Rachel Hawkins writes really compelling mysteries. This is the second one I’ve read of hers, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. This is the story of a villa in Italy, where an aspiring musician died in 1974. Today it’s hosting two friends who are authors - one writes cozy mysteries, the other writes self-help books. The timeline flips between now and then - both stories are compelling on their own, and together they are magic.

Rachel Hawkins knocks it out of the park with this thrilling story! I couldn't put it down! There are so many lies and twists that this story keeps you on edge. I also loved the dual timelines. Great read! Thank you so much for my advanced copy!

Another great book from Rachel Hawkins who is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! I was so thrilled ro get this ARC because I usually devour her books in a day and this one did not disappoint. Told in dual timelines but the same setting, this book flips between Mari who stayed at the beautiful Italian villa in 1974 in the heyday of drugs, sex and rock n roll with 4 friends and Em in the present day who takes a vacation to the same villa with her best friend, Chess. Tragedy befalls Mari in 1974 and while Em is staying there she finds herself compelled to research the murder. While digging through the house searching for clues and inspiration to write a story, Em starts to wonder if everything happened as the news reported.

With a lush setting, fast moving chapters and intrigue, this book was a quick but thought provoking read. Many thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

Ms. Hawkins does it again! Fantastic twisty thriller at such a good pace, yet still suspenseful. I loved the dual point of views and the dual timelines, and although I assumed a few twists, it was such an enjoyable read!

The Villa tells the story of Emily and Chess, best friends who have had their share of distance and problems in the past, coming together to spend the summer in an Italian villa. There is no shortness of drama and secrets in this villa and between the girls friendship, which makes for a page turning read. Bravo, 4⭐️!

A big thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Rachel Hawkins for sending me an advanced readers copy in exchange of my honest review.

This was objectively great, just not my cup of tea! It was a little complicated to follow at times but it was a good, quick read.

This book weaves its story with three perspectives. 1974 Italy where five people share complicated love and life that ends in tragedy … modern day best friends spending the summer in the same Italian villa where their relationship is put to the test … and the horror book written by a young woman who lived through the 1974 tragedy. This book kept me hooked, but I did have to get used to the switching of stories and characters. For a short blip there were even two podcasters thrown in …
This is definitely a heavy, somber read, clear your palate from rom-coms, but did leave me with some questions.

I started off LOVING this book, thinking it was going to be my favorite thriller of the year, but then something happened that took a turn that leaned towards something else… I am now flipping back and forth between 3.5 and 4 stars.

The Villa has the past story of Mari (1974), which I loved! In this story we learn of the first visit to the villa in Italy with her boyfriend Pierce, and her sister Lara. Lara was not one of my favorite characters in this story. In fact, I think we were supposed to feel sorry for her, but I didn’t. I didn’t have any feelings for Mari’s boyfriend Pierce either. Noel was a rock star who invited everyone to stay at the villa back in 1974, and I think he was the only one who had any sense in his head (even if he was a bit arrogant).

We now come to present day, and two “best friends” Emily and Chess go to the villa for a six week vacation. I despised the character of Chess so much, I think that’s when the feelings for this book started to go down. This is also when the book took a turn to being about how girls should stick together no matter how bad they screw each other over. Sorry- but I don’t play like that! If you are an evil, conniving, manipulator, then stay away from me!

We then go to the ending of the book that seemed to leave some open ends and gave you something to think about. I may not have loved this book as much as The Wife Upstairs by Hawkins, but I still highly recommend reading it as the writing is so strong and Mari’s story is impeccable!

Another fun, quick thriller from Rachel Hawkins. I'm normally skeptical of dual-timelines, but she made them come full circle, and I enjoyed reading about each character. It did lull a bit in the middle, but I loved the atmosphere and setting.

The Villa is a complex story of Mari and Lara, woven into Emily and Chess's. The stories run almost parallel and bring you through Em and Chess's friendship while telling the tale of what took place with Mari and Lara so many years prior at the Villa.

This book was well composed and had many twists and turns told mainly from Em and Mari's viewpoints. Altering between 1974, when Mari stayed at the Villa and current day, and current day, when Em found herself vacationing in Italy at the Villa to focus on her writing.

The first 60% of the book is definitely a slow burn. I loved the horror theme - the stories the house holds, the book Mari eventually published inspired by her time at the Villa and how it all comes together at the end. I found myself more intrigued and invested in Mari's POV and feel like her story was well developed. I can't put my finger on it but I felt at times the Chemistry between Em and Chess was lacking and bits of it rushed.

In the final stretch I couldn't put the book down, the ending was perfect. While some things were predictable, I think they were all tied up in a unique way that provided a deeper meaning to the story. Giving this book 3 stars - I enjoyed it, had good creepy vibes, and well developed plot.

Thanks to NetGalley and St.Martin's press for providing a digital reviewer copy for my honest opinion.

Full review closer to publication date!

I'd like to thank the publisher, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good one! I enjoyed the different timelines and the twists and turns. The character development was great. The mystery to it all and then the twisty ending was enjoyable and I couldn’t put this book down. I will be recommending this book to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for an ARC of The Villa! Publication date is January 3, 2023.

It’s 4.5 stars for me. This book was intriguing and kept me glued to the pages for its entirety. The dual timelines were excellent and as an avid thriller reader the final twist was one I did not see coming. I will say that what kept this from being a 5 star for me was a big event in the third act of the novel - it didn’t sit right with me and while I don’t like pitting women against women it was a hard sell for me to pivot from that for two of our characters. More than her other works I’ve read Hawkins does an excellent job of fleshing out our female characters and making me love or hate them accordingly. I expected the mystery of the house to be more suspenseful and I’m not entirely sure I’d call this a true thriller but that’s what I enjoyed most, a mixing of genres that kept me interested and always engrossed in our characters and what would happen next.

So! Good!
The story was a bit hard to follow at points, but overall it was a great plot with twists, turns, and great narrative style. The two women and the dual narrative style was absolutely brilliant and I fell in love with the narrator, even if she was unreliable. Overall, very good writing and a great story.
Goodreads review to come!

This book has two timelines that take place in the same villa. The two timelines eventually intertwine and it was interesting to follow along.

Ultimately for me, I was left feeling underwhelmed. I felt like most of the book was pretty standard and predictable. Toward the end there was too much going on and the ending was just confusing.

I thought that this book was a little disorganized and all over the place. There are two storylines - one in the present day of Emily and her friend Chess who go to a villa in Italy over a summer where a murder had taken place years ago. The other story is of Mari and her sister Lara back in the 70's who were there at the villa at the time of the murder. I kind of felt like both stories were incomplete and unrealistic. I kept wanting to yell at all of the female protagonists because they all seemed clueless about everything. I don't know - I just thought that the story was going to come together at the end and for me, it really didn't.

I enjoy this author's previous work and was thrilled to receive this new release for 2023 for review. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity.

The Villa captures the reader right away with duel timelines. One set in 1974 and the other in present time. Add in a gorgeous Villa in Italy and two old friends reconnecting together through a mystery and its a fun interesting read. The scenery is very atmospheric and enjoyable. Being swept away to italy is always a enjoyable read.
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I was really excited to read this book from the synopsis and especially the setting. A creepy murder house in Italy? Sign me up!
I was intrigued from the beginning, but I did find the first 50% or so pretty slow. Not much was happening but there was enough mystery to keep me going. The second half, however, really picked up and I had a hard time putting it down!

I enjoyed Mari’s storyline from the start and found her to be an interesting and sympathetic character. It took me a while to get into Emily’s story, and she annoyed me at times. I enjoyed when the two storylines start coming together, and I became really invested in both.
I liked the ending a lot, excluding the final chapter which felt like an odd step back. I wish that part had been left out.

Overall I enjoyed this thriller and recommend it, I’m glad I stuck it out through the slower beginning!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Listen, this is my third Rachel Hawkins book and I wasn't too crazy about the other two. I will say this is my favorite one out of all of them and her book covers still hook me in. It does follow suit where I really liked a part of the story and felt like the other part felt flat.

Was it perfect? No. Was it pretty predictable? Yes. Did I still enjoy it? YES.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the Chess and Emily's story plot, but I loved Mari's and the mystery of what happened during that summer in a beautiful Italian villa. It's more than the usual story of sex, drugs, and rock & roll and that was probably my favorite aspect. I can totally see the various inspirations sprinkled throughout the book and that was fun to see.

The ending of Mari's story will probably live rent-free in my mind for quite a bit and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that.

Got an eArc on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my fifth book by Rachel Hawkins/Erin Sterling let me just say, my favorite thing about her books is that they are so incredibly readable. The books are always fast paced, the plot is incredibly fast moving and you just don’t want to put the book down. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen in this book until really late into the book, but I did not mind because I was so invested in the characters and their stories both in current day and in the 1970s.

It could have been very difficult for Hawkins to be able to give us compelling characters in both time periods considering that there were so many in the 1970s and their relationship dynamics were messy, complicated, and overlapped with one another quite a bit. I appreciated how complicated and complex the characters and their relationships were. I thought it was incredibly realistic and compelling that chess and Emily were both best friends and Frenemies, I think had they just been best friends who had fallen out of touch the story would not have made as much sense or even had been as realistic.

The only problem I really had with the book might have just been because of the format of an arc and it in the published book it might not be an issue. However, I found that sometimes when there was a time jump or when we moved from listening to the point of view of one of our characters to a newspaper article or a book excerpt, or even the podcast transcript I was a little confused and it took me a second to really understand what was going on, but that might’ve just been a formatting thing with this copy being an advanced readers copy and might not be an issue whatsoever within the book.

Lastly, and this might just be me being a little selfish, I wish we found out more about what happened in Italy at the very end with Chess and Emily. I understand why it would be open ended and left up to the interpretation of the readers, especially when we end with Mari’s Story, but I wish I knew what really happened.

I think people will really enjoy this book when it comes out in January. It is the perfect setting to give a little escapism from winter, but has mystery elements that everyone enjoys when it’s cold outside.

I liked Rachel Hawkins' take on Jane Eyre from a few years ago, but I really enjoyed this history/present day, life imitating art imitating life storyline.