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| The Villa | 
 enlarge | Author: Nora Roberts
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $0.01
You Save: $25.94 (100%)
New (57) Used (464) Collectible (19) from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:  118 reviews
Sales Rank: 623739
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 421
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0399147128
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399147128
ASIN: 0399147128
Publication Date: March 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 I'm still craving a great glass of wine! October 3, 2008
It would be a sad day for me NOT to give Nora a high rating. I recently read "You can't bottle fulfillment, but Ms. Roberts certainly knows how to put it on a page", I've never heard a review more accurate. She has the talent to take you there, at/in the place she wants you to be. I'm never disapointed in one of her worlds; this book was no different. She actually gave us two romances in one, both loves as strong as the other. As an inspiring writer I could only wish to one day be a quarter as great as she.
My 1st Nora Roberts Book and I'm hooked! August 28, 2008
This was the 1st book I read by her. A friend gave it to me to read. It was a page turner. I really enjoyed the charaters, plot, everything about it great. I'm not big on suspense, but this book had both Romance and Suspense and it keep me intrigued. I recommend this to anyone!
The Villa June 29, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Sophia Giambelli loved being part of the large flamboyant Giambelli family and Giambelli/MacMillan wines. She had her own little niche carved out by handling the marketing department smoothly from her San Francisco base of operations, but her family was another matter altogether. Sophia's professional life was firmly in place, but her family was always trying to deal with one drama or another. Her mother Pillar had been married to her father, but unfortunately in name only. Pillar loved Tony Avano, but he made it clear early on that she would only be one of many that he would be a lover to, so they had been living apart for the better part of Sophia's life. It was her grandmother Theresa and her husband Eli that held the iron fist on the family and the family business.
Tyler MacMillan loved being in his element, and that was the vineyard. He had loved the vines and the earth they grew in since he was a small boy. Even though he held top position at the vineyards, he always loved the hands on work. It was a part of him, and one that he was unwilling to give up. Tyler always credited Theresa for introducing him to this great love of his, and was so glad that his grandfather Eli had married her. It took him completely by surprise when Theresa summoned the entire family to the big house for an announcement. He was even further shocked to find out he and Sophia were being groomed to take over the business from them. They were to learn all aspects of the company, which meant learning each other's jobs. An outsider named David Cutter was being brought in to oversee everything for 12 months, and then the power would transition to them.
Everything was going according to plan until someone started murdering top executives at the company. Someone was trying to bring down Giambelli/MacMillan, but Tyler and Sophia were determined to stop them, and find out who was responsible. What they didn't expect was their attraction to each other or the strong feelings growing between them. Tyler and Sophia only hoped they could identify who was trying to destroy the family before they ended up the next victims. Strong characters in a good story.
 Okay Ride with Disappointing Destination December 17, 2007
I borrowed this book from my cousin a few months ago and only just now finished it. It does grip you, and I found myself missing it when I accidentally left it at my aunt's house.
That said, this isn't one of Nora Robert's bests. There are so many charcters and plots that it feels thrown together. Who has a grudge against this one, who cheated on this one...so much going on, and a lot of it didn't have to do with the central plot. But still, I hung in there, as most scenes were still interesting and I fell in love with David Cutter and his family (note, NOT the main chracters - I found myself not really caring about them). The small family saved the book, as Sophia and Tyler did in fact get on my nerves, since every one of their scenes seemed exactly the same.
But the ending is what irked me the most (I'll try not to put spoilers, but I'll give you a warning just in case). The book is divided into parts, and the last part seemed...rushed. It's almost as if Nora Roberts was going along semi-smoothly, hit the last section and realized "Oh, crap, I have to write an ending now." Events wind down so quickly you feel like you're on a roller coaster. But what killed me ('sxcuse the pun) was that the ending revelation had NOTHING to do with ANYTHING! It was impossible for even the most savvy reader to guess "whodunit," and isn't that the fun of a mystery? The ending "twist" feels like it was thrown in just to give the readers a jolt, but fails to tie the story together in a way that leaves you satisfied.
Honestly, I think Nora Roberts would have benefitted from turning this into one of her infamous romance trilogies, with a seperate murder for each book - giving her time to further develop each character and plot. But whatever, it was an alright read.
Murder, Mystery, Romance and Wine December 3, 2007
I had started this book more than once and couldn't get interested in it enough to continue mostly because the main character annoyed me (Sophia. I liked Tyler and the other characters but Sophia was not just independent (which independent is okay)but she was nasty who slept around with weak men who she made sure would not stand up to her. I finally decided while traveling at Thanksgiving to finish it. I liked Tyler and even though Sophia softened somewhat by the end of the book I would still be in doubt about marriage between her and Tyler. Maybe it would work but would she revert back to the hard buisness woman?? We'll never know! Anyway, there is a good mystery with more than one bad guy (or woman). I loved David and his children. Their relationship was touching and without them and his romance with Pilar I think I would not have liked the book as much. I don't have a great interest in how wine is made or the whole processing so found that a little boring though I know some would find that interesting. I ended up skimming through parts of that as the book was fairly long anyway. I always like the close Italian family that NR has written about before as in Blue Smoke. I agree with others that I would have liked more to the ending but the book was already so long, that perhaps we can be satisfied that the main characters ended happily. One aspect that bothered me was the question that one of the characters could murder someone (even they were a jerk-but didn't deserve to be murdered)and there would be no consequences. I had mixed feelings about that. All in all after I finally got into it, it wasn't a bad book though I never fully warmed up to Sophia but there were so many other characters that sort of saved the day. It was a very typical NR book of family relationships, romance and some surprising twists.
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