From Barcelona, with Love

Mac Reilly #4

by Elizabeth Adler

New York Times bestselling author of It All Began in Monte Carlo returns with From Barcelona, with Love

From the Hollywood Hills to the streets of Barcelona, from lush vineyards and wineries to the most exclusive homes in Europe, let Elizabeth Adler take you on a journey with a story that will hold you spellbound.

Bibi Fortunata was the hottest ticket in singer, actress, and celebrity. Two years ago she was arrested on suspicion of murdering her lover and his new mistress, who was also Bibi's best friend.

Bibi was front-page news in a way her publicists had never dreamed of. But the police were never able to prove anything and she was set free, with the cloud of suspicion and murder still hanging over her. Bibi left for Barcelona where she quite simply disappeared.

But when Bibi's daughter comes to private investigators Mac Reilly and Sunny Alvarez for help, they can't resist the temptation to solve this mystery once and for all. Who really killed Bibi's lover? Who would want to frame Bibi? And who is beckoning them from Barcelona?

Filled with Adler's trademark lush descriptions, twisty plots, and decadent luxury, From Barcelona, with Love will transport you.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Audiobook, Ebooks, Suspense

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Born in Yorkshire, North England, Elizabeth Adler met her husband Richard (an American) while both were working in London. They have lived in England, Ireland, France, Brazil, and the United States and have traveled extensively. They have one daughter and live in Palm Springs, California. Her first novel, Private Desires (also titled Leonie), launched an enormously successful writing career, she also wrote as Ariana Scott. She has now written over twenty internationally acclaimed bestsellers.

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is it a murder mystery? Is it a romance novel? Is it a melodrama? Is it an attempt at all three? A good editor could have improved this book significantly. It galls me when an author uses the same descriptive words repeatedly: the same simile over and over and over; characters telling information at length in dialogue first to one person, then to another, information that author has already explained in great detail, like the reader isn't witness to all three; explaining allusions and metaphors after using them, suggesting the reader is too stupid to "get it". And the name-dropping drove me crazy, wines, designer clothes and shoes, artists, buildings, and each one explained to the reader, how condescending! But I got to the end, 'cause I wanted to know "who done it"! Stupid me!

[Jimena · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so disappointing! The first two-thirds of the book were slow and then the mystery finally begins to unravel but there is never a true climax. The characters are so underdeveloped... Especially the villain and his motives. In a good mystery, you never guess the outcome but when the truth comes out, it somehow makes perfect sense. The exact opposite is true here: the outcome is obvious and predictable but still completely unrealistic and forced.

Spanish is my native tongue and I've spent a lot of time in Spain so I was particularly annoyed by the innacuracies in the language and cultural references. Aren't editors supposed to check this? Is it so hard to find a Spanish speaker to run things by?

In general, the story is flat and the writing cheesy. From the cover I expected a light but fun read. What I got was a boring and poorly written cheese fest.

[Gretchen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sloppy writing, sloppy plotting. What a waste of time. Thisblady has done better work. The charm is the exotic locales
But not this time.

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

could not finish it ; was so trite.

[Marisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where to begin? Ugh. Let's see... Well, I'm pretty sure almost half the book was made up of repetitive words such as "lover" and "Matriarch," which generally annoys me (oh, my inner goddess just gave me the finger).

Another thing is that the mystery didn't pan out. I really don't know anything about Peretti, the murderer, who was obviously the culprit from the beginning. There was never a confrontation between him and Mac or Bibi or Paloma because things just happened without any explanation. I'm still not quite sure how he murdered Brandi and Wally.

Mac was no Sherlock Holmes. He just seemed to know things about people without any explanation. I mean, please! Give me a clue as to how Mac made the conclusions that he made.
Then, there's Lorenza...
And Rodolfo being Paloma's biological father...Ew.

If a book like this can be published, anything could happen.

[Onka · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading this book I was kind of disappointed. I couldn't get into the story, something was missing... It didn't feel like any Adler-story I know. However, around page 150 it all turned around and once again it was Adler I know. Thanks to her beautiful description of the setting I traveled around Spain. I could visit Barcelona one more time, I could picture this amazing city Cáceres where my friend stayed for a few months (it kind of felt like I was there with her). And the mystery part of this book was also refreshing.
I will definitely check out her other books in Mac Reilly series (as usual, I started with the last one :D ).

[Anissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was a good story. A little weak. I was surprised in the beginning when Mac and Lorenza were old loves, but it weakened from there. I think the author was trying to write a mystery but she fell way short. A lot of details about Bibi and the murder were glazed over. In the romance department it was way to easy. Sunny did not have to really fight for her man. Little Paloma could have been a wonderful character but she was overlooked as well.

It had potential, but it did not meet it.

[Filipa · Rating 3 out of 5]

O livro é engraçadito, como os outros da autora. Contudo, por este livro ser o último do quarteto do MacReilly, esperava outra coisa dele. Ao fim ao cabo, acabou por ser muito semelhante aos anteriores e deixou algo a desejar. O mistério foi bom e o que adoro nestes livros (à parte de podermos viajar para imensos sítios) é que se lêem tão bem que se conseguem devorar de uma assentada.

[Deetz]

I think it is a huge stretch to call this a mystery. It's more like a fluffy beach read with some unanswered questions thrown in. Which, by the way, were never answered. Fortunately since I had read one Elizabeth Adler book before I had lowered my expectations. Good for if you don't have anything else to read and don't want to think.

[Fátima Filipa (Mimodoslivros) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorei este romance. A autora tem uma escrita que nos prende desde o primeiro capítulo.

[Rita H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐

[Mariana Almeida · Rating 3 out of 5]

É um livro leve para entreter e sem ter de pensar muito.

[Ladonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book but for some reason I had thought the setting was "old" Hollywood and I kept struggling with the fact that it wasn't. When the missing Bibi shows up, I had a bit of a time reconciling the actual character to the image of the character that had been laid out up to that point in the book. The Katie Perry, Brittany Spears type character she was painted to be didn't fit with the demur woman that fell off the grid for 2 years. In fact, I don't think a super star would even be capable of doing that because of the need they have to be noticed. Anyway....moving on. When the murder mystery is finally solved, you find out who done it but not how they did it and that bugged me. I am a details kind of gal so that is important to me. I also wanted to know how the Rottweiler played into the murders. Why even bring up the "ah ha"s associated with the dog as the investigation unfolds but then never explain how they fit in and why they were important. As long as you don't look too closely at some of these items, it's a decent read.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as Elizabeth Adler books go, I was a little disappointed in this one. It started out with an interesting premise - famous singer/actress Bibi Fortunata goes missing (after she is accused of murder but then gets off for lack of evidence) and leaves her 7-year old daughter in the care of her jet-setting and not-to-responsible sister Jazzy. Two years later, the daughter, Paloma, and her relatives need to find Bibi in order to save the family business and fortune. Mac Reilly, a private investigator, and Sunny Alvarez, his love, are called upon to help find Bibi. Here's where the story somewhat fell apart for me. There wasn't much mystery and plot development. A few surprises along the way, but one of Ms. Adler's weaker stories. There was, however, plenty of descriptive scenery of Barcelona, and a nice dose of wine and food content.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

makes me almost not want to read anymore of her books

[Renee Heath · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was sucky. I couldn't even finish it.

[Nélia Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gostei mas o final foi um tanto precipitado e sem explicações sobre os homicídios (como e porquê). Mas, como sempre, seja em português ou em inglês, os livros desta escritora são de fácil leitura.

[Angela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really could not get into this book at all.

[Mallory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugg. I love a good beach read - but this was rough even to be considered that. Adler's writing style is overwrought with flowery description, the plot lines are ridiculous (and not in a good, fun way) and her characters are not believable as humans. I found myself out loud saying "ugh" wayyy too many times. Not to mention that it is clear that Adler did NOT do her homework regarding her setting of Barcelona. I'm an American living in Barcelona currently (the reason I picked up the book) and I'm not sure Adler has ever been here. If you are going to title your novels with a place name PLEASE get the details right!!! Adler refers to the main house in the novel as "in Las Ramblas" as if it is an area not a street - this would be like saying her house is "in Wall Street" instead of in the Financial District or "in Broadway." She gives details of local Catalan wine and food that are just plain wrong or actually not from here - one of the main characters is a wine maker and she continually refers to a "white wine with a little fizz in it" that is typical of Barcelona - this does not exist. The only sparkling wine made in Cataluyna is cava (which she does refer to separately) - and that is essentially Champagne, made in Catalunya. She says Txakoli (another alcoholic beverage) is from Catalunya, but is actually Basque. The list of things like this goes on. If you are going to write a book that features a location like this at least do a few Wikipedia searches!
Overall - annoying characters, inane storyline, and riddled with errors. Skip it and spend your reading time on something better!

[Chuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoy reading and just about any book with a story that will entertain me. This one barely made it!

The story is not sure what it wants to be, and drifts between genres without success. What I liked about the book was the glamour and beautiful locations which the author brought to life. Little Paloma was probably the most interesting character!

As mentioned, the book was sloppy, with poor plotting, bad dialogue, and several under-developed characters that were central to the story. The villain in the story is never really in the story!

What this manages to be is a slightly old-fashioned light read suitable perhaps for a day at the beach. You can throw the book on the fire and enjoy some marshmallows after you are done!

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pacing and overall balance felt wonky to me, like too many words were devoted to too little happening. I also hated 97% of the jealousy/rivalry/"fly across the ocean to get your man before someone steals him" storyline. I generally don't mind jealousy as a plot device as long as it's resolved in a healthy way, but way too much time and energy were spent on it here.

I was surprised to realize this was written in the last decade; it felt oddly old-fashioned for being so recent.

[Leanne Cous · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall an enjoyable read. Filled with glam descriptions and settings, this read by Adler does not fall short of entertaining my imagination however by the end of the book, I was left feeling like there was still so much to be answered. A long build up, summed up quick fast towards the tail-end of the book was a wee bit frustrating

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still unsure as to what I just read. Sold as a romantic mystery novel, yet I barely felt the mystery or romance? Lorenza's character was well developed until the last section of this book, where she just flopped. Also, I wish I never read the epilogue... tied off ends that would have benefitted from being left to reader's imagination. 3/10 would likely not recommend.

[Shari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the reviews on this book before I started it. I thought they were all over the map. I really enjoyed the book even though there were a few twists and turns, and some were a surprise and some not. I just really enjoyed Mac and Sunny as characters as well as their dogs which have their own personalities. This was a fun read.

[Regina Pride · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this an enjoyable read. I've read a few stories from this author, Ms Adler, and I've found all of them enjoyable. The ones I've read have been from the Mac Reilly series. This was the one that kind of surprised me between Mac and his steady girlfriend. It was a good surprise. Great read.

[Kathie Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first read by this author, and I was very impressed. Even though I did not know the main character from previous books, I felt like I did after reading this one. Sure it’s a glittery romance with a touch of private investigation thrown in, but it was written very well.

[Heta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story was fun, the characters were well written and interesting and the pacing was fast enough. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Definetly will read more from the author. Highly recommend!

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was just ok. The beginning was slow, but interesting enough for me to finish it.
Did finish it ending with a happy one.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitly missing a whole lot of explanation regarding the how/why of events. Seems like a first draft....

[Ruth Lanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, light reading, but nothing special.