Thank you Netgalley for approving me for this ARC!

Houses remember.

I read The Villa in less than 24 hours. The story gripped me from the start. I highly recommend this read to anyone looking for some drama surrounding an old house in Italy and friendships where you’re not sure who you can trust.

Lastly, there are a few trigger warnings: suicide, abuse, alcohol, and drugs.

The Villa wasn't a bad book,but really didn't live up to Rachel's previous books. The premise was interesting,but I was really just expecting an aha moment that never came. #thevilla #netgalley

Rachel Hawkins does it again. This wasn’t the same type of twisty thriller but it had an interesting plot and a slow burn I felt paid off. It was a quick read and I would describe it as languid. I enjoyed the setting and characters I would recommend.

A twisted thriller taking place in dual timelines, the mid ‘70’s and today. Rich, complex, and some really unlikeable characters drives a story about friends, lovers, and betrayal. Dark, atmospheric and brooding, this is a tale not only of keeping friends close and enemies closer, but also knowing who’s the friend and who’s the enemy.

So many twists and turns that have your wondering what is happening at the Villa Aestras. A very good dual time read that keeps you guessing all the way through. Em and Chess, and Mari and Lara were all characters that I loved and did not care for throughout the book based on some of their actions, but they made for a great read. I could not put this book down!

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.

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!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book. Publication date January 3, 2023.

I loved this book. It was eerie and beautiful. The characters were very vivid and real. The plot twists were thought provoking. This book tells two stories so intertwined; amazing! The Villa was better than Reckless Girls!

The Villa was a fast paced, quick, intriguing read for me. I couldn’t put it down! It follows multiple timelines, taking place between the present and the 1970s. The present timeline follows two childhood best friends, turned writers, who take a trip to a villa in Italy, where a murder has previously occurred. The 1970s timeline follows a rockstar, a writer, and groupies, who stay in said villa, where one of them is murdered.

The two timelines were woven together perfectly for me. I loved the present characters and their storyline the most. I was rooting for Emily the whole way, while secretly hating her best friend Chess, who most definitely did not have Em’s best interest at heart. The 1970s timeline was bland for me. I felt like it dragged on up until the reveal of the murder, but in the best way possible.

However, I wasn’t satisfied with the ending. I kept thinking I missed something and even re read the last handful of pages. I wanted to know more about Emily and Chess's relationship. I wanted to know if Emily had found more clues at the house. The final relationships between the group of friends from the 1970’s was confusing. I ultimately felt like too many ideas were crammed into the end of the book, and I needed more answers.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press, Netgalley and Rachel Hawkins for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am in love with this new story from Rachel Hawkins! If you enjoyed her previous books or have been intending to pick up one of them, this is the one to read!! Highly recommend!

This is my second book that I have read by Rachel Hawkins and it won't be my last however....

The Villa didn't really read like a ghostly type book or a thriller to me. It felt repetitive and there was no real twists. The writing was great and I loved the character Emily.

That said, I look forward to her next book

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read this book and give an honest review.

My thoughts and opinions are my own and have not been influenced by anyone else

The Villa takes place in dual timelines in the same Italian Villa. The present timeline revolves around Emily and Chess, long-time friends who are both writers and agree to spend the summer together to reconnect and write. The past timeline is set in the 70’s and focuses on a group of musicians and a writer spending the summer at the Italian Villa where a murder occurred. Emily starts digging into the Villa’s secrets, while uncovering some secrets in her own life.

The Villa kept my attention throughout the book, and it was easy to immerse myself in the story in between reading sessions. I wish there had been a little more development and description of the actual Villa because I love a
wonderful gothic creepy house setting. Overall, the dual storylines worked well together and I enjoyed the inclusion of articles, song lyrics, and podcast transcripts throughout the story to provide additional information.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

This book is absolutely brilliant! It has so many layers.
-Dual POV
-Dueling time periods
-Books within books
-Many unique characters whose relationships with each other are a tangled knot.
-The Villa, Lara’s album Aestas, and Mari’s book Lilith Rising are the threads that tie the two time periods together.
-Endings and more endings, leaving you guessing what is truth and what is fiction.

I loved reading the different articles and podcast segments between each time jump. It gave you that added extra information that joins Mari with Emily. The pieces are about Mari, but you can imagine Emily searching for them on the internet and reading them in the present day. Their stories are so seamlessly interwoven.

A book this elaborate with so many characters and relationships and the dueling time periods could easily wind up a jumbled mess, but Rachel Hawkins pulls everything together with gripping and unpredictable twists that lead to an epic conclusion. This is hands down my favorite of her novels!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I finished this book in a day. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen and just couldn’t put it down. At the beginning, I did get somewhat confused when it jumped between the different POV’s, and then excerpts from books, articles etc, but as the book went on they weren’t quite as jarring. Excellent read!

This book follows the path of two different friendships and a villa in Italy where tragedies take place. In the present we have Chess and Em, two writers and friends since grade school. Chess is a hugely successful Oprah live your best life mantra writer and Em is a moderately successful cozy mystery writer going through a bad divorce. In the past we have two stepsisters Mari and Lara. Mari is also a writer and Lara is a musician. Both sets of women harbor deep resentments and twisted perspectives of each other that leads both sets of women down a path of destruction. Hawkins skillfully intertwines both timelines and entangles them in a way that makes their lives mirror each other. All of the women achieve great success but the road they take to get there leaves deep scars. A highly engrossing read that throws another curveball at the end when you think you have learned everything.

The Villa is a modern gothic suspense surrounding two childhood best friends Chess and Emily - a famous lifestyle guru and a struggling cozy murder novelist. They go to Italy for the summer to write and reconnect. There they find that they are staying in the home a previous murder. Emily finds herself falling deeper and deeper into the mystery of the home and the previous occupants. Will there be another murder before the summer is over?

So this book started out fast for me. I was quickly swept into the story and the mystery not only of the previous murder but the mystery between Chess and Emily as well. I loved the connections between past and present and how both stories came together. I did feel like that ultimate mystery/story could have been a bit darker, but overall this was a quick, enjoyable thriller!

This book is compelling, and it's also a chore to read. Improbably, both were true for me. The main reason is that it's a lot to keep track of; there are several different timelines and narrators that are either fact or fictional, and it's not exactly immediately clear WHY so many perspectives and timelines are needed. It's also uneven; some events get long, detailed descriptions while some major events are glossed over in an embedded headline/news article in a way that feels arbitrary. It is an interesting storyline and premise (let's vacation in a murder house! What could go wrong!), but I was surprised to find that I struggled to stay engaged. This would be a great book to read if you imagine having a lot of uninterrupted time to focus and finish the book quickly.

Watch for this book to be published in January 2023...and perhaps save it for a snow day! (It would especially be fun to read about summer in Italy during a snow day!)

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martins Press (specifically Kejana Ayala, Marketing Assistant for reaching out to invite me to review!) for the eARC of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins in exchange for an honest review.

CW: murder, death, blood, infidelity, death of a child, miscarriage, divorce, illness, drug use, suicide

Em is at a cross-roads in her life. She is recently divorced, recently recovered from a chronic illness, and finds herself stuck in writers block and missing deadlines for the tenth book in her cozy mystery series. When her long-time best friend, Chess, the renowned self-help guru, suggests that they spend the summer living extravagantly in a villa in Italy, Em takes her up on the offer. After a quick Google search, Em discovers that their home away from home was once the sight of the grisly murder of a popular musician. Em soon finds herself in a passionate whirlwind of writing. This is not the book she ever expected to write, but sometimes stories just find you. Told in a dual timeline flashing between present day and the 1970s, this is an intriguing thriller centering the complexity of female relationships.

Wow. Rachel Hawkins has done it again! This is most definitely my favorite book of hers to date. I was immediately intrigued by the pitch that this is a retelling of Mary Shelley's life as she wrote Frankenstein (side note: I hardly knew anything about Mary Shelley before reading this book, but Wikipedia is a friend to the clueless; she is a fascinating human being). I loved the suspense of the "closed door" type setting and the tension created between the characters in both timelines. Hawkins is a master at dropping breadcrumbs throughout her narrative so that reveals are well paced. More than anything, I think this was a book exploring the dynamics of female friendship and posed such interesting questions as What does it mean to be sisters? What role does jealousy play in friendship? Where should loyalty lie when romantic partners fall short?

As always, I LOVE the cover of this book and it perfectly encapsulates the vibes of this book. Once again, as it is set in the summer, this will be the perfect read when it releases in January. This is the warm, escapist mystery-suspense novel that we all need to get us through those cold winter months.

This would be a great summer beach read (if you like your summer beach reads to have a little murder in them). Without giving too much away - I'm glad that some of the things I was worried about happening between Emily and Chess didn't happen, and I liked the ending overall. I did expect it to be more twisty than it was.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Rachel Hawkins's books and this one was no different. This was an excellent read that I couldn't put down--it was haunting, interesting, and the characters were excellently drawn. A fantastic journey to Italy that hopefully none of us actually take.

Emily and Chess have been besties forever. But now Emily's life has fallen apart after her husband left her while she was mysteriously ill and she's suffering from a severe case of writer's block while Chess's career has catapulted her to fame--she reminded me of the author of the Girl, Wash Your Face books. Chess invites Emily to go to a Villa in Italy--a notorious house in the hills where a murder was once committed. Emily says yes, and off we go.

In the 70s, a group of artists (singers, songwriters, and a writer named Mari) are invited to the Villa by a famous rock star hpoing to be inspired. A group of three men, two women, and a LOT of ego, it was no surprise that there was a lot of drama. But no one expected a murder.

With two timelines--one with Chess and Emily and the other focused on Mari--you're transported to Italy and into all the messy relationships. Emily becomes fascinated with Mari's book, which was a horror bestseller, and starts to uncover more about what happened in the summer of 1974. And at the same time, Emily's relationship with Chess is both closer than ever and yet tenser than ever.

At first, this book seems kind of disconnected. But Hawkins does a wonderful job of weaving the narratives together and connecting the characters even if they're in different decades. The 1974 timeline is engaging and very reminiscint of the seemling recent hits like Daisy Jones and Songs in Ursa Major with the music and the interrelationship drama. Chess and Emily's relationship is familiar and frustrating and joyful all at the same time.

I did have some very minor issues (NHS was a thing in the UK in the 1970s and meant you didn't have to pay for a doctor) and I really couldn't stand Chess, but this book was fantastic. Both the timelines held good mysteries that kept you reading to learn more about who and what and why and omg! Loved this book.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book.

Wow! This was a five + star read.
This suspense has a dual timeline. Current, we have best friends Chess and Emily. In 1974, we have Mari and her step sister Lara.
What do these four women have in common? That would be Villa Aestas.
A gothic suspense with all the twists and turns you could hope for. This is by far my favorite Rachel Hawkins novel.
Be sure to add this one to your TBR pile. Pub date: 01/23/2023
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!