Emily and Chess were best friends growing up, but went their separate ways into adulthood. Now in their 30s, Chess invites Emily to stay in an Italian villa for the summer to rekindle their friendship. In 1974, famous rock star Neil Gordon stayed in the same villa with a group of people, but the summer ended tragically with a murder. Emily quickly becomes fascinated with the history of the villa and begins digging into the past. As she uncovers dark secrets from the past, she also discovers betrayals from the present. As the summer reaches an end, the history of the villa is dangerously close to repeating itself.

First off, I loved the setting of this book. I also love that the POV jumps back and forth between 1974 and present day, both at the villa. This book was a quick read, clocking in under 300 pages, which I always appreciate to help a book from feeling dragged out. I found both timelines to be equally interesting, but was left feeling like I wanted more from the ending.

The Villa is a story of four different women caught in a web of deceit by their significant others. Rachel Hawkins begins her novel in Orvieto, Italy in 1974 and alternates between the past and present. The theory that "Houses Remember" is demonstrated throughout the story of these four women whose only real connection is a mystery about a murder in 1974 in a beautiful Villa in Orvieto, Italy. Hawkins brilliantly weaves connections between the past and present as she lures the reader into dark, twisted secrets; suspicious loyalties; and deadly encounters. A must-read thriller!
#thankyouNETGALLEYfortheprivilegeofreadingthisARC!

Equally captivating dual timelines intertwine as The Villa progresses, showcasing Hawkins' masterful ability to create enthralling characters who take the concept of an unreliable narrator to ingenious new heights. Witty commentary on self-help and true crime blends seamlessly with eerie gothic elements in this inventive and thought-provoking tale that delves into the sinister side of artistic genius and the destructive effects of toxic relationships...Fans of suspenseful, eerie, and multi-layered thrillers will be enthralled by their suspenseful stay at The Villa.

This was my last read of 2022 and I certainly went out with a bang.

Knowing this had a play on the whole Mary Shelly/Percy Shelly/Lord Bryon and Claire Clairmont I was ready to dive in and see how the author would reimagine the story. Being a fan of Rachel Hawkins previous reimaginings I was ready to dive in.

I love that the author stayed close to the real names with her fictional ones; Mary/Mari, Percy/Pierce, Claire/Lara (I LOVE that Lara's full name was such a true play on Claire's!) and Noel GORDON/Lord George GORDON Byron and Johnnie/John Polidori. The setting of the Villa is not exactly the setting of the estate of the infamous night of writing where Mary Shelly creates Frankenstein but it did have that feeling of not being able to escape and that there is the setting for this story which is totally it's own regardless of what influenced it.

I read this as fast as I could while trying to preserve what I was getting on each and every page. I like how there are three stories woven into one take that presents us with the thriller that is The Villa. We have Emily with her broken marriage, her inability to write to her current deadline and her best friend Chess who's back in the picture with her self help books/empire. The names, THE NAMES in this book! I swear they are another character all together and I did spent some time looking them up to see what they meant. I mean, Emily means "rival" and Emily definitely is in all forms. And just the fact that Chess and Lara change their first names to match their last... it's all so freaking fracking meta and I loved it.

But back to the story.

Emily and Chess are headed to The Villa Aestas for a summer of bonding, relaxing and getting some writing done for both women. That the Villa is a "murder house" intrigues Emily who writes Cozy Mysteries and has a passion for research. Quick shout out to the author for mentioning Victoria Holt for Gothic Mysteries! But the Villa, as we learn in Mari's book Lilith Rising, Houses Remember and this house...if the walls could talk!

Emily can't let the feeling of the house go and starts to look up the murder in 1974. I like the two time lines that give us Mari telling the story of the 70's and how the foursome plus Johnnie spend their days. And Emily leading us through her reawakening with finding and reading Lilith Rising, her divorce journey and how her best friend fits into it all. There are so many layers to this story that I felt like I kept peeling and onion and my eyes would sting with the next secret revealed. I loved all the writing that went into both stories; the writing of stories, memoirs and music. Writing is definitely a central theme of this one.

Goodness, I don't think I have said anything important about this book but I'm afraid to say too much and spoil it. I just loved the mystery aspect and how we think we are given the actual ending only to have that last twist thrust upon us. Twists are good and this is full of them.

I guess what I want to say is that the book was amazing and I would love to read Lilith Rising plus the other stories mentioned and wish that Aestas was an actual album but I'll just go listen to my vinyl of Tapestry and Rumors to soothe my soul.

I enjoyed this one a lot, very well-developed characters and an intriguing story. I will say there’s not much excitement or tension as far as thrillers go but I was enjoying it enough that I didn’t really notice that until after. I really appreciated the themes about controlling your own narrative

Fast paced, told from multiple timelines that all come together at a villa in Italy. Emily and Chess have been friends for 20 years. Emily writes cozy mysteries and Chess writes self help and is an influencer. Emily is always comparing herself to Chess, to me their friendship seemed really toxic but that's probably the point. There is a story within a story with a murder occurring at the villa decades ago. Really well told and highly recommend if you're in the mood for a fast paced mystery/thriller.

Tag line: A dark story reminiscent of Daisy Jones & the Six, The Villa is sure to sweep you up into its pages.

Full review to come on FreshFiction.com.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this one!

THE VILLA review

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🍋I went into this book with mixed expectations. I’ve read both of Rachel’s other thrillers and loved one (The Wife Upstairs) and didn’t love the other (Reckless Girls). I walked away from this one with mixed feelings. The premise was very intriguing (a book within a book vibes), but I had a hard time getting invested in the story.

🍋Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
Chess and Emily have been childhood besties, even though their friendship has strained as adults. When Chess invites Emily to spend the summer at an Italian Villa, it’s an offer Emily can’t refuse. The Villa is now the picture of luxury, but it was the site of a gruesome murder in 1974. As the summer unfolds, Emily can’t help but dig into the past and finds that what happened at the Villa in 1974 might be more twisted than anyone knew.

🍋This story was told with dual timelines, flipping between the present and summer of 1974. Tbh, I never really cared about the flashbacks. I didn’t care about the past or the characters from back then and found myself rushing through the flashbacks to get to the present storyline. Dual POVs/timelines can be hit or miss for me, and this time it was a miss. However, I was still caught off guard by the ending and honestly have some questions about it. I still don’t fully trust some of these characters even though I’ve finished the book.

I definitely enjoyed this one more than Hawkins two other works that I've read - The Reckless Girls and The Wife Upstairs. However, I think a common theme for me is that these thrillers just don't feel "thrilling". I enjoyed the dual timeline and thought that was executed really well. I also liked the Fleetwood Mac vibes, but honestly that's a theme that's been done quite a bit lately so I would have liked to see something a little more original. Otherwise, I think this was just a very intriguing book.

Review to come to Bookstagram in January 2023.

Rachel Hawkins writes great twisty books where you aren't really sure who to root for. I devoured The Wife Upstairs, a modern version of Jane Eyre. Her follow up, Reckless girls was dark and suspenseful, an interesting contrast to the idyllic island setting.

I enjoyed her latest book, The Villa, there are two timelines set at the same Villa in Italy, though decades apart. One timeline is set in the 70s and follows 19 year-old step sisters Lara and Marie. They spend the summer their with musicians (one famous, one aspiring) and their drug dealer.

The second timeline is set in the present and follows childhood best friends, who are now in their 30s, Chess and Emily. Emily is down in the dumps dealing with a painful divorce, recovering from an mystery illness, and unable to gather the energy to write the 10th novel of her cozy mystery series. Chess, a wildly successful influencer and self-help writer, invites Emily for a summer at a villa she has rented in Italy.

Emily reluctantly agrees, even though it's a murder villa. Technically just one murder, many years ago when sisters Lara and Marie stayed there.

The dual timeline, podcast episode and novel experts sprinkled in was an interesting format. I do wish there was a bit more character development in both timelines. All in all, Rachel Hawkins is an author I will continue to follow. I do hope they make this into an HBO limited series as that would be pretty meta..

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Marten's press for this ARC for my honest review.

The Villa is my favorite Hawkins book so far. “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--The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.”

Emily, an author in a rut, and her best friend, Chess, social media star turned best selling author, go to Italy to get away and rekindle their friendship. They’re staying a villa famous for being rented in the 70s by musicians and an author that went on to write a best selling horror novel after one of the musicians was murdered there. Emily stumbles upon clues leading her to believe the murder was more sinister than a rockstar party gone wrong. As tensions rise in the house between Emily and Chess in present day, you can’t shake the ominous feeling that something is going to happen again in that house.

I didn’t realize this book was inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and Percy and Mary Shelley prior to reading it (yeah- I didn’t read the blurb and pretty much went in blindly when I was sent the widget from the publisher). I felt the vibes throughout though and kind of love the book more now that I know the inspiration behind it. I liked the two timelines leading up to the twists in both the past and present. Not what I expected but in a good way. I can’t say much without spoilers but this is a great escape of a book.

I was fortunate to be sent an audio copy in addition to an e-galley so I was able to go back and forth between listening and reading on my kindle. The audio version had fantastic narrators, one of them being one of my favorites, Julia Whelan.

The Villa is available tomorrow 1.3.22!

Thanks @stmartinspress for sending this eARC and also @macmillan.audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

Emily is not doing well, her husband left her and is now suing her for more than he is entitled to. Her career is stalling as she struggles to write her next book and an unknown illness keeps her in a constant state of worry. So when her best “frenemy” invites her for a summer at an Italian Villa to get away and focus on her writing, Emily can’t say no.
But Houses Remember, and this house remembers long buried and deadly secrets.
Secrets that Emily is determined to uncover.

This book kept me interested.
I love a dual timeline story and uncovering this mystery along with Em was really fun. The ending is so dark and twisted and perfectly full circle.

First read of 2023 and so happy about it. I absolutely loved the premise of this thriller! Two very parallel stories of women vacationing in a Villa for the summer in Italy- one in the 70’s and one present day. There’s so much to their stories to align, but at the same time so different. The present day guests are uncovering secrets of the past while attempting to work on their new books. The whole idea and how this book was written was wonderful!

A lot of reviews I’ve read on it so far have said it was a slow burn, and I wouldn’t personally have described it as such. It’s definitely not your typical thriller but I enjoyed that about it.

Bonus points: the setting totally felt like the villa portion of season 2 of White Lotus!

The Villa by Rachel Hawking is more than one mystery, it is two mysteries in one. I found the storyline between Chess and Emily to be the most interesting. The two girls have been best friends since they were young. Life in their thirties divided them because of their busy lives as writers. Now getting divorced and her writing stalled Emily gets an invite from Chess to join her in the Filla Aestas in Italy. What an opportunity for Emily (a mystery writer) to get her creativity going again. The house contains a long lost mystery.

In 1974, there was another mystery in the villa. Mari, Lara and Pierce are involved in creating along with lots of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Mari writes her greatest book ever. Pierce Sheldon however ends up getting brutally killed.

There is a lot of intense mystery in this book. I did not like all of the switch back and forth as much as I would have just liked one story.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for an opportunity to read and review this book.

Looking for a good book, this book is released January 3.

Having loved RECKLESS GIRLS (good beach read), I was excited to read THE VILLA! This story is told in two time periods. Present Day: Emily and Chess were childhood friends and are now well-known writers who are spending the summer in an Italian villa. Emily, our present-day narrator writes cozy mysteries and while going through a divorce to Matt, she has writer’s block while writing her latest book. Chess is a successful writer of self-help books. The second time period takes place in the 1970s and five “friends” are staying at the villa. Rock stars Noel Gordon and Pierce Sheldon along with his girlfriend Mari, a writer, her stepsister Lara, a song writer, and Johnny, the drug supplier. According to the blurb about the book, they represent the Manson murders and Fleetwood Mac. Sounds good!

This 288 page book felt like a 400 page book. It definitely is not a beach read. I found after reading about 30 percent of the book, I had to start again and take notes. I became confused between the characters and who belonged to what time periods. Around 45 percent of the book, I became invested in the story and found myself totally invested. The resolution came rather quickly and I was not impressed. I think there was work to do on the ending, I also think there is work to do on the Emily and Matt back story. My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

I was so intrigued by this book before I started it and it didn’t disappoint. Emily and Chess were inseparable when they were younger but the pressures of adulting got in the way so they take a girl’s trip to Italy to reconnect. With a plan to stay in a beautiful villa, they soon find out that the villa is also a known murder house - being the setting for the murder of an up and coming musician, Pierce Sheldon back in 1974.
The more I read, the more I was hooked by the characters. It can seem a bit confusing at first because you’re bouncing between present day Em & Chess, the 1974 crew (Mari, Lara, Pierce, Noel, and Johnnie), parts of Lilith Rising (the book written by Mari), and Aestas (the album written by Lara). The present day timeline was always yanking me back in: Emily’s interest in the murders, Chess’s self-centered vibe, and Matt - Emily’s ex who is dragging her through a messy divorce; they kept me quickly turning the pages.
I was able to deduce where the story was going but I didn’t mind. The important part is the journey to get there. And we’re given some twists along the way from both present day and 1974.
Definitely a page turner and I had to sit on the ending for a minute to determine how I felt about everything that unraveled. The answer, I feel good. An great first read of the month!

Emily and Chess have been best friends for years, but, as the girls get older life throws curveballs their way, and things start to get complicated. Emily became a famous fiction writer, who mysteriously got sick during the height of her career. Her sickness led to a slowdown in writing, her husband left her, and overall, her life is a mess.

Chess took another route- the self-care spiritual journey. Becoming a huge bestseller, she continues to get blonder and richer as her success climbs. When Chess suggests she and Emily take a writing retreat in a villa in Italy, Emily buys a plane ticket and takes off!

Luckily for Emily, the Villa is a writer's dream. Villa Aestas was once known as Villa Rosato and was used as the writing place for one of the most poignant women-written horror stories of all time. It was also the scene of a brutal murder. Moving away from her breezy fiction, Emily delves into the Villa's history and is amazed at what she finds.

The more she writes, the more strained her relationship becomes from Chess. What secrets will the Villa reveal in their relationship? Will there be another murder before summer's end?

While I'm usually not a fan. of the multiple plot lines and jumping from past to present, this one kept me intrigued. A quick-paced thriller, this one will keep you guessing until the very end!

The Villa tells the story of Emily, a successful author of a series of cozy mysteries who is stuck trying to complete No. 10. It doesn’t help that one of her main characters is based on her husband, whom she is divorcing. Emily’s best friend (frenemy?) invites her to The Villa, in Italy, for the summer. Intertwined with this story is one from about 40 years ago, involving a murder that happened at The Villa. I enjoyed both storylines.

This is a fast-moving, quick read. I was not crazy about some of the choices made by the MC in the current day timeline but the ending redeemed it for me and makes it a solid 4 star read.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read what will sure to be another popular book.

I think I love everything I have ever read written by Rachel Hawkins and The Villa was especially delightful! Not only did I not read the synopsis before starting (I'm hooked by a good cover), but I was pleasantly surprised by the two stories included and wish I could read Lilith Rising in real life?? (IYKYK). I loved the deeper aspects of this book (sisterhood, friendship, relationship trauma, with little murder?) and found myself not really knowing how it was going to end. This comes out tomorrow, and I think is the perfect book to transport you from January weather to warm Italy.

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

“Houses remember.”

Both the evocative first line of this book and one if the fictional books written within this story, “The Villa” offers tightly plotted suspense that explores the complexities of friendships between women.

Told in dual timelines, the book follows Emma and Chess in present-day: childhood friends who are both successful writers – albeit in very different ways – and who decide to spend the summer at a villa in Italy.

But it isn’t any villa – it’s one that inspired a best-selling book, a seminal album, and a high-profile murder back in the ‘70s. As Emma and Chess start digging into their respective projects and each other’s lives, they also become interested in the story of that summer in the ‘70s – when stepsisters Mari and Lara were muses for a rockstar and up-and-coming musician.

As the unsettling stories of Emma and Chess, and Mari ans Lara unfold, themes of toxic relationships emerge and we see the jealousy and competitiveness that can be inherent to intimate, long-term female friendships threatening to boil over.

The plotting here is taught, and as the tension built, I often found myself physically reacting. And though neither of the stories told in this book end in ways that are necessarily surprising, they are still immensely satisfying – and in ways that did take me by surprise.

3.75🌟
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