5 ⭐️

“Houses remember”

This book jumped from the page and onto a lens in the front of your mind, all the characters alive and vivid, the villa aestes, as italianesque as you might imagine.

Just when you think you have uncovered all the stones, you are reminded, you only know how what the narrator has hoped for you to uncover. Everything isn’t always as black and white as you’d imagine.

This story was 2 stories overlapping, both occurring at villa aestes, 2 gruesome, world shattering events that leave you questioning everything you thought u knew.

While pretty subpar as a thriller, The Villa is still quite effective as an involving human drama with a dash of mystery. Keeping one's expectation in check is going to be the best way to enjoy this title from Rachel Hawkins — treat it as a general adult fiction (rather than a thriller) will help you appreciate its strength rather than focusing on its flaw.

Getting the harsh criticism out of the way — The Villa's thriller aspect is basic and alarmingly transparent; at first I thought the obviousness was intentional, leading us to think one way in order to counteract with a clever, unexpected reveal. But no, the novel took its red herrings as oath, and followed through with every single one of them — this is easily one of the most surprise-less 'thriller' I've read in recent years.

Yet, I confess I did have an enjoyable reading experience for the most parts, thanks to its breezy length (just shy of 300 pages), a digestible yet immersive writing style, and an enticing setting (An Italian villa with a murderous past, who can say no to that!). I'm also a sucker for a multi-timelines, mixed medias narrative, and characters in the creative industries (we have multiple singer-songwriters and authors in this one), so The Villa is basically catnip to my reading taste, so much so I can overlook its absence of thrills.

The Villa is at its core an observation on toxic relationships, and how it can push people beyond their limit, whether that's to write the most heart-wrenching piece of music, or conjuring the courage to end someone's life. While it's a shame these strong themes and character work is bookended by the shallowest thriller cliches, it is still a read worth picking up — at least as a library load.

Emily and Chess are best friends- sort of. As kids and later as college students they were as close as sisters, but with adulthood their lives entered very different trajectories.

Emily is the writer of a cozy mystery series, stuck on her tenth book and only modestly successful. Her personal life feels like an abject failure- she's facing a messy divorce from her husband after he had an affair. Meanwhile, Chess' life couldn't be going any better. She's the author of best-selling self-help books. She's been on Oprah. She gets recognized on the street.

When Chess suggests a vacation to Italy as a way for the two women to reconnect and have the time and space to work on their writing, Emily agrees. There's just one problem- the beautiful villa Aestas was the scene of a spectacular rock star murder in the 1970s, and Emily can't get it out of her head, especially when she discovers a series of diary entries from Mari, one of the women that was there the night it all went down, and later went on to write a best selling horror novel.

I've written before about my love/hate relationship with thrillers. I'm pleased to say that I really, really liked the Villa, and that it had none of the usual problems with sexism that thrillers so often suffer with. It's a story about two women that is refreshingly free of outdated stereotypes, and one that holds true to anyone who has ever grown up with a best friend and slowly drifted apart from them. Are they still your best friend, or are they just part of your past? How can you be as close as you once were when your lives are so different, and should you be?

Part of what works so well is the way the novel is divided. One chapter will focus on Emily and Chess as they deal with personal struggles and the mysteries of the village, while the other will be a diary entry from Mari, discussing her relationship with a group of rockstars and wanna be rockstars in the 1970s, but in the same location. Mari's story is perhaps a little bit more interesting, but I may be biased; the diary entries and the composition of the 1970s party at the village are a clear echo of Mary Shelley's own involvement in the infamous party that produced Frankenstein. There's even a reference to Lord Byron as one of the rock stars, with a limp and a tendency to benign lechery.

The very ending was the only part I struggled with. It felt rushed, like so much culminated within the last 10-20 pages of the book that needed more time to digest. Yes, thrillers move fast, but there ended up being blanks where it felt like we deserved more payoff as readers. I didn't totally hate the ending- I just thought it needed a wee bit more time to breathe and to let the irony of the situation fully settle in.

Despite that, I really loved the Villa. I breezed through it in just a few days, and was often unable to put it down. It's a nice vacation to a sunny yet shadowed Italy, and a good examination of the way friendship changes (or doesn't.)

I was excited to read this book as Rachel Hawkins is a favorite author of mine and it did not disappoint. This book was written with a dual time line and the main character in the current time is Emily, the author of a mediocre cozy mystery series who is currently going through a divorce from her husband, Matt, and is suffering with a severe case of writer's block. Her childhood best friend, Jessica (aka Chess), a very successful self-help author and guru, reaches out to Emily and invites her to spend the summer in Italy at Villa Aestas aka Murder Villa, which was the scene of the famous murder of a rock star in the 1970s. Given Matt's current demands to share in the royalties of Emily's book series and her desperate need to finish her current book so that she can get paid, Emily accepts Chess' invitation and heads to Italy. Fascinated with the murder that took place 50 years ago in the Villa, Emily's writer's block is soon cured as she starts to dig into the facts of the famous case.

Switching time lines between the present and 1974, you meet Mari Godwick, a burgeoning author, her stepsister, Lara, and her boyfriend, Pierce, who is trying to break into the music business. When the three of them are invited to stay at the Villa by a rock star who may have seen his best days, you are quickly drawn into a world of "sex, drugs and rock-n-roll" as seen through the colorful lens of the mid-1970s.

The overlapping of events between the two time lines makes for a well-written and fascinating mystery that quickly draws you in and will keep you up late turning the page long after your bedtime. I had a hard time slowing down enough to savor all of Rachel's wonderful writing. She really made you feel as if you were on holiday in Italy investigating the facts of the famous murder that occurred in the Villa and I desperately wanted to discover how the events unfolded. There are several unique plot twists in this book and I have been replaying the ending in my head since I finished the book. While the ending was more subtle than some of the other recent books I have read, I still found it satisfying. If you are looking for a well-written mystery book that spends much of its time in the present attempting to solve a 50 year old mystery, but also clearly gives you the background of the events leading up to the murder as they unfolded in the 1970s, then I highly recommend this book to you.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Publication date is January 3, 2023.

A wild and wicked ride. Reckless Girls was my favorite read of 2021, so when I saw this one was available, I immediately requested it. This author is beginning to be one of my favorites. She's consistent in providing twisted and completely sinister reads, all wrapped up in an entertaining package, and The Villa was exactly that. Unlike anything I've ever read, this book kept me turning pages and guessing the entire time. 5 easy stars!

A haunted murder villa in Italy. Famous rock stars and hangers-on. Temperamental artists and writers and young people behaving badly.

Emily and Chess have been friends forever. But now they are in their 30s and Chess’s life is going great, with her advice and lifestyle brands, while Emily is stalled in her relationship with Matt and her writing.

When they reconnect, Chess decides a holiday at a villa in Italy will be good for them both. So off they go to Italy. Villa Aestas is a beautiful villa used for holidays. But in 1974, the famous rocker, Noel Gordon is staying there with a motley crew of drug dealers, musicians, and wanna-be girlfriends.

The part about Mari is written in 1974 as she arrives with her step-sister, Lara, and her boyfriend Pierce, who is sleeping with Lara who is sleeping with Noel. Yes, it’s sex, drugs, and a rock and roll tale.

There is nothing redeeming about Noel. He spends most of his time doing drugs and sleeping with whoever is willing.

At the current time, Emily is taken with the history of the house and the story of all involved. From all of the horror of 1974, how did these very young people go on to do such great things? Lara will write a platinum album and Mari writes a best seller. Just one. Because what happened in that villa changed them forever.

The more Emily works on her piece on the house and that summer, the more distant Chess becomes. Secretive. Sneaking into Emily’s computer and demanding they work together to publish the book. And as secrets long kept come to the surface this may turn out to be another 1974!

You are always in for a great time with Hawkins!

NetGalley/January 3rd, 2023 by St. Martin’s Press

I wanted to love this book but I struggled to connect to the characters until around 50-60% in. Chess, is an unlivable character and I didn’t trust her until the end. Emily was likeable and relatable.I feel like there was so much going on between the story of Emily and chess’s friendship, Emily and Matt’s divorce, Matt and chess (oh, hell. No. To every bit of this being okay with Emily), the story of Mari, and Mari’s journal pages. It fell short and I believe it’s because it took so long to understand any one part of this story of 12 subject.

This was my first Rachel Hawkins book, and now I’m going to have to go back and read some of her backlist.
This was a great book, thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for review.
Emily and Chess have been best friends forever. Chess is a best-selling author/self-held guru, and Emily is a cozy mystery writer who is having writers block and going through a messy divorce. Chess invites Emily to spend time with her at a villa in Italy, a famous villa where someone was murdered in the 70s.
The story flips back and forth between present day and 1974 with Mari, a hopeful author who visits the villa - pre-murder - with her step-sister, musician boyfriend, a famous musician and his drug-dealing friend. I really enjoyed the two timelines and how they somewhat mirrored each other.
The ending was slightly open-ended and left me with some questions that I’ll have to review with friends who read the book for a bit more clarity, but overall, a great book that I finished far too quickly!

WOW! I read The Wife Upstairs before picking The Villa up, and I can say with extreme certainty that this book was written so much better. While the MC in The Wife Upstairs didn’t do much but worry about her relationship with her LI, I felt that Emily was more nuanced as a character. I think part of that comes down to her separate arcs as an author and a friend to Chess, and I really loved her conflicts between these two priorities throughout the novel. I thought the perspective of Mari complemented Emily’s very well too in a juxtaposition of two very different authors.

The Villa- Rachel Hawkins

WOW! I thought that Reckless Girls was good but The Villa blew me out of the water. Rachel Hawkins does it again by creating an extraordinary environment for her characters to mingle. Two best friends, Emily and Chess set out to Italy to revamp their writing, and Mari and her group of friends do the exact same only years earlier.

I want to start out by saying the cover is magnificent. I love that it aligns with her other covers on The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls. The colors are sure to grab reader’s attention as it did mine.

The story is sweet and simple in the beginning. Two best friends go to Italy to work on their writing careers. Main character Emily is in dire need of this getaway as she is currently dealing with a gnarly divorce, health issues and financial misfortune. She is planning to write another book for her ongoing mystery series, but when she finds out about Mari, who visited the Villa years ago, she is more inclined to write about her current surroundings. Chess, her bestie has the same idea and when Chess reveals a big secret, the girls work together to find a solution. Flash forward to Mari in 1974. Mari and her boyfriend Pierce along with their friend Noel, Johnnie and stepsister Lara, set out to the Villa on an extravagant vacation. What they are not prepared for is for Pierce to be murdered. What makes this book interesting is that Mari has a similar problem to the other girls and finds her solution just as easily.

Without giving too much away, it is obvious to me that this book is FILLED with secrets just waiting to be found out. Hawkins tells a haunting story and this might be her best piece of work yet.

What a dynamic book!!

Chess + Emily (best friends and both authors) take a summer vacation to a villa in a small town in Italy. Upon arrival, they find out that this is the same villa where a murder happened in the 70s, which inspired a best-selling novel and a best-selling album by the girls that were in the villa during that fateful summer. Discovering more about the people who were at the villa when the famous murders happened changes everything for both Chess and Emily.

I feel like there’s no summary that will give adequate words for this book. The dual perspectives and timelines (Mari, 1970s and Emily, present) keep you hooked and needing to know how everything comes together. I really enjoyed the different modes of writing that Hawkins used including song lyrics, articles, and excerpts from a novel that one of the characters wrote. The writing in this novel is truly phenomenal!

I loved Mari’s ending; Emily’s ending wasn’t my favorite (don’t want to spoil why!!) So that’s why it’s not five stars for me.

This book was a wonderful surprise! I have never read a Rachel Hawkins book but will certainly read more. The ending reminded me of Verity so I think fans of that book might like this one as well. The travel between the two timelines, the addition of excerpts from "Lilith rising" and "Aestas", the podcast, the other true crime stories written about the murder that were sprinkled in didn't take me out of the story at all, we were always pulled right back in. Every character presented in the story had a distinct personality (loved the podcasters) and I love that at the dual storylines had similar endings but with a twist. Thoroughly enjoyed.

The Villa 🍋
@ladyhawkins
Pub Date : coming 🔜 1/3/2023 @stmartinspress
Page Count : 288 pages

First, huge thank you to @netgalley & @stmartinspress for the galley! Also, 👒 off to @ladyhawkins on her gripping novel 👏🏻

“The world warns us about putting toxins in our body, and assumes toxic people can only hurt our souls. But there are people just as poisonous to us as any chemical.”

Back to back books taking place in Italy! Although, this one was quite different than One Italian Summer.

I will start by saying that at first, it’s one of the novels where you really have to pay attention because the plot is laid out almost immediately, which is great, but can be hard to follow initially. However, Rachel did a great job bringing it all together to follow the dual timeline!

Emily & Chess were your classic childhood best friends that simply grew apart as time passed and adulting got in the way. Emily & Chess are both writers however, two completely different writers. Emily rights cozy mystery & Chess rights more self help. Chess throws the idea out to take a girls trip to Italy and Emily, being at a crossroads in her marriage with Matt, decides, why not?

Not only are they going to Italy, but they will be staying in an extremely well known villa. Villa Aestas, formally known as Villa Rosato in the 70’s. A tragedy occurred here with a group of friends, surrounded by sex, drugs & rock n’ roll. We will later discovered all the intertwined relationships between Mari & her stepsister Lara. Pierce, Mari’s boyfriend, Noel & Johnnie. Without giving away too many spillers, these two stories, although decades apart, end up being more connected than Emily ever would have thought. She doesn’t really discover this until her writers block is broken with a whole new story that opens an entirely different world for her and her career as a writer. You will never believe how much is uncovered by the end of this story and where these two best friends end up after this summer.

Houses remember 🍋

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins tells an intertwined story in two timelines staying at a villa in Orvieto, Italy. Chess and Emily and Lara and Mari. Chess and Emily are summering at the villa in Italy as they become interested in digging deeper into a murder at the home in 1974 when Lara and Mari were residents. Both of the stories are both pro-women while still having a thriller-true crime plot. Rachel Hawkins has become a must read author for me! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a stay up until 2am and read the book in one sitting book. By far my favorite Rachel Hawkins work yet.

A house with a creepy history? Check
A back and forth viewpoint between past and present? Check
Morally ambiguous characters? Check

Great read, especially for fans of Kate Morton.


Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

I was so excited to get this eARC copy from @netgally and @stmartinspress - excellent story but I do wish they added a haunting at the Villa and more depth to the relationship between Emily and Matt.

Overall 4.25/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you for the opportunity to review this advanced copy!


#bookish #bookstagram #booktok #book #readersofinstagram #readthis #goodreads #goodreadschallenge #bookchallenge #27/40 #booksarelife #booknerd #rachelhawkins #thevilla #netgally #stmartinspress #publishesearlynextyear

I was Over. The. Moon. when I found out that I was approved to read and review The Villa. I love Rachel Hawkins’ Reckless Girls and The Wife Upstairs and I just knew that The Villa would be equally as suck-you-in-able and twisty. Boy, was I right!

Dual timelines, two stories that converge. The big reveal in each storyline felt predictable but also NOT, if that makes any sense, because it was interesting in how each was led up to and divulged.

In my experience, Hawkins always has one line that is, like, chilling and perfect and criminally great, and The Villa definitely has one. “We all are” made me shriek with joy when I read it.

The Villa is an excellent story about friends, sisters, relationships, villains and victims and everyone in between. For me, Rachel Hawkins can do no wrong and everything she touches turns to gold. The Villa is a 5/5 and I’ll recommend it to everyone I know! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review The Villa by Rachel Hawkins. My thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

This book hit on a lot of current trends, with a Rachel Hollis -esque self help guru inspired character, true crime at the center, and the nostalgia of 70's era musicians á la Daisy Jones and the Six. I felt like the flashbacks to Mari's story and the original murder at the villa were abruptly interspersed, though that is probably due to raw editing. There was some vagueness in plot points that never quite got cleared up as to the real reason behind Emily's sickness, and the source of Matt's affair was obvious. I do enjoy seeing a bad man get his comeuppance, but didn't find it quite believable how quickly Emily forgave Chess and conspired with her to emulate the original tragedy at the Villa. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Chess to do something truly diabolical, but it never came. The big reveal at the end was anticlimactic, but served to prove the point that those who want to be led astray will find any small justification, even if it turns out to be false. Very quick, enjoyable read, and I felt myself wanting to read the books within the book as well.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4853659984

Got this as an ARC on Netgalley. Loved the duality of the story between narrators Emily and Mari. The description of the Italian countryside made me feel like I was soaking up the sun in Orvieto. One of my favorite Rachel Hawkins books! I would recommend for anyone looking for a fast paced twisty thriller with a side of beautiful imagery.

The Villa is an intense novel about an Italian villa where a murder occurred in the 1970’s. In the present day, best friends Chess and Emily decide to take a trip to the villa to work on their respective writing projects. As their stay advances, they discover more about the villa’s history and the author of a horror novel that was written in the house.

One element of this book that really stood out was the characters, more specifically the relationships between characters. One storyline this book centers around is the Italy trip best friends Chess and Emily take. While Emily and Chess present as close friends, tension builds between them as the book progresses. The interactions between Emily and Chess add depth to the story and take many turns.

This novel focuses on the storylines in two time periods occurring in the same Italy Villa. Woven throughout the book is the storyline occurring in the 1970’s. This focuses on Mari and her friends staying with her at the villa. Mari is writing a horror book during her villa stay. As the novel progresses, Emily and Chess’s story starts to merge and mirror Mari’s story. The structure of The Villa is captivating, creative, and leads to a well-crafted ending.

Rachel Hawkins does a great job making this novel engaging and weaving multiple stories together. The connection between storylines was done differently than any other book I’ve read which made it really interesting. The characters she’s created are layered and interesting, the plot is gripping, and the structure is engaging. While The Villa is different from other Rachel Hawkins books I’ve read, I would recommend it.