The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline is a twisty turning story of love, loss and an Italian Villa is Tuscany? How is this happening to Julia? Everything is a mess, her husband was murdered, in front of her, she inherits a villa in Tuscany and she is all alone. Once there a crazy cast of characters seem to appear out of no where and they are all suspicious and she is even more confused than before. She is trying her best to put everything in order but it is getting harder every day. She has a new friend though who helps her to start to put the pieces of the puzzle together and her friend comes from the states and things start to make sense. Until one rainy night things start to unravel again. This book was vey good and I loved the storyline and the characters. This was an excellent book to listen to. The narrator Maria Marquis did an excellent job.

I went into this one without many expectations, but I was quickly swept up in Julia’s tragic, twist-filled story. Julia has already endured unimaginable loss when she unexpectedly inherits a mysterious Tuscan villa and vineyard from a stranger. From there, her life spirals into a gothic, atmospheric mystery full of family secrets, astrology, and eerie parallels between past and present.

I really liked Julia as a character—her grief and confusion felt real, and I was rooting for her even as her sense of reality began to fracture. The “unexpected inheritance” trope is one of my favorites, and the Italian villa setting brought it to life beautifully. Scottoline layers themes of identity, adoption, mental health, and destiny in a way that made this story feel both haunting and deeply human.

This book has everything I enjoy in a gothic mystery: a crumbling old estate, a family legacy shrouded in secrets, a protagonist questioning her sanity, and just enough supernatural suggestion to keep you on edge. The Tuscan setting—both the villa and the glimpses of Florence—added so much atmosphere.

The narration by Maria Marquis was excellent, capturing Julia’s fragility and strength as her world unraveled.

Final Thoughts:
A twisty, atmospheric read that blends grief, identity, and conspiracy with gothic suspense and a touch of the supernatural. If you enjoy inheritance mysteries, old houses with secrets, or atmospheric settings in Italy, this is a great pick.

Julia's husband dies in a violent attack and she feels like it was fate, diving more into astrology amidst her grief. Then one day Julia receives a letter from Italy telling her she has inherited a house and vineyard in Italy. Only she has no idea who owned the house, but hopes that maybe it was a relative she's never known. Julia travels to Tuscany to explore her inheritance, only to discover the prior owner was a recluse who was losing her mind. As Julia digs deeper into the estate's past and her own history, she discovers strange, unexplainable events and a conspiracy that might put her in danger.

Lisa Scottoline has written a fun thriller that works as a good tour of Tuscany. The estate scenes have some fun elements of supernatural, gothic horror that separate this from typical psychological thrillers. I found the book fun and satisfying, even if I had to push myself at times to finish it. The plot keeps adding layers to the central mysteries of Julia's past and issues with the villa, but I did not enjoy it as much as Scottoline's other books. But for a thriller with a vibrant setting and some spooky elements it did the job. Maria Marquis was a great narrator that did a great job bringing Julia's story to life.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a copy of The Unraveling of Julia in exchange for an honest review.

Fast paced. Interesting plot. I loved the Tuscan setting. The mystery was powerful. Wonderful narration. Highly recommend.

I was blessed with an ARC. The opinions expressed are my own and unbiased. I’m looking forward to more by this author.

You can see from the listening history I did not finish this. It started very slowly for me and there was little to nothing to hold my attention. Then it started getting into zodiac / magic and just wasn’t interesting at all. Maybe a good fit for a younger audience - although the cover doesn’t say to me that it’s going for the younger audiences

I love a good thriller – and if it’s set in a spooky Tuscan villa, all the better! – so I had high hopes for this new release by Lisa Scottoline. Despite the intriguing premise, great research, and introduction to an impressive woman in Italian history whom I’ve never heard of, this one just didn’t do it for me. Astrology became a main character and plot driver, rather than the mystery itself. The ending felt rushed, most of the action happened all at once, with all the loose ends too conveniently tied up. Rounding this up to a 3 star read.

I listened to the audiobook and Maria Marquis did a great job narrating this story.

Thank you to Hatchett Audio, NetGalley, and author Lisa Scottoline for the complimentary advance copy! It was my pleasure to write this candid review.

THE UNRAVELING OF JULIA
Lisa Scottoline, Author
Maria Marquis, Narrator
Mystery/Thriller

When Julia thinks she has lost everything, a mysterious benefactor comes to her with the news that she has inherited a house. As things go along Julia thinks she is losing her mind, but only time will tell.

This book has everything you would want in a mystery: twists and turns and even a little spice thrown in. I would give this book a solid 5 out of 5 stars.

This one was just meh for me. The setting in Tuscany while scenic just couldn’t pull me in. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the mindset for this book. I love this author so I’m sure the next read will work better for me.
The narration was very easy to listen to on the audiobook.

I normally love this author but I had a hard time with this book. It was slow paced and didn’t hold my interest.

Julia inherits a house in Italy and she doesn’t know the person that gave it to her.

She looks into the history of the house as spooky things are happening. Is she going crazy? Is the house haunted? Is she being drugged?

This wasn’t my favorite book by this author but I still look forward to her next new release.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced audio copy of The Unravelling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline.

When Julia Pritzker tragically witnesses the murder of her husband, she becomes a recluse terrified to leave her home. So when she inherits an estate in Tuscany from someone she has never met, she hesitates to travel to Italy preferring to let an attorney broker the sale of the place from afar. .However, Julia has never known her biological family, and the more she thinks about the mysterious inheritance, the more she wonders if this could be a link to her past.

Julia is soon disappointed to discover that her new benefactor, Emilia Rossi, was a paranoid old woman who was disliked by the community and who was adamant she was a descendent of Duchess Caterina Sforza, a legendary Renaissance ruler. As Julia begins to uncover more about Rossi’s life, she is shocked by how her own physical features and personality traits resemble that of Rossi, as well as Caterina, including an obsession with astrology.

But what dark secrets are really hidden on the Rossi estate? And at what lengths will some unseen force go to in order to keep these secrets buried?

This is definitely a gothic thriller with some supernatural mixed in. The narration by Maria Marquis was appropriately spooky and she has a perfect voice for Julia’s character. The setting is everything you would expect for an Italian mystery and Scottoline had me in the edge of my seat at times. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Unraveling of Julia by Lisa Scottoline
Use your typical Gothic mystery where mysterious benefactor has willed a mansion to a woman who doesn’t even know her, and along with that request comes a lot more questions and plenty of twists and turns.

Julia’s husband has been murdered and she finds herself at a loss, so the unexpected inheritance of a Tuscan Villa from an unknown Amelia Rossi is too tempting to give up. She finds herself jet sending to Tuscany and finding her villa decrepit and with a lot more questions than answers… but once her life and none of her new friends come at risk, she finds herself digging deeper and finding that she’s a lot more linked to this house than expected.

This book felt more like a Scooby Doo mystery with plenty of twist and turns and way too many coincidental connections. I found myself getting pulled out of the story by all of this.

I listen to the audiobook Maria Marquis and really enjoyed her accented voice work. She did an excellent job, creating diverse characters and setting the story’s atmosphere. Her reading was a highlight of the audiobook experience.

Thank you NetGalley, Lisa Scottoline, & Hachette Audio for the arc audio book of The Unraveling Of Julia.

I was really disappointed. This was my first Lisa book that I’ve read and I actually have two more of her other ones on my TBR. I didn’t really feel like there was a good mystery or a good twist. It was just very going along with and was getting really annoyed with how many times I heard ARGH I feel it was completely unnecessary. The narrator herself I felt like was great. I did listen to it at 1.75 speed.

Thank you for the opportunity to read "The Unraveling of Julia" by Lisa Scottoline and read by Maria Marquis.

This mystery novel captured my attention from the first chapter. The mystery and atmosphere of the location kept building with each chapter, the characters developing and revealing more about themselves. Along the way there were several times I felt sure that I knew the answer to the mystery of Julia's family and the Tuscan villa, but I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, thank you for the read!

Too gruesome for me. I feel this book is mismarketed. Presenting the book as a woman inheriting and villa and getting drawn into conspiracy is misleading in tone. The first chapter contains an incredibly gory scene.

The audio was a tad hard to concentrate on due to the pacing of the book so for once, I actually preferred the book physical copy! While the story had its intriguing moments, it unfortunately did not live up to its potential. There was way too much going on at one time for me to be fully invested in any particular aspect of the book. I was overwhelmed and underwhelmed simultaneously so I didn’t love this one. I will in the future give another one of her books a try!

This story had a cool mystery vibe with some interesting family secrets and a spooky atmosphere in Tuscany. I liked the setting and twists, but the pacing felt a bit slow at times and some parts were repetitive . Worth a read if you like slow-burn thrillers, but not my favorite. Narrator did a good job, especially with accents.
Posted on Goodreads as well

I liked this book but it also felt a little repetitive in some parts of the book. The author did do an amazing job on the twist and on the character/world building. This book also did give me goosebumps throughout the book.

Lisa Scottoline can be hit or miss for me but I really enjoyed this suspenseful mystery that involves a grieving widow inheriting an Italian villa and trying to get to the bottom of how she's connected to the previous owner. There's hauntings, visions, excellent mental health rep (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, PTSD, Grief), a touch of romance and family secrets. Great on audio narrated by Maria Marquis and highly recommended for fans of books like The Sicilian inheritance by Jo Piazza. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

My first Lisa Scottoline, and while it didn't make me think YES GIVE ME ALL OF THEM I'd give another one a try. I found parts of this novel fun-- especially the Tuscan location-- and was intrigued by some of the historical elements, but ultimately the writing itself didn't do the best job of keeping me engaged. I doubt I will think of this one much afterwards.

A gripping and emotional read, Lisa Scottoline delivers another story filled with twists, secrets, and a strong heroine at its center. Julia’s journey is layered with suspense and heart, making it easy to stay invested in her unraveling and ultimate resilience. While a few plot turns stretched believability, the pacing and emotional depth kept me hooked from start to finish. A solid, compelling read for fans of domestic thrillers with heart.