The Villa
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4.4 • 88 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Sophia is the pride of the Giambelli clan and a vital player in the family's celebrated winery. But things are about to change at Villa Giambelli.
Family matriarch Tereza has announced a surprise merger with the MacMillan family's winery. As a savvy businesswoman, Sophia knows she must be ready for anything - but she isn't prepared for Tyler MacMillan. They've been ordered to work closely together to ensure the merger goes through smoothly. But as they toil together, both in and out of the fields, Sophia finds herself increasingly torn between professional rivalry and a powerful attraction.
And when the business and the family are threatened by disturbing acts of sabotage, Sophia realises her quest isn't just for dominance, but survival...
'Nora Roberts is a superstar'
New York Times
'The most successful novelist on Planet Earth'
Washington Post
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Another novel rich in emotion and rife with conflict from the prolific Roberts (From the Heart; Carolina Moon etc.), this sweeping saga of Northern California wine-making steeps the reader in a heady mix of sex, scandal and the excesses of the supremely wealthy. Sophia Giambelli, sophisticated head of marketing for the family-run Napa Valley winery, is the heiress to the Giambelli empire. She's often compared to her grandmother Tereza, La Signora, who still runs the business. The Giambelli holdings include the 100-year-old Castello di Giambelli in Venice, Italy; Villa Giambelli, operating in the Napa Valley for 64 years; and nearby MacMillan, a 92-year-old firm added to the family holdings when La Signora married Eli MacMillan. The wineries have always operated independently, but now La Signora announces that she wishes to merge all three, occasioning a major restructuring of responsibilities. She orders Sophia to replace Tyler MacMillan, Eli's grandson, and become the wine maker for both families' vineyards. The monosyllabic Tyler will spearhead marketing for the new joint venture. Laying the groundwork for heated fireworks, Sophia and Tyler fight not only each other but also a corporate saboteur who's being fed inside information. Dramatic personal confrontations are exacerbated by La Signora's designation of a new CEO, David Cutter, the only non-Giambelli to hold a position of power. Cutter brings his two teenage children with him to live in the winery guesthouse and immediately falls in love with Sophia's newly divorced mother, Pilar. Other juicy subplots involve manipulative mistresses, dilettante husbands and emotional Italian wives. As usual, Roberts provides plenty of intriguing background information, this time on wine making, and snappy dialogue.
