I enjoyed the setting of this book and the mystery elements. However, this one was one I couldn't quite connect to. It was a decent read for me but not something I loved.

Very romantic and richly detailed. A great holiday read which will take you on a beautiful and captivating journey.. Another engaging story from a brilliant author.

Good Storyline, But...

Certain aspects of this book I truly enjoyed, while others hampered my enjoyment of the story. What I loved was the author's descriptions of the art, settings, and history of the castle and Italy. She used evocative words to describe the physical places and objects that put me right there. I enjoyed the family mystery aspect as well as the little bit of Tuscan romance. Who doesn't enjoy a romance set there? What I didn't like was twofold. First, I thought that, especially at the beginning but sometimes throughout, the author told us more about what was happening than showed us through actions and words. I always find that distancing, and it doesn't sit well in my mind which prefers an immersive fictional experience—which can’t happen with telling. More disturbing to me personally is I just did not like the way both the heroine and her mother seemed to think that her husband's infidelity was explained and excused by the heroine's weight gain. Grrrrr…. and ugh! Even though this is fiction, this disturbs me as it perpetuates that a woman's worth is in inverse proportion to her weight. Also, I hate that it is used as an excuse for all manner of bad behavior by others. Should we accept others' poor treatment and disrespect because we don't look like the societal preference? Yes, this little aspect of the book rankled my last nerve and set my teeth on edge, eclipsing my full enjoyment of the story. Too bad, because I actually did like other aspects of the story.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title. I will review this title at a different date.

After Allegra O'Brien finds out about her husband's infidelity, she goes to Tuscany to look into her roots. A spur of the moment decision during the trip led to her meeting the handsome Massimo and seeing part of the castle that her Italian grandfather had always talked about. Now she's determined to learn more about the castle and the mystery surrounding her great-grandfather's disappearance, as well as reclaim her independence and sense of identity.

You definitely feel for Allegra, as her teenage children are dismissive and her husband treats her like a possession even after she discovers that he has been cheating for months during his "business trips." He seems to get even worse as time goes on, so that the upper middle class lifestyle that Allegra and her children are used to is being used as a bargaining chip. That's a common tactic in divorce proceedings, so those portions of the book feel very grounded in reality. I wanted to shake her teenage children to have them grow up and stop treating her so badly, especially her son, though teenagers are self centered and focused on material things as a natural state of their development.

There are lots of descriptions of Sammezzano Castle and the surrounding countryside. Allegra gets lecturing on them at times, so that it feels less like a natural conversation arc and more like the author's way to dump a lot of information on us. The descriptions are gorgeous, though it feels a little disconnected from the reader, with less sensory input. As in, food is mentioned but not described, and we don't get much of an explanation on how Allegra feels to be there. It's almost like the fade to black sex scenes with Massimo, who has some secrecy regarding his past as well. It's almost too much of a plot device that the police officer that saves Allegra is into her and conveniently single, and has all kinds of pull in exactly the places that Allegra needs. Still, he provides a great contrast to Hugo, as he has his macho pride but isn't controlling Allegra in a toxic or demeaning way.

The mystery surrounding Allegra's great-grandfather Allessandro disappearing was done very well, and revealed in stages. I really enjoyed that story thread, and its resolution at the end of novel is at once sad and satisfying. It makes sense why he had been missing for so long, but it's also sad that no one he had known would ever know what had happened to him. The epilogue also gives additional closure to the story, tying up all the loose threads that didn't fit in the overall story arc.

Hard to put down this lovely romance with a mystery, set in an actual castle in Florence.
Allegra travels to Italy to distance herself from her unfaithful husband, hoping to connect with her family and their history. Conveniently, handsome police officer Massimo guides her in her quest. Most of the narrative takes place in Sammezzano Castle., which is beautifully described- especially the Peacock Room.
Together, Allegra and Massimo solve the mystery of what happened to her father. Throughout the book I was rooting for them to find each other too!
I will be looking for more books by this author. Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read this lovely book in exchange for an honest review.

It took me some time to read this book. Not for the reason that I did not want to, but I did not have enough time and mood to do so.
Finally, when I read it, I was mesmerized by it's mystery, romance, secrets, emotions blended and plot.
I would recommend this book to a lot of people because it was a delight to read it!

Allegra is devastated when her husband Hugo leaves her for a much younger woman but she gradually starts to rebuild her life and see how controlling he was, and still is, trying to use their teenage children and money against her. Growing closer to her Italian family she decides to visit Tuscany and find the Emerald Room in the castle that her grandfather is always talking about and maybe find out what happened to his father when he disappeared when her grandfather was a young boy. Through the gorgeous Massimo into the mix and she is definitely moving on with her life!

A lovely book that I really enjoyed, there were good characters... even if unpleasant like Hugo..... and I liked both the history and mystery aspect as well as the lovely setting of Tuscany

Set against the stunning backdrop of Sammezzano Castle, past meets present in the glorious Tuscan sun. Allegra O’Brien has it all: a beautiful family, a loving husband and a stunning west London home. But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, that world crashes down around her. With an ageing mother and two teenagers to support, Allegra seeks solace in the bosom of her Italian family. But it is the ramblings of her elderly grandpapa that awaken an interest in historic, interior architecture, and their legendary Mama Cosima. Inspired and invigorated, Allegra takes a trip to her grandpapa’s birth village in Tuscany to learn more about her heritage. Whilst there, a dangerous encounter with a handsome Italian man throws her off course, but in the wake of her grandpapa’s illness, Allegra makes an unexpected discovery and commits to the promise she made to solve a family mystery.
Having taken a train around Italy and unfortunately not getting to visit Tuscany, the idea of reading a book at a real location I missed drew me immediately. The setting in the book was well done. I can’t really say the same for the main character and her story throughout the book. There was a lot in Allegra’s tale that just didn’t work for me unfortunately.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I will definitely recommend this title. It is very well thought out and imaginative. I can't wait for more titles by this author.

The Peacock Room is the first book I have read by Merryn Corcoran, but it won't be the last. This book covers all my favourite topics, art, architecture and beautiful Tuscany.  Allegra has been married for twenty years when her husband decides to leave her for a much younger woman. After originally being heartbroken, time passes and she realises how controlling her husband was and that now she can get back to her passion of art and architecture. After the death of her beloved grandpapa, she decides to look into a family mystery and find the Castello Sammezzano and the fabled Peacock Room her grandpapa told her about. Mystery, art, architecture, romance and the stunning landscape Tuscany come together to create a beautiful read.
What drew me to this book was the stunning cover that shows a woman in the most stunning room, an image of the Peacock Room with its different hues of blue that shimmer off the cover. What surprised me was finding out that the Castello Sammezzano is a real place, and the Peacock Room does exist, its just a shame it isn't open to the public. This is simply one of the gorgeous Italian setting in this book, all of which can't help but make me smile wistfully and dream of going back to Italy.  A family is mystery is always interesting in a book as I love to be a voyeur in other peoples lives. This mystery surrounds Allegra's grandpapa's father who went missing at the same time as some art work from the Castello. His mother never believed he would have left her with a young son, and through her diaries, left to Allegra, we learn more about this period of time. Merryn Corcoran's writing is colourful and descriptive, in setting and character, and brings the rooms of the Castello and the architecture vividly off the page and into the imagination.
Allegra was a character I really warmed to. She has never reached her potential as a person, being controlled by her husband who didn't want her to work, but all this changes after the separation.  There are many moments where a smile was on my face with Allegra's cutting comments towards her husband as her confidence grew, and she became more independent.  It's not very often I say I hate a character, but in the case of Hugo, the husband, this was true. He was chauvinistic, arrogant, egotistical, condescending and smarmy; he doesn't deserve someone as nice as Allegra. All the characters were well rounded, different and true to life, making them and their lives more believable; although Allegra's new romance is a bit too perfect, but that is part of the charm of the book.
The Peacock Room is a beautiful book, in setting, story and characters. The mystery, romance and Italian culture perfectly combine to make this such a pleasure to read, and offers pure escapism.  An uplifting, and easy read that will leave you with a smile on your face. Bellissima!!

This was an intriguing title and I was completely caught up in watching the mystery of The Peacock Room unfold. Florence and it's surrounding countryside is such a beautiful setting and the rich detail of the interiors and mosaics are vivid and captivating. The romantic element was pure escapism and I thoroughly enjoyed being swept up in the it and the family's mysterious connection to the Peacock Room.

I try not to give one-star reviews (and, in truth, this is probably more of a 1.5), but I was really disappointed with this book.

The cover is beautiful and the description is compelling (a romance, a ghost, a mysterious Italian castle), which is why I requested it. Even the beginning was promising--Allegra finds out that her husband Hugo is having an affair with a much younger woman and decides to extract herself from her terrible marriage and improve her life, starting with a trip to Florence with her friend Julia. Unfortunately, the plot unfolded in a plodding, unsubtle way.

I thought that, with Allegra investigating the mysterious disappearance of her great-grandfather (the "grandpapa" substitute for "nonno" drove me crazy, but I suppose every family has their own term of endearment for their grandparents), the story would lean more into the history of the area and the family, but instead Corcoran focuses on bringing together a series of superficially developed characters. Allegra was particularly frustrating--she tries magic mushrooms and has *no idea* that they're drugs, she insists that she hates guns and harps on this fact when she begins (abruptly) dating an Italian policeman who is required to carry a gun for her job (even her teenage son brings this up once or twice), and she hardly stands up for herself--especially at the beginning of the book. Massimo is also a caricature of the doting Italian lover, and aside from a brief revelation about his past, we barely learn anything about his life or his personality.

While the allure of the cover and the historical aspect was promising, the execution should have been better.

Thank you netgalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed how Allegra found herself in this book. I don’t want to totally ruin it so I won’t. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the castle in Italy and the peacock room. You’ll enjoy this book if you like romance especially with and about older women! Thank you dear author!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to rad an ARC copy of this book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

As I have booked a trip to Italy for this fall, I am obsessed with reading stories that take place in Italy and was so excited to see this book was centered around a very real and amazing estate. I, of course, started googling and reading about Castello di Sammezzano; wow, amazing property, I could see how one visit created this story for this author, it is amazing. I hope whoever has purchased it, restores it and opens it to the public for viewing; architectural artwork like that deserves to be seen.

As far as this book goes, while I loved the storyline, loved the characters overall, I found the author's writing to be lacking in maturity at times. There were a few things about the book that bothered me a bit, such as terrible romantic scenes and I found the main character very juvenile at times, it was hard to believe she was to be in her late 40s, That being said; the lovely storyline was worth a few irritations and inconsistencies. Allegra, finds out her husband is cheating on her, he then confesses when found out and moves out to start over with some young thing; this makes Allegra look at her life as a whole and she sees she was not very happy anyway. Then when Allegra's grandfather dies leaving her an inheritance and a mysterious box that contains, for one, the diary of her great-grandmother, so she then sets out like Columbo to solve the mystery of her great-grandfather's disappearance. I really liked the old diary entries and the cast of characters who come to her aid in helping to solve this mystery and I was very satisfied with the ending.

Having read some of the other reviews of this book, I set lower expectations than usual. I judged it unfairly based on the thoughts of others.

While yes, this is likely not a Pulitzer Prize winner, I ended up really enjoying it. One of my dislikes for the book was that it ended sort of abruptly, just giving a brief prologue- when I really would have loved to see how Allegra coped with everything. How did her mom handle cancer? Did karma really bite Hugo in the ass in the end?

My other problem with the book was that Massimo's random UK storyline was kind of unnecessary. It wasn't really useful for any character development.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would consider it a good beach or rainy weekend read.

Excuse the slightly psychedelic banner, but I feel that this book deserved it. It is, after all, a book about peacocks. And castles, and a love story.

Encouraged by the beautiful cover, I picked up with book with some enthusiasm. What I ended up reading was somewhat of a mixed bag. Don’t get me wrong: I love a story set in Italy as much as the next person, and books that are all about family history are also great.

And it does start off promisingly. The story starts with Allegra, our heroine, finding out that her husband is having an affair. She promptly dumps him, has a makeover and travels off to Italy to unravel a family mystery: her great-grandfather went missing at the start of the 20th century and nobody knows why.

So far, so good, right? Ye-es. However, the characters made this book a three-star review (spoilers. Sorry!) for me. None of them felt particularly well-realised. Massimo, though lovely, is basically wish-fulfilment in literary form (complete with unnecessary secret-past plot twist), whilst Allegra’s ex-husband, Hugo, gradually becomes more and more of a cliched villain as the story goes on.

I wanted to give Allegra herself a bit of a shake. I’m all for female empowerment, and Allegra catering to her son’s every whim (seriously- his main line all through the book was ‘Mum, why haven’t you cooked dinner for me yet?’) made me grit my teeth. She stands up to him at the end, kind of, but seriously? Tell him to make his own damn dinner!

There were parts of the story I enjoyed. It was a nice change to read about a love story between older protagonists: both of them have baggage, and watching them work through it is refreshing and realistic. I had a chuckle at Allegra experimenting with freedom and trying both weed and magic mushrooms in quick succession- steady on!Allegra’s mother, though vain, was also a treat to read about, as was the dynamic between her, Allegra, and Allegra’s daughter, Kirsty. Yay for girl power! I would have liked to read more about Allegra’s great-grandmother, who pops up occasionally through diary entries. As it is, she works to further the plot, but we don’t really get a sense of her character.

If nothing else, this book has definitely instilled in me a healthy desire to go and visit Sammezzano Castle! Corcoran does a great job of describing the castle and the peacock room, and had me frantically googling to see what it really looked like. The concept is great, and I can’t help thinking that if it had been executed a bit better, the book would have been a winner.

Still. I’m inspired to go visit!

I was drawn to this book by the Italian setting. I found it an earnestly written book with an interesting plot that couldn’t overcome the bland and one-dimensional characters, predictable touch of the fantastic, and unbelievable climax.

Kudos to whoever designed the cover.

I read an advance reader copy from Netgalley.

I really enjoyed this novel. I loved the way places were described especially the rooms in Sammezzano Castle. I was inspired to find out more about the Castle. It was set in 2011 in Fulham and Italy. Allegra loves art and beautiful buildings, at University she studied European interior architecture.
When her children become too demanding Allegra escapes to her special place – a bathroom she designed using 14 Century Italian and Florentine mosaics.
Allegra and her friend Julia go to Florence for a holiday. While she is in Italy, Allegra plans to find out more about her Italian family history and the reason her grandfather left Italy and something about the mysterious Peacock Room her grandfather is always talking about.
This was about families, relationships, friendships and secrets. I loved the descriptions about Italian architecture and design.

I was attracted to this book because of the gorgeous cover and the reference to peacocks. Peacocks symbolize many things to many cultures. In the Bible, it represents eternal life and the Resurrection because it sheds its old feathers each year and grows new ones. It is also used as a symbol of vanity because of its beauty and the way it displays his feathers. In Greco-Roman mythology its tail has the "eyes" of the stars. In Hinduism, it represents patience, kindness and luck. In Persia, it is seen as a guardian to royalty. They have always fascinated me, so from that standpoint The Peacock Room's story of said room in the Castle Sammezzano is interesting, and the story the author wove around its history is interesting. The present day characters are one-dimensional, so it is difficult to develop an interest in their story. The interactions of the parents and children and Allegra's new relationship seemed rushed and superficial. If you find yourself skimming through the present day parts of the story, don't let that stop you from slowing down on the story of The Peacock Room and the history of the people from that time period. I had never heard of Castle Sammezzano and its Peacock Room, so I enjoyed reading its history mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and RedDoor Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Apologize for taking too long to complete this review.