This was such a wonderful book! As expected from Rachel Hawkins this book took me on twists and turns the entire time!

Emily and Chess (Jessica) are best friends but they've drifted apart over time. They've been through so much together, but now, in their 30s, Chess is a very successful, and very famous self-help author. Emily's marriage is crumbling, and she's struggling to finish her ninth cozy mystery, which are moderate sellers, at best. Chess invites Emily to spend the summer with her in Italy at The Villa, a house where a gruesome murder took place in the 1970s.

Lara and Mari were step-sisters who stayed at The Villa with a famous rock star. Lara ended up being a famous singer-songwriter, and Mari wrote one of the greatest horror novels of all time. What really happened is a mystery, and Emily feels herself drawn to this story. She's determined to figure out what really happened and spends her time looking for clues in Mari's horror novel.

While Emily and Chess try to reconnect during the summer, the stress and tension their relationship has gone through prove too much at times. When things come to a head, secrets are revealed and tempers flare. At times the modern story eerily mimics the past of what happened in the house.

The structure took a little getting used to (a story within a story within a book) but once the many voices in this novel were established it was easy to get completely submerged into what was happening in the past and the present. This is a clever domestic psychological thriller that left me marveling at the character arcs, and the way the ending played out. psychological thriller

THE VILLA By Rachel Hawkins

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the e-arc!

MY RATING:
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I liked it

SUMMARY:
Emily and Chess are childhood best friends, even though they've both gone their own ways professionally. Emily's life pretty much falls apart, so Chess suggests the two women go to Italy for the summer and rent a villa to write. The villa that Chess and Emily rent is the same villa that rockstar Noel Gordon rented in the 70's, where a famous murder happened. Emily is intrigued by the story of the murder, and soon becomes engrossed in what happened in the villa years ago.

MY THOUGHTS:
I don't like Chess. Sorry not sorry. She had Rachel Hollis vibes and wasn't really a good friend to Emily and I'm not here for it. There were two plot lines- the 70's and present time, but they felt a little disconnected. It was more suspenseful than thriller, and the ending was pretty predictable. This was my third Rachel Hawkins book and probably I'd probably rate it at the bottom out of the three.

Happy Pub Day to The Villa by @ladyhawkins!! This was a really fun read.

What I liked:
•fast read
•two engaging timelines-I preferred the past timeline, it was very juicy but I was still eager to see what Em and Chess were up to.
•the inside look at what time and success can do to a friendship.

If you’re looking for a gothic-y women’s fiction, this is a great option!

The book switches around between last and present and points of view so much that it was a little hard and annoying to keep track of. Majority of the time I enjoyed the parts of the past and hearing from Mary until Emily starts writing The Villa and finding the clues left behind there. Then I felt more inclined to find out what was going on with her.

I think the lack of sense as to why these two stories were connected made it hard in the beginning to draw me in. But like I said once Emily begins writing I was more invested but it took a while for that to happen which is why this wasn’t a favorite of mine but had such potential to be. The setting and back story and plot was great there was just a lack of building blocks to get there and an ease of transition between the past and present. Also my friend had said she didn’t like any of the characters and I have to say I agreed. There wasn’t any draw to any of these characters.

Out now! [Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!]

Rating: 4/5 stars

Emily and Chess have been best friends since childhood, but their relationship has become a bit strained. When Chess suggests a summer in an Italian villa—a villa that was the site of an infamous murder in the 1970s, moreover—secrets begin to unravel across two timelines.

I am absolutely obsessed with the story of the creation of FRANKENSTEIN—for anyone who doesn’t know, Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley, Mary’s stepsister Claire, and John Polidori all stayed together in Switzerland for a summer, where Mary would ultimately write FRANKENSTEIN as the result of the party determining to each write a ghost story—so when I heard that Rachel Hawkins was writing a novel featuring a 1970s retelling of that very real summer (albeit with some added murder), it instantly became one of my most-anticipated reads of 2023.

Fortunately, I really enjoyed most of the book. I’ve seen some mixed reviews, and I understand any criticism that calls this book slow-moving, but I found it to be genuinely brilliant in terms of form, writing style, and the use of perspective and tone. The plot was interesting and I enjoyed the dual timeline, and the use of multiple forms of media (news clippings, etc) combined with the 1970s musician sections gave me vibes reminiscent of DAISY JONES & THE SIX.

All of that said, I ultimately took a star off the end because I just wasn’t sold on the ending. I thought I’d figured out where it was headed, but then things took a turn I didn’t expect, and the book ended in what was, to me, a pretty unsatisfying place. Still, if you’re a fan of historical/literary inspired novels and up for a somewhat slower burn, I would absolutely recommend THE VILLA.

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: retellings-but-make-them-history; meditations on friendship; slow-burn Gothic suspense

CW: Child death; drug/alcohol abuse; murder/blood; suicide (off-page).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Two alternating story lines

Emily is a down on her luck writer. Her husband has left her, she is suffering from a mysterious illness. Her greedy husband wants half of her proceeds from her series Petal. Her best friend Chess is also a writer of self help books. She is an over the top guru with many followers and is relatively wealthy and famous. Chess invites Emily to spend six weeks at Villa Aestas Orvieto Italy. Villa Aestas was formally known as Villa Rosato and The Murder House. They both hope the vacation will inspire their writing. Emily soon abandons her fluff series and begins writing about what happened at the house 50 years ago.

The summer of 1974- Mari, her boyfriend Pierce and step sister Lara join famous musician Noel and his dealer Johnny and the Villa. Noel and Pierce plan on making music together. Mari, whose parents were both famous writers, hopes to focus on writing a sequel to her mother’s novel. Add in sex, drugs and drinking and murder and it is a wild summer.

I really enjoyed this book and the dual story lines.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4772485893

This is a quick, propulsive read with intertwining story lines, 40+ years apart. Set mainly at an Italian villa and featuring two friends/frenemies, the book focuses on the protagonist's interest in the villa's recent history, including the 1970s murder of the member of a group of bohemian writers and musicians. The characters' motivations and actions were not always clear or consistent, and the coda seemed unnecessary, but nevertheless, this kept my interest throughout. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

Here’s my review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved listening to the audiobook and reading the book at the same time! The audiobook narrators did such a great job of making the story come alive with different voices for the characters and lots of animation while telling the story. I really liked the story and found the plot intriguing. The main characters were relatable so it was easy to get caught up in their drama. There are so many parallels between Mari, Emily, and the house and so much foreshadowing in the story that I couldn’t put the book down because I wanted to know how it all ended! At the end, I still questioned what really happened.

I didn’t care for all the swear words popping up regularly throughout the story. I thought it was a little much. I also didn’t think the story was all that suspenseful. In fact, it was pretty tame which is good for readers that don’t usually enjoy a gothic suspense read. I also felt the ending was a little anticlimactic. I guess I was expecting more of a shocking reveal.

Despite my dislikes, I would still recommend reading this book if you enjoy a good mystery. If you do read it, let me know your thoughts!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillian Audio for the ARC and audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

I enjoyed the present day story more than the flashbacks. I really could not bring myself to care about the rock and rollers but I do feel that if there was more to their story I would have loved it. I did love the present day story and the dynamic between the two friends. The writing was also well done.

I’m a big Rachel Hawkins fan and couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! It kept me on my toes the whole time. I loved that I was basically reading two stories in one, as I always enjoy dual timelines. She did this one so well. You’ll be kept wondering. If you like thrillers this is for you!

This was an entertaining read full of scandals. I enjoyed how The Villa’s many secrets added depth to the story. Both timelines held my attention (1970s and present day). I also enjoyed the twist at the end. This will be a title that I hand sell at my store.

<b>The past timeline explores creativity, love, betrayal, and unexpected loops of consequence--which are echoed hauntingly in the present timeline as Chess and Emily's desire for success tests the bonds of their volatile decades-long friendship.</b>

<i>The Villa</i> is the newest novel (published January 3) by Rachel Hawkins, author of <i>The Wife Upstairs</i> and <i>Reckless Girls.</i>

The story is gothic suspense told in two timelines, both at the same Italian villa, where dark mysteries and wicked turns abound.

Emily and Chess were childhood friends and were once as close as sisters--sisters who fight and snarkily undermine each other, then unfailingly reunite.

Beautiful, flighty Chess is a popular, single self-help author and influencer, while Emily, who is emerging from a mysterious long-term illness and in the middle of a contentious divorce, is the author of a successful series of cozy mysteries--but she just can't get her tenth book going. The stresses and pulls on their time have caused them to grow apart, so a writing vacation together at Villa Aestas sounds like the perfect way to reconnect.

But Emily is immediately reminded how often Chess leaves her in the lurch, and if she's honest with herself, she's not sure she can truly trust her.

As Emily digs into the villa's complicated and dark history and delves into the past, the growing tensions between Emily and Chess threaten their bonds of friendship.

Hawkins takes us back and forth from the decades-old mystery and deaths at the villa to the growing unease in the present between two women whose relationship seems destined to end in terrible consequences.

I was more solidly hooked on the past timeline because Mari felt like the most well-developed character in the book. As in Hawkins's <i>Reckless Girls,</i> I found myself disliking many of the characters, and this seems to be deliberate on the author's part, as the characters' various destructive, silly, and dangerously selfish behaviors lead to Big Trouble in both timelines here.

The "She is inevitable" references unfailingly reminded me of bad-guy Thanos's catchphrase "I am inevitable," and the Marvel mental images jarred me from this story each time that line appeared.

The end portion of the book introduces doubts about the facts as presented and offers haunting, unexpected consequences.

I received a prepublication copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.

BOOK REVIEW: The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
2023 Publication Date: January 3

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

T.I.M.E. Best Books By Genre | Best Thriller Books
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T.I.M.E. BOOK REVIEW:
An Exciting and Thrilling Read
Are you in search of the best thrillers and gothic suspense crime novels to read? If so, The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is a perfect choice. With its mysterious setting and captivating characters, this book is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Let's explore further what makes this novel such a captivating read...

Atmospheric Setting
The Villa takes place in Orvieto, Italy – a small town that has been host to some "interesting" events in its past. In 1974, the villa was infamous as the setting of a murder involving sex, drugs, and celebrity-status rock and roll.

This mysterious past provides an exciting backdrop to the present-day story of Emily and Chess’ trip away together. They are both writers and become intrigued with the story.

To make matters even more gripping, Rachel Hawkins states this crime fiction novel was inspired by Fleetwood Mac and Percy Shelley’s summer spent with Lord Byron – making it clear why readers would be so entranced by this book!

Engaging Characters
The two main characters are Emily and Chess who have been best friends since childhood but have gradually grown apart as adults. This means that their reunion is all the more special... and full of layers, personal history, and trust issues.

Emily and Chess are well-developed characters who will draw readers in from page one. We learn about their pasts through flashbacks that reveal startling truths about their relationship — and every revelation brings us closer to understanding why they act the way they do now.

Readers will be able to empathize with them as they attempt to recapture the bond they once had as children while navigating the emotional landmines adulthood has nurtured.

Hawkins further fleshes out her story by introducing secondary characters who help them unravel Orvieto’s mysteries, providing insight into local culture, and hinting at something sinister lurking beneath the surface of the cursed villa.

Furthermore, the multi-dimensional characters from the villa's history keep readers on their toes throughout. Often I felt as if I was being hypnotized into the experience of the story!

Fascinating Plot
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable friends. Now in their thirties, they have drifted apart due to the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girl's trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend — and what better way to do it than by staying at one of Italy’s most luxurious holiday homes!

The plot of The Villa follows Emily and Chess on their journey as they explore Orvieto together. However, there is much more behind what initially meets the eye.

The villa holds many secrets from its past which both Emily and Chess soon become embroiled in — each dark secret they uncover leads to another until it culminates into an exciting climax that readers won't be able to tear themselves away from!

The Writing Style
Told through alternating perspectives between the present day and 1974, The Villa masterfully builds suspense as it reveals each character’s secrets and motivations.

Rachel Hawkins repeatedly lands on The New York Times bestseller lists for good reason. Hawkins’ writing style is incredibly engaging.

She deftly weaves together the two timelines that both feel immediate and urgent. Her vivid descriptions of the Italian landscape are beautifully written and bring the story to life, while her dialogue is realistic yet poignant.

Hawkins also captures certain nuances related to female friendship that is often overlooked in stories with male protagonists — such as how these relationships ebb and flow over time.

In addition to being entertaining, The Villa is an ode to women’s strength when facing difficult obstacles together... or on their own. It is up to you whether you find this story to reveal it as inspirational... or cautionary.

What is the theme of The Villa?
The overarching theme of The Villa is that of secrets, deception, and consequences — as well as friendship and strength in the face of adversity. It examines the choices we make and the secrets we keep — with the inevitable effect they have on setting subsequent actions in motion.

Perfect for thriller fans looking for the best thrillers that will transport them away from reality into a world full of secrets and surprises — Look no further than The Villa!

The Villa is a thrilling gothic suspense novel full of unexpected twists and turns... Its' compelling storyline is accompanied by vivid descriptions of Italy's countryside and complex characters that will immerse you quickly into both timelines — keeping you enthralled until its very last page. Add this page-turner to your must-read books list...✨😎✨

Pages: 288
Genre: Best Thriller Books | Best Thriller Novels
Sub-Genre: Crime Fiction | Crime Novels
Time Period: 1974 thru Present Day
Location: Orvieto (Italy)
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK THEN TRY…
Book: The It Girl by Ruth Ware ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Movie: Mary Shelley

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
A deliciously wicked gothic suspense set at an Italian villa with a dark history...

The Villa follows Emily and Chess, two friends who have been estranged for some time. When Chess suggests a girl's trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend. They arrive at Villa Aestas in Orvieto, an estate with a dark past — it was once the site of a terrible crime... An infamous murder tale involving sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

As Emily and Chess explore their new surroundings, they find themselves drawn deeper into the villa’s deadly legacy.

For thriller fans of Gone Girl or books by Lucy Foley or Ruth Ware.

A perfect Gothic Suspense for book lovers looking for suspenseful thriller novels full of unpredictable twists and turns...

BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION:
• Suspenseful Thriller - Full of unexpected twists and turns, making it a must-read for those who love thrillers.
• Women’s Strength - This story showcases the power of female friendship and strength when facing difficult obstacles together.
• Secrets and Consequences - Examines the choices we make and how their consequences shape our future.

BOOK QUOTE:
"Another universe of might-have-beens... That's how stories should work..." — The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

--------------------

All my book reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Simple Living | Denise Wilbanks at thisismyeverybody.com/blog/what-book-should-i-read

♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I quite enjoyed this book, which is unusual for me seeing as I normally don't enjoy stories with multiple time lines. . I like the author's writing style and it's always fun to read a book within a book, so those were pros; on the con side, a lot of the characters were just plain unlikeable and the plot (including the whole set up to how they all ended up at the Villa seemed implausible. I thought the Villa would have more of a play in the book (Does it remember? Is it evil?) and was disappointed when it didn't. I think the author was trying for a feminist read, but the relationship between all the women seemed sterotypical and not at all empowering. I didn't like the end of the Emily / Chess storyline (I think one of them was more involved in the other's situation than was let on) but I was OK-ish with the resolution to the Mari / Lara storyline. I am still thinking if I liked scenario one or scenario two better, so the fact that this book is still in my head after finishing it must mean something.

This book was so good and combined so many elements I love to read. It was set mostly in Italy in a beautiful villa. It involved famous people with a mysterious murder. There were excerpts from songs and books and news stories. There were dynamic family and friend relationships. So much in this book and it all worked so well together. The end left me a little confused, but I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend.

What fun it is to sit, or lie in bed, with a read leaning/sitting/suspended above you by your boytoy at your preferred angle, and just submerge into a story. It must needs be a hefty stew, a thick and savory amalgam of tastes powerful and subtle, to get through the fog of quotidian tedium we're all settling back into in the wintry northern hemisphere. Remember it for August reading, global southerners!

Rachel Hawkins delivers a big, full bowl of it all. The middle-escent quondam besties who, in the present, are surprising themselves when they decide to spend girl-time together at one of those fabulously gorgeous rentable family seats in gloriously scenic Italy. Each woman, trying to gin up something to fulfill a publishing contract, is finding that she just is not feeling the love for anything she's got at that moment. The mystery writer's cozy series is sour for her now that her soon-to-be-ex husband is suing her for a chunk of her future royalties because she, in a moment of candor, told an interviewer that her series' most beloved character was based on him. The self-help writer's having an existential crisis because she's been fleecing desperate people by ladling out craptastic nostrums knowing full well that a trip to the Hallmark card shop would give them the same level of help and insight into their problems.

Oh dear! Silly me, saying what I really think about things again. Strike that! Of course, she's simply seeking something to afford her fresh insights and, well, what better than a friend in the middle of a rancorous divorce? (I don't in all honesty see how that's better but I'm not here to judge.) (Well, only the story I'm being told, not the realities of publishing.)

Em and Chess, in the present day, are going through the middle-escent crisis of "is this it?" and need to make their eyes see past the same-old same-old surfaces. At their gorgeous holiday Villa Aestas, they learn to listen to themselves more carefully as the delicious herbal remedy of being in Italy brings up things neither was ever planning to work through, or even acknowledge...admit. That stew has tough cuts of meat that just about break your jaw muscles to chew....

Their motivation to do that tough work is the fifty-years-gone history of Villa Aestas. Golden-boy rocker, two teenaged girls in love with his fame and poetry, a Svengali older man...all of twenty-six!...who guides the group into a Byron-and-Shelley creative ferment that he uses to elicit full-body responses to the sexual tensions inevitable in this situation. Tell me how any writer of anything at all could resist poking this spiritual sore tooth! And the existence of a memoir-by-novel about it, telling a story so soppily romantic that you just know a teenager wrote it. Should they, and we, trust the story we're told here, the story in front of us? Emily, she of the murder-mystery instincts, doesn't seem to question Mari's published version of the 1974 events until present-day events make her think carefully for once in a long, foggy, unhappy time.

But writers, you know, writers aren't simple little souls ready to take dictation from their imaginary friends the voices. Writers (of murder mysteries, of books about changing your life) need to be ruthless and "kill their darlings." Success can breed jealousy as always, but so can a lifetime of coming up short when comparing yourself to someone else...and poets (as songwriters insist they are) are doubly susceptible to this. Add in a hefty libido and a sense of entitlement and, well....

What Author Hawkins does is not something unexpected. But what she accomplishes by bringing all the strands...the two parties visiting Villa Aestas and the book that Mari, the central voice in 1974's strands, writes...into one bundle is to scrape away the grease she's been applying to the ropes of the plot so they won't rub too hard together and weaken each other. The bare ropes of the meanings and emotions scrape and snarl and burn each other as they are suddenly and forcefully made to change the story's velocity and angle. No tangles, some fraying...I think Mari's book got just a hair (heh) more time in the spotlight than it merited...but supporting structure of the thriller parts of the story suspend their scenery and allow you to scrape your stew-bowl clean without feeling like you need to rush before it all comes crashing down. I heard some creaking from behind the scenes but, crucially, felt that this was not the ropes complaining as they got overworked in moving the parts. It was a quiet invitation from Author Hawkins to consider the thriller you've seen in its intended configuration and perspective.

And question if, just maybe, there had not been a last-minute change of plans, well laid to achieve one result, to achieve instead another result entirely.

This elevated a solid three-and-a-half stars entertainment to a four-star puzzle (despite some eye-rolling but period-appropriate homophobia). Definitely recommended to thriller fans and to the small corps of remaining lovers still thrilling to the wonderful Cary Grant did-he-or-didn't-he films of the 1940s.

This is my third book by the author so of course I could not wait to dive in. The Villa is about a woman who is in the process of divorce and decides to take a trip to Italy with her best friend from childhood. Upon traveling to Italy she discovers that a murder has occurred in the villa that they are staying in.

The book alternates between present day and the 70's and 80's where you receive the POV of Mari who stayed in the same villa with her boyfriend, step sister and two other men.

This book had me up late at night turning the pages! Rachel Hawkins writing is 100% propulsive in that way. What I had a hard time with was the two stories and overlap between both which fell just a tad bit flat for me. I would have liked to see those interconnect in a different way. That being said, I still really enjoyed the story. This would make a great vacation book!

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read an early copy!

The blurb for this book says it was inspired by Fleetwood Mac and the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle–the birthplace of Frankenstein-
and it’s as good as that sounds!
I loved Reckless Girls but I think I love this one even more- especially the 1974 storyline.
Two lifelong best friends, both writers, head to Italy for a summer of relaxing and writing. But the villa they’re staying at is a “murder house” and the story goes back and forth between the brutal murder in the ‘70s and present day. Things aren’t as they seem in either timeline, and there were some great twists that I didn’t see coming. Loved it!

I had originally read the synopsis for this book, however, by the time I was ready to read it, I had forgotten the specifics. I was pretty much going into this blind. I was ready to dive into a twisty, suspenseful thriller full of intrigue and questions. Unfortunately, that isn't what I got.

Often talked about as a thriller, I was disappointed with how slow this book felt. I didn't feel like I was reading a thriller - or book of suspense - until at least the 60% mark. If then, even. I saw a review that stated this felt more like a women's fiction with some suspense thrown in, and that's exactly how I felt while reading this book.

Without giving away too many spoilers, knowing that the Italian villa the two friends were staying in was a previous "murder house," I kept waiting for something big to happen. But what I expected didn't happen until the end of the book, and that event felt like an afterthought to me, leaving me with way too many questions that weren't answered.

I didn't care for the two characters, although I loved the idea of two old friends going to Italy for a vacation together. That is until the betrayal was revealed. Then I was kind of done, personally.

The dual time line of this book was a good addition as it helped to write the backstory of the house more, however, it felt like it was leading to more happening that didn't. I began this book by listening to the audiobook, but I was having trouble getting interested in it. I'm glad I switched over to read the book instead. It was a much easier read for me. This was a short, quick read that you can finish in no time. Overall, I didn't hate this book, I was just disappointed in the events.