THE VILLA, ONCE BELOVED

Jensen Olaya and Joel de la Fuente share narration duties in this tale of a family haunted by the shadows of their past. Olaya primarily plays the part of Sophie, an outsider invited to the ancestral home of the Filipino Sepulveda family. Fuente takes over the role of Javiar, an exiled member of the family. While Sophie and Javiar have distinct points of view that might merit two narrators, both also assume the dialogue of the surrounding cast, which often leads to an inconsistent tone throughout the book. Olaya is typically monotone, offering no significant differences in the voice of any character. Fuente is a bit better at distinguishing characters than Olaya, but the mismatch of their narration styles detracts from the substance of the story. Overall, this recording may have been better served by a single narrator with a more diverse set of voices and tones. [Published: JANUARY 2026]