The Villa by Clare Boyd
Genre: Contemporary fiction. Family dram
Read: 25th March 2022
Published: 17th March 2022
★ 1 star
DESCRIPTION:
One perfect family. Two weeks in the sun. A secret that will tear them apart.
Nora just wanted some time with her daughters, away from everything, in the stunning stone villa under the heat of the French sun. Lazy days by the pool, freckles appearing on tanned cheeks, laughter over cocktails on the terrace. She’s so proud of her girls. They might have their differences, but they’ve grown into confident, independent young women, with their own way of seeing things.
But when Nora gathers everyone around the table on that first night, she realises it’s time to tell them. And as she tops up her wine, her hand shakes. She knows nothing could have prepared them for what she’s about to say. But what she doesn’t know, is that hers is not the only secret…
A heartbreaking and totally addictive page-turner about motherhood at its best, and its worst, and the lies we tell to protect the ones we love. Anyone who adores Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult and Kerry Fisher will stay up all night reading.
MY REVIEW:
This is the third Clare Boyd book I've read and the second that has disappointed. Marketed as a thriller, THE VILLA is anything but. It's more like a family drama as most reviewers like me have found out. We are lead to believe we are getting a psychological thriller with some massive secret that will destroy lives and keep us on the edge of our seats, but what we actually get is a family that does nothing but squabble and lie to each other.
Honestly, at 30% in with no real sense of what the big secret is because what Nora revealed on their first night in the villa was hardly going to be the massive secret we have been lead to believe we're getting. By that point, I didn't care what the secret was...I just wanted to escape the toxicity of the villa because honestly...none of them could be honest with each other if their lives depended on it.
I really struggled with this book, not because of the emotional tale buried somewhere in there, but because it was so slow and uneventful. I kept waiting for the promised edge of your seat thrills with this huge secret that had the potential to tear them all apart. In the end, I skimmed through to the end to find out what it was. I got a vague idea but I don't think it was worth me investing any more time than I already had.
Sorry but this one failed. I can do some family dramas, but I was expecting a thriller and it sadly disappointed. I like dark and twisty but this wasn't it. And addictive it certainly wasn't. I didn't like any of the characters and the story itself was so slow and boring that I couldn't care less what happened to any of them.
I know others have enjoyed this book but for me it was hugely disappointing and not for me. Life's too short for books we don't enjoy...
I would like to thank #ClareBoyd, #Netgalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheVilla in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Before becoming a writer, she enjoyed a career in television, as a researcher in documentaries and then as a script editor in drama at the BBC and Channel Four, where her love of storytelling took hold.
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