⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Content warning: infant death and suicide

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so much so that I was finished with it in less than a day.

Emily is a writer down on her luck when her life-long friend Chess invites her on a vacation to the Villa Aestas in hills of Oriveto. A murder happened in the same villa in 1974 when stepsisters Mari and Lara stayed there with their rock n’ roll boyfriends. The novel becomes a story within the story as Emily realizes that Mari’s book, Lilith Rising, may have been based upon her experience during that infamous summer.

It was an easy, captivating read and one that I had trouble putting down. I truly felt like I was at the Villa with them. However, I found myself waiting for the sinister feel, which is where it fell short. The foreshadowing never came to fruition and the attempts at a spooky vibe were ambiguous. There were a few plot lines I felt that could have been developed more and the twists were also somewhat predictable. I wanted more of a shocking wow factor in the end after all the build up.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I loved the characters and I think that is where the book thrived. Most of the characeters were relatable and I was fully invested in each of them. I also loved the mixed media format. There are various articles, song lyrics and more throughout the book which help make it a fun read.

Rachel Hawkins has a way of intertwining two stories that both have you invested and interested in what happens next. The Villa starts with two friends whom haven’t as of recent spent much time together because of differing lives yet, they take a trip to Italy where another story unfolded years ago. These stories or women writing and exploring stories and life was one of the best books I have read this year. I believe Rachel will continue to have success with her gift of storytelling.

The story is a great concept, but I think the execution missed the mark for me in a few ways. The Villa personifies "bookception"...it's a book within a book within another book, with two authors as the main characters. Tired yet? Hawkins tried to stuff too many stories within stories, which caused the main plot to become muddled and watered down. On the positive side though, the Italian setting is charming, and the idea running throughout the book that "houses remember" is an interesting theme.

The Plot: We begin with Emily, a struggling YA writer who's trying to find her way through a messy divorce and an unexplained bout of sickness. When her childhood best friend and now best-selling self-help author, Chess Chandler, invites her to come on an impromptu Italian summer vacation, Emily sees it as a chance to get some much-needed writing done. Besides, Villa Aestas (formerly Villa Rosato) where they'll be staying is home to the famous murder of Pierce Sheldon, a musician in the 1970's. While words do come to Emily and flow on the page like they haven't in some time, they're not necessarily the words she was meant to be writing. She's taken a different direction and has drawn inspiration from creative works that came out of the murder in 1974. Mari Godwick, Pierce's girlfriend, left behind a literary masterpiece in gothic horror, Lilith Rising, that feels ominously connected to the events surrounding the murder. Her stepsister, Lara Larchmont, spend her time Villa Rosato creating her platinum-selling album, Aestas, which also seems to hold clues to the truth of what happened that fateful summer.

As a reader, we experience this story through Emily's eyes in the present day, through Mari's narration in 1974, and through excerpts of her book and Lara's songs. One of the issues I had with this story is that it was very predictable. I wouldn't describe it as mysterious or thrilling, rather just dramatic. Emily's storyline drags at times and it's evident her friendship with Chess is very toxic, a problem that never gets resolved. The resolution to their friendship is something I can't get past and one of those plotlines that actually made me angry. Additionally, the way Mari's story wraps up is also completely unsatisfying and I believe the last chapter and final "twist" was a huge mistake that lessened the effect of the story's buildup entirely. I'd like to reiterate that The Villa had good bones and bright potential, but fell short in the execution of how events unfolded.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Rachel Hawkins for the ARC of The Villa!

In my opinion the Villa is Rachel Hawkins' best book to date. I enjoyed Reckless Girl and The Wife Upstairs, but for me this book is in a whole other category.

The novel is set in an idyllic villa in Italy and it bounces between two timelines, the present day and the summer of 1974. This is a story of art, love, betrayal, and the benefits and pitfalls of female friendship. While this book was inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, it is doesn't parallel it closely like The Wife Upstairs did with Jane Eyre, which made it much more enjoyable for me as a fan of classic lit.

I've seen some reviewers refer to this as a slow burn, but I was engaged from the start; not so much in the mystery or suspense as I was immersed in the characters, particularly Mari and the 1974 timeline (I found the present day narrative took awhile to heat up).

This is one of those books that has decent suspense, but also strong literary elements and fantastic writing. There is an air of supernatural and the themes are well paralleled between both Mari and Emily's timelines. As we often see with Hawkins, there is strong ties to feminism and an attempt to work outside the typical devices of the genre.

My first 5 star read in awhile and I look forward to seeing what Hawkins comes up with next.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a free digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review

This book was so much fun! I found myself reading it every chance I got, even while walking to work. I wanted to know what would happen next. The dual timelines kept it really interesting and they were never hard to follow. The characters had such distinct voices that I was never confused about which time period we were in. The story within the story within the story was a super interesting concept. The twists kept the story moving and the characters kept it interesting. I really enjoyed Rachel Hawkins's writing style; it was very easy to read. I will definitely be picking up another Rachel Hawkins in the near future!

The Villa is a nice read for a rainy afternoon. A little spooky, an easy read, Felt a bit long winded and predictable, but the ending did redeem it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC for an honest review.

Told with dual story lines that crossed different time periods, this wove a really good mystery story. I loved the way everything was described, it was easy to picture it all in my head. The plot was full of twists and kept me guessing the whole time. This was an enjoyable read for me.

First, I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!
I was very excited to read this book as I’ve been to Orvieto in Italy where this book takes place. I often have a hard time with detailed descriptions in books (I guess I have a horrible imagination??!!) but I could really visualize this story.
The book is told from two different points in time- 1974 and present day. It jumps back and forth with each.
I really liked the book and was surprised until the end. It kept me guessing and the more I read it, the more I was into the story.
It’s definitely got a female empowerment vibe and I was here for it!
I don’t think it was as much a “thriller” but more of a domestic suspense?
It’s a great read!

I really enjoyed this book. It was inspired by the writing of Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein." It takes place at a Villa in Italy. The book is told with Mari and Emily's POV switching back and forth from 1974 to the present. Emily and Chase are both writers and have gone to the Villa to relax and write their books. I have read two other books by Rachel Hawkins, The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls. I have noticed that Rachel's writing is very good and kept me interested. In this story, Emily is writing a book about the mystery of what happened at the Villa in the 70's. If you like books about things that happen in the past, then you will love this book. It is a must read when it comes out in January 2023.

BOOK REVIEW 💯 📚

Okay, NetGalley does it again with this ARC of Rachel Hawkins newest novel 'The Villa' 😍 I am obsessed with this book and all that it offers! Make sure to check it out January 2023 🙌

Emily and Chess have been inseparable since they were children. Now they are in their 30's, finding themselves too busy for eachother and feeling like their losing eachother in the shuffle. So when Chess suggests spending a summer in Italy, neither can say no to this unforgettable opportunity. 

A villa on top of a hill looking out to the Italian hillside, 2 best friends, sun, and endless wine and limoncello....what could go wrong? Well, staying at Villa that was the scene for a famous murder mystery may bring up some emotions, mystery, and maybe a solution to an unsolved murder.

Emily, a cozy mystery series author, is trying to pull her life back together after her husband leaves her as she was experiencing a mysterious illness. Her famous, self help guru best friend invites her to a villa in Italy for the summer to focus on their writing and reignite their friendship. It turns out that the villa they are staying in was the site of a brutal murder of a rockstar in the 70s. The book jumps timelines between timelines of present day and the events leading up to the murder in the past. Mari is the star of that timeline. She is a 19 year old aspiring writer that ran away from her family to he with her rockstar boyfriend. They end up at the villa with her sister, her boyfriend and a famous rockstar - all trying to find inspiration for their art. But one of them will end up dead..

This is my favorite book by this author so far! It had just enough twists and red herrings that I thought I was going to predict all the twists… but I didn’t!

I have read every. single. book written by Rachel Hawkins. I have loved each of them in a different way, as Ms. Hawkins' strength as a writer is her ability to write a completely different book, each and every time. This book is no different. It is atmospheric and smartly written. I don't always love alternating time lines, but in this novel, this technique is used very well. With all that being said, however, I can't truly love this book, which is devastating because I had such high hopes. I found it to be predictable and fairly slow-moving, which I haven't found to be the case in her other books. I thought the end seemed contrived, or less than believable. I certainly like the book a great deal, but it's not my favorite of Rachel Hawkins' amazing novels. It's not bad, it's just not what I expected. The Villa is a fun read, and keeps the reader engaged, but it's probably not one that I'd read again, unfortunately. I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Villa is like 2 stories in one. One is about 2 old friends who go to stay in a Villa in Italy to write their books and the other is about a group of friends who stayed at the Villa years before and the murder of one of them there. I enjoyed the quick pace of this book and how the two stories kind of paralleled each other. It had a nice mix of dark and twisty. I thought Emily and Chess were relatable characters. When I thought the story was over, it wasn't. I enjoyed how it all wrapped up.

Name of Book: The Villa
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Pub Date: January 3, 2023
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.3 Stars!


“The Villa” is told from the POV of two stories, in two timelines ~ Present and Past~1974.

Present: Emily McCrae Sheridan and Chess Chandler (aka Jessica –Jaycee-Jay-most recently Chess) have been ‘best friends’ since childhood, now both are in their thirties, additionally both are authors; their friendship has been a bit strained in recent years and they decide to go to the Villa Aestas in Orvieto, Italy and reconnect as well as work on their writing.

Past: In 1974 Rock star Noel Gordon invited Mari Godwick and her boyfriend Pierce Sheldon as well as Mari’s stepsister Lara Larchmont to a Villa in Italy. While there Mari wrote her scariest horror novel
"Lilith Rising" and Lara created a best-selling album "Aestas". And Pierce Sheldon was murdered.

This is my third Rachel Hawkins novel. It seems out author like unlikable characters. True sometimes they can be interesting but I was disappointed that this didn’t live up to the hype but pleased that it was better than "Reckless Girls"!

Want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 3, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley for this ebook!

This book was just not it for me. It is marketed as a mystery/thriller but it’s a literary fiction, with some elements of thriller but not enough to keep me interested. The pacing is slow and the dual timeline had moments of being semi interesting but the two MCs, Mari and Emily, are very flat. I also didn’t feel any emotion in the writing. The author could have been writing a laundry list with her tone in this one.

I felt a slump coming in while reading and it wasn’t worth it. Just not my cup of tea.

This is more of a mystery than a thriller. Two timelines are connected by an Italian villa. In the present, friends and writers Emily and Chess travel to stay there and work on their books while reconnecting. In 1974 it was the site of a murder and source of inspiration for a book and an album. I enjoyed this novel once I adjusted my expectations from expecting a gothic-tinged thriller.

Thank you for the ARC ! I was really excited about this one and it fell a bit short for me. I enjoyed the two story lines with past and present but it was too detailed and lacked the thrill that I was waiting for with some of the other previous books that I have enjoyed.

An atmospheric murder thriller inspired by Fleetwood Mac? That in and of itself sold me on diving into Rachel Hawkins newest story. I'll be honest in saying this is my first book by the author that I've read, so having little to compare it to, it definitely did the job of keeping me locked into the story. Jumping from past to preset povs, Mari and Emily both were easy to relate to, and while their stories were just different enough to not feel boringly alike, The Villa's atmospheric writing was definitely what kept me enjoying every page. Rachel Hawkin's writing proved undeniably immersive, and I'll assuredly be looking into past books written by Hawkins!

This may be my favorite Rachel Hawkins book. Told from two timelines. Present day, Emily and Chess are best friends, both writers. Emily is in the middle of a divorce, has been sick and is having a hard time writing the next book in her cozy mystery series. Chess suggests a trip to an Italian villa where they can both relax and write. The second timeline is this same villa in the 70s. Mari, her rocker boyfriend Pierce and her stepsister Lara are invited to the villa by Rockstar Noel to create music and write. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll ensue with a tragic ending.
In the present day Emily finds the bestselling horror novel and a journal written by Mari, and tries to figure out the mystery of what happened at the villa.
I thought this was a fun, fast paced mystery with a few twists.
Thank you to Netgalley and and St. Martin’s press for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Love Rachel Hawkins! This book didn’t really feel like a thriller as much as just a mystery… I felt like the main character was on a journey to figure out herself! The double timelines are always so interesting! Overall I really enjoyed this book!