The Last Sip of Wine

A Novel of Tuscany (The O'Brien Tales)

By: Stacey Reynolds

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Dr. Antonio Rinalto has lived abroad in Brazil for over a decade. A promising young surgeon, he has been serving as a medical missionary. But there are other reasons he left his Tuscan home...

Among the vines of Viti del Fiume, family secrets linger. Ten years later, Antonio is called home to Italy, where he will learn the power of forgiveness and the importance of family bonds.

Sophie Bellamy is searching for a way out of England. As a graduating viticulturist, interning at a vineyard in Tuscany seems like the perfect escape. But old ghosts have a way of tracking their prey. Can she rely on the shelter of Viti del Fiume and the Rinalto family to shield her from her past?

The Last Sip of Wine: A Novel of Tuscany is a spin-off story from The O'Brien world. It contains intense sensual scenes and some profanity and is therefore intended for mature listeners.

©2021 Stacey Reynolds (P)2022 Podium Audio

Another great book in the O’Brian Saga

The Last Sip of Wine is a credit well spent. Stacey Reynolds does not disappoint in another riveting story that weaves new characters in with favorites from the past.
Justine Eyre’s narration always takes me a chapter or two to adjust to her voice, but then she amazes me with her a ability to narrate both male and female characters from very young to elderly , as well as multiple accents. Loved this book!

Very good story, irritating narrator.

This book overall is a good story if you can get past the narrator. Terrible voice and irritating.
The beginning was slow and I almost quit listening. Doubt if I would read another book by this author.

Family

When characters are in books repeatedly, they become family. It’s good to hear their story. Stacey Reynolds is a wonderful storyteller!

Loved it…

Keeping an eye out for more!! I have listen them all. Love the characters in the story. I’ll tell my friends about it.

Fun listen

It was a good addition to the O’Brien series. It is my hope that the series continues!

Loved it!!!

I ABSOLUTLY love the OBrien tales, it may be because I am one😉.
Ms. Reynolds, don’t stop writing about the wonderful OBriens. I can’t get enough.

Hopefully a new series

Love this novel with some of my favs from the oBrian’s. I would enjoy hearing about the other two Italian siblings please ;) for future novels

Confused

this book and the last book 10 were hard for me to get started because of so many characters I hadn't heard of....I need one of those character sheets you get in books,,:-)

Great plot and twisting story lines.

Well done. Easy to enjoy and follow. A person can get lost in listening to the story.

FINALLY, IT’S ANTONIO’S TURN!

I loved this story about Antonio every bit as much as I loved all the regular O’Brien books!

Antonio is/was one of the doctor’s in Brazil at the St. Clare Orphanage with Liam and Izzy. Antonio is/was a permanent resident with a villa who worked at the nearby regular hospital, but spent as much of his free time at the orphanage as possible.

Antonio always seemed like such a sweet, giving person, but he always seemed to be somewhat lonely. He missed his family back in Italy, but he never talked about why he refused to go home and see his family. That is, until his sister, Catarina calls and tells him his grandfather is seriously ill and Antonio needs to come back to the family vineyard as soon as possible.

Once home, Antonio is reunited with his elderly grandparents, his brother Marco, who takes care of the business side of the vineyard, his sister, Catarina, who takes care of the grapevines and creates the wines the vineyard sells. And then there is Marco, Sr., Antonio’s father, with whom Antonio has not spoken to since he and Marco had a major fight about Marco’s deceased mother. Antonio is certain that Marco had *something* to do with her death, but he does what he did or HOW he did it. There is a lot of hurt on Antonio’s part and he had very anxious, unresolved feelings about going home, but once there, he’s so happy to be back with his family and to be amongst the vines. His is a traditional loving, old-world Italian family whose main focus, other than the family itself, is as a small family-run winery, to make the best wine they can possibly make.

What Antonio doesn’t know upon his arriving home is Marco has taken on a female intern from a college in England, and she’s been installed in Antonio’s room in the pool house.

The very prim and proper Sophie is in her final semester in school. Sophie is there to learn all she can about wine making and grafting together different vines. She and Catarina become instant friends (“sisters of the heart”).

Of course, there is an instant attraction between the hot and fiery Italian Antonio and the icy and controlled English Sophie. Sparks fly when Antonio accidentally tries to climb into his old bed in the middle of the night, unaware Sophie is there…

Sophie seems reluctant to fully give herself over. to the family, and they all notice. Sophie has a secret. Sophie has accepted an internship as far from home as possible because she’s hiding from someone in her past who has been in prison. He tried to kill her once. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years, but he was let out of prison after serving only 10 years. He’s obsessed with Sophie and hasn’t forgotten SHE’S the reason he went to prison…

This was another wonderful, story by Ms. Reynolds. Some of the O’Briens we have all fallen in love with throughout this series are in this book, which nicely ties together old storylines and characters and new ones.

As always, the narrator, Ms. Eyre, turns in another fine performance. My only complaint is I didn’t like Ms. Eyre’s accent (at all!) for Sophie, which was a problem, as along with Antonio, she’s one of the two main characters. Ms. Eyre’s foreign accents are always SPOT ON. It’s just her English that always feels stilted to me. It occurs to me that English may not be Ms. Eyre’s first language. Foreign languages seem to be more “lyrical” than English. Ms. Eyre is very proficient in English. As an American, perhaps it is only her inflection that bothers me.

This was another excellent collaboration by Ms. Reynolds and Ms. Eyres. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am glad I spent the credit. I have only one more book left in my beloved O’Brien series (I am VERY sad about this). Sophie and Antonio’s story was a great way to stay in touch with the O’Brien’s. I always wondered how a wonderfully loving and giving guy like Antonio had never managed to find love for himself. Now all those questions about Antonio and his family are finally answered. I highly recommend spending a credit on this one — you won’t be disappointed. 💕