Happy Pub Week to Rachel Hawkins! This gothic mystery that’s part Daisy Jones & the Six and part Rebecca features dual timelines, one set in present day, the other in early 70s.
In the modern story, two best friends head to Italy hoping that a month-long stay will cure their writers’ block. The relationship between the two women, both authors, is fraught with hidden tensions, some personal, some professional. Chess writes mega-successful female empowerment, Rachel Hollis-esque self-help books, and her influencer money has funded this trip. Emily writes cozy mysteries, and she’s more than a little burned out from her main character and her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s threats to take half of her royalties. When the girls learn that their villa was the site of a grisly murder, their muses are inspired in different ways.
The 1970s timeline tells the story of rock and roll singer Noel Gordon and various band members and friends who embark on an Italian retreat for inspiration and vibes. Allusions to Fleetwood Mac abound, if one of that band had ended up dead. Who dies and who commits the murder remain questions throughout, and the present-day authors both argue about who should write the true-crime certain bestseller.
Both stories are engaging, with subtle commentary on the 70s free love mantra and today’s influencer culture. The ending was a little unsatisfying. Both women make some unlikable and unbelievable choices that strain credulity in a way that depends too heavily on the book’s gothic foundations. But Hawkins writes fully fleshed out characters that inspire emotion and don’t run together as so many multiple-timeline characters can do. I’d recommend this for lovers of gothic sensibilities and suspenseful mysteries.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Hawkins and St Martin’s Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This was so so good! I read the entire thing in two sittings and I just wanted to tell everyone to shush so I could finish it! I loved the main character and the secondary timeline was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for more and Hawkins will definitely remain an autobuy author for me!

Another fantastic book by Rachel Hawkins. I was drawn in from the very beginning. Both main characters have personalities that make you both love and hate them, so its more interesting to be absorbed into their interactions with one another.

The pace was great and the plot was so interesting.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Rachel Hawkins!

I love Rachel Hawkins and was thrilled to receive this free ARC from NetGalley. I love the cover of the book with is vacationy, relaxing, vibes and the plot of 2 groups of people visiting the same house/villa in Italy on vacation, at different time frames, 1970's and current time.The house and the town sounds awesome. It also explores the arts, writing, playing, and signing music, and writing a book while throwing in some history. The differing points of view really make the book come alive. I found the 70's group and their story-line much more enjoyable then the current one about best friends Chess and Emily. That story-line was a bit dull. I dislike the ending. I'm not sure why that plot twist was added when the book already had a great ending.

This was a quick read that I enjoyed well enough. I liked the second half of the book much more than the first once the story started to pick up, and enjoyed Mari and the 70s crew plot line more than Chess and Emily's at the Villa. Unfortunately I thought the endings of both story lines we quite unbelievable, but I also liked the themes of female empowerment and friendship.

The Villa tells the story of best friends who are both writers that travel to Villa Aestas in the Italian country for a summer. It also follows the story of Mari and Lara from 1973 as they make a similar trip. When one of their trip mates dies at the Villa in 1974, they are all changed forever. How will their stories connect? What suspenseful drama will unfold this go round?

I really loved the gothic elements of this book. Rachel Hawkins nailed it perfectly. I loved how the story unfolded and was so angry and invested to what happened to Emily along the way. The themes of woman creativity when it comes to art were very prevalent and I loved the two timelines hammering that home, each one having their own problems and issues. The thing that let me down was the end. I really wanted more detail about both timelines endings instead of just saying what happened. I could imply it but with so much else laid out in the book, I wanted this to be laid out also. Overall, it was an engrossing and entertaining read and I really did have fun with it!

This book was inspired by the real life event of the weekend in the summer when Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelly spent time together. In addition it is also inspired by Fleetwood Mac and the Manson family murders.a story within a story with past and present storylines. I really enjoyed this thriller. I liked the glimpses of the past and how they seemed to mirror events in the present. I thought the inspirations for the book was really interesting.

The Villa was my second Rachel Hawkins book. The first being Reckless Girls. I have to say, she does an amazing job at writing characters you like and hate at the same time. In The Villa we meet Emily who is a 35 writer who has been dealing with illness, writers block and a nasty divorce from the man she thought she'd love forever. Emily has a lunch with her best friend, Chess, who has a "perfect" and successful life. Shortly after lunch they decide to visit Italy for the summer, The house they are staying in has it's own famous history that I found far more enticing than the modern day story personally.

This was a book that I was excited to find out the ending but also inwardly groaning at some of the characters. I enjoy when the characters are so complex!

FINALLY, a book I can get lost in - the plot moves along, the characters are interesting, the setting is beautiful and the twists and turns are great! This story really kept my interest after slogging through my last few books, feeling that I should enjoy and/or be enlightened by them, but ended up just wanting to get them over with.
I loved all the backstories on everyone and the two timelines worked well together.
I really felt for Em and Mari, they seemed like the same type of sensitive, intelligent person, but I couldn't help an eyeroll when reading about Chess - just the fact that she changed her name twice seemed so pretentious. The author is so on point, describing Chess as a self help guru!
Even the male characters are portrayed perfectly.
I loved how the ending tied in with both books written and timelines.
Highly recommended for a good, entertaining read!

I was so excited to be approved to read an ARC of this new suspense novel from Rachel Hawkins!

Right away it gave me Daisy Jones & The Six vibes which I loved. It was definitely a slow-burn suspense but I constantly had an ominous feeling. I really enjoyed the switching between past and present and the different points of view throughout the story. I felt the twists could’ve been way bigger and in the end I was disappointed in the lack of creepiness/thrill the writing made me feel.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for this e-ARC!

Wow! Totally engrossing novel of two intertwined stories and the consequences of actions and inactions. The atmospheric setting, a villa in Italy grabs you from the start. Both familiar in its homage to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and unique in its dual timeline perspective, The Villa will keep you engrossed to the last page as the poetic twists and turns continue to unfold to the very last page. Highly recommended for fans of gothic mysteries and the love/hate bonds of longtime friendship.

Another great Rachel Hawkins book finished! I found myself loving this one, despite it being a slower burn than The Wife Upstairs. But it was still amazing. The two timelines almost felt like you were reading two completely different books, until they came together in the end. Right now I'm just annoyed that I've now read every Rachel Hawkins book she has written, and I want more. I love when I can find go-to authors like her, where I always know I'm getting a great book.

Who wouldn't want to spend a summer at an Italian villa with a best friend? Em has been dealing with a tough divorce and struggling with her health and writing her next cozy murder mystery, so she jumps at the chance to join her best friend, Chess, in Italy. Once there, she learns that the villa is the site of a murder that took place and she begins to try to unravel the mystery of what happened there in the 1970s. And then tensions arise in her interactions with Chess–it's unclear: is she a best friend or a foe?

Although it took awhile to get into it, I enjoyed the alternating timelines, centring on Em and Chess in the present day and on Mari in the 1970s. I wasn't totally in love with the ending, but it seemed fitting for this story. It was a fun read!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel.

If you’re looking for a delicious page-turning read that begs you to devour it in one sitting then allow me to shout out THE VILLA by RACHEL HAWKINS.

I just binged the heck out of this book and loved every minute of my time in Villa Aestas, an Italian villa with a dark history of murder. It’s the setting for a present-day girls trip where childhood best friends Emily and Chess try to mend their relationship.

They are both writers (love that!!) and when Emily learns that the Villa was not only the scene of the 1974 murder of the musician Pierce Sheldon, but also the inspiration behind one of the greatest horror novels of all time, she can’t help but dig into the past.

Gothic suspense. Complex female friendships. Dual timelines and multiple POVs. And secrets and lies and lots and lots of wine.

Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein––Rachel Hawkins weaves a deadly legacy and we’re all invited. LOVED IT!!

This is my second read by Rachel Hawkins and I'm such a fan of her writing, her wit, her snark and snappy banter. The characters felt so real to me and the friendship between Chess and Emily relatable both in the clear love they have for each other and the at times challenging dynamic of female friendships.

I was hooked by the past mystery and not quite sure what led to the shocking murder. I loved all the twists and turns and was delighted throughout my read of this book.

Huge thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC. I am absolutely picking up a finished copy for my shelf (and so I can tab it up - so many great lines!)!

Unfortunately I didn’t like The Villa. Although there were a lot of interesting aspects to the plot line (flashbacks of 1970s rock stars and poets that then connect to modern day- all primarily based in an Italian Villa), the execution fell short. For a fairly short novel, I struggled several times to push through. The writing was fine, but the way the story was told and the web of how it wrapped up I found to be too dragged on (even for such a short novel) and fairly messy. The previous thrillers/mysteries I have read from Hawkins (and really enjoyed) have been pretty tight in terms of execution, so I’m disappointed this latest book from her didn’t live up to my expectations.
Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the chance to read this ARC.

A psychological thriller with plenty of suspense. The story begins with a mystery of the villa and all the events that cumulate during and after a murder. This story will grab the readers attention from the start and will not let go until the thrilling conclusion. Electrifying storytelling. The plot was titillating and the characters riveting.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

So many great things to say about this one! Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders and Mary Shelley, this one will grab you from the first page. The story gives off a “Daisy Jones and the Six” vibe as it tells about 4 talented artists and a drug dealer all staying in an Italian Villa together one summer in the 70s. . The second storyline is about two modern day best friends who rent the same Italian Villa for a summer and get pulled into the drama that unfolded there so many years earlier. Both stories are riveting. And both stories tell of a summer that none of them will ever forget. The events that take place there will haunt them all forever. The rest of the world will never be privy to the “behind the scenes” story about the album and book the world adores. Creating music, writing a horror novel, making these contributions of art that will last longer than any of the people in the house….we get a peek at their love triangles, secrets and inner demons. I read it in one sitting. I was ready to give it a five star rating but the ending didn’t pack the punch I needed. 4.5 stars though! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This book is over the top, uncomfortable, and full of drama--but I had the best time with it!!! It's exactly what I needed at just the right time. Loved how it all came together in the end. (And I really think I LOVE books that take place at a vacation home in Italy 😍)

Another great breed by Hawkins. Her stories are captivating and full of good mystery. I enjoyed this one as well as her previous books. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a solid 4 for me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been drawn into a book and stayed up into the late hours of the night reading. I loved and hated these complicated characters, and I’m glad they kept me guessing throughout.

I felt the bit with Em and Chess during the climax of the book was a bit forced. It was hard to believe Chess after everything.

The twist at the end, though, was beautifully executed!