Vendetta

A Story of Love & Revenge Set in Venice

By: C. De Melo

Narrated by: Melissa Durbin

Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Under the guise of "Beto", 17-year-old Isabetta Bastian runs her father's successful shipping business. Her older brother sails their commercial galley between Venice and Lisbon, exporting luxury textiles and importing exotic spices obtained by the Portuguese. A heinous crime shatters her ideal life, and a risky attempt to save the family business ends in failure. Now, she is forced to live with the harsh consequences.

Resentment brews until she finally seeks the advice of her sophisticated neighbor, Veronica Franco. With the savvy courtesan's help, Isabetta devises a scheme to avenge her loved ones, but will her fall from grace be worth a brilliant vendetta?

Set amid sumptuous palazzos and lurking decay, this Renaissance mystery exposes the dark side of humanity.

©2020 Christine De Melo (P)2021 Christine De Melo

Impressive

Highly enjoyed this Audiobook from start to finish. Narration was fantastic and story was Incredible

Intriguing To The End

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this book. Our heroine, Isabetta Bastian adopts an alter-identity to justify her role in the family business. She creates a third identity when seeking those who tragically changed her life forever. After a careful build up of the character and her surroundings, the 'Vendetta' begins and she skillfully begins the takedown. The ending was unexpected but conclusive. I couldn't put the book down. The narration was good. I recommend this book to any lovers of historical fiction.

Intense!!

With a setting so vivid that one can almost see the sumptuousness of Venetian life in 1570, this is Isabetta Bastian's story, and the revenge she takes on the men who stole the ship and killed her brother and father. Isabetta Bastian is an enigma in Venetian society. She cares not what women are expected to do, she wants to sail her father's ship, the Tramonto. Zanetto Bastian already has his daughter doing the ordering, accounting and correspondence for his business because she's so good with numbers. She goes by the name of Betto, the masculine form of Betta, so she can pass herself off as a male. But when a spice and textile vendor sets his prices unreasonably high they are forced to make some changes. Their partner, Alfonso, sends his son Silvio to work things out with Isabetta's brother, Rocco. Silvio and Isabetta form a bond and, when he is sent in search of textiles, he promises to write to her and come back, but all is not as it seems. Isabetta and her family are unaware that someone is conspiring to take away their ship and it results in the deaths of the Roco and Zanetto. Isabetta makes a plan for revenge which turns into a story of twists, turns, joy and sorrow. There are surprises with doublecross, sexual deviancy, desire and sin, but there's a deep sadness for Isabetta. There is decay beneath the shiny veneer of success, and the sins of their debauchery are about to be discovered. Her revenge is complete, but at what cost.

Good story

This was a good story about love and revenge. I loved the characters. They were very well developed. Especially the main character Isabetta.
This is a story about a strong woman who makes her life her own.
I'm sorry to say I didn't much care for the narrator. Since the story takes place in Venice and has characters from other countries I would have expected different accents. I think it was too Americanized.

This book was a review copy and this is my honest review.

treachery everywhere

Is it bad that I was happy for Isabetta at what transpired after her parents tried to pawn her off as a wife/nanny???? Her brother was as pompous as her dad and deserved what happened, imo.
All the chauvinism and male arrogance made me want to wretch. The final revenge Isabetta wrought to her ex lover was sublime and I felt warranted. I was distraught about Isabetta's dealings with Silvio. I was seeing or hoping for a different ending. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review .The narrator did a good job bringing it to life.

Another great book by this Author!

This Author has a knack for developing a great read/listen. Lots of twists and turns to keep you interested. Her attention to detail and her time appropriate character s are extremely entertaining! I can't wait for her next book!

Good story, good narrator!

I really enjoyed this book! The story was engaging and flowed well. The narrator’s voice is nice and smooth, very easy to listen to.

Complex genre mystery romantic historical fiction

The book blurb doesn’t do justice to the wonderful book that ‘Vendetta’ really is.
Historically accurate and very remising of ‘The honest Courtisane’ made into the fame movie ‘A dangerous Beauty’ this account tells the story of Veronica Franco’s fictional neighbor Isabetta Bastian.
Christine de Melo is extremely gifted in situational description. One doesn’t read a book but lives a story alongside the well developped characters.
In ‘Vendetta’, she describes a 1570 Venice, period in history when women’s condition was intrinsically connected to the men in their life , father, brother, uncle … A time when being a strong women often meant you either lost your reputation or ended a spinster.

This book is in a complex genre of mystery romantic historical fiction and the four sides of the genre are all very well developed.
A perfect mix of life despair, love, revenge and unexpected surprises all the way to the end.

I really enjoyed this story and would highly recommend it.
Melissa Durbin did a strong job narrating this surprising tale.

Another great story.

I just found this author but I've listened to two books in two days!!! Wonderful historical fiction!!! Strong females doing what they have to. Difficult decisions to make and definitely not always the proper ones. Well I'm on to my next book by this author The Witch of Delft. Can't wait to start it!!! oh yeah I have to include that this wonderful author gave me a free code for this book. Thank you C. De Melon and thanks for writing these amazing stories and sharing them for free.

Interesting story ineloquently told

First of all, the narration is perfect. That aspect of this production could not be better. Also, the story itself is cleverly plotted. But there is more to a book than the mere story. The writing in this case is far from eloquent. In fact, the narration contains several glaring grammatical errors. The author does not seem to know the difference between "me" and "I" and uses those two pronouns interchangeably. I find that extremely troublesome. It has cost her 2 stars in my overall rating.