The Villa

March 1, 2001
Another novel rich in emotion and rife with conflict from the prolific Roberts (From the Heart; Carolina Moon etc.), this sweeping saga of Northern California wine-making steeps the reader in a heady mix of sex, scandal and the excesses of the supremely wealthy. Sophia Giambelli, sophisticated head of marketing for the family-run Napa Valley winery, is the heiress to the Giambelli empire. She's often compared to her grandmother Tereza, La Signora, who still runs the business. The Giambelli holdings include the 100-year-old Castello di Giambelli in Venice, Italy; Villa Giambelli, operating in the Napa Valley for 64 years; and nearby MacMillan, a 92-year-old firm added to the family holdings when La Signora married Eli MacMillan. The wineries have always operated independently, but now La Signora announces that she wishes to merge all three, occasioning a major restructuring of responsibilities. She orders Sophia to replace Tyler MacMillan, Eli's grandson, and become the wine maker for both families' vineyards. The monosyllabic Tyler will spearhead marketing for the new joint venture. Laying the groundwork for heated fireworks, Sophia and Tyler fight not only each other but also a corporate saboteur who's being fed inside information. Dramatic personal confrontations are exacerbated by La Signora's designation of a new CEO, David Cutter, the only non-Giambelli to hold a position of power. Cutter brings his two teenage children with him to live in the winery guesthouse and immediately falls in love with Sophia's newly divorced mother, Pilar. Other juicy subplots involve manipulative mistresses, dilettante husbands and emotional Italian wives. As usual, Roberts provides plenty of intriguing background information, this time on wine making, and snappy dialogue. (Mar.) Forecast: Villains are easily discerned and susupense is at a minimum in this latest Roberts, but aggressive, savvy female protagonists should prove attractive to readers and enhance word of mouth. Overall, The Villa is vintage Roberts, a grand cru label for the bestseller lists; in expectation, the publisher is planning a first printing of 500,000. Literary Guild main selection; author tour.

November 1, 2000
The Giambelli and MacMillan family wineries are about to merge, and granddaughter Sophie Giambelli is supposed to work closely with Tyler MacMillan to make sure it happens. Funny, but they might end up in a merger, too.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2001
Moving at a pace that echoes that of creating wine from the vines up, Roberts' latest ventures further into the realm of mainstream fiction but, fortunately, does not eschew her romance-writing roots. The three generations of Giambelli women are all strong in their own ways. Matriarch Tereza Giambelli is, at age 67, the commanding head of the family winery operations both in Italy and California's Napa Valley. When she and her husband, who owns the MacMillan family winery, decide to merge their operations and restructure the combined venture, all hell breaks loose. Granddaughter Sophia, head of public relations, is forced into working with Tyler MacMillan, who has been in charge of the vineyards, and both have to work together in the other's area of expertise. David Cutter is brought in from a rival winery to run the whole shebang; then Sophia's philandering father is shot, and a company executive is poisoned with Giambelli wine. With the operation imperiled, Sophia's mild-mannered mother shows her inner steel as she enters a relationship with David and his two teenagers. Apparently someone is intent on destroying the Giambelli-MacMillan operation and will stop at nothing to see it brought down. The fun is in the suspense, although Roberts, as usual, shines at portraying relationships, from the romantic to the antagonistic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)