Many of us have no doubt dreamt of buying a Greek villa, renovating it and escaping to Greece. As such we can identify with Claudia who spends her uncle's inheritance on a whim and buys a house she's never seen that needs doing-up. The premise sounds great and had me hooked at the start.

I loved the descriptions of Greece and of course the food as Claudia finds builder Dimitri and begins the renovations.I was expecting more conflict and for lots of things to go wrong yet amazingly Dimitri is free and does an amazing job. The only fly in the ointment is when one of the builders falls through the ceiling. Claudia didn't seem very understanding and doesn't seem to have much of an idea about Greek life.

The constant thing and frying between Greece and England wore thin after a while and I would have liked more of a spark between Claudia and Dimitri. That said, I enjoyed the read, loved watching the villa come together and of course the HEA. Lots of great descriptions that will allow the reader their own fantasy escape to Greece.

The Greek Villa by Sue Roberts
I'm very grateful to Net Galley and
Bookouture, who have given me an eARC of this book that is gonna be published on
June 3rd 2024.
This story follows Claudia, she is a woman in her thirties who lives in the U.K. and has
always gone on holidays to Corfu, a small
island in Greece, and she loves it. After coming back from another week in Corfu, she receives the news that her older uncle has died and he left her a part of his inheritance. She doesn't
know what to do with it, so one day, she finds on the internet that someone is
selling a villa in this very same island. She thinks that this is destiny and decides to buy it. She knows the villa is a fixer-upper so she embarks on this new project to make it her dream vacation house. She hires a Greek builder, Dimitri, and while both of them are fixing the house, they start to get to know each other.
First, I will explain what I liked about the book:
Some of the landscapes and food
descriptions were amazing. I can really imagine myself being in Corfu eating a
baklava and lying on the beach, so that was a very entertaining part of the book.
Now, some things I disliked: Sometimes, the main character, Claudia, was funny and relatable but other times, I really couldn't stand her. I felt she was very judgy and didn't have a solid opinion on anything. Her inner monologue was all
over the place, and it really confused me and sometimes, it bored me. The chemistry between Dimitri and Claudia was building up and kept me interested at times but then it disappeared and it appeared again.
There were a lot of really interesting characters, but none of them had deep developments, so at the end, they felt kind of unimportant.
I felt like the book wanted to cover so
much ground, and because of it, it felt short on certain things, like some characters and the romantic relationship.
Also, some descriptions were extremely
long, so the book lost my attention several times.
I wouldn’t say it is one of the worst books
I have read. I think it has enjoyable parts that made me have a good time, but overall, I would not recommend it to everyone. But I do think some people might find it much more fun than I did and that is the beauty of books.

Thank you NetGalley & Bookoutre for an ARC copy of this book.

Unfortunately, this was not the book for me. I was very excited about the premise. I lived in Greece for a few years and love everything about it. I am also a big fan of Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia Here We Go Again, and I was hoping for a story that evoked similar feelings. What I got, instead, was a LOT of details about house renovation, a main character that I couldn't manage to like, and boring and repetitive dialogue.

The story begins very slowly. Nothing truly relating to the Greek villa happens in the first third of the story. Most of what follows are details about replacing the roof and the rotting floors, rendering the house, painting the gate, picking bathroom fixtures, and installing kitchen cabinets.

The dialogue was extremely stilted, boring, and repetitive. A lot of it sounded like banal conversations you would have with acquaintances in real life, which is not the type of dialogue you would want to read in fiction.

And the worst of all was Claudia. She comes into an inheritance and decides to buy a house on an island in a foreign country on a whim. And then she complains about the expenses that come with such a purchase. And every time a hiccup happens at the reservation she has to throw a pitty party and is all woe-is-me! Even when that included one of the workers falling through the floor while doing work on her house, and having to stay home and not work for a few weeks!

And the romance was not convincing at all! She starts lusting after Dimitri from the first day she meets him, but no flirting happens - aside from a couple of innuendos that might have even been innocent mistakes - until the very end of the book! All of a sudden they can't stay away from each other, and then, BAM, the story is over and she's moving to Greece to be with him!

I was tempted to DNF the book, but it was short enough that I finished it hoping it would eventually get better.

I sadly had to DNF this novel. I felt that the writing was somewhat stilted and the thing that really made me DNF was the Arnold Schwarzenegger reference at the end of chapter 1. I also didn't like how the prologue started with the main character in the future after the events of the book. I just don't like that timeline in a book.

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.

Claudia receives a huge sum of money, from an old relative as her inheritance. She spends that on the purchase of a villa, one that she’s not even seen in Greece. But is thinking that once she’s decorated it according to her taste, everything will be as she wanted it to be.

When she get to the place where the villa is, what she finds isn’t what she was expecting to see, the whole place is in need of repair.

Will she make the villa how she dreamed it would be?

I loved reading this book, the characters and the gorgeous setting.

I highly recommend this book.

Two things are for certain when reading a Sue Roberts book about Greece: there will be a rehab on a cute villa and a hot Greek make involved.
Claudia comes into some money and purchases a villa on Corfu. Greece is in her blood but she has a good job and string family ties in Northern England. Except can drop dead gorgeous Dimitri change her mind.
The romance is tortuously slow to develop. I wanted to jump in the pages and yell I’ll take him since Claudia remains very skittish.
I love Dimitri’s surprise towards the end.
Claudia had to learn to leap and not overthink life.
A good summer read.

I have read many of the Greek series written by Sue Roberts and some of them I have enjoyed reading. This book is slightly different from the rest of her Greek series.

Claudia receives and inheritance, she does something that is beyond crazy--buying a rundown villa in the small village in Greece. When she arrived only she realized her mistake and the villagers think that she was crazy enough to buy the house. But she meets Dmitri, who would help her with the renovations around the house and at the same time, Claudia was having second thoughts whether she made a mistake of buying the house or not.

The problem with all these Greek series is it basically follows the same storyline. Moving to Greece from UK, probably because of a breakup with your boyfriend or death of a relative, then meets a gorgeous Greek man, then of course it will be a happily ever after. For those who are interested in those types of romance stories, then this book will be perfect. Me on the other, even though I enjoyed her previous books, I felt the storyline was the same always though the plot was different. I knew what was going to happen next and also the end so it was predictable for me in certain ways. As a result, I feel this was an OK read to me. Worth only three stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Eh. Concept was sweet but I couldn't connect with the story. Got tired of every other chapter the FMC talking about how great Greece was. And then when she was talking about her house over and over she mentioned "white walls." It felt weird and repetitive. Even the budding relationship seemed forced. I just struggled to read and really enjoy.

The Greek Villa 🇬🇷☀️🌊✈️

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Author: Sue Roberts

“I closed my eyes and imagined gleaming walls and a traditional painted front door. Inside, there would be a modern bathroom, maybe a glass sink, set against open exposed brickwork. I would display art on white walls and have a tasteful mix of modern and traditional Greek furnishings. Windows with wooden shutters would be flung open in the evening so I could listen to the sound of the crashing waves at the nearby beach that would lull me to sleep.”

Claudia has always dreamed of owning a villa in Greece. After gaining some inheritance from her late uncle, she buys a fixer-upper on the beach in Rona. As she renovates her villa, she begins to make friends around the village, including the handsome builder, Dmitri. With the renovations, she runs into disaster after disaster. Has she thrown away all of her money, or will she eventually have the home and life of her dreams?

This book is the perfect summer read! The descriptive writing about the culture, food, and beauty of Greece took me on a vacation in my mind. I can tell the author has personal experience in visiting this area by all of the little details she includes. I would love to read more of her books about Greece and Italy.

I did not like the focus on the supporting characters relationships and problems. I thought these subplots took away from the major plot of the story. I found the FMC unlikeable at times throughout the story. She was critical of the locals, but she became more understanding as she spent more time in Greece.

Overall, this book was a really fun read! If you are a fan of the HGTV shows Fixer-Upper and Beach Front Bargain Hunt, this one is for you!

Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for allowing me to read and review this ARC. The Greek Villa releases on June 3, 2024.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed and have recommended it to my book club girls already!

Claudia inherits some money from an uncle and decides to buy a villa in a Greek Island that she used to visit with her family as a child. Catch? She hasn't seen the villa! After making friends with the neighbour and the owner of the local bakery, she is finally introduced to this helpful builder she has heard about. Cue handsome man, all the problems possible with the villa and many trips back and forward between England and the Greek villa. A happy ending for many of the characters and their storylines and it was just so lovable! I'm off to Greece in two months and this has absolutely set the scene and got me so excited for it. Not to paint myself unrealistic expectations or anything! Thank you so much Sue Roberts

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. This was a lovely read. The setting was beautiful and I was engaged in the story.

This book wasn’t necessarily my usual style, but it was very much mamma Mia here we go again.
It follows the story of Claudia after she purchases a run-down fixer-upper in Greece after receiving some inheritance money from a relative. She hires Dimitri, a local builder, to help with the renovations. We follow them as their relationship turns from professional to personal, and the trials and tribulations of renovating a very old, falling to pieces villa!
The love story between Claudia and Dimitri is very sweet, easy to read and is very much holiday romance vibes. This book does remind me a lot of mamma Mia (of course in a very positive way), and it was an enjoyable read to wind down with. I did find it a little bland at times, repetitive in the sense of issues going wrong with the villa and not much else, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the read.

Although I don't dislike slow-burn romances, this novel felt particularly so. The main characters' relocation to Greece and the villa's renovations take up much more storyline than the developing romance. There didn't seem to be any chemistry between Claudia and Dimitri, and there wasn't a build-up in their relationship that made me want them to be together. I would even say that I was bored with their relationship.

I also did not create any connection to Claudia, as a character, she got on my nerves often. I found her pretty selfish, for instance regarding her house renovations, I did not find her really comprehensive.

However, I did like the description of the Greek landmark, I found myself wanting to visit Greece and especially Corfu really soon.

Thank you Netgalley and Sue Roberts for an advanced copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, I love everything about Greeece, the food, the scenery, the people, the culture. I wanted to feel like I was there but I didn't. I wanted to be sucked in by vivid descriptions buti wasn't.
It lacked excitement for me and the storyline was completely predictable.
I wanted to love it but ended up liking it.

This would be good for a beach read! Unfortunately just wasn’t for me. I thought the descriptions of Greece and Grecian food were wonderful but the characters didn’t do it for me. Again this would be a perfect book for a quick beach read! Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

📖: The Greek Villa
✍🏻: Sue Roberts
⭐: 4

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this gifted copy! 

This was my first introduction to Sue Roberts' work from The Greek Villa! The cover looks so stunningly beautiful, and knowing that it was a rom-com, this book checked all my boxes. Sue has a way to immediately grab the reader's attention from the very first chapter of her book.

Sue Roberts' does an exceedingly good job when it comes to writing up a summer read just in time for the upcoming holidays. Using summer as a focal point in the book made me more excited, and I had been looking forward to seeing what came up in the book. Roberts immediately transported me from my bedroom to the island of Greece with the descriptive language that she used in her writing. Adding on to that, I could instantly see myself in the actual scenes of Sue's book transpiring right in front of me, as she has a way with her writing as if you were seeing the characters interactions in real life. 

I had such an amazing time with the characters throughout their journey in this well-crafted summer rom-com. The plot, characters, and setting all gripped my attention enough to make me stay up late and continue reading The Greek Villa, as I literally couldn't stop reading and wanted to know more about how the story was going to pan out.

After receiving a life-changing inheritance from a beloved, quirky older relative, thirty-two-year-old Claudia has done something wild they would approve of – she’s bought a run-down villa in Greece! Though she’s never seen it in person, she’s sure that with a lick of paint, it will be everything she’s ever dreamed of…
But, arriving at her new home on the gorgeous Greek island of Corfu, Claudia is met with a shock. The cracks look more like chasms, plants are growing through the tiled floor, and the view of the sparkling blue sea would be perfect – if there was a window instead of a hole in the wall.
I can't wait for this to come out and for y'all to lose your minds. if you had doubts about preordering, don't. you're going to want to read this one

It took about a quarter of the book to read before I really got into the story. I enjoyed the time spent spent in Greece and found myself speed reading to those sections. The Greek Villa is a quick read with a little, light romance, great location and characters. It was predictable but still enjoyable.

Corfu! Claudia's decision to buy a villa on the Greek island was definitely impulsive and now she's looking at it- it wasn't such a great idea. But then she meets Dmitri, who works not only on the problems with the villa but also on her heart. You know there's gonna be a problem in this sweet tale and it comes in the form of Dmitri's ex, who wants him back. Fans of the genre know that it's probably going to work out well for Claudia (or will it?). Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

The Greek Villa is a heartwarming read that will transport you to the sunny shores of Greece and leave you believing in the power of taking risks for love and happiness. Recommended for anyone in need of a feel-good story with a perfect blend of humor, romance, and a touch of Greek magic.