A haunting, addictive read for fans of atmospheric horror and possession stories.
After a painful breakup, Julie returns to Italy to claim her grandmother’s crumbling villa nestled in the hills of Tuscany. But Villa Concetta is host to more than just memories. What begins as unease slowly unravels into terror, as a dark presence that once touched her family now turns its gaze on her. Julie must uncover the truth about her inheritance, her bloodline, and the legacy her grandmother never meant to pass down, before she loses herself completely. The Inheritance of Giuliana is a gothic paranormal horror novel steeped in grief, buried secrets, and the kind of evil that doesn’t haunt a place... it inhabits people.
Alessandra's passion for writing began at a young age and she has always dreamed of becoming an author. Growing up, she was drawn to paranormal and horror stories, eagerly devouring any material she could find. With a background in psychology and a fascination with the workings of the mind, it felt natural for her to combine her two passions. When she's not lost in a book or writing, you can find her at home with her needy cat Loui, watching scary movies. She currently resides in El Salvador with her husband and their three children.
If you're looking to take a trip to Italy, eat delicious, homemade pasta, and wander the halls of an inherited estate only to discover you are not alone--an evil presence is watching...read this little book. It's 100 pages of horror and demonic possession. I enjoyed it!
A beautifully written horror with paranormal elements. With Alessandra’s writing, she is able to paint you a picture where she drops you into this beautiful vision then torments you with horror and paranomal elements. Providing you with a racing heart and book that you cannot put down. Well done, an amazing read!
💠GEARED TOWARD: Young Adults; those who like quick-reads and haunted houses
💠PLOT OVERVIEW: The Inheritance of Giuliana follows Julie, a young woman who inherits everything from her grandmother upon her death, including her beautiful villa in Italy. Julie's boyfriend has recently left her for another woman, so Julie, with nothing to lose, decides there's no better time to go back to her childhood stomping grounds. Julie hasn't been able to figure out why her mother kept her away all these years until she steps foot into the villa again. Shadows start to move in the corners of her vision, the air feels heavy and haunted, and with each paranormal occurrence, Julie realizes her grandmother may have been hiding a dark secret... A secret that may spell the end of her.
💠PRAISES:
• The anticipation. Benini builds the tension so well throughout the entire novel. I'd categorize this as a slow burn, but we are the frogs in the boiling water. We don't realize the heat has been steadily increasing until it's far too late. I was turning pages so fast I thought I'd rip them out. R.I.P. to my nail beds.
• The descriptive language. Benini just has a way with words - not quite flowery, per say, but poetical in nature. For example:
"It felt good, that quiet kind of comfort. The way some people became part of your space without ever needing to knock."
It says so much without saying too much. It's that essence of home, of familiar warmth that spreads through you when you're with someone who you're safe with. Benini captured that feeling beautifully. She captures little moments like these so vividly, it feels like we're experiencing the emotions alongside Julie.
💠CRITIQUES:
• The Final Showdown. Powerful demons call for powerful exorcisms. Powerful exorcisms call for a powerful array of cross bearers, holy water holders, and those who can effectively pray in Latin. I'm not an expert in demonology or exorcisms, but I don't think ONE priest-in-training is a sufficient support system for the exorcism of an ancient demon. That, to me, does not qualify as reinforcement. The Father - the old guy with experience - essentially does this exorcism by himself because the young priest is whispering prayers in the corner like a coward. Also, don't Catholic priests need permission from their diocese to perform an exorcism?
• No 'Real' Threat. For the vast entirety novel, except for the last 15% or so, I didn't truly feel like anyone was in real danger. As in, I had the impression Julie was being haunted but not that she was in danger of dying. I wish that feeling would have been built up more to convince the readers that those dark shadows were a threat to Julie's life.
💠REVIEW SUMMARY Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It was the perfect way to start off 👻spooky👻 season.
💠RECOMMEND? Yes.
💠RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 out of 5 stars
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The Inheritance of Giuliana by Alessandra Benini is a story about grief, and how over time, it wears us down, weathering and overwhelming us, much as weeds overtake an untended garden, or disrepair eventually crumbles even the most impressive of mansions. The story's main character, the titular Giuliana, or Julie as she prefers, is already in the full throes of heartache and grief from the opening chapter, still mourning a breakup months earlier with a man with whom she'd thought she was in love. When she learns of the death of her maternal grandmother, who lived in Italy, she suffers a different kind of sorrow, one that comes from the realization that she'd never known the woman, that she hadn't seen her "Nonna Concetta" since she'd been very young, and now would never get the chance to again. Concetta lived alone in a crumbling old villa, and Julie's memories of childhood visits are distant and vague. When she learns Concetta left the villa, along with the rest of her estate, to her, Julie travels overseas to try and reconnect with her past. She finds a lot more than she bargains for, including the truth about her grandmother's own overwhelming grief and the desperate -- even maddening -- lengths to which it had driven her. The stain of Concetta's sorrow -- and the darkness it summoned -- remains like a blight across not just the villa itself, but Julie, as well, and in the course of the story, she realizes she will have to conquer not only her own demons, but her grandmother's as well if she hopes to survive.
This was a fun gothic horror story, with plenty of mysterious things going bump in the night, hidden rooms, and long-buried family secrets to make for a tense, quick, and enjoyable read. Benini paints a beautiful portrait of both the pastoral Italian countryside and the people who live there. The last quarter of the book shifts from the classic gothic formula to something else (no spoilers from me), and while it's not the ending I was expecting, it was still well done, even providing a wicked little twist just when you think the worst is behind Julie and her friends.
Speaking of friends, Julie's BFF Georgina was my favorite character in the book. She's the kind of bestie we all need: one who will drop everything on a dime, cash in her airline points, and catch the next red-eye to Rome to have your back when you discover you've inadvertently inherited a haunted Italian villa. Georgina's got a snappy one-liner, bottle of wine, or supportive hug always at the ready, and I absolutely adored her.
The Inheritance of Giuliana is available now. It's haunting, harrowing, and full of surprises.
A shadow man lurking in every corner of her apartment. An estranged Nonna who’s left her a haunted (yet charmingly crumbling) Italian villa. A séance room with a mind of its own. And a “Jet2 Holiday” that feels like it was planned by the love child of Chucky and Annabelle.
Giuliana (Julie) is still nursing the sting of her breakup with Ethan. Sure, he’s a lowlife who wasted five years of her life only to run off with a home-wrecking co-worker. But she can’t help but notice the gaping hole left in his absence. (A little mix of f*** him but also ‘but daddy I LOVE him’ ya know?) And now her sleepless night dreams keep dragging her back to her estranged Nonna’s European villa. Aka, the same one from her childhood summers.
But Julie learns that Nonna has passed on and left her the villa, she’s torn between grief and a nagging feeling burrowing deep into her gut. After all, the timing of these dreams feels… off. Almost like someone, or something, knew she’d be coming soon.
Back among the villa’s dilapidated stone walls, Julie soon discovers that Nonna’s secrets went far beyond a typical famous marinara recipe. The same shadow from her apartment seems to have secured a passport and followed her here. A room demands her presence only to punish her for it. AND a few very unsettled priests seem to think she’s in over her head. (Ugh, men.)
And what follows is let’s say…less “family reunion” and more “haunting with a side of exorcism.” The Inheritance of Giuliana by Alessandra Benini is a fast-paced, beautifully haunting paranormal novella. With equal parts rich character work, eerie family history and deliciously possessed spookiness. Perfect for fans of late night page turners and stories that leave you wondering if maybe your own house is a little… off.
After all, Giuliana is the perfect host. Just don’t overstay your welcome.
Trigger Warnings: Grief, isolation & emotional distress, family trauma, possession.
Alessandra Benini’s The Inheritance of Giuliana is a haunting, beautifully wrought descent into the shadows of memory, bloodline, and the kind of evil that doesn’t just haunt a place, it inhabits people. From the very first page, Benini casts a spell of melancholy and menace that never lets up, drawing readers into the crumbling corridors of Villa Concetta and the fractured psyche of its reluctant heir, Julie. After a painful breakup, Julie returns to the Tuscan hills to claim her estranged grandmother’s decaying estate. But what begins as a journey of closure quickly spirals into a nightmare of possession, buried secrets, and ancestral horror. Benini’s prose is lush and lyrical, steeped in the sensory richness of Italy’s countryside while laced with an ever tightening thread of dread. The villa itself becomes a character: alive, watchful, and steeped in a legacy of sorrow. What sets this novel apart is its emotional depth. Julie’s grief is not just a backdrop, it’s the soil from which the horror blooms. Benini explores how loss can hollow us out, making space for something darker to take root. The supernatural elements are chilling, but it’s the psychological unraveling that truly terrifies. The pacing is exquisite: unease builds slowly, then erupts into moments of visceral terror that linger long after the final page. Fans of The Haunting of Hill House will find much to love here. The Inheritance of Giuliana is not just a ghost story, it’s a meditation on identity, inheritance, and the inescapable pull of the past. It’s a novel that seeps into your bones and whispers to you in the dark. #bookloungereviewteam
This is a quick and fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. Giuliana's inheritance comes with more than just some major baggage, and what happens in the final chapters will leave you wanting to know more. This book really picks up in the final chapters, to where I couldn't put it down till I learned what happened next and how it ended. It has an interesting twist, too, but I'm a big fan of how it ended. Giuliana (Julie) is a solid main character and Georgina (Julie's best friend) is the lovable minor character that quickly became my favorite as the story progressed. Enjoy this read that'll keep you hooked from start to finish. Alessandra knocked this one out of the park! Even though I was more than satisfied with the ending, I was left wanting more. That's how well-written and developed these characters are. Well done, Alessandra! It was pleasure reading this book!
I had the opportunity to read this book and it’s one of the best I’ve read this year. I didn’t know what it was about before I started but enjoyed it immediately. Without giving too much away it’s a spooky story of a house inhabited by something trying to take over and possess the woman occupying it, Giuliana. I love the descriptions of the house, grounds and the “thing” in the house. I felt like I was there walking around seeing it. If you love haunted houses and possession stories definitely read this book!
I absolutely loved this book. The only thing was I wished it was longer. Haha I wanted more creepy things to happen. The author did a phenemonal job of really making me feel like I was part of the story. This was an easy, creepy read. The had no trouble setting the scene in my head as I read. It felt like a movie playing. In fact I think it would make a great movie. I will be anxious to read more from this author and recommending this book to everyone!
Julie inherited an Italian villa from her late grandmother and finds out something dark and full of hatred is sharing it with her. I need more from this story! I didn’t want it to end so quickly. The storyline made sense, I really liked the characters, and the ending was tense. There was some repetition of descriptions, but it didn’t change anything about how I liked the book. It all flows so well, the author did a good job. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/🙅🏼♀️🌶️ No spice!
I just finished reading The Inheritance of Giuliana by Alessandra Benini and am so sad, I want much more. A page turner for sure. Beautifully written, characters I could relate too, and enough fright to scare me. I give it 5***** stars!
Great quick read of contemporary horror! Demonic haunting in a dilapidated Italian villa! I enjoyed it for the spooky 👻 season!!! Could definitely be meatier but still enjoyable!
A quick horror fix with menacing fear, undying love, and unholy thoughts.
Alessandra's writing is delicate and intentional. She sets the stage with tension and mystery woven into every scene. Methodical introductions shape the story’s somber mood, as Giuliana confronts loss, heartbreak, and haunting memories.
Georgina, Giuliana's best friend, brings a spark of excitement and hope, a splash of color in a black and white world. Giuliana remained constant, cloaked in sorrow at each turn, from her apartment to the Italian villa. From start to finish, the story is teeming with fearful mystery.
The surreal nature of the horror kept me reading, eager to uncover all the hidden details. Despite her terror, Giuliana never turned back. It was as though it were fate, and the terror was hers to bear.
This was a highly effective and enjoyable genre novella. The main focus of this one is setting up a fantastic main character to follow in Julie, focusing on her rough personal and professional life in short order, so that the appeal of the return to her family home comes off as an intriguing pull, bringing us up to speed with her quite nicely in the first half. Getting to include the other factors in this case, from her memories of her grandmother who left everything to her in the inheritance, the relationship with her mother that seems to point to the strained fractures from their past, and the fun chemistry she has with her best friend that all put everything into order so that staying at the villa is even more appealing all sets the stage for a strong and immersive story.
Once it starts moving on to include the idea of something living in the villa with her, this generates some rather chilling encounters. The first few bits, mainly the scenes involving her becoming convinced that someone is there when they aren’t or believing that something is looking at her, start to incorporate some fine ghostly setpieces to hint that something’s there. That continues with the rest of the supernatural hauntings and interactions that take place in the second half where it becomes far more apparent something is in the house with her, including encounters with supernatural presences manipulating furniture, pressing on doors, talking with those staying at the house, or leaving spectral residue behind that occur not just with her but her friend that hint at something supernatural at the cause of the hauntings.
The fact that this all means this quiet, brooding, sorrow-filled type of haunting helps strongly to make the interactions a telling example of grief weighing someone down. With everything taking place after not just a break-up but also the news about the death of a beloved, if distant, family member, there’s a lot to say about what the hauntings mean once she arrives since the information revealed about her grandmother ties nicely into her similar grief about what’s going on in her life, this focuses nicely on the nature of grief. Since it all ties into the reasoning for the hauntings, discovered through the interactions with her friend, looking into what happened with her grandmother while she was staying there, everything is immensely well-thought-out and quite chilling as a result.
The finale, a wild and frantic exorcism sequence that initially focused on trying to expel the demonic entity within the house before turning into a genuine exorcism on a possessed individual, takes a wholly different and drastic tone from the rest of the novel. Working in a series of genre tropes, from the whites of the eyes, raspy voices shouting numerous disturbing epithets, and bodily contortion, all of which are countered by a barrage of fiery Latin phrases designed to expel the demonic force at the center of everything. As a whole, this is an immensely entertaining sequence on its own, ending the book on a high note. However, the abruptness of its arrival, compared to the quiet and reserved Gothic hauntings that preceded it, might be a bit of a weird stretch that may not appeal to all readers. Still, there’s quite a lot to enjoy here.