books yet!! I am looking forward to reading more of your previous and future books. I would absolutely love to see this book turned into a movie!!! Welcome to my favourite author list and here's to your next success 🥂

Overall an unputdownable, gorgeous, STUNNING page turning book filled with romance, escapism and so much more!! A gorgeous, romantic and stunning read!!!!

339 pages.

This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle and £9.19 in paperback at time of review via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

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This is book 11 in the romantic escape series by Julie Caplin. I have read all of the previous books and thoroughly enjoyed them. Book 11 is another good read. The book jumps straight into the story of Lia Bathurst on the Amalfi coast. Lia has just found out that she is the biological daughter of a major movie star, Ernesto Salvatore. In her attempts to meet her father she is thwarted by the business manager / step son of her father, Raphael Knight, who doesn't believe Lia is who she claims to be. We start the story with Lia being denied entry to her fathers holiday villa and being. turned away. When a photo of Lia's mother and biological father is found, Raphael realises he is wrong about Lia. When Lia is welcomed into her fathers family and villa, Raphael is watchful. After all, Lia is not the first person falsely claiming to be fathered by Ernesto. We follow the twists and turns of Lia and Raphael's relationship. All in all, an entertaining read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I have enjoyed every book of Julie's that i have read o far and this one is no exception. With a gorgeous Italian landscape, a moody Italian hero and a heroine looking for her father, what's not to love? the dynamic between Lia and Raphael is excellently done and who can resist the delicious descriptions of Italian cuisine?

A trip to the Amalfi Coast has long been high on my bucket list of trips but the opportunity has never yet quite presented itself. I am going to make it close this summer when Naples is one of the stops on our cruise itinerary. However, given I am travelling with my partner and five teenage daughters and we only have a few scant hours in the port, I’m not sure my wish for a visit to Positano and Sorrento is going to win the day, I might have to make do with Pompeii and some authentic margarita pizza (sounds like a hardship, doesn’t it? Not) Anyway, this being the case, the chance to take a virtual trip via Julie Caplin’s latest novel was too good to be true. When you pick up one of Julie’s Romantic Escapes books, you know you are going to totally immersed in the location of the story.

This one is no exception. From the moment you start the first chapter, you can feel the warm, Italian sun on your flesh, smell the lemon and basil and taste the delicate flavours of the pasta. Even if you have never seen any pictures of the Amalfi Coast, you will have a vivid picture of Positano in your head painted entirely as a result of the author’s descriptions in the book. You will feel as if you are exploring the steep and higgledy piggledy streets of Positano with lit, tasting the gelato, feeling the lap of the Mediterranean waves over your toes. I’m feeling relaxed already!

Aside from being travel porn in novel form, this has a cracking romance story to boot. Take one independent-spirited artist, a buttoned-up businessman, a glamorous movie star and is chaotic Italian family, a parental secret, an atmosphere of suspicion, a scheming ex and piles of delicious food and mix it all up between the pages of a novel and you hav the perfect recipe for an entertaining summer read.

Lia and Raph have a lively, sparring relationship which sets the book alight. I love characters who spark off one another and whose antagonism manifests as sexual tension. There is plenty of passion and heat in this story, but it also goes deeper than that for those who like their romance with a little more subtlety behind it. This author is really great at giving her characters proper, human weaknesses and insecurities and exploiting them to provide grist to the mill of the story. We might know how the story ends but that won’t stop us being surprised, frustrated and entertained along the way. Just as we like it.

A holiday romance that delivers everything you could possibly want from your summer reading. I am just hoping that we haven’t seen the last of Leo!

Julie Caplin is one of my FAVORITE romance authors....her last few books have absolutely been phenomenal. Villa with a View had so much heart, so atmospheric, so family oriented, it hit all the right notes. I loved Lia's character, quirky, creative, fierce, but so vulnerable still the same. And Raph...dark, brooding, so guarded. Perfectly matched. The inevitable final curveball to keep them apart didn't feel forced and their reunion was simply beautiful. I'm gushing. I adored this book to pieces.
Thanks to #NetGalley and #HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, One More Chapter for the ARC.

DNF 30%
While I loved the Italian setting, I cannot comprehend this book.
For me they are family if they have the same father, even if it’s not actually blood-related.
Ernesto even says it himself at the end of chapter 9.

Sorry but this bugs me too much…

As always a wonderful treat of a trip with Julie Caplin, this time to beautiful Italy!
I loved the suspense from the first page, wondering how the intrepid Lia would get on with her quest to find her real dad.
I enjoyed the conflict between Raph and Lia and the sparks that also fizzled too. An enemies to lovers is always a favourite romance trope of mine!
So many beautiful places we visited throughout the story and some wonderful characters too. It was amazing to watch Lia find her way both emotionally and with her art work in a place that she was born to love!
Entertaining with a sprinkling of uncertainty, kept this story flowing beautifully and had me craving a trip to the Italian coast.

Another lovely romantic novel by Julia, this time set in Italy. Great characters, lovely locations and delicious sounding food.

An excellent choice of book for a dull and damp day in Wiltshire.

If you love romance, and you love to travel, the Romantic Escapes series by Julie Caplin is definitely the book series you need in your life. A Villa with a View is set on the Amalfi coast and the warmth and scent of lemons practically jumps out of the pages as you read. I am a huge fan of armchair travel via the medium of books, and this is sheer perfection.

The characters of Lia and Raph had so many similarities, both completely focused on their careers, and both very much felt like the outsiders in their respective families. I really loved the way they tried not to like one another, because they both had a level of distrust caused by the situation they found themselves in.

I loved Ernesto’s slightly chaotic family, and his wonderfully welcoming wife Aurelia, who was a homely and caring person who was exactly what Lia needed while she navigated through her feelings about her old and her new families.

A Villa with a View is a fabulous Italian romantic escape that had me rooting for Lia and Raph from the moment they met in the book. With this romance in a beautiful setting, it is the perfect holiday read, and if you’re stuck in a grey and rainy location it will bring the sunshine to you.

I always enjoy this author's romantic escape stories, and this one evokes the glamorous Amalfi coast engagingly through its food, geography, and people. Lia wants to meet the father she didn't know she had. The fact he is a famous actor makes this problematic. Raph, his stepson, is also his gatekeeper, which forces Lia into proximity with this attractive but annoying man. The sensory descriptions mean you can almost feel the heat and taste the delicious ice cream. The romance is enemies-to-lovers, and Raph is the perfect grumpy to Lia's sunshine. However, family, fame and secrets are central to this story, and the multi-faceted characters make this engaging. I like the Italian setting, the romance and the storytelling.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

The writing was immersive and had me gripped from the beginning right through to the end. The level of detail of the surroundings was excellent and balanced well with the overall story. You got the feel of where the characters were well whilst still being able to focus on the main story.

The chapters were long and some were split (indicated by a line). This meant that you got a good chunk of the story before moving on. The split in the chapters gave the story a good pace and was able to deliver a fair amount of detail without it being overbearing on the reader. The splits also helped signal to the reader that time had moved on. This gave a sense of realism and grounded the story well.

There was also a good flow to the book which made it easy for me to read through.

The characters were excellent. I loved that there was obviously a main character (Lia), but we were also able to see things from Raph's point of view. This style certainly added emotion and suspense to the story. Little things kept popping up and continued the will they, won't they, throughout the book.

I also enjoyed the relationships that the supporting characters had. It was very family orientated and the messages of love and support shone through. Some characters had a harder time than others and it was nice to see that the support network was there.

Lastly the settings. They were well described and made me want to visit this part of Italy! It wasn't just the sights of the area that I loved reading about, but the food as well. It added something extra to the story which I enjoyed.

Overall a lovely book full of love, tasty sounding food and amazing surroundings! I highly recommend.

Cute Italian romantic romp

I think this is the first book I have read by Ms Caplin, but it surely won't be the last. It is lighthearted and romantic, but has some serious undertones about the meaning of family and issues of trust and truth. The setting in Italy and the Villa referred to in the title add to the delicious froth. This is a great book to read when escaping a power outage or while lazing by a beach or fire.

Thank you to the publisher who lent me a time-limited e-arc via Netgalley. This review is optional and my own opinion.

I love this series, and this was another lovely book from Julie Caplin, one of my favourite authors. It’s set in Italy which also happens to be one of my favourite book settings!
I loved Lia right from the start, but wasn’t at all keen on Raphael, although his brother Leo was lovely and helped Lia out a the start of the book. As the synopsis says Lia is in Italy to meet her real father, who’s she’s only just found out about, and she’s not in the mood to be stopped by Raphael. They have a few encounters, and although they appear to dislike each other intensely, their inner thoughts are telling another story.
I loved following Lia on her journey of discovery, it was a really heartwarming story. The setting was gorgeous, it made me want to book a holiday to Amalfi straight away, especially with all the rain and gales we’ve been having.
The romance was more of a slow burn, but felt like it was more natural, which made the story more believable and so more enjoyable. It definitely wasn’t instalove!
If you’re looking for a romance I definitely recommend this one. In fact as usual I recommend the whole Romantic Escapes series!

This book is part of Julie Caplin’s very enjoyable Romantic Escapes series, the stories in which are set in a range of different countries, with a cast of characters who often crop up in more than one story. In this book, the author transported me to the Amalfi coast of Italy, with its rugged countryside and picturesque fishing villages, as illustrated on the book’s bright cover.



The story centres on textile artist Lia Bathurst, who is spending the summer in the beautiful village of Positano. As well as looking for inspiration for a project she is working on, Lia is hoping to meet the man she has recently discovered is her biological father. It has come as a shock to her that her mother has kept his identity secret all these years. Unfortunately, her father, Ernesto, is a famous film star and Raph, his stepson and business manager, will not allow her to contact him. When it emerges that Ernesto may well be Lia’s father, Raph is still suspicious of her motives. Afraid that Lia might be a fortune hunter, Raph keeps close to her, but can he ignore the obvious attraction that develops between them?



I loved this well-written, will-they won’t-they romance, and expect other readers will also. The story is brimming with strong, interesting and mainly likeable characters and full of scenes evoking familiar tastes and vistas of Italy. I liked Lia, a very determined, inspiring heroine searching for her true origins. I also admired Raph for his loyalty to his stepfather, but found it hard to like him for the first portion of the book when he appeared arrogant and judgemental. His fun-loving brother, Leo, injected quite a bit of humour into the book, making him a likeable character, but there was an underlying seriousness to his personality. Someone I really liked was Raph’s mother, who ably ran a large household and cooked the most delicious-sounding meals with very little effort. This was an entertaining addition to this series; I’m already looking forward hopefully to a next book.

A Villa With A View is pure escapism, regardless of whether you read it in winter or summer. Set near Positano on Italy’s gorgeous Amalfi coast, this book makes it easy for readers to immerse themselves in the sun, sea and laid-back life that is so typical of that partof the world. Textile artist Lia Caplin is not just extremely talented in her chosen field, she is also modest about her achievements and genuine in her dealings with others. As the book opens, she has alsi just discovered that she is the daughter of A-List Hollywood actor Ernesto Salvatore courtesy of an affair he had with her mother when they were teenagers. It was so easy to imagine the hurt she felt at only discovering the truth because of a DNA test she took for a friend rather than being told by her mother. Added to that, her early attempts to contact Ernesto are thwarted by his stepson and financial manage Raphael Knight, whom Lia has labelled as Mr Extremely Unhelpful. While Raph was just doing his job and protecting Ernesto,I did think he could have been a little bit nicer to Lia in their early encounters, I couldn’t help but like him as his true character was revealed and who could fail to drool over tall, dark, handsome and extremely well toned? Definitely the man of many dreams! I particularly loved the way Raph and Lia sparked off each other in their verbal jousts. I also loved Ernesto’s family, particularly his gorgeous, affable and gracious wife Aurelia, who is just the sort of woman anybody would be thrilled to call mother. This book is feel-good from start to finish while also showcasing the local scenery, the oppulent Salvatore Villa and the way that despite their obvious wealth, this family still managed to behave like a normal, everyday family. The romance at the centre of the story was the icing on the cake.

Another lovely book in the Romantic Escapes series! Caplin’s writing always has a way of drawing you in and making you fall in love with her characters and the communities they build for themselves in beautiful European locales. Really looking forward to the next book in the series!

I enjoyed this fun escape to the Amalfi Coast!! When Lia does a home DNA test, she discovers she’s half-Italian, much to her surprise. She discovers that he’s a famous Italian actor. While trying to meet her father, his handsome business manager thwarts her at every turn. Undeterred she heads to the Amalfi Coast in Italy to try and meet up with him there.


I enjoyed the descriptions of the Amalfi Coast, as well as Aurelia’s delicious Italian food that she made. I also loved the descriptions of the fun, boisterous Salvatore family. It was harder to buy into the romance due to the trust issues, especially on Raph’s side. His mistrust of her was annoying, even though I could see where it came from. Overall it was a fun, beachy, romance set in the gorgeous Amalfi Coast in Italy. I could see myself sitting there on the coastline, enjoying the delicious food and the warm and friendly Salvatore family. I definitely want to read more of Julie Caplan’s stories.


Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources, Netgalley, Harper Collins UK, and One More Chapter

Yet another wonderful book by Julie Caplin. With loveable characters and beautiful narratives making it a heart warming winter read. Julie's writing can easily transport you to the place she is writing about.

Although I was reading this book on a cold, wet day in the U.K. I was instantly swept into a book set in an Italian Summer. Just for a few hours I escaped into a much warmer and nicer place.
This book was so well written and had such vivid descriptions that I really imagined being there. I was sorry when I got to the end of the book.
I loved the setting and the characters, especially Lia. zi wanted her to have a happy ending This was a very enjoyable read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC.