Secrets of Bella Terra
Grade : B

Christina Dodd gets plenty right in her latest romantic suspense novel. Her hero is a bona fide hottie, the mystery underlying her tale is interesting, and her setting, Northern California's wine country, is so well-rendered I long to take my next vacation there. 80% of this book is really good. The other 20% is missing. Pieces that should have been there - why the heroine and hero make self-defeating relational choices, how the villains manage to commit so much mayhem, why brothers, mothers, and grandmothers keep the secrets they do - are absent. It's as if Ms. Dodd knew her story so well, she neglected to share all of it with her readers.

Secrets of Bella Terra is the first of a series featuring the DiLuca brothers. The three men share the same father and are connected to the family’s vineyards and famous resort Bella Terra. As the book begins, the matriarch of the DiLuca family — Nonna - is brutally attacked in her home. Her three grandsons as well as the novel's heroine, Brooke Peterson (an old family friend who is now the manager of Bella Terra), rush to her side. Two of the grandsons, Eli and Noah, live at Bella Terra, but Rafe - this tale's main male — is a globe-trotter who runs a quasi-military security firm with offices all over the world. Rafe and Brooke share a long history and, from the moment the two meet again in Nonna's hospital room, they are enmeshed in their complex feelings for one another.

It's not a spoiler to say Rafe and Brooke are the great loves of each others' lives. They were lovers in high school and again in their early 20's. It's clear they belong together. It's not so clear why they are apart. Brooke and Rafe spend much of the book telling themselves they can't be together, even though they are sharing kisses from the moment they are again first alone. They constantly fantasize about each other but don't make love until more than half-way through the book, and even then, it's for solace rather than because they're soul-mates. (That doesn't stop it, however, from being smoking hot.) The barriers to their romance are too briefly explained and the path to their HEA seems facile rather than fated.

That is not the case with the suspense portion of the novel. Secrets of Bella Terra is a damn good mystery. The genesis of the attack on Sarah DiLuca (Nonna) goes back to the time of Prohibition. The DiLucas have been feuding with Bianchins since both families emigrated from Italy at the turn of the 20th century. Ms. Dodd does a fabulous job of shaping the history behind her story. This book does answer one suspenseful question: Who attacked Nonna (and Bella Terra) and why. But there is another ongoing mystery that is quite compelling. Readers will pick up the next book in the series not just to read about the love lives of the DiLuca brothers but also to learn the fate of a bottle of wine made more than 80 years ago.

Ms. Dodd also does a stellar job portraying her setting and her varied cast of characters. She conveys a tangible sense of both place and industry - I came away from this book far wiser about and more interested in the making of California wines and the running of high-end resorts. The book teems with engaging vignettes and character studies - I especially loved the third immigrant family, the Marinos, who own the town’s dive bar, The Beaver Inn. The matriarch of that family is a force of nature and I hope she and her feral sons and nephews will have roles to play in future books of this series.

I enjoyed this book and will read the next in the series, the story of Eli, the oldest DiLuca brother. Ms. Dodd is an able and prolific writer; Secrets of Bella Terra is one of at least five books she will publish in 2011. I suspect the weaknesses in this novel stem from a lack of time rather than a lack of talent. This is the reader’s loss because with a bit more exertion on Ms. Dodd’s (or her editors' or assistants') part, Secrets of Bella Terra would have been a first-rate novel rather than an entertaining but slightly incomplete tale.

Reviewed by Dabney Grinnan
Grade : B

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : August 24, 2011

Publication Date: 2011/08

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Dabney Grinnan

Impenitent social media enthusiast. Relational trend spotter. Enjoys both carpe diem and the fish of the day. Publisher at AAR.
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