This is the story of three young women: Kim, a trust-fund baby from New York City; Colette, a young woman from England who has recently nursed her mother through cancer; and Annie, a hair stylist from Dublin who has finally run into some good luck. They all meet at a shabby villa on Italy's Amalfi Coast, become friends, have some vacation romances, and reset their lives. Six years later, they meet back at the villa. The novel jumps back and forth through time and between the three women.

Light, fun to read, lots of gorgeous, summery Italian scenery, and an unexpected but satisfying end. And now I really want to go back to the stunning Amalfi Coast.

A couple of months ago I read and enjoyed The Temptation of Gracie, which is the kind of book I don't normally read. But I needed something light and fun for a change. At that time, a HarperCollins ad for this book kept popping up on my social media. This one looked even less like my kind of book . . . but it promised to be a light, fun read, and it's set in Italy, and there's a villa. Tick, tick, tick, sold! Two of these in a few months means that I can't say this isn't my type of book any more.

Rating: Sure, I could criticize this book, and I certainly have lots of suggestions for the editor. But I knew what I was picking up, so I'm not going to be that person. It was fun. I didn't get a real vacation this year, so I have to escape through books. 4 stars.

Recommended for: readers looking for some beachy escapism ( )

"The Summer Villa" tells the story of friendship among three women over time. The thread tying them together is the villa in Italy where they first met. The action alternates between "then" and "now" which I found somewhat confusing. The characters are interesting and described well, with their quite contrasting personalities. The ending wraps things up nicely, for a fun and light beach read.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

The Summer Villa, by Melissa Hill, became available on 4-28-2020. Villa is my first look at Ms Hills work. It’s always a treat for me to discover a new author and expand my list of must reads. I found it to be an interesting mix of emotions that covered a to z. Love, heartbreak, loss, deception, freedom, guilt. Villa had it all.
The plot of three women meeting on vacation & staying in touch through the years made me wistful. I’ve never managed to keep in touch like that & lost contact with many friends. Ms Hill made it sound so natural and easy. Each of the ladies has her own story, then and now. They’re as different as night and day but in 3 weeks managed to become true friends. Men come and go but a good friend is always there for you. I daydreamed about this villa & the Amalfi coast. The descriptions were compelling & made me want to travel there. It’s on my wish list. I’ll not give away too much of the plot, I’m leaving that for you to discover.
#SummerVilla MelissaHill Netgalley HarlequinBooks ( )

*** Blog Tour ***

The Summer Villa by Melissa Hill goes back and forth in time and between the perspectives of three women. The "then" and "now" slowly display both the bonds between these women and also the differences. Gradually, the two story threads wind together. Some of how that happens is as I predict, but, much to my delight, some of it is unexpected. The ending comes back to the expected, but the unexpected in what is a summer beach read makes it more memorable.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2020/05/the-summer-villa.html

Reviewed for NetGalley and the Harlequin Trade Publishing's 2020 Spring Reads blog tour. ( )

We all may be stuck in our own homes, but you can visit the beautiful Amalfi Coast in Melissa Hill's latest novel, The Summer Villa. Told in two separate timelines, we meet three young women who are all running away from their homes to stay at Villa Dolce Vita, a small, rather run-down vacation rental in Positano.

Kim is a 30 year-old American woman whose wealthy parents expect her to go to London and marry herself off to a man she doesn't even know to help their business prospects. When Kim refuses, she secretly runs away and ends up at Villa Dolce Vita. There she meets two other young ladies, Colette and Annie.

Colette is taking a well-deserved vacation after running her family's bakery in England after her father deserts the family while his wife fights breast cancer. Annie is an Irish hair stylist who receives this trip from one of her customers when the woman passes away.

Annie is a party girl, and she spends her nights out at the local bars, where she meets a handsome British man and thinks he may be the one. Colette is a sweet young woman who is a little imtimidated by her gorgeous roommates, but when she meets a handsome Italian man who woos her, Annie and Colette are a little surprised and envious.

While spending her days at the pool sunning herself and trying to figure out what she will do with her life, Kim finds a journal filled with affirmations and quotes that speak to her. She begins to take stunning photos of Positano and capture them with these affirmations, and when she posts them on Instagram, they go viral.

Years later, Kim has turned her Instagram posts into a mindfullness book, and she buys Villa Dolce Vita and creates a spa and wellness retreat there. As she prepares for the grand opening, she is struggling with the feeling that she cannot bond with her young daughter, and that her husband will discover this. It also appears that someone is trying to sabotage her grand opening.

Colette is married and dealing with infertility. Her husband is consumed with work and tries to talk her out of going to Positano for Kim's grand opening. Annie is a single mom who now owns a successful hair salon, and while she is going to the grand opening, something is bothering her about seeing her old friends again.

Each woman is struggling with issues that many women can relate to in the current timeline, and it all comes to a head at the grand opening. There are secrets that come out, and I admit that I was taken by complete surprise, which I enjoyed. Hill skillfully puts all the pieces together and creates a novel that keeps the reader guessing, and as someone who has visited Positano, I was happy to revisit it in this captivating novel. If you want to escape to a beautiful place for a few hours, pick up The Summer Villa. Fans of Liane Moriarty's novels will enjoy this one.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on Melissa Hill's tour. ( )