This was my first Louise Douglas read and until I was a few chapters in, I didn't think this book would be for me. I wasn't engaging with the main character at first but soon understood this might have been an intentional move by the author.

The story follows Edie, who has been separated from her husband Joe for ten years, following the death of their beloved six-year-old son Daniel. Edie blames her mother-in-law, Anna for the accident, and when the book opens, Anna has also passed away. Anna leaves her villa in Sicily to both her son Joe and Edie, forcing them to travel to Sicily to sort out the legalities.

The events that follow make for an often chilling and haunting read, and while I found the story engaging enough, I was again left wondering if it was for me. The descriptions of Sicily are wonderful, really creating a sense of place. But outside of that, I found that I didn't overly care about the characters or their outcomes.

I would absolutely recommend this book if you are a fan of Louise Douglas or if you like destination stories that also deal with family dynamics.

Review published on Goodreads, 23 July 2021:

Books featuring interesting old houses always intrigue me. I'm especially fond of those with a Gothic feel. Although THE HOUSE BY THE SEA takes place in sunny Sicily, it still has a chilling Gothic vibe that gives the story a deliciously creepy, unsettling feel. The atmospheric setting is, in fact, my favorite part of this novel. The characters at its center are sympathetic and likable. Edie's extreme grief/self-pity does get annoying, but she experiences growth throughout the book, which makes her more palatable. As far as the secrets the villa is hiding, I found them pretty predictable. Only the location of the painting surprised me. Still, there was enough tension and conflict in the story to keep me reading. I would have liked more twists and turns to make the tale less predictable. In the end, then, I didn't absolutely love this book, but I did like it. I will read more by Douglas.

If I could, I would give this book 3 1/2 stars. Since I can't, I rounded up.

I loved the Italian setting and the tension running throughout the novel. I greatly sympathised for Edie and cheered her on as she put together the puzzle of Anna's life.

What a wonderful mystery, full fo grief, romance and GHOSTS! Very emotional at times with lots of suspense. Great characters, wonderful story line, amazing ending. A page turner. Savored every word.

Another brilliant book from Louise Douglas. Atmospheric and unputdownable. The characters are flawed and intriguing. Ideal for a holiday read

This was a relatively steady story; nothing particularly amazing or exciting happened, but there’s just enough drama to keep it going.

Admittedly, it took me a few tries before I was able to get into this book but when I did, boy, was I glad that I read it. The story was beautifully written. It starts a little slow, but it builds up and is very descriptive. I felt as if rather than reading a book, I was watching a movie because it was so well written and well described that I was able to picture it all clearly in my mind. I will absolutely recommend this book and will be getting a personal copy.

When Edie's mother-in-law dies, all she can feel is relief, after a decade of blaming Anna for the worst moment of her life, Edie can now finally move on. Until Anna's will is read, stating that Edie and her estranged husband must unite together in Sicily to organise the sale of the family home, the Villa della Madonna del Mare. Edie plans on a quick trip and a fast sale, but soon the villa's long buried secrets begin to emerge, and it becomes clear that someone will go to any lengths to keep the past in the past...

Now I'm a bit behind the times with this one, seeing as it came out in February and I've only just read it in September! But I'm so glad I read it, as it is a beautiful, moving and complex book that I devoured in just a few short days.

Edie is one of those character who could go either way - she’s a mother who has spent the last decade mourning the loss of her child, and her anger over his death has served only to make her bitter. Characters like this can be very hard to read about, as they can be portrayed in such a manner that makes them completely unlikeable. However, Douglas was able to find and portray Edie’s vulnerability along with her rage, and as such she becomes a woman with whom you empathise rather than resent.

Now, when I began reading the book I was a little bit surprised, as the synopsis implies that it is a psychological thriller, whereas the opening few chapters position it firmly as a domestic drama. However, this all changes when Edie gets to Italy, with the villa itself being an integral aspect of the thriller element of this novel. Indeed, the villa almost becomes a character in its own right, with a sinister past of its own...

So, it’s obvious from the synopsis that there is an element of the paranormal to this plot, with the villa seemingly home to something potentially sinister... However, it's not one of those books that loses its way in trying to become a ghost story. Instead, there's just the occasional sense of something not quite right, which eventually is resolved in a really nice way!

All in all, I really enjoyed this one. It's a perfect summer read, with a really strong sense of place, and a cast of characters who you grow to really love and care about (apart from some of the more creepy side characters!). The plot is unique, complex and heartbreaking, and it really is just the perfect combination of an emotional drama with a heavy dose of thriller for good measure!

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to receive an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in conjunction with NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

It takes me a while to get into a book so when I am captivated on page 1, it must be good. What can I say about this book apart from.i didn't want it to end. Utterly enchanting, distcriptive and just lovely.

Eddie and Joe divorced after the tragic death of their five year old son Daniel ten years ago. Edie always blamed her mother in law Anna for the accident that killed her son, and after Anna’s death she is forced to reunite with Joe as they both inherit a villa on the Italian island of Sicily.
While spending time at the Villa, Edie finds an old diary of Anna’s from her teenage years. The information within it starts to unravel secrets about Anna’s past, and helps to solve a mystery that has been kept secret on the island for many years.
This is another fantastic, emotional novel from Louise Douglas that takes you on a journey through grief and how it affects people differently . As they are forced to spend time together, Edie and Joe come to terms with the loss of their son, but can they find their way back to each other?

When Edie's mother in law Anna dies Eddie cannot feel sorry, she was the reason her six year old son died! Anna is meddling from beyond the grave though and leaves her family villa in Sicily jointly to Edie and her ex husband Joe which means they have to go together to sort it out even though they have barely spoken since the death of their son. Soon the villa and Sicily are working their magic and Eddie falls in love with it but what about Joe and who is trying to get them to leave and scare them off?

A very enjoyable read with a mixture of romance and intrigue and enough secrets to keep you turning the pages to find the outcome

This book was at times both heartbreaking and heart racing. With faint undertones of thriller and ghost story, it is a novel that winds its way around grief, secrets, and restoration. Not particularly fast-paced, but engaging nonetheless with a slight sinister undertone tand every man characters, you'll be juggling all the pieces until they fall into place. I quite enjoyed this read.

The House by the Sea by Louise Douglas - When Edie’s mother-in-law, Anna DeLuca, dies, she is relieved. Edie blames Anna for the accident that destroyed her family. So, when her will lures Edie to Sicily and the long-abandoned Villa della Madonna del Mare, she sees through Anna’s games. Edie is determined to leave Italy as soon as possible. But before she can, the villa starts to shed its mysterious secrets.

Who are the girls beside Anna in her childhood photos, and why has one of them been scratched out? Why does someone, or something, want them to leave the past untouched? The villa is a place where old ghosts feel at home.......
I highly recommend this book. The background was Sicily, which I have never visited so I enjoyed reading about it. Edie and Joe haven’t seen each other since their son died 10 years ago. By inheriting the villa they were forced to reunite. This book was full of romantic memories, grief and some bitterness. There were many twists and turns and a lot of issues to overcome in the village. Thank you to Net Galley for sending an ARC for review.

This is a wonderful heartfelt story that is about starting over amid terrible grief, being brave and learning from past relationships. I enjoyed the authors prose and how she seamlessly weaves the story between characters. This is a book I highly recommend. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity.

Edie had a terrible relationship with her Mother In Law Anna De Luca who she blames for the death of her six-year-old son. Anna dies and leaves her villa in Sicily, Italy to Edie but also half to her ex husband and Edie knows this meddlesome old women is reaching beyond the grave to control her life .
When she arrives, she falls in love with the villa and its mysterious haunting and secrets. She wants to stay but has to deal with her ex husband amid all the change in her life requiring her to have courage beyond what she thought she was capable of.

This is beautifully written and enjoyable to read. The mystery of the Villa is interesting and fun to read about. I like the charcter of Edie . I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment.

I’m never quite sure how to describe Louise Douglas’ books. Set in either the present day or recent past, they are not exactly mysteries or crime novels, but more than just romances, and although they do have ghostly or gothic elements, they are grounded in the reality of family drama and personal tragedy. Probably romantic suspense is the best term for them, I think. Having enjoyed three of them – The Secrets Between Us, In Her Shadow and Your Beautiful Lies – I was hoping that I would also enjoy her new one, The House by the Sea.

Our narrator, Edie, has spent the last ten years blaming her former mother-in-law, Anna DeLuca, for the death of her little boy, Daniel, and the breakdown of her marriage that followed. When she hears that Anna has died she feels a sense of relief, but she is less pleased to learn that Anna has left her Sicilian villa to Edie and her ex-husband, Joe. Convinced that this is just an attempt to reunite her with Joe, Edie is angry with Anna for continuing to meddle in her life even from beyond the grave, so she heads for Sicily determined to find a buyer for the villa and return home again as quickly as possible.

On her arrival in Sicily, Edie has to endure an awkward meeting with Joe, who has also come to inspect his inheritance and look for a buyer. However, Edie soon finds herself falling in love with the crumbling old villa and is intrigued by the many secrets it seems to be hiding. Where is the valuable painting of the Madonna del Mare, missing from its place on the wall? Who are the two girls in Anna’s childhood photographs and why does one of them have her face scratched out? And what is the reason for all the bad luck Edie and Joe begin to experience? Is someone trying to drive them away from Sicily before they can uncover the truth?

Louise Douglas writes beautifully; she is one of those authors with a real talent for capturing the mood and atmosphere of a place, whether that place is the Yorkshire Moors (Your Beautiful Lies), the Cornish coast (In Her Shadow) or a rural village in Somerset (The Secrets Between Us). The House by the Sea is the first of her books that I’ve read which is set outside England and I loved the vivid descriptions of Sicily, beginning with Edie’s first sight of the island – probably the most travelling I’ll do this year!

The mystery element of the novel is not very strong, to be honest. I found it easy to guess who was behind the strange occurrences at the villa – although I didn’t know exactly why and had to wait until the end of the book for everything to be explained. But what I did enjoy was watching Edie’s development as a character as, under the warm Sicilian sun, she begins to come to terms with what happened all those years ago and slowly finds the strength to move on. Her relationship with Joe and the way it changes over the course of the novel is well written and feels believable, but again, it was too easy to predict what was going to happen!

This is not one of my favourites by Louise Douglas, but it did remind me of how much I enjoyed reading her books a few years ago. I seem to have missed her last book, The Secret by the Lake, which was published in 2015, so I will have to catch up with that one soon.

The House by the Sea is a new favorite book of mine! I adored the heck out of this book and I'm so glad I read it before everyone else.

Immerse yourself in the beautiful Sicilian countryside. Meet Edie and Joe, two wounded people whose story will split your heart in two.

This book entirely consumed me from its opening pages until I reluctantly reached the final page – the best of story-telling, fascinating characters, a location I felt I’d been inhabiting for as long as I read, and an atmosphere that entirely chills you to the bone.

Edie is a particularly compelling character – initially spiky, clearly damaged by her recent experience – and a clear and consistent voice that carries the narrative, forced back together with ex-husband Joe to settle his mother’s estate in Sicily. Their exchanges are brittle and raw, with a legacy of damage and hurt from the recent accident – until they reach the Villa della Madonna del Mare, barely habitable but a location where some particular magic happens. It’s a place for repair and healing, where the echoes of the past are close to the surface, and it’s absolutely enthralling to see the characters draw closer as their edges begin to soften.

We find out more – with exquisite slowness – about the accident that changed their lives, and the reasons why Edie holds such hatred in her heart for Anna, her mother-in-law. The emotional impact of the whole story is immense: it takes a while for both Edie and Joe to become wholly sympathetic, but their every contact – with those ragged and bleeding edges – is something you feel, and it really hurts.

The author’s descriptions are simply wonderful – particularly the lush wilderness of the villa’s garden, with its hidden secrets to be discovered, but also the surrounding countryside with its contrasts of wasteland and beauty. And the sea – sometimes an instrument of healing as they dive from the landing stage, sometimes viscous and unwelcoming. Present day Sicily – the real world outside the villa’s gates – is well handled too: the local characters and their stories, and that constant edge of suppressed violence that I remember feeling when I spent time there.

The villa itself becomes another character, with its ghosts and memories – deeply atmospheric, the secrets of the past always close to the surface. There’s a mystery about a missing valuable painting, and then there are a few disturbing incidents – some maybe sabotage, some just downright creepy – that make Edie and Joe feel they are unwelcome there. And then there are all those hidden family secrets, a long history of betrayal and jealousy… their impact on the present, and their part in the healing journey.

I really loved this book – it’s an enthralling story, haunting in its every detail, so beautifully written. The character development is quite exceptional – and the whole book had an unforgettable impact. Highly, highly recommended.

(Review copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy. Beautifully written tale filled with suspense and intrigue. Louise Douglas always gets the thumbs up from me.

I was slightly wary of this book in the beginning because I don't like ghost stories or anything supernatural but this was really not about that but more about grief and coping with loss. I found that I didn't warm to the character of Edie but grew to appreciate why she was behaving in such a way and although I never really liked her, I felt that she was a realistic character and understood her more. This makes this read sound like a tragedy and yes it is but it is also a cracking good mystery story with drama and action, romance and murder!
Overall this book is quite a page turner which I read in two days as I wanted to know 'what next'. This would be a great book to read on holiday. highly recommended and I look forward to reading more by Louise Douglas.