A mind boggling read but excellent I have to say, the lavish lives and party going and bed hopping of the elite and then something goes badly wrong… brilliant book..

A real page turner which got weirder and weirder as it went on. To start with I was completely invested in the characters but they eventually alienated themselves from me. I would definitely read something by this author again though. As a side note, the version I received from netgalley caused my kindle to freeze every time it went to the title page and also the end of the book was not formated properly so I couldn't quite tell you where the book ended and the acknowledgements started as they seemed to overlap.

I really enjoyed this summer thriller and would be a perfect book to read by side a pool this summer. Full of twists and turns and different characters I read this in an afternoon it was great

My thanks to Lizzy and Netgalley for allowing me to read Out of Her Depth.

18 year old Rachel is from a working class background but her future stretches out in front of her as she prepares to study at Cambridge. Then she gets an opportunity to spend her gap year working in an Italian Villa.

Diana is also 18 and working at the Villa in her gap year. Used to the privileged life style provided by her parent, Diana fits in with the young people holidaying in the area and is included in their parties. She is quick to befriend Rachel and is soon introducing her to the group.

Rachel soon finds that she enjoys the parties but struggles to keep up with paying her way.
When she meets Sebastian Hale, she is smitten. Realising this, Diana wastes no time in letting the naive Rachel know who is controlling her life. The summer will end in a tragedy which will have consequences for decades to come.

Without giving away the plot, I found myself changing my opinion of the characters as the storyline unfolds..

I was enthralled by this book. The characters were fascinating and three-dimensional, the plot was absorbing, and the settings were well drawn and fitted the plot perfectly.

It’s a fantastic suspense novel about female friendships, romance, class and morality. The narrator and protagonist is believably flawed in a way that makes the reader sympathetic to the events that befall her. Her friendship with Diana is incredibly cleverly written, and Diana’s character is magnetic.

My one complaint is that I didn’t feel completely satisfied with the ending, but it’s no real bad thing to be left with questions. This book will definitely stay with me in my mind for a while!

This is my first read by Lizzy Barber and I really enjoyed it. I think that this will make for a great summer beach read.

We meet main character Rachel who gets a job in Italy and she literally feels likes the luckiest girl in the world. She takes the offered summer job, staying in a beautiful villa in exchange for some light duties and whilst there she meets the vivacious and charismatic Diana, who is a very annoying character - well I found she was. Rachel is immersed into Diana's lavish life style and then they meet Sebastian, all become thick as thieves over the summer.

The chapters mix between "then" and "now" and as the story progresses we learn that one of them was imprisoned for a murder that took place during their summer in Italy.

I do not want to give too much away but I enjoyed this novel as the writing was great and a good twisty plot.

Thanks to NetGalley, Lizzy Barber and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Great writing with masses of small details that put the reader right into the scene. Chilling story centred around two young women working a summer season at a very expensive villa location in Italy: one from a middle income, fairly strict family; and the other outrageously rich with all the affectation of wealth. When the nephew of the villa owner arrives friendships develop - as do rivalries, jealousy and calculated manipulation.

This is a story of toxic friendships, shallow privileged lifestyles, control, manipulation and vulnerability. Set mainly in Florence, Italy, the story is built between two different timelines leading up to and after the horrendous death of an innocent. Of course, no one suspects the puppet master.

I initially struggled to get into this book because it had such a slow build. However, once you realise there is more to Rachel's personality than her just wanting to hang out with rich people, it becomes more interesting and sinister on several levels.

This is an excellent read. A story that dips between present day and a heady summer in Italy many years before. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and learning about their lives as the story progressed.
Highly recommended.

Out of Her Depth takes you on a journey through Florence during a summer of sunshine, friendship and adventure. Except it's not all sunshine and smiles. In fact, it's set to become the backdrop to a life-changing act of treachery for Rachel.

Naive, out of her depth, and self-conscious, Rachel is swept away by the goddess Diana, who she puts far too high up on a pedestal. Diana is a master manipulator and always gets what she wants. And in Rachel, she finds a willing pet.

As we switch between then and now, we delve deep into the horrific events of that summer and the shocks keep coming right to the last chapter.

Immersive, thrilling and a great escape, I loved this brilliant story of friendship, revenge and unrequited love.

A great summer read! The two timelines alternate building the tension till the final gripping conclusion. A story of friendship, vulnerability and the choices we make when we’re young. A gripping read.

Sultry summer thriller.
A duel time-line cleverly weaved between the present, when handsome, rich Sebastian is released from prison for murder, and the past when we find out what happened.
Rachel is a great narrator, easy to love and hate at the same time. And Diana the cool best friend we think we all want.
Gorgeous settings and gripping story-line.
Thanks to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review =.

Story set mostly in Italy where young people - some privileged and some not, come together to work and have fun. I began to really dislike Diana and annoyed that Rachel didn't standup for herself. didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would- a bit drawn out and predictable at times.

One of my favourite things about this book was the setting. Lizzy really knows how to describe a place to make you feel like you really were in beautiful Italy with the characters.

In this book we meet Rachel. Who is a young woman from London. She has accepted a summer job at villa Medici in Tuscany. A group of teenagers ate living there. Living their best privaliged lives. They have lavish parties every night, soaking up the sun at every opertunity, back stabbing each other and bed hopping until their hearts content. Or in this case something goes horribly wrong. Suddenly the fun carefree days are over and everyone's lives are changed forever.

This is a duel native story as we piece together everything that is going on and everything that has gone in the past.

This was a great dual time line story, with chapters alternating between a long past, hot, and decadent summer in Italy and the protagonist's current mundane occupation as a teacher in a private school. It was clear that something had happened that summer in Italy, a murder, and that somehow the main protagonist had been involved but we had to wait to find out what exactly happened. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, wanting to read on to find out what had happened, and who dunnit. I have to admit though that I didn't like any of the characters, even the main character - her increasingly 'stalkerish' behaviours made her less and less likeable and perhaps less believable too. Having said that I would heartily recommend it to other lovers of mystery/thrillers/dual time line stories - and for those who want to be transported to a hot and sunny Italy.

I quite enjoyed it but did lose the plot when it kept going back to different places it was well written but not really my thing I will definitely try her other books.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC

Lizzy Barber writes beautifully - her descriptions of people and places are very evocative, and one can almost immerse oneself in the situation. That a death occurred is made obvious from the very beginning, but the circumstances of it, and the perpetrator (one or more?) remains a cliff hanger until the very end. One criticism of the plot - I found it difficult to empathise with the narrator, and my frustration with her nearly stopped me reading any further on several occasions.

An intriguing story-line that is split between now where Rachel is a language teacher in a private school and twenty years ago when she took a gap year to be in Italy as a chamber maid in an upmarket pension in Florence and a fatality occurred. I enjoyed the unreliability of the narrator and the way we are very gradually given glimpses of a very different Rachel to the one she portrays. There are some big asks in the plot to suspend belief but it is fiction and it would be a great beach read, I found it just a tad too long.

This book is incredible. An absolutely slow teasing mystery, told between past and present. Not to mention the past is beautifully set in a small Italian town. This is the perfect summer psychological thriller. Highly recommended xx

A summer to remember in italy - or should that be a summer to forget? A girl head to italy to take time out from life and learn Italian but she ends up coming across a group of entitled young people who are going to make this a summer full of risky surprises,
I loved being in italy and despite not liking any of the characters, they are interesting to be with. Just glad I wasn't here in real life . Great thriller which had vibes of The Beach.