Two friends (frenemies?) go to Italy to write and discover secrets about the past and present in this mystery based loosely on the time Byron and the Shelleys spent at Lake Geneva. It's an ambitious concept and most of the time it works, though the conclusion of each timeline's mystery felt rushed.

Thank you to the author & St. Martins Press for an ARC of this book. It was a fast binge read and the Italy atmosphere was lovely. However, I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction, so this was not a favorite for me. I enjoyed the multiple point of views.

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC!

Villa Aestas is haunted by the ghost of 1970's rock stardom. Emily Sheridan is haunted by her current divorce, recent health struggles, and monumental writer's block. So when her childhood best friend, women's self-help guru Chess Chandler, suggests a summer getaway to the notorious villa in Northern Italy, Emily agrees to come along. What unfolds is a twisted tale of toxic friendships, both present day and in the past, and slowly, Emily chips away at the secrets the wall of the villa holds.

I really enjoyed this, completing the novel in less than two days. I loved the mixed media form of storytelling and found both Mari and Emily to be deeply complex, complicated women, the truth of their respective stories dying to be heard.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this mystery, but I wouldn’t consider it to be suspenseful. The format of the writing was great, switching timelines between 1970s and present day. I liked how the story slowly unfolded, but I was able to figure things out from both timelines pretty quickly. There was one twist thrown in the end, but it was anticlimactic.

Overall this was a fast paced, fun read.

I really enjoyed this book. My favorite scenes were the present day ones between the main character and Chess. I didn’t understand why she was friends with Chess and that made me want more. The twist at the end was unexpected.

Fleetwood Mac rock 'n' roll drama + 1970s feminist horror novel + gothic Italian villa + frenemy friendships = "The Villa," the best suspense novel Rachel Hawkins has written yet.

I’ve read and enjoyed both of Hawkins’s previous novels, "The Wife Upstairs" and "Reckless Girls," but "The Villa" is in a class of its own. Featuring dual timelines, the novel follows two writers, Mari in 1974 and Emily in the present day, as they summer at the same gorgeous villa in Italy, decades apart. The women’s days are spent writing, and while Mari’s time in Italy ends with the murder of her musician boyfriend, Emily unexpectedly finds herself uncovering the mystery of what really happened the night Mari’s boyfriend died.

I was taken with "The Villa" immediately. By far, it has the tightest plotting I've seen from Hawkins to date. Both Mari and Emily’s storylines are intriguing and written skillfully, allowing Hawkins to draw interesting parallels between the lives of the two lead characters. She also does a great job of ratcheting up the intrigue by inserting news articles, song lyrics, and excerpts from Mari’s horror novel into the narrative.

It's not often that I rate a suspense or thriller novel five stars, but after devouring "The Villa" in three days, I can think of no reason to rate it any lower. It’s a riveting read. Complex and multilayered.

It's surprising, too. Watch out for that ending.


My sincerest appreciation to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own.

This book grabbed me from the first chapter and didn’t let go until the last word. I loved the dual timelines and the shifting points of view, they worked seamlessly together. I loved that this book was female focused and I felt connected to them in a really unique way. The parallels between the two sets of women and the way their stories played out was really well done. Also, that ending was so perfect, I was not expecting that last bit and it really surprised me in the best way! Solid thriller!

I did like the book within a book storyline, but I had trouble caring about any of the characters. The story dragged a little too much but did ramp up towards the end, which was the best part of the book.

Chess and Emily have been friends since elementary school, both are writers. Chess writes self help books and is wildly successful while Emily writes cozy mysteries about Petal Bloom. Emily has been ill the past couple of years and her husband couldn't handle it, had an affair and now they are going through a messy divorce. Chess rents a villa in Italy for her and Emily to relax and get back into writing. Villa Aestas was the scene of a murder in 1974 and Emily becomes fascinating with the story. There were two time lines, one in 1974 with Mari, Pierce, Lara and Noel. The second is present day with Chess and Emily. Throw in the transcript of some podcasts, magazine articles and a book and it could be confusing. I didn't find any of the characters likeable although the setting of the Villa and the town of Orvieto were very good. There were no big aha moments, a lot of the twists didn't feel like twists at all but kind of cliche. Quite honestly I didn't know what to make of the ending.

I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital copy to read.

This mystery follows childhood friends Emily and Chess. They used to be inseparable, but have grown apart in recent years due to demands in their professional and personal lives. However, after meeting one day for lunch, Chess invites recently divorced and writer's blocked Emily to a trip to Italy to kick start the creative juices. They're staying at Villa Aestas, a high-end vacation rental now, but was the scene of a murder in 1974 involving a notorious rock star, an up-and-coming musician, his girlfriend, and her sister. As Emily digs into the Villa's history, she realizes the horror novel written by one of the 1974 group might be more related to the events of that summer than she originally thought. As Emily's investigation deepens, the tension grows between her and Chess - and when secrets from the past are revealed, the villa might claim another victim.

The dual timeline was used to perfection in this story. I absolutely loved both timelines and the ways they intersected. We are told the general outcome of the past timeline early on - someone ends up dead, there's a murder trial - but we don't know the details until later on in the book so it was fun following that timeline and trying to guess how it would all play out. The present day timeline was more focused on the interpersonal dynamic/tension between Emily and Chess rather than Emily's eventual research into the events in 1974. I thought this difference was a nice touch because then we don't have too much duplication of seeing something happen in 1974 in the past timeline and then having to read about it again when Emily finds out about it.

We have a handful of very colorful characters in this read which made it even more fun. Emily is the most bland of the characters - but not in an underdeveloped way. She's just simply the most regular person in contrast to all of these very colorful and enigmatic other characters. Since she's the most 'normal' person as well as our main character, she easily acts as bit of a reader stand-in. I think we get a good amount of Emily and Chess's backstory but I would have liked a little more from their relationship. Early on in their stay at the villa, we do get a little bit of them reminiscing and I think more of that would have really strengthened their connection on-page for me. I loved all of our 1974 characters and found them to be pretty colorful characters but managing to still feel believable and not cross the line into caricature.

There's a really interesting mix of tones in this book. We get some good creepy gothic house vibes, especially when Emily is at the height of her investigation and she's searching the house. But that is contrasted with the rest of the setting being a luxurious Italian villa during the summer. I really enjoy these stories that have this mix, especially when the darker, gothic parts are the unexpected undertones. This is my third read from Hawkins and I think this is a balance that she does well in a lot of her books and it always works well for me. This balance is also present in both timelines to different extents which, again, made this a really fun read.

The ending reveal I think is going to be pretty divisive, but I absolutely loved it. We get a couple of big reveals in pretty quick succession toward the end and while some were what I was expecting, a few were not. We also get a bit of a timejump at the end that I wish we had gotten a bit more of those events on page. It felt like we fast-forwarded over the climax of the book and I was a little bummed. However, we do get the after-effects of those events which were interesting and left the ending a bit open.

Overall, this was a really fun read and solidified Hawkins as an insta-read author for me. I loved the use of the dual timeline and the setting was fantastic.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC

Expected publication date is January 3, 2023

I'm a little torn on how to rate this. I love Hawkin's writing - it was a really easy read and enjoyable. However, I didn't really care for the plot all that much. It switches timelines and at first I didn't care for the 1974 version but then as I was reading it really grew on me! I didn't like Chess and while that was the point I felt like it triggered me a little bit. This was probably a 4 star read but just some parts just didn't sit well with me.

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a luxury rental known for a murder of an up-and-coming musician in the 1970s.

Emily and Chess have been best friends since they were kids, Although their relationship has been a bit strained during recent years. The two seem to have a competitive streak; more frenemies than anything. When Emily begins going through a divorce, Chess invites her to Villa Aestas for the summer to reconnect and hopefully give her some inspiration to start writing again. Both being writers, they are simultaneously working on their next books while on this mini vacation.

While at Villa Aestas, Emily starts to become obsessed with the story of the group who stayed there that fateful 1970's summer that ended in murder. The two women who were thought to be muses during that time, ended up writing an acclaimed horror novel and an iconic music album. Emily specifically feels a kinship with Mari the writer, being a writer herself. The story switches between the two timelines with Emily finding hidden letters from Mari that give a little more insight to what happened that fateful night. Or do they?

I thought this was an interesting and enjoyable read. I liked the alternating timelines and the sisterly/best friend tension between the two sets of girls. Although it includes some mystery and dark scenic vibes, I'm not really sure what to classify this novel as. Originally I thought it was a thriller but it was actually much more than that. This story intricately focuses on relationships and how they affect each others lives and decisions. Also, the twists give you something to think about even after the story is done. This was my second Rachel Hawkins read and I like what she did with each novel. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

A solid 3.5 stars. This book was a fun mystery thriller that gives White Lotus vibes while pulling from multiple timelines. Mostly set in Italy, we have 2 sets of creatives finding themselves inspired by the same villa 50 years apart. Everything can be found by these artists during their stays; sex, drugs, rock n roll, sisterhood, secrets and murder. Check this one out for a nice breezy vacation read

Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress, @librofm and @macmillian.audio for the ARC and audios!

This is the second book by Hawkins that I have read and have enjoyed. Taking place between 2 timelines (1974 and present day), we head to Villa Aestas in Orvieto Italy. Between the two timelines, we see different minds creating their art, but what kind of thriller would this be if chaos didnt start?

I enjoyed the chaos, and the mystery surrounding the Villa. There were something’s that if I figured out for myself, and a couple things I would have liked more details on. But overall I really enjoyed it. I ended up switching back and forth form the kindle to the audio while I was on vacation which made it more enjoyable.

I have read 3 of Rachel Hawkins’ books now and have enjoyed them all. I liked the history of the villa being a main plot point as well as the dual time lines. In the beginning it was difficult to remember all the relationships but as the story progressed it became easier. The ending seemed like it wrapped up a little too nicely but still a fun thriller ride!

📚: The Villa by Rachel Hawkins (@ladyhawkins)
⭐️: 4/5

The Villa is a gothic thriller taking place at Villa Aestas (as it’s called in the current day) in Orvieto, Italy. With dual then-and-now narratives, we hear of the villa’s dark past in 1974 with five artists (musicians, writers, and the like) and its equally unsettling current day summer renters, best friends Chess and Emily. As the book opens, we realize throughout the plot that houses remember - and this villa has a lot to remember.

A highly anticipated 2023 release, The Villa is fast paced and gripping, with a twist at the end that’s kept me thinking. I could not put The Villa down, and it’s by far my favorite Rachel Hawkins book yet.

Big thanks to @stmartinspress via @netgalley for the digital ARC in return for an honest review, The Villa is out this week on January 3rd. #gifted

The Villa is a dual timeline story about Mari and Emily, and their time at Villa Aestas outside of Oriveto, Italy.
Emily is an author in the middle of a divorce having difficulty writing the next installment to her popular cozy mystery series. When her friend Chess invites her to Villa Aestas for the summer, she jumps at the opportunity to find her inspiration again.
Mari, her sister Lara and her boyfriend Pierce are invited to Villa Aestas in the summer of 1974 by Lara's boyfriend, rockstar Noel. During that summer, a horrific murder is committed. Mari leaves Villa Aestas having written one of the most popular horror novels.
Emily is inspired by the story of Villa Aestas and decides to investigate what really happened that summer.
I have enjoyed all of Rachel Hawkin's thrillers, and The Villa was no different. There was tension and I didn't guess the twists. I look forward to reading whatever Rachel Hawkin's comes out with next.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Rachel Hawkins for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Villa coming out January 3, 2023. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Emily and Chess were best friends when they were kids. But by their 30s, their bond has been weakened by leading their separate lives. When Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily takes the opportunity to reconnect with her old best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end vacation destination now. However, in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato. A popular rock star, Noel Gordon, rented it for the summer. Noel invites newcomer musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. This vacation sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the most iconic horror novels and Lara composing an award-winning album. But it also ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.

As Emily delves into the villa’s dark history, she discovers there’s more to the story of that summer of 1974. Maybe Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more evil might have happened––and that there might be clues hidden in the celebrated works of Mari and Lara. 

As Emily gets closer to the truth, she senses more tension developing between her and Chess. Secrets from the past surface and betrayals from the present emerge. There may be another victim in the Villa before summer ends.

This book was inspired by the music of Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the summer the Shelleys spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle.

This was the first book I’ve read by Rachel Hawkins. I’ve listened to the Wife Upstairs and really enjoyed it. I loved this book! I thought it was well-written and fun. I love psychological thrillers that are concise. I love stories about writers and book publishing. I think Emily and Chess’ story was more interesting to me. There were some things at the end that I didn’t care for. I don’t like cheating plots. Mari and Lara had their moments that I enjoyed, but their end felt a little predictable to me. Even so, I loved the story and the inspiration behind it.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers about writers and secluded summer vacation spots!

Real Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars

Sometimes I’m reading a book and I can’t help but think where the idea came from–where the genesis of the book started for the author. In this case, a rather famous handful of days when an intimate and libertine group of writers and philosophers spent during a handful of interminably rainy days near Geneva, Switzerland in 1816 in a home known as Villa Diodati is what immediately what jumped into my head, and the various tales and known facts of what happened at Villa Diodati among Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin (the future Mary Shelley), John William Polidori (Shelley’s personal physician), and Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont. Mary wrote the first draft of the novel that would become Frankenstein, Polidori wrote The Vampyre, Byron finished up works he had been stuck on, and Claire Clairmont entered into a very short affair with Byron that produced a child she had no means to care for (the child was raised by Byron and his family). Byron proclaimed to hate her and that she was to stay away, but she held onto her obsession with him for years and never married. Percy Bysshe Shelley died a mere six years after the events at Villa Diodati in a sailing accident after a good many years of being in poor health and suffering from severe depression.

So you can see where, when I start to read a book where one timeline is about two best friends who are staying in a villa one summer where, in the past, a group of artists (a writer and three musicians), who are all rather bohemian and fluid in their relationships, all went through a few weeks where a similar (but not same) set of events happened…I wonder if this is a case of coincidence or if the author knew of this tale, cocked her head and said, “If you rework this some, it would make a great idea for a book”.

The thing is: it really does make for a great book idea in the way Rachel Hawkins plotted out the story. This story of covetousness, selfishness, predation, not asking but just taking, male entitlement, female silence, being forced into corners, mental illness, creation, destruction, and Faustian deals.

The problem is: predictability. I knew where this book was going and how it was likely going to end before I hit the 20% mark. I knew what was going on between the best friends in the present timeline, and I knew what was going on and how it was pretty much going to end in the past timeline. So while the writing was entertaining and engaging enough to keep me reading, the enjoyment of reading the book was affected by the book being so predictable. And that begs a follow-up criticism: I can’t be the only one who found it that predictable, which means it’s not just me that’s going to be disappointed by that fact.

Do I still recommend it? Sure. It’s a fun read. I won’t tell you to run out and buy it right now or that you absolutely must read it, but if you happen to like these type of books, why not give it a whirl?

Thanks go out to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for granting me early access to this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

File Under: Crime Fiction/General Fiction/Psychological Fiction/Suspense Mystery/Women’s Fiction

I tend to really enjoy Rachel Hawkins’ thrillers, and while I definitely enjoyed this one too, it’s SO different from her others – and from most other books I’ve read to date.

A book within a book, this story covers a woman’s divorce and vacation escape with her best friend where they stay at a villa in Italy. Only, once there, Emily dives into the history of the famous murder that occurred there 30 years ago. While digging through the past, she discovers one of the individuals who had been involved, Mari, wrote one of the most famous horror novels to date – and within these pages are apparently hints to what truly happened there all those years ago.

Emily settles in and finds her love of writing again while discovering the truth of the past and writing a tell-all while simultaneously battling her ex-husband and her so-called best friend.

There are a lot of parallels to draw between the past and the present, and it’s easy to get lost in the drama between the characters in both time periods in this story, but sometimes getting lost is the best part.