Beautiful surroundings and lots of secrets,Jennifer Bonett takes us to the French Riviera with this lovely story of new beginnings and discovering who you really are, set against the beautiful backdrop of the South of France.. Carla recently lost her mother and found out her husband was cheating. Carla says she needs a little time off and in her mother's belongings she recalls a letter she found to her mother's estranged twin sister Josette.Josette has no idea what caused the rift between her mother and her aunt. So Carla puts her head in order, packs her bags and heads to France to see the French side of her family. In France she finds her lovely aunt, beautiful villa and many secrets. I listened to the audiobook version of the book and I enjoyed the performance of the characters very much.

I am really enjoying this series of novels by this author - they are always a light and fun read. Perfect holiday material in my opinion.

I’ve been struggling with audiobooks for a while so I thought I’d try this book to see if I can get along with them. I absolutely loved it - family secrets and a fabulous setting, which rattled along at a great pace. Great book and a great author, who is able to transport you to deepest France. I’m now an audiobook convert, thanks to Jennifer Bohnet

Excellent read! Set mainly in France, the story discusses the relationships between family members who had been estranged and how they have all been intertwined and who are forging a future together. It was hard to put the story down as it’s so engaging.

Great summer story perfect for the holidays. Relaxing stuff.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my feedback.

VILLA OF SUN AND SECRETS by Jennifer Bohnet
This is a beautifully written story, and the characters are so well developed

After the passing of Carla's mother, she decides to sort all of her mothers belongings and while cleaning she discovers a letter from her Aunt Josette who life's in the South of France, but was estranged from.

Wondering about that side of her family, it may just have come at the perfect time because when Carla discovers that her husband has cheated on her, yet again, she is no longer willing to look the other way. Packing up her belongings, Carla sets off to find her Aunt in France and a journey of a lifetime awaits as secrets, heartache, and hope awaits her.

A must read for everyone, Thank you very much Netgally.

This book is about a woman called Carla whose mother has just died and she is upset that her husband has been having another affair. She decides to leave him and she goes to France to visit her aunty Josette, who is her Mum's twin sister. I enjoyed the characters and the story, the setting, the descriptions of the french scenery and the descriptions of the food and drink, as these made me feel that I was there in the story, in France. I also enjoyed the narrator's voice and her french accent, which she was very good at. This is an easy to read summer story that would be good to read on holiday.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a nice easy read which was also fairly enjoyable! I don’t often listen to audiobooks but as this was so simple and easy to follow, I found myself listening whenever I found time.

The plot itself is pretty straightforward and the twists weren’t hard to guess but still an enjoyable read!

*Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

People who don’t know me that well are sometimes surprised that I’ve always been a sucker for a nice romantic story, especially one set in a hot place.

I’ve written reviews on the genre here before (and sometimes I feel like I’m the last Peter Mayle fan out there.) After all, this is classed as “women’s fiction” so a man can’t enjoy it. But, you know, I like what I like.

This one, though, caught me by surpise.

To be honest, this was not really the novel I had expected it to be. I was expecting some comic misadventures and a women recovering from the swings and arrows of ill fortune with a glass of rose in her hand and a bevy of swarthy Frenchmen sniffing around rejuvenating her dormant passion.

While readers do get almost all of that, what they are also treated to is a much more serious, much better written and much more engaging story than that style of synopsis would suggest.

Carla’s appalling treatment at the hands of her bone headed philandering husband almost had me punching the air with joy when she tells him, “No, I deserve better.” It leaves one quietly grieving for the years of suffering which people have had to put up with without the courage to escape and find their own happy endings.

After all, don’t we all deserve to be the lead characters in our stories?

Additionally, the story which reveals itself may not be startlingly innovative – I think most readers will have sussed where it is going by about a third of the way through, Jennifer Bohnet does a wonderful job of peeling away the layers and explaining why these sort of revelations hit so hard and take so much time to heal.

Bohnet also does a fine job of reminding us that the mores of the sixties were not quite the free flowing, free love bonanza people have been retroactively allowed to believe.

‘The Villa of Sun and Secrets’ is a lovely read for a pandemic. Layered, unexpectedly moving, narrated with wit and charm by the talented Julia Franklin, this does offer the escape and the dream of villas with swimming pools and a cool glass of nice French wine so tantalisingly out of reach to us in our rather sombre modern age. A lovely audiobook.

This was an easy read and I enjoyed it. There was not much suspense through the book for me but I did throughly enjoy it

Carla’s mother has just died & she’s discovered that her husband is having *another* affair.
With the children grown up, Carla decides she has had enough and decides to head to France to visit her mother’s estranged sister – the elusive Tante Josette.
Josette is very surprised when Carla turns up on her doorstep, and she would rather leave the past alone. Carla doesn’t know much about Josette or her French family & wants to know what the big argument was about that caused the rift so many years ago.
Whilst the book centres on Carla & Josette, there is a small cast of additional characters and they are well developed. I enjoyed getting to know them all. The “villa” in the title is the family home of Villa Mimosa – Josette wants to sell it, Carla isn’t so sure …

Overall, Villa of Sun and Secrets is a story of family, friendship, hurt, lies, forgiveness, love and secrets tat have been long buried, coupled with excellent imagery of the food, scenery and way of life in southern France. A great summertime/holiday read.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was very good – she had an easy voice to listen to and was able to switch easily to the French words/phrases.

I listened to this lovely story about Carla who is about to turn 50 when her life as she knew it gets turned upside down. Discovering her husband was having an affair was the last drop and lead her to leave her family home in the UK and go visit her aunt Josette in the south of France where she learns more about her family's past and thereby more about herself. There were quite some secrets to uncover!

The narrator does a really good job, even adding in French and Italian accents and overall had a pleasant reading voice.

All in all this is a really good story about friendships and families and secrets set mainly in the south of France, in a villa, which I pictured more as a sort of castle like in the tv show Escape to the Chateau. It sounded like a wonderful place and I would love to visit there!

This was my first book by Jennifer Bohnet, but I don't think it will be my last.

Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood for this ARC of the audio book which I received in exchange for an honest review.

When Carla’s mum dies leaving a note for her twin in France Carla decides to hand deliver it to her Aunt Georgette herself, not having seen her for twenty years and Georgette having nothing to do with her sister for fifty years the time between them is strained, Georgette is not ready to divulge the family secrets to Carla just yet.

A family tale full of twists I really enjoyed listening to this audio book.

Really enjoyed this book. Very well written and loved the main character. Thought I knew where it was going but didn't and was pleasantly surprised. Thoroughly recommended

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and was transported to the sunny Med coast whilst I actually was cooking on midwinter evenings.
There were certainly revelations a-plenty and just when you got over one, another seemed to pop up. Be prepared!
I liked the multigenerational characters. It meant there was someone for everyone to identify with who might want to read this.
I felt simultaneously sad, angry and frustrated with many of the characters at various points as they attempted to sort out their complicated lives.
Thanks for the publishes and Netgalley for the ARC to review.

i feel so bad but despite my trying I really could not get into this at all!
After struggling with the first chapter, i did think it picked up a bit and I was hopeful as I love audio books so much.
However after chapter 4 I just couldn't go on unfortunately.
The narration is very oldy worldy and unfortunately did not capture me.
I am pleased to see that others have enjoyed this title, but not all books are for everyone eh.

An enjoyable summer read. Took me a little to get into it but once I did I enjoyed it. Some twists that were unexpected.
A novel that leaves you smiling.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

During lockdown I have often looked for a lighter read with the promise of some literary sunshine and a bit of escapism and ‘The Villa’ fulfilled all of these. Carla has recently lost her mother when she discovers her husband is having another affair. Uncharacteristically, she decides to travel to France to visit her Aunt Josette. Josette is her Mother’s twin sister, but she has been estranged from the family for years. As Carla is forced to confront a new future, family secrets emerge which threaten that future and everything Carla has believed in. As narrator Julia Franklin does an excellent job juggling all the different accents and I felt this built up my impression of the various characters - at times I could really picture them chatting away to each other. Listening to it on audiobook also heightened the moods and emotional landscape. I felt that Julia was naturally better matched to the female voices than the male which were less successful. I enjoyed the story for its weather, scenery ( a lovely travelogue of the South of France), and in particular I liked the developing relationships between Josette and Gordon and between Carla and Joel. Although I found the story was a little drawn out and there was an over dependence on the details of meals, food, wine etc, the story was entertaining and rather empowering! With thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books UK Audio for a digital copy of this title.

wont be giving feedback as I didnt realise it was an audio bookxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have to DNF this audiobook.

The narrator doing a french accent made it very hard to follow what was being said and I cant face 9 hours of trying to work it out.