ABOUT 'OUT OF HER DEPTH': For headstrong Rachel, it is the chance of a lifetime: a summer job in the Tuscan hills, receiving room and board in exchange for her services at the luxurious Villa Medici hotel. It’s not long before she finds herself drawn into a cosmopolitan crowd of friends for whom money is no object, and allegiances can change with the toss of a coin.

When she asks her new friend Diana to help her win the affections of the handsome and charming Sebastian, she thinks she might finally have a chance to become part of their world, but when she discovers that Diana may have intentions of her own, she begins to learn the real cost of friendship. And when Sebastian begins to focus on the sweet and innocent Valentina, Rachel discovers there may be an even higher price to pay.

This is the second book in a series. The premise of this book was quite dark. The author has written well rounded characters. The book has plenty of twists. A great book

A brilliant holiday read with the beautiful Tuscany as the main setting. A little slow paced but a great story.

This book is perfect. You can see what is unraveling and unfolding and at times you want to shout no! Very well written. Great ending. Please write more!

I really enjoyed the author's debut so was looking forward to reading Out Of Her Depth.
It's a dual timeline narrative set in the present day and 20 years ago in Tuscany when teenage Rachel gets a summer job at a villa. She meets a group of privileged young people and is immediately drawn to Diana and Sebastian. In the present day we learn that Sebastian is being released after 20 years in prison.
The Tuscan scenes are hugely atmospheric and the author beautifully portrays the teenage excess and privilege of Diana and Sebastian which contrasts with the life of outsider Rachel. Rachel is an unreliable narrator, not particularly likeable and her friendship with Diana is toxic and dangerous. The present day setting is compelling and I was intrigued by Rachel's continuing obsession with Diana. It's a slow burn thriller that I enjoyed.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this copy.
Set in Tuscany and it’s a lovely setting! A page turner thriller but with a slightly disappointing ending.

Rachel spends an summer in Italy working, meeting new exciting people that could be her downfall….the story is told between the past and present and history is coming back to haunt her….

A lovely summer read set in the beautiful Tuscany. This book is perfect for lying by the pool or the beach. A good storyline which is easy to follow.
Thank you to Lizzy Barber, NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rachel lands a job in a boutique hotel in Florence and lands in with a crowd of rich teenagers. She is drawn to both Diana and also Sebastian. Diane is not who she seems and Rachel is so obsessed with her she just can’t see it. When a new rival for Sebastian's affections enters, it results in a death.
I really enjoyed this book and it was fast paced and twisty. I was a bit disappointed in the end and thought it was a bit of an easy way out. Painted a beautiful picture of Florence.

Quite the page turner until you get to 96% and realise that with only 4% to go, unless there's going to be a spectacular twist, it's not going to end quite as you expect/hope.

Barber is a till-now-unread-by-me author, and I think I found her style and writing competence a lot more compelling than the actual story. The main protagonist, Rachel, is weak and a bit pathetic, the two other important characters are utterly ghastly: both rich and self-entitled, one a toxic bitch, the other just a user of people. It was hard to even like the victim of it all.

The sultry heat of the Tuscan countryside provides a beautiful backdrop, but it wasn't enough for me to get to The End with satisfaction. There are a lot of loose ends.

Will I read more of Barber? Very definitely, but just one little niggle: a quote from the Acknowledgements: "This book would be nowhere without my marvellous agent." Not quite right. Your book, dear author, would be nowhere without readers. But the reader doesn't get a mention. Not one.

A good summer read, it was set in Tuscany and it did make you feel as if you were actually there! The story of friendships and rivalry was easy to read although of course you know from the start that the summer ends in tragedy. Well written and enjoyable although maybe not totally unexpected.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for approving me for an ARC of this book. Also special thanks to Novel Natters for buddy reading this with me.

The story begins with Rachel, our narrator, accepting a summer job in Italy. Whilst there she meets an interesting group of people, one of whom is Diana, and the events that follow are what shape her entire life. We also flip to the present day where Rachel is now an adult and discovers that someone from her past is about to be released from prison. This brings back a lot of dark memories for Rachel and she begins to spiral. I really liked the back and forth across the timelines and how the story unfolded, it added a lot of tensions and atmosphere.

I really did not like any of the people in this story, Rachel included. The likes of Diana and Sebastian were full of themselves and saw money as a way to make people do what they want. I could see from the beginning how easily they could corrupt Rachel and pull her into their world and it didn’t sit right with me. I also didn’t trust Rachel as a narrator, I couldn’t figure out how much she really knew and if she was protecting one of them?

From the start you know this is going to end in disaster and whilst I figured out a few of the twists I really enjoyed watching it all unfold. I could see it playing out like a movie, all the was missing was the popcorn! The final epilogue was haunting and left me with even more questions but in a good way.

Out Of Her Depth is a dark and disturbing read that explores the beginnings of female friendships and how toxic they can become. It’s a slow burn thriller where all the characters are as twisted as each other and always looking out for number one.

This book had such a good premise but sadly for me the story was predictable and the characters were unlikeable and too stereotyped. Rich privileged kids v a wannabe who although obviously has brains (she’s about to take her place at Cambridge) is a wet drip most of the time. I liked the time changes between then and now but felt irritated by both. This isn’t an unputdownable novel but does evoke a good sense of a hot Tuscan summer some years ago.

I enjoyed this novel. It combines a thriller with some romance and a summer adventure. Good characters all of which were believable. I read this in a couple of days but thought about it in the times I wasn't reading, which is always the sign of a good book for me. I would recommend this for some summer reading.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wowser, the hot italian sun, young rich people and their luxurious lifestyle all set the scene for a twisted toxic friendship. 20 years ago there was a death, charged with the murder Sebastian spends 20yrs protesting his innocence. What really happened during that summer in Italy?

The book flips from past to present slowly peeling back the story of toxic friendship and where that can lead. None of the characters were likeable - not a bad thing! And whilst the story really had me feeling uncomfortable at times (think school bullying) the present day storyline got a little far fetched. But didn't distract from a great story.

Rachel, a naive young girl, grabs the opportunity to work in Italy for the summer before going off to Cambridge to study languages. It is here that she meets the beguiling Diana. They soon become close friends, but this is put to the test when the gorgeous Sebastian arrives. He and Diana are so obviously from the same side of the metaphorical train tracks, which leaves Rachel feeling shy and awkward. It is when Diana learns of Rachel's feelings towards Sebastian that things take a sinister turn...

The book opens twenty years before Rachel lived in Italy, when she receives an unexpected letter from Sebastian, pleading with her to finally tell the trutch of what happened all those years ago.

I loved this book. It is well crafted with believable characters and a really satisfying plot which remonded me a litte of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr Ripley, another of my favourites. The author manages to conjure the atmosphere beautifully, it felt to so real I could almost smell the air and feel the sunshine, which would have most welcome during these wet, rainy days in June!

A book to savour and return to in a few years time.

I really enjoyed this. A great summer holiday read. The descriptions of Italy really made you feel like you were there. A good mystery with well-written characters. Recommended.

Set in the scorching Tuscan summer, OUT OF HER DEPTH sees a group of teenagers set out for a season of love, laughter and everything in between. But tensions run high in the Italian heat, and soon someone goes too far. And nothing will ever be the same.

Not only is this a perfectly paced thriller that had me hooked, jumping between the two timelines as we desperately wait to find out what happened that summer, but also a sensous portrait of an Italian city! Lizzy has soaked the narrative in glamour and excess and youthful naivety, and yet has mastered the dark undercurrent that flows through almost unseen, just waiting to burst forth!

Whether you're looking for a gripping summer read, or just a damn good book, look no further!

Thank you to the publisher and author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a fabulous book. It perfectly encompasses the old adage of "if you practice to deceive what a tangled Web you weave".

The story centres around the tangled relationship between Sebastian, Rachel and Diana. They meet in Tuscany where both girls are working at a villa and learning Italian pre-ynuversity. Rachel is shy, impressed by the cool Diana and her money and easily influenced. She secretly lives Sebastian and fes she has a chance of a proper relationship with him before Valentina comes on the scene and everything starts to unravel. Read on
.....

Out Of Her Depth is a page turning read ideal for those who enjoy their mysteries with a touch of glamour - there's a touch of the Ripley about this - and not just in the rich kids living it up in Italy vibe, but also the 'imposter' syndrome: even if here it's a self inflicted one as Rachel, working class and working her summer in a boutique villa come hotel before taking up a place at Cambridge, meets the rich and socially adept Diana. It's a well spun tale of the 'Then' and 'Now' - told through alternating chapters, with the 'what' of the narrative slowly leaked out about what happened that summer and why, so many years later, it's still affecting the players so very much. The descriptions of the 'idyllic' summer captures both a time and the place well; the author's familiarity with the region coming across with a passion and authenticity. Looking at other reviews I see there have been some criticisms of the characters being 'unlikable' - and this, again, had a ring of those vintage tales this books seems a natural descendant of: whether the reader finds this off putting or a knowing tribute to this style of book will be up to the individual, I think, but I finished the book in a couple of sessions and enjoyed the tone, the slow creep of malice and the pivot turn three quarters of the way through when we start to realise all is not what it seems in our sympathies or understanding of certain characters within.