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At the Villa Massina
Juliet was sure that when she returned from Spain to England, the memory of Ramiro de Velasco y Cuevora would haunt her always; but she could not bring herself to wish that they had never met.."
- GenresSpanish LiteratureSpain
Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
39 people want to read
About the author
Lilian Warren
87 books10 followersLilian Warren aka Rosalind Brett, Kathryn Blair, Katrina Britt, and Celine Conway.
Lilian Warren was born in London, England, UK. She worked as secretary, when at 19, her first magazine story was accepted. She married and moved to South Africa, where she continued writing. In the 1950s, she started to write to Rich & Cowan, and later to Mills & Boon, under various pseudonyms Rosalind Brett, Celine Conway, and Kathryn Blair. She passed away on 1961 in South Africa. Some of her books were published posthumuously.
Lilian Warren was born in London, England, UK. She worked as secretary, when at 19, her first magazine story was accepted. She married and moved to South Africa, where she continued writing. In the 1950s, she started to write to Rich & Cowan, and later to Mills & Boon, under various pseudonyms Rosalind Brett, Celine Conway, and Kathryn Blair. She passed away on 1961 in South Africa. Some of her books were published posthumuously.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 24, 2024
English heroine is whisked off to Spain to care for her evil succubus cousin's two little plot moppets. While there, she gets embroiled in a shady blackmail plot with the evil cousin's discarded ex-boyfriend. And to make matters more complicated, she falls in deep, hopeless love with the arrogant Spanish Conde who is drowning in female suitors eager to win his matrimonial stakes.
Read it for the strong, smart, and classy heroine, and a hero who is in hot pursuit for the first time in his life. He was so wildly jealous that he stomped on a flower and threw a doll in the bushes because they were given to her by an admiring suitor.
HOWEVER, the three huge villains in the story, aforementioned succubus cousin and her ex-gigolo, as well as the hero's own awful sister, did not get much comeuppance. If they were pushed off their high horses, it happened off the page and that's always a disappointment.
Read it for the strong, smart, and classy heroine, and a hero who is in hot pursuit for the first time in his life. He was so wildly jealous that he stomped on a flower and threw a doll in the bushes because they were given to her by an admiring suitor.
HOWEVER, the three huge villains in the story, aforementioned succubus cousin and her ex-gigolo, as well as the hero's own awful sister, did not get much comeuppance. If they were pushed off their high horses, it happened off the page and that's always a disappointment.
October 19, 2018
Naksed's review of this is perfect. Also the book's description in GR merges this book with another one.
September 2, 2020
An entertaining read from an author I’ve not read before, written in the mid 6O’s it follows the young heroine Juliet who travels to Spain with her niece and nephew, at the request of her cousin Norma, Juliet works in the bookshop owned by her uncle and aunt, Norma’s parents. It’s Norma’s children who Juliet will be accompanying to Spain, as Norma is married to a rich Spaniard, and the young niece has been ill, and the climate in Spain is considered better for the child’s health.
Once Juliet arrives she discovers that Norma has embroiled her in a very bad and uncomfortable situation, The hero in this is a Spanish count/conde he is cool and aloof and very correct in his behaviour. So the story follows how the heroine deals with her new surroundings and the people in them.
The authors portrayal of the upper echelons of Spanish society was that they are mostly a frosty bunch, whether the author’s opinions are accurate who knows. The hero I found to be quite a stiff and judgemental character, but the heroine was no slouch in speaking up for herself. The hero’s sister was the worst type of meddling snob, and as for the heroine’s cousin Norma she was a nasty piece of work.
As to the writing style it felt very formal I’m not sure how else to describe it. It lacked passion and emotion more so from the hero. This was okay it kept me interested so for that alone it’s worth 3 stars.
Once Juliet arrives she discovers that Norma has embroiled her in a very bad and uncomfortable situation, The hero in this is a Spanish count/conde he is cool and aloof and very correct in his behaviour. So the story follows how the heroine deals with her new surroundings and the people in them.
The authors portrayal of the upper echelons of Spanish society was that they are mostly a frosty bunch, whether the author’s opinions are accurate who knows. The hero I found to be quite a stiff and judgemental character, but the heroine was no slouch in speaking up for herself. The hero’s sister was the worst type of meddling snob, and as for the heroine’s cousin Norma she was a nasty piece of work.
As to the writing style it felt very formal I’m not sure how else to describe it. It lacked passion and emotion more so from the hero. This was okay it kept me interested so for that alone it’s worth 3 stars.
May 5, 2019
This was pretty good 3.5 rounded to 4 stars.
The heroine, Juliet it accompanying her young cousins to their holiday home in an island in Spain. The little girl of her cousin need to recover from an illness and Juliet has been commissioned to escort them. The cousin is married to a wealthy Spaniard but they need to remain in London.
The heroine arrives at the Villa in Messina and immediately is drawn into the social radius of the Count (the Hero) and his sister. It is hinted that the hero is finally looking for a bride and there are three very eligible young ladies being considered. The heroine, though quite pretty doesn’t consider herself of the same social rank therefore can only pine from afar.
There are no real OW in this story, but there are two different OM that the Hero is sometimes jealous off. The heroine doesn’t take note of these though. One is a shy young Spanish guy and the other is a slimy older Englishman.
Soon after the heroine arrives in the area she finds out that her cousin may have been having an affair with the slimy Englishman. The heroine is young and a bit naive so she puts herself in situations where the villain manipulated her and practically blackmails her. He is apparently into questionable activities and the heroine almost gets embroiled in this.
The hero knows the heroine is problematic about something but she refuses to confide in him. Finally the cousin and the husband arrive So the angst ramps up as the cousin tries to make it seem like it’s the heroine in a relationship with the English OM a.k.a blackmailer. The hero alternately believes the heroine is first in love with the young Spaniard then the Englishman. So he doesn’t have an easy time of it either.
Finally both OM are off the island, so the Hero finally figures the coast is clear for him. But when he invites a whole party on his yacht, the heroine manages to give them the slip and runs away. Needless to say the Hero gives chase and catches up with her to declare his heartfelt ILY.
The heroine, Juliet it accompanying her young cousins to their holiday home in an island in Spain. The little girl of her cousin need to recover from an illness and Juliet has been commissioned to escort them. The cousin is married to a wealthy Spaniard but they need to remain in London.
The heroine arrives at the Villa in Messina and immediately is drawn into the social radius of the Count (the Hero) and his sister. It is hinted that the hero is finally looking for a bride and there are three very eligible young ladies being considered. The heroine, though quite pretty doesn’t consider herself of the same social rank therefore can only pine from afar.
There are no real OW in this story, but there are two different OM that the Hero is sometimes jealous off. The heroine doesn’t take note of these though. One is a shy young Spanish guy and the other is a slimy older Englishman.
Soon after the heroine arrives in the area she finds out that her cousin may have been having an affair with the slimy Englishman. The heroine is young and a bit naive so she puts herself in situations where the villain manipulated her and practically blackmails her. He is apparently into questionable activities and the heroine almost gets embroiled in this.
The hero knows the heroine is problematic about something but she refuses to confide in him. Finally the cousin and the husband arrive So the angst ramps up as the cousin tries to make it seem like it’s the heroine in a relationship with the English OM a.k.a blackmailer. The hero alternately believes the heroine is first in love with the young Spaniard then the Englishman. So he doesn’t have an easy time of it either.
Finally both OM are off the island, so the Hero finally figures the coast is clear for him. But when he invites a whole party on his yacht, the heroine manages to give them the slip and runs away. Needless to say the Hero gives chase and catches up with her to declare his heartfelt ILY.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2023
This entire book is based in Spain and we get to know a lot about Spanish culture.I found the heroine Juliet to be an extremely likeable character.She is friendly, caring, understanding and the same time intelligent and knows her position.She is sent by her cousin Norma to Spain to look after her 2 kids who are recovering from an illness.Juliet being attached to the kids takes up the responsibility of the kids.Upon landing in Spain they are met by the Conde( same as count) and his sister who welcome them and are taken to Norma's house where they are to spend a fee weeks till Norma returns. The hero Ramiro who is a count is looking for a wife and has come to San Federigo ( place where the whole story happens) to meet his prospective bride's. He wants to keep an eye on Juliet and the kids. They are included in a lot of events happening around the count and Juliet gets to meet a lot of new people.she finds it overwhelming as they are all very rich and leading life on a grand scale.
The hero Ramiro for me appears to be a dominating, bossy character who can't take no for answer maybe due to his rank as count.He always manages others life and everyone allows him to do so except Juliet who always opposes him which draws him to her.
In the entire book, except for the ending, there was hardly and romance even a slight one between the leads, and I couldn't understand how Juliet fell for Ramiro.I found his character to be boring ad he was always interfering and dominating.
The hero Ramiro for me appears to be a dominating, bossy character who can't take no for answer maybe due to his rank as count.He always manages others life and everyone allows him to do so except Juliet who always opposes him which draws him to her.
In the entire book, except for the ending, there was hardly and romance even a slight one between the leads, and I couldn't understand how Juliet fell for Ramiro.I found his character to be boring ad he was always interfering and dominating.
January 15, 2026
Okay, so this ended up being a good read, although I nearly left about 3/4 in when the h started getting ominous signs of TSTL, but the HEA was nice.
But FIRST. I must address the El Greco issue.
So, I do have a decent-ish knowledge of the major classical artists and whatnot, so the first time the author described the Hero as "tall and lean, like an El Greco" I was like, wait what?
Because "tall and lean" is a WAY to describe most of El Greco's male subjects, but "El Greco"-like is not a way I'd describe any Hero or male interest, or heck, any male friend or relative in my life because it would be vaguely insulting.
But then I questioned my knowledge, and headed to Le Google to make sure I didn't get him confused with a different Spanish artist who painted *handsome* men and not pale, ghostlike, waifish men.
And sure enough, noooooope His men mostly look like that one character actor who played weird characters and that one ghost from the move "Ghost" with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg? The one whose face looks like an El Greco, and not you know, sexy or handsome in any classical sense? Which is probably the main reason for his prolific character actor career?
The only men who didn't look pale, ghostly, and underfed looked, well, kinda soft and sweet.
I'm just lol because every time she mentioned his resemblance to an "El Greco" dude it took me right out of the book.
So, the book is pretty okay. The heroine has traveled to Spain with her niece and nephew- sorry, this would be her little cousins, her 1st cousin's children- at her cousin's bequest because they have been feeling sick, they need fresh air, but Mum just can't quite get away because she has parties, I mean, obligations to attend to. Heroine was raised with cousin and her family from a young age after she was orphaned; the uncle and aunt love her, but there's just always been something off between her and the cousin, and she doesn't quite understand what (covert narcissism on Cuz's part, says this armchair psychologist).
When she gets to their villa in Spain, just down the road from a castle inhabited by the H's sister and sometimes the H, she's unpacking and discovers a mysterious package and a note from her sister to please mail it from X city - that they've already passed. Heroine gets a bad feeling about this, and suspects that it's some trinket cousin is returning to a man she flirted with, and does NOT want to get involved because she loves and respects her brother in law, I mean, cousin in law and feels bad that her sister cousin cheated. (Narrator: She got ALL the way involved)
Anyway, she mails it and tries to put it out of her mind, then settles in with the kids and is visited back and forth by the H, a Conde!! With several names and titles! and his sister, an off-putting widowed sister of a Conde!! who seems to run hot and cold with the heroine- saying she wants to be her BFF, but always sort of undermining her and condescending to her and criticizing her for being English.
A few days later, a strange man shows up looking for cousin Norma. He's the affair partner, and while he's there he makes some icky insinuations and for some reason just takes a bunch of un-set jewels of various sizes and offers one to the heroine for some reason. Her spidey senses are running amok, so she declines. While he's leaving, the Hero shows up and gets all inquisitive, seeming to think the man is a love interest of the heroine's, and while asking her insolent questions about the dude and trying to invite him over for supper, Hero finds a jewel (ruby?) that the idjit OM dropped under the couch.
Instead of giving it to the heroine, he decides to take it with him to his castle (that castle gets mentioned a LOT in this book, even more than El Greco) so the man can get it from him because he disapproves of a random man showing up at his neighbor's villa (?! Yeah I was confused too).
From there on, things get worse. OM kinda blackmails h into introducing him to Hero's sister who lives in the castle next door (down the road, whatever). From there, OM sells H's sis a bunch of jewelry, and then it turns out those jewels were stolen, and there's other shenanigans going on with this other young dude in the Hero's friend group who has a big crush on the heroine and names his racing car for her, then gets in a wreck during his first Big Race, and it's scandalous that this dude OOM had the heroine wear carnations for him or whatever.
But the place where I nearly DNFed is where 1st, the OM shows up and guilt-trips, then blackmails heroine into trying to steal the ruby back because he's getting out of town and he needs all his jewels back and she AGREES.
Then, immediately after she just straight up asks the H to give her the ruby (this is when he tells her OM is probably a jewel thief/smuggler/small time huckster), her sister cousin and sister cousin's hubby show up!
And sister cousin, instead of feeling badly about getting heroine entangled in all this mess through her own machinations and weaknesses, puts it all on heroine! Like, blames it all on her, it's her fault, it's heroine's mess! Now, I disagreed with heroine being a doormat and letting the OM hold her sister's indiscretion over the heroine's head and all, but after she did all that, the audacity of sistercousin Norma to act like it's nothing to do with her was mind boggling- so mind-boggling that it temporarily breaks through her doormat personality enough to tell sistercousin off and to realize that she's not a good person really.
But heroine keeps getting involved with all this; meanwhile Hero (remember him?) keeps showing up at exactly the wrong times to draw the wrong conclusions, and he thinks that the heroine chased the racecar driving younger friend of H's and encouraged him in his infatuation while being 100% involved with and in love with this criminal jewel smuggler idiot. So while Hero is definitely having some feelings (not easy to tell what feelings, just some) growing for the h, all these things are setbacks that have him acting like an El Greco... sorry, my bad. Acting like a stereotypical romance hero, being all sardonic and distant and overly polite while glaring daggers at the h, who is a hussy, dang her.
Anyhow, I pushed through all the heroine's doormatt-ey nonsense, and the ending was fairly satisfying from a hero-declaration viewpoint. Although I would have been happier if weird OM went to jail, cold-hearted sistercousin got her butt dumped by her amazing husband, who took custody of the kids, and weird, snobbish H's sister got dumped by her fiance. (the husband and kids would be 100% better off without sistercousin for sure.)
Anyway, decent read. It made me have opinions about it, which is something.
But FIRST. I must address the El Greco issue.
So, I do have a decent-ish knowledge of the major classical artists and whatnot, so the first time the author described the Hero as "tall and lean, like an El Greco" I was like, wait what?
Because "tall and lean" is a WAY to describe most of El Greco's male subjects, but "El Greco"-like is not a way I'd describe any Hero or male interest, or heck, any male friend or relative in my life because it would be vaguely insulting.
But then I questioned my knowledge, and headed to Le Google to make sure I didn't get him confused with a different Spanish artist who painted *handsome* men and not pale, ghostlike, waifish men.
And sure enough, noooooope His men mostly look like that one character actor who played weird characters and that one ghost from the move "Ghost" with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg? The one whose face looks like an El Greco, and not you know, sexy or handsome in any classical sense? Which is probably the main reason for his prolific character actor career?
The only men who didn't look pale, ghostly, and underfed looked, well, kinda soft and sweet.
I'm just lol because every time she mentioned his resemblance to an "El Greco" dude it took me right out of the book.
So, the book is pretty okay. The heroine has traveled to Spain with her niece and nephew- sorry, this would be her little cousins, her 1st cousin's children- at her cousin's bequest because they have been feeling sick, they need fresh air, but Mum just can't quite get away because she has parties, I mean, obligations to attend to. Heroine was raised with cousin and her family from a young age after she was orphaned; the uncle and aunt love her, but there's just always been something off between her and the cousin, and she doesn't quite understand what (covert narcissism on Cuz's part, says this armchair psychologist).
When she gets to their villa in Spain, just down the road from a castle inhabited by the H's sister and sometimes the H, she's unpacking and discovers a mysterious package and a note from her sister to please mail it from X city - that they've already passed. Heroine gets a bad feeling about this, and suspects that it's some trinket cousin is returning to a man she flirted with, and does NOT want to get involved because she loves and respects her brother in law, I mean, cousin in law and feels bad that her sister cousin cheated. (Narrator: She got ALL the way involved)
Anyway, she mails it and tries to put it out of her mind, then settles in with the kids and is visited back and forth by the H, a Conde!! With several names and titles! and his sister, an off-putting widowed sister of a Conde!! who seems to run hot and cold with the heroine- saying she wants to be her BFF, but always sort of undermining her and condescending to her and criticizing her for being English.
A few days later, a strange man shows up looking for cousin Norma. He's the affair partner, and while he's there he makes some icky insinuations and for some reason just takes a bunch of un-set jewels of various sizes and offers one to the heroine for some reason. Her spidey senses are running amok, so she declines. While he's leaving, the Hero shows up and gets all inquisitive, seeming to think the man is a love interest of the heroine's, and while asking her insolent questions about the dude and trying to invite him over for supper, Hero finds a jewel (ruby?) that the idjit OM dropped under the couch.
Instead of giving it to the heroine, he decides to take it with him to his castle (that castle gets mentioned a LOT in this book, even more than El Greco) so the man can get it from him because he disapproves of a random man showing up at his neighbor's villa (?! Yeah I was confused too).
From there on, things get worse. OM kinda blackmails h into introducing him to Hero's sister who lives in the castle next door (down the road, whatever). From there, OM sells H's sis a bunch of jewelry, and then it turns out those jewels were stolen, and there's other shenanigans going on with this other young dude in the Hero's friend group who has a big crush on the heroine and names his racing car for her, then gets in a wreck during his first Big Race, and it's scandalous that this dude OOM had the heroine wear carnations for him or whatever.
But the place where I nearly DNFed is where 1st, the OM shows up and guilt-trips, then blackmails heroine into trying to steal the ruby back because he's getting out of town and he needs all his jewels back and she AGREES.
Then, immediately after she just straight up asks the H to give her the ruby (this is when he tells her OM is probably a jewel thief/smuggler/small time huckster), her sister cousin and sister cousin's hubby show up!
And sister cousin, instead of feeling badly about getting heroine entangled in all this mess through her own machinations and weaknesses, puts it all on heroine! Like, blames it all on her, it's her fault, it's heroine's mess! Now, I disagreed with heroine being a doormat and letting the OM hold her sister's indiscretion over the heroine's head and all, but after she did all that, the audacity of sistercousin Norma to act like it's nothing to do with her was mind boggling- so mind-boggling that it temporarily breaks through her doormat personality enough to tell sistercousin off and to realize that she's not a good person really.
But heroine keeps getting involved with all this; meanwhile Hero (remember him?) keeps showing up at exactly the wrong times to draw the wrong conclusions, and he thinks that the heroine chased the racecar driving younger friend of H's and encouraged him in his infatuation while being 100% involved with and in love with this criminal jewel smuggler idiot. So while Hero is definitely having some feelings (not easy to tell what feelings, just some) growing for the h, all these things are setbacks that have him acting like an El Greco... sorry, my bad. Acting like a stereotypical romance hero, being all sardonic and distant and overly polite while glaring daggers at the h, who is a hussy, dang her.
Anyhow, I pushed through all the heroine's doormatt-ey nonsense, and the ending was fairly satisfying from a hero-declaration viewpoint. Although I would have been happier if weird OM went to jail, cold-hearted sistercousin got her butt dumped by her amazing husband, who took custody of the kids, and weird, snobbish H's sister got dumped by her fiance. (the husband and kids would be 100% better off without sistercousin for sure.)
Anyway, decent read. It made me have opinions about it, which is something.
August 24, 2024
'Our son will be very English and he will adore his parents. You may have an English daughter if you wish'
A cute and chaste story.
Juliet is very proper und self-righteous. When she gets herself embroiled in her married cousin's affair, she’s ashamed of undignified dealings of her cousin and her opportunistic friend. Especially when she’s attracted to a Spanish count whose noble origins make such an attraction futile.
A cute and chaste story.
Juliet is very proper und self-righteous. When she gets herself embroiled in her married cousin's affair, she’s ashamed of undignified dealings of her cousin and her opportunistic friend. Especially when she’s attracted to a Spanish count whose noble origins make such an attraction futile.
September 28, 2020
Published 1965 the year of my birth! I enjoyed this story very much at the time and I have read it several times since my first outing in 1975. I tended to always have a soft spot for the Spanish stories and settings. You cannot judge the male hero with today's sensibilities he is a man of his culture and of his time and so is the heroine. A nice read for a 10 year old.
August 4, 2021
A nice old fashioned romance. The heroine is great in this one. Her relatives less so.
February 24, 2025
Rather charming story written in fifties with a 22 year old bookshop heroine who looks after her cousin's children for a few weeks in Spain. The hero is much like other Spanish heroes of the time, autocratic (mid 30s), but falling deeply in love against his will. There's angst as she is embroiled in a situation caused by her cousin's affair with a shady man the previous two Summers. This leads to conflict with the hero. The hero has decided to marry and is choosing between 3 beautiful Spanish ladies, but ultimately love beats hereditary demands and the HEA is lovely. None of the more unpleasant characters are TOO much compared to a lot of other stories and the general feel of the book is warm and sunny.
August 7, 2013
It was pretty good, however I felt the Spanish dude at the end was way too candid for my liking.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews