Hawkins does it again! This book is captivating & sucks you in from the very first line. Such a great story & characters. Loved every minute, couldn’t put it down. Definitely recommend!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love Rachel Hawkins newest book! So many twists and turns coinciding between two different time periods with two groups of characters. So well written. Gripping story line. Fantastic read! One of my best reads of the year! 4.5 stars!!!!

5 Stars from me!! I could not put this down. I loved the dual timelines and the descriptions of the villa made me want to hop on a plane immediately. In true Rachel Hawkins fashion I had to feverishly turn pages to piece together the story.

This was a fast read, but was unfortunately disappointing. I really wanted to like this one as I liked Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins. The storyline sounded exciting when I read the blurb and I am a sucker for any book with the setting in Italy, but it certainly fell flat for me. I found myself skimming frequently and could have guessed the ending from a mile away :(

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the e-arc.
I probably would have enjoyed this more if I wasn't expecting a suspenseful thriller - it's definitely gothic in style. I enjoy Rachel Hawkins as an author but this one didn't do anything for me. I didn't like any of the characters whatsoever. I found it incredibly boring and really struggled to finish it. And you can see the ending coming from a mile away. Well, you can't like them all.

I’m so sad to say this wasn’t one of my favorite books by this author. I absolutely adored her thriller debut, along with her YA series, but something about this one didn’t work for me. I think the balance of the past timeline and the current one was a little off for me. I much preferred the present timeline and I wish we would have had more of that. I think if we had learned about the past while within the current timeline, it would have flowed better. I would still recommend for a fun summer read!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

A new year is always something to celebrate especially when authors release new titles. The Villa is certainly on its way to being one of my favorite reads of 2023.

The location in question is found in Italy where two best friends and writers-Emily and Jessica(Chess) reunite for a vacation. Emily writes a series of cozy mysteries. Reeling from an aggressive divorce, Emily hopes she can pump out the tenth book in her mystery series. Chess is a highly successful self-help guru. Emily is a bit in awe that they're able to reconnect after more than a few years apart .But it only takes a matter of days before their friendship takes a seriously competitive and dangerous spin.

Because the villa they are staying at was the scene of a horrific murder in 1974. A young musician murdered by another. Emily becomes more and more drawn into the lives of the two women-Mari and Lara that lived there that summer. Both went on to have successful careers but would never speak of the events of that summer.

As the novel alternates between Emily and Mari, I felt myself permanently rooted to the couch and ended up devouring the whole story in one sitting. There's a good gothic fiction atmosphere that manages to hover over the story and even as it came to a conclusion, I can still feel that cloud hovering over me. Does that make me as dramatic as Emily or Mari? I guess I will let other readers be the judge of that.

Definitely lived up to my expectations.


Publication Date 03/01/23
Goodreads review published 08/01/23

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Villa.

The premise of The Villa sounded great- a blend between past and present, an Italian villa where murders took place decades ago, 2 friends away for the summer. Unfortunately, I found this book to be meh- the characters are unlikeable, the story takes forever to become interesting and by that point, I just didn’t care. There’s a slight twist at the end that was enjoyable but most of this book is predictable and lacks excitement.

The Villa
By Rachel Hawkins
Review and Rating 4⭐️

I loved It! Another brilliant story from Rachel Hawkins! The Villa is the tale of Emily and Chess, best friends who have become a little distant over recent years. Chess a self help author and influencer invites Emily a cozy mystery author to a beautiful Italian villa for the summer, hoping they can reconnect. Em accepts hoping it will be just the cure for her writer’s block.
The story within the story or dual timeline involves the 1970’s sex, drugs, and rock & roll scene. The villa is rented by a famous rock musician Noel Gordon, who invites an up and coming musician Pierce Sheldon as well as his girlfriend Mari and her sister Lara to stay. Noel is hoping to use the villa to fuel some creativity to write new music. It is not to be although Mari ends up writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time there and Lara writes her own platinum album.
Events unfold and tragedy strikes ending with the murder of Pierce Sheldon.
Back in present time, Em begins to investigate the secrets of the villa and what really happened during the summer of 1974 and in the process she uncovers secrets from her own life. Can she trust her best friend Chess?
So many twists and turns and I love Rachel Hawkins writing, I recommend you pick this one up! 4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you #Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Rachel Hawkins for providing me with an eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.



Book Rating Key
⭐️ Not Recommended
⭐️⭐️ Readable Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent Book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Near Perfect Book
***Note*** I seldom give ⭐️or ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ratings. If I feel a book is a ⭐️sometimes I just prefer to not finish reading it and not rate it. As for 5 ⭐️books, I think of those as books I would want to take with me to a deserted island 🏝️, and this means I read a whole lot of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️star books. Happy Reading!

The Villa was a fantastic read. Em is invited by her lifestyle guru best friend Chess to spend the summer at an Italian villa. Em, a mystery writer, is intrigued by the murder of an up and coming musician that occurred in this villa in the 70s. As Em and Chess’ friendship is strengthened and tested, their time at the villa begins to parallel the time spent at the villa by two women close to the murdered musician. Told in alternating viewpoints between Em and Mari, the writer girlfriend of the musician, the novel is interspersed with snippets of biographies, news articles, emails, and book excerpts. The twist at the end is fascinating and highlights the themes of friendship and women’s voices. This was an excellent novel! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Villa is a fast-paced dual-timeline thriller that leaves you wondering what really happened. Summer 1974 - the villa is rented by a rockstar to focus on writing music. He invites an up-and-coming musician, his girlfriend, and her stepsister as well as his "friend" Johnnie. By the end, a best-selling novel and hit record for the ages will be written and one will never leave the villa alive. Johnnie is charged with murder and dies by suicide in prison 6 months later. Was it just sex, drugs, and rock & roll or something else? Today, Emily and Chess spend the summer on a girl's trip rekindling their childhood friendship and working on their respective books, But is that the real purpose of the trip, or is something more sinister at play? As Emily unravels the mystery of Summer 1974, she unravels the mystery of her marriage breakup and her friendship with Chess. Nothing is what it seems, and only the house knows what really happened.

This is a cool thriller that isn't all tied up on a bow. There are a few questions left unanswered which will leave you speculating and asking, "did she or didn't she?". This is a perfect read for the "love triangle" prompt for the 2023 Popsugar reading challenge. So many triangles to choose from, lol! 4.5 stars!

The lemony cover is just gorgeous!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Rating: 3.5 stars (4 rounded up)

Two besties (or should I say frenemies) take a summer trip to Italy and stay in a villa where a murder occurred in 1974. Throughout their stay, they learn about what happened that deadly summer and use it to get over a writing slump.

This book is told through a duel timeline with multiple POV. I thought it was slow at first but it quickly grabbed my attention once all the characters and storylines were introduced. I really liked the parallels between the women’s characters from the ‘70s and the modern day timelines. I definitely liked the story line from the ‘70s better, but it came together nicely in the end with a little twist!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

La historia ha estado bien pero no me ha atrapado del todo como con libros anteriores de esta autora. A lo mejor influye que mi cabeza estaba con demasiadas cosas personales pasando. Normalmente me gustan mucho las historias contadas a dos voces y con dos lineas temporales y seguramente es una historia que releeré en un futuro y mi calificación cambie para más. Porque es un thriller que tiene parte es muy interesantes y que te invitan a seguir leyendo, aunque no puedo dejar de mencionar que también hay otras que me parecían tediosas, demasiado lentas.
Pero como siempre digo, leerlo y formarse su propia opinión.

The Villa is told with two story lines that weave together to bring light to a murder that occurred in a Villa in Italy. I liked one story line over the other and wasn’t invested in the latter story. I felt like there was too much going on. To me, this wasn’t really a thriller like Hawkins others books.

I really enjoyed this book but the ending felt rushed and I wanted more for the present day story. Overall, I enjoyed this book and Rachel Hawkins writing.

3.5 ⭐️ I went in blindly with this book. I didn’t know what to expect except I saw it often in social media.

It’s a slow burn suspense. Dual timelines which made it confusing at times. The characters were relatable but the relationship between the ‘best friends’ was a tad annoying and complex..

Despite all that, I still enjoyed it until the last few pages. What I thought it was the final conclusion, the author added a different scenario. It was baffling and unnecessary.

Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC in return for an honest review.

Not my favorite book by Rachel Hawkins. This has a lot to do with the fact that I felt like the synopsis that accompanies the book is kind of misleading. I went into this book expecting some very twisted things to happen and I kept reading and reading waiting and waiting and then when I was about 3/4 of the way through I re-read the synopsis sure I must have misunderstood, but nope...still got the same vibes so I went back to reading and then FINALLY boom...there it is....

Now, let me back up. I need to be fair. This is a book written in dual time lines-I am not a huge fan of dual time lines and usually get very easily confused about which time period we are in. This is not the case here. Rachel Hawkins does a phenomenal job of writing this story in such a way that readers are able to experience both of the stories without any of the confusion. I LOVED the parts of the book that were written in the past.

It's the present story that I struggled with. It's very obvious that while Emily and Chess may claim to be best friends they have A LOT of baggage between them. I figured out part of the twist early on but I was not expecting the outcome of the story to be what it was. However I also found the twist to be a huge let down because there was just no build up to it and then after it was kind of just left hanging. Like ok this happens and we aren't really going to give any indication it's happening prior and we aren't going to talk about it after. Taking the whole book into account and the past story with the present story it's very possible this is intentional on the author's part but I found it to take away from the story quite a bit because it seemed to me like a very sloppy tie in and so not even close to what the synopsis is suggesting the reader is going to get out of reading this book.

This book is an excellent example of how to combine historical and contemporary fiction. The parallels drawn between the stories and within the stories are creative and clever. I particularly liked Mari and Lara coming to the villa as muses and becoming the creators. I thought the connections between Pierce and Matt and the way their deaths freed their girls. The plot twist was unexpected but the overall story was more realistic that Reckless Girls but less shocking than The Wife Upstairs. So far we’ve had three settings for Rachel’s thrillers that are incredibly different but she manages to do a PHENOMENAL job of capturing the setting and ambiance of each place. My favorite setting of hers and my favorite collection of characters although maybe not my favorite plot. Highly recommend.

I enjoyed the book while I was reading it but honestly once I finished it nothing about the book really stayed with me. I usually take a couple days to do a review and after 3 days I could barely even remember the main characters name. This is the second book by this author I've read and both left me underwhelmed so I don't think I will be reading anything else by them.

4.5⭐️

<b> And, I realize, I like this story the best. The story where every mistake, every bad day, was leading me here.</b>

Emily is a writer of cozy mystery novels who is going through a divorce with her ruthless ex Matt who is out to take all the money she’s made from her book series. Chess is Emily’s oldest friend who writes self-help books, and invites Emily on a writing retreat for a summer in Italy at a famous murder house.

Mari accompanies her boyfriend, Pierce, her step-sister, Lara, and Lara’s rockstar boyfriend, Noel, and his drug dealer, Johnnie, to a villa in Italy in 1974. The group butt heads and the drama is high, but they all hope to leave the villa with new completed works. Mari uses the villa and the events that transpire as inspiration for a book, and Lara creates her first album. The book follows the two groups in tandem as we learn what really happened lead up to that night in 1974, and tensions run high between Emily and Chess.

I really liked this book! It’s fun and easy to read, and the style of it is very cool because it makes it seem as if the characters have written it. All of the men in this book absolutely suck, and their good moments are overshadowed by how awful they are. The book hints a lot that Emily’s mysterious illness and recovery were caused by Matt poisoning her, and my biggest gripe with this book is that it was explained away that Emily was just so miserable with Matt that it was making her physically ill. I guess that would have made the ending too predictable if he were poisoning her. By the end, I definitely hated Chess wholeheartedly, and I still hate her because now she will continue to manipulate Emily.

<b> Heroine is villain, villain is victim, and that colors everything that comes before in a new light.</b>