3-3.5 stars. This book was just ok for me. It kept me entertained and guessing for the most part, but at the same time I found myself checking out from the story more often than I normally would if I were fully engaged.

I had the audiobook on while following along in the ebook copy for this read. I enjoyed the narration by Maria Marquis. I thought she did a great job with her various emotions and shifting tone along with the story. Her accents and male voices were well done, too. They didn’t distract or take me out of the story. It flowed naturally as I was listening.

The premise of a mysterious inheritance was an intriguing plot and what really drew my attention to the book. I know I’m in for a lot of twists and turns when the character has no idea how they’re connected to the place they have inherited. That was definitely true here. The setting was also great for the added paranormal/mystical/vibey atmosphere of the story that was unfolding.

I really struggled to get on board with everything that was ultimately revealed. Without saying too much, it was all a bit too far-fetched and convoluted for me. The romance subplot was also just way too instalove cheesy for me — and romance is my primary genre. I usually love any hint of it where I can get it in a mystery/thriller. This one did nothing for me though.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the eARC and Hachette Audio for the ALC, both via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This was a bit different from previous books that I have read by Lisa Scottoline but still very entertaining. There was a it of a paranormal element with the creepy run down villa in Italy. I didn’t know what to believe, was it haunted or was Julia losing her mind.. or a bit of both.

Julia witnesses her husbands murder on their way home from dinner one night and her life is turned upside down. She becomes a hermit and never leaves the apartment. That is until about 6 months later she learns that she has inherited a large amount of money and a villa in Italy. She has no idea who this woman that has bequeathed her home to her but is interested to find out. Being adopted, could it be her biological family? she sets of to find out and runs into all kinds of dangers.

I really enjoyed the Italian setting, the food, the language, the people. It is somewhere that I have always wanted to visit. Julia had an unhealthy obsession with horoscopes and that did get a little too much at times. But overall a great mystery that is easy to binge.

Thanks so much to Grand Central Publishing for my early copy to reread and review Out on July 15th,

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve never read anything by Lisa Scottiline, but the premise of this book sounded very interesting. When I started reading, I immediately knew this was not a book for me.

The prose is completely lifeless and shallow, like a shadow of what a book is supposed to be. It felt like someone typed out an idea and never went back to add any soul or life to it because it was “good enough.” Meanwhile the plot is moving at a pace which doesn’t allow the reader to become invested or even interested in the characters. Mike dies in chapter one, but I don’t know who he is or why I should care. The author attempts depth with italic flashes of dialogue or memory, but it’s so superficial that it actually became annoying every time it shows up.

Courtney is a horrible friend, who lacks empathy and is judgmental of Julia’s grief, which makes me feel like the author doesn’t know what they are doing. Killing a character doesn’t instantly make this book deep, it just reveals how inadequate the writing is because of how crap the characters act around it.

I couldn’t keep reading and I DNFed this one. I am not one who lets books go unfinished, but I couldn’t stand how empty the writing was.

This was a good book! It was easy to follow along. It is a fun mystery with lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed the Italy villa setting and the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

The Unraveling of Julia is a blend of mystery, thriller, and romance with a touch of historical fiction. The main character, Julia, experiences a life-altering event that causes her to isolate herself from friends and family. Julia finds comfort in reading her daily horoscope and believes the horoscopes are giving her insight into her daily life. When Julia is contacted by a lawyer regarding an estate she has inherited in Tuscany, she embarks on a journey that is full of hidden secrets and mysterious happenings while learning how to heal from trauma and grief.

I was initially drawn to this novel due to the cover and the author. I have not previously read from this author. I found the premise of the story very interesting. I'm naturally drawn to stories that explore grief and I was curious to see how the paranormal elements would be incorporated. The setting was also a big draw for me. I think Tuscany is a unique location that is not often found in mystery/thriller novels.

I found the story to be fairly slow-paced and repetitive at times. I felt like Julia wasn't a mature, fully fleshed out character. Some of her decisions throughout the story didn't make sense or felt very contradictive to the character the reader was presented with in the beginning of the story.

I would still recommend this book to fans of romantic suspense/historical fiction blends. Even though this particular book didn't work for me, I am willing to try another novel from this author in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital copy of this novel for my review.

Julia Pritzker has been grieving the violent loss of her husband for 6 months when she gets a letter informing her that she's inherited a Tuscan villa and a financial windfall. The biggest issue is, she has no idea who the benefactor - Emilia Rossi is! Since Julia was adopted, she wonders if maybe the villa and Emilia could be a link to her past.

She decides to go to the villa to learn more about Emilia and see if she can discover anything about her birth parents. But when she arrives, things get interesting. Is she seeing ghosts in the villa? Is she really being followed? Are her horoscopes predicting her future? With the help of a local, handsome man, she starts to unravel the mystery - both of the villa and her family history - but can she do it before tragedy strikes again?

Thank you to #netgalley for a review copy of the ebook and the opportunity to share my voluntary and unbiased opinion.

Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this.

I was immediately captured by the story, then the setting shifting to an Italian villa. The reader is immersed in the Italian countryside with rich descriptions. The mystery and the creepy house combine to keep you on your guard and awake!

The characters are engaging and not too over the top too be annoying. Really enjoyed this one and highly recommend if you are into rich atmospheric stories about family secrets.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book for an honest review.
I have always enjoyed Lisa’s books. I couldn’t get into this one. I’m not a fan of paranormal books so I didn’t like that particular part of the book. I just wanted to like the characters but they were not engaging to me either.
I’m afraid I couldn’t recommend this book.

Julia was adopted, her mother died while they were baking, her father died while she was in college, and her husband was murdered as they were walking home from dinner one night.

Julia always followed her horoscope, and she felt something bad was going to happen the night her husband was murdered and it did.

Julia checked her horoscope every day. This specific day her horoscope tells her it is going to be her lucky day.

Julia waits to see what happens and she receives a letter that she has inherited a large sum of money and a villa in Tuscany from a woman she does not know.

Can this really be true? Yes, it is true, and Julia heads to Italy to see the villa that is in shambles and has frescos of the woman who owned the villa - Signora Emilia Rossi.

Bizarre things happen in the house, signs of someone that had been in the villa's tunnel are found, and someone seems to be following Julia.

THE UNRAVELING OF JULIA has a marvelous setting, but it got a bit too paranormal for me, but not enough to make me stop reading.

I wanted to find out why Julia was left this inheritance, why she was being followed and harassed, and if she would find her birth mother since her DNA said she was Italian.

A satisfying ending to another great Lisa Scottoline read. 4/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Julia is grieving her husband’s traumatic death when she learns she inherited a large sum of money and estate in Italy. Interested in possibly learning more about her biological family, she travels to Italy to piece everything together.

This book is includes international travel, adoption, grief, astrology, paranormal activity, and mystery.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC. This review will be shared on NetGalley and Goodreads.

Pub Date Jul 15 2025

Lisa Scottoline digs into her Italian heritage, historic writing chops, and great mystery storytelling to conjure up a complex and thrilling gothic story set in Tuscany. Julia Pritzer has been devastated by a mugging that left her young husband stabbed to death, and the killer at large. Both of her adoptive parents died prior to this, and Julia has barely emerged from a lethargic depression – her only lifeline her worried best friend Courtney.

Out of the blue, a respectable Italian lawyers contacts Courtney to tell her she’s inherited both a villa, vineyard, and a small fortune from a woman named Emilia Rossi. Julia has never heard of Emelia but wonders if there’s some biological family connection. Julia heads to Tuscany to figure this out.

Astrology plays heavily in the events that start to spiral, with Julia a deep believer, along with Julia’s discovering budding abilities to commune with the dead. Whether you buy into astrology determining fate, or spirits guiding the living, the thrilling plot wraps you up into cascading violent events.

There are people following Julia, cops not doing their jobs, a secret well, a hidden room, a potential newfound love interest, and murder afoot as Courtney arrives to lend support and together with Julie works to figure out what’s going on. A whirlwind of a novel, and especially geared for those who like dark thrillers.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

3 ⭐️
Expected publication date - July 15, 2025

WHAT I LOVED - The Italian setting.

WHAT I LIKED - The mystery surrounding Emilia Rossi.

WHAT I DISLIKED - The paranormal element.

Thank you, NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this eARC for review. All opinions are my own.

Like all Lisa Scottoline books this is primarily about family. There was plenty of mystery and thriller action but in the end it still came down to family relationships. The vividly drawn characters and the unusual twists kept me reading late into the night. The build up was somewhat slow but once I hit the halfway point the pages almost turned themselves. Strongly recommended as are all Lisa Scottoline books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced reader copy.

Having read Lisa Scottoline before, I was intrigued to see her take on something new, and the Tuscan setting made this feel especially timely after my own recent trip! While the premise had promise, I found the rapid pacing and ultra-short chapters made it hard to connect with the story. From page one, you're dropped right into the action, and I struggled to find my footing.

I turned to the audiobook, and Maria Marquis was a real standout. This was my first time hearing her, and she nailed the Italian accents, differentiated characters with ease, and even handled the male voices convincingly. Her narration added warmth and depth.

That said, I still found it tough to fully engage, largely due to Julia’s deep reliance on astrology, something that didn’t quite resonate with me personally. Still, the story has interesting elements, and longtime Scottoline fans may appreciate seeing her experiment with a new tone and direction.

Thank you to Lisa Scottoline, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for sending me the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for sending me an Advance Digital Copy of The Unraveling of Julia to read and review. I am a Scottoline fan from the very beginning. This story was mysterious from the get go. Julia has experienced a tragedy and is having a hard time moving on when she gets word that she has inherited a large amount of money and a villa in Tuscany. This opens her back up to a world of living. When Julia goes to Italy, she has a very real sense that there are factors out there trying to keep her from this inheritance. I thoroughly enjoyed this story!

This was an interesting story that will keep you wondering if Julia is losing her mind. I am not sure how I feel about the paranormal parts of the hook, but I did enjoy the overall story. The plot moved along nicely and the characters were interesting.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

An intriguing mystery that hovers around the supernatural, set primarily in the beautiful countryside of Tuscany. Julia, the main character has had quite a series of unfortunate events. So when she receives a message that she has inherited a villa in Tuscany, she does not believe it, but it is true. Once she arrives there, she is horrified to learn of the history behind the villa, but intrigued by the unknown that shrouds the villa and her own family history. Strange things start to happen, and she cannot explain some of them, so she starts to wonder if she is supernaturally gifted. Julia is determined to figure out more about her family, and others are determined to keep her away from this area.

Overall, this book was a bit unique. I wasn't totally confident of the genre, as it seems to flip around a bit. A few of the plot lines seemed a bit far fetched and unrealistic, but then other aspects were very believable and interesting to read. I did enjoy finishing the book and sticking around for the ending, but felt it was a bit long overall.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own

I enjoyed this novel despite the fact that paranormal is not usually my favorite genre. The Tuscan setting is dreamy and there are many twists and turns to keep you guessing.

Julia’s husband dies in her arms after being stabbed on the street by an unknown assailant. Afterwards she withdraws and avoids the outdoors and people in general. Soon after she is notified she has inherited a Tuscan villa and a substantial amount of money from an unknown woman. She heads to Italy to learn more about her mysterious benefactor.

It’s a fun, quick summer read.

Normally I love Lisa Scottoline books but this one didn’t hit the mark for me. Maybe because I was on vacation but it just seemed to take forever to complete the book. The storyline was good and mysterious.

I really enjoyed this book. It had a lot of suspense to it. I have read many books by Lisa Scottoline, They never have a dull moment in them . The ending was really good. I'm glad that Julia got the answers she needed. I'm grateful that netgalley and the publishers let me read this in exchange for an honest review.