Secrets of the Italian Villa

by M.J. Milne

"Secrets of the Italian Villa"
A spicy, slow burn, sapphic romance about finding the courage to love again. Comments from First
“Deeply sensual & haunting. I adored it!”
“Beautifully romantic and deeply emotional.”
“Swoonworthy!”
“Thought-provoking insights on life and love.”

Get ready to love la dolce vita style!
— What do you get when you combine a sweet California wine and hearty Italian tortellini?
= Strong characters. Unexpected twists. Powerful emotions.

STORY SYNOPSIS: When Gerri’s best friend asks for help, she readily agrees to be the substitute house-sitter at an Italian villa, a perfect place to heal her wounds, having just discovered that her deceased husband had been an adulterer. There, on romantic Lake Como, she succumbs to the seductive advances of Kate, one of the villa’s rental guests from California. However, the amorous pair turn amateur sleuths when they uncover the villa's dark secrets, and discover that Gerri’s destiny has led her there for a purpose. — A love story about coming out and coming home.

Women’s Fiction/ Adult Contemporary, WLW, Coming Out, Sapphic Romance, Love After Loss, Courage to Love Again.

Genres: Romance

356 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 24, 2024

About the author

M. J. Milne – Author, artist, screenplay writer, traveler, bus driver, gold miner, receptionist, you name it, MJ’s been there, done that. As a result, her favourite saying is: “Life is an adventure! And it gets curiouser and curiouser along the trail.” Raised in the rainforests under a dormant volcano, in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Milne has loved every bit of the journey. Her published writings include: "12 Golden Keys for a New World" an inspirational non-fiction; "Universal Tides" a prophetic, socio-ecological science fiction novel; "Secrets of the Italian Villa" Women’s Romance Fiction; and others simmering on the back burner; she has also written feature film screenplays. Website: MJMilne dot com

[Older websites: 12GoldenKeys.com, and, UniversalTides.com/]

Reviews

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ This book was a big surprise to me. I loved the cover and my son has been to Lake Como and had all good things to say about the region. It’s got several small mysteries as side stories. The main character Gerri is a Canadian and her bff asks her to go to Lake Como to a villa and be a concierge for 13 lesbian women. Gerri’s husband has recently died and she found out he was cheating on her. So as you might guess she falls for one of the women she’s hosting. I like the writing style and the bits of mystery and some historical fiction thrown in. There is a lot of description of Lake Como and surrounding towns.

[Ambs · Rating 5 out of 5]

100000/10 ⭐️
I loved this book so much! Deeply sensual and intriguing. It's a beautiful blend of mystery and secrets in the gorgeous setting of summer in Italy, with lots of spicy lesbian antics. Addictive and made me crave a getaway to an italian villa :)

[Helen Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the ending!! I loved the setting and the women we meet and the adventures they go on. What a heart warming story!

[Kexx · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange book, neither one thing nor the other. Didn’t work for me, verbose and slow with string I had to find the end of… isn’t that the role of the author?

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!

Such a lovely and sweet story. A mystery, a bit of crime, everyone with secrets… and by the end, all the pieces fit into one beautiful picture. Nicely done!

[Robs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story, weirdly shaped physical book, very wide lol. It was an endearing sapphic story, though I would love to read a book focused on the subplot of the main character’s family history of the villa, that was really interesting!