The premise of this book gave me so much hope but really fell flat for me. The first half of the book was very slow and that's not something I gravitate towards with thrillers. I know the entire book can't be thrilling but I like more fast paced thrillers personally. I also am a sucker for books with dual timeline perspectives but this really was just a middle of the road thriller for me. I didn't enjoy reckless girls as much as I thought I would either, however I will be picking up Rachel Hawkins next book whenever it's available and give the author another chance.

I see a lot of raving reviews so when picking this up I hope you also enjoy it!

*I received an ARC of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins from Netgalley & St Martin's Press in return for my honest review. Thank you to both for this ebook review copy.*

Rachel Hawkins is a stellar contributor to the thriller genre, and I look forward to her continued work!

The Villa is the story of college friends going on a trip to reinvigorate their friendship. They stay at an Italian villa for a summer, and make friends along the way that accompany them. However, by the end of the summer, one friend writes one of the greatest horror novels of all time, another friend releases a record breaking album, and one is dead. 10 years later, 2 other friends attempting to reconnect visit the villa. While they are there, they discover that there may have been more to their death, horror novel, and album than the previously realized and worth both together and against each other to uncover the startling truth.
A must read for fans of gothic thrillers. Full of twists, some violence, and mysteries in all directions.

Chess and Emily used to be inseperable until their adult life came between them. When Chess suggests a girls trip to a villa in Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to spend 6 weeks rekindling their friendship. The women discover that in 1974, four famous people stayed in the house, and a chain of events lead to the murder of a young musician. As Emily finds inspiration for her next novel, she digs deeper into the Villa and its many secrets.

I stinking loved this! Apparently Rachel Hawkins' adult books are my jam, since I keep giving them 5 stars. The story is told in alternating timelines of the past and present. I think I found the 'past' chapters much more interesting as you as the reader are trying to piece together the tragic events that occurred at the Villa. I loved how the stories were interwoven with one another and almost mirrored one another. None of these characters are particularly likeable, but I think that is a staple in Hawkin's books at this point. The friendship between Emily and Chess was so toxic... I would have punched Chess out long ago if I were Em. I really enjoyed the audiobook and had a great time listening to it! I thought the inclusion of the quotations from other books, and the transcripts from podcasts about the 1970s characters was really cool and added a little extra to the book as well.

Overall, definitely recommend Rachel Hawkins as an author, I just find her books so entertaining!

This story, told in two timelines, is one of those stories that will always snag me and reel me in easily. I love the dual stories that are so parallel, yet also so different.

This starts as a girl writer getaway in Italy, but transforms to a story of betrayal and deceit.

I enjoyed both Mari’s story and Emily’s story. Though they are both described as having it easy, their lives are anything but that. They both go through serious trauma and life altering changes throughout the book.

What I didn’t love was the explanation for Emily’s sickness - it was so ridiculously phony. Even if that is a real thing, it is just such a cop out. I also didn’t enjoy the ending (which probably makes me the odd man out).

Overall, the book kept me turning pages and I was really invested in the story. It’s probably my favorite of Rachel Hawkins’s books so far. Recommend!

This had a lot of moving pieces—too many, really. There’s a present tense that’s told by Emily, an author of “cozy thrillers,” who with her self-help author frenemy, Chess, is on a summer vacation at an Italian villa that served as the scene of the murder of an up-and-coming rock star in the 70s as well as, simultaneously, the location where two female artists, Mari and Lara, created their masterpieces—a horror novel, Lilith Rising, and an album, Aestas. If you’re confused, I can’t say I blame you. Between the multiple POV, alternating timelines and interspersed podcasts, news articles, and excerpts from the aforementioned novel and album, the first half of the book was a lot to slog through, especially considering I was not all that invested in the characters or the plot.

I found myself genuinely interested around the 60% mark—thankfully, this is a short novel of only 288 pages; however, 60% still seems late in the game. There was a point right before the present-day climactic scene, where I was willing to overlook these faults and though this could potentially be a 4-star read, but all the slow building did not result in a satisfying conclusion and I finished the book feeling annoyed with Emily and the time I spent reading this.

I applaud the author for what I think she was trying to achieve by writing strong, deeply flawed female characters and drawing upon similarities between Emily and Chess, Mari and Lara; but with this many characters and less than 300 pages, we never got a deep dive into any of the characters and ultimately, it all felt superficial.

Thank you to @netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this gifted eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

TL;DR - Too many moving pieces in not enough pages and a slow build to an underwhelming, annoying conclusion.

*Puts on best impersonation of Stefon from SNL*

The hottest new book from Rachel Hawkins is the Villa. It has everything. Cozy mysteries. Self help guru millionaires. Messy Fleetwood Mac style band recording processes. Divorces. Italy. Murder. Writing in Italy. Double crosses. Everything.

Rachel Hawkins is an instabuy author for me. Set aside a good chunk of time, 3 to 4 hours. Snacks and drinks. Prepare for your day to just be entertained.

The Villa reminded me of a very specific Douglas Adams quote "that's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the Universe has that.” Rachel Hawkins has an uncanny ability to tap into everyone's unconscious paranoia. It's a very slow subtle build up and that's craftsmanship.

Recommended for fans of her other work, Alice Feeney, Megan Goldin, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Agatha Christie and paranoia mysteries.

Trigger warnings aren't spoilers - child death (on page

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

I’ve read several books this year that have been told from different time periods, but this hands down is the best one.
Two groups of friends stay in the same villa about 50 years apart in Italy.
It starts in present day with Emily and Chess who have been best friends since they were kids. Both are well known writers in their own right.
The second timeline is 1974, Mari her stepsister, Laura Mari’s boyfriend, Pierce follow rockstar, Noel Gordon to Italy to write new music.
The story flip-flops back-and-forth between each group of friends, and the things that are going on in their lives. Mary and Laura are both very young and have run off from home and are both very trapped with these two men. Emily who is going through a divorce is finding out just how horrible her husband has been during their marriage. Tragedy strikes both groups of friends and changes their lives forever.
It’s definitely one of those books that’s gonna stick with me for quite a while.

I looooved this book! I've enjoyed all of Rachel Hawkins' adult thrillers so far, but this one may be my favorite. The villa itself was so atmospheric, the characters were interesting, and I really liked the layering of the stories from different time periods.

When freedom requires sacrifice.

First of all, I can’t believe that the same brain that produced The Ex Hex created this story. The twists in this book are what Verity’s dreams are made of. The Villa is a fever dream of rock and roll, murder, and new age feminism.
It follows two friends in the present (2023) and a girl ( from the past) who ends up surviving the murder that hangs over this whole book. Tension mounts on both sides of the story and the ending is absolutely wild considering that you know the conclusion from the get go. I loved so much about this book-the rock n roll murder mystery and Emma’s friendship is so toxic. If you love a gothic murder mystery then I recommend this book!!

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

First, I have to say I love this cover. Anyone who knows me, would know that I would love it though. :)

I was able to receive an ARC from NetGalley on this one. The Villa took me a little while to get into. A woman goes on vacation with her best friend (although I'm not sure how much she actually likes her best friend) after being stressed out by her pending divorce. She finds out that this beautiful vacation home has a history and she is anxious to uncover it. (For anyone needing a dual timeline for a reading challenge, this one does.)

As far as a thriller goes, I would not say this one kept me on the edge of my seat. It was mostly predictable and not a lot of build up. But, it was a nice escape to read and towards the end I did want to know what happened next. Overall, I enjoyed the read.

It was a summer of sex, drugs, and rock n roll in 1974, when Noel Gordon invited musician Pierce, girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister Lara to a villa in Italy. Noel was trying to spark creativity in his lagging musical career, but instead the summer was filled with envy, jealousy, and eventually murder.
Now, two childhood friends have drifted apart, but when heartbroken Emily is going through a divorce and suffering from writer's block, her friend Chess invites her to an Italian villa to reconnect and hopefully start writing again. But when Emily learns that there was a long-ago murder in the house, she becomes curious and starts writing a nonfiction book about the murder rather than the cozy mystery series she's been writing. What actually happened that summer? And why is Emily starting to doubt her friend's intentions in bringing her here?
I liked the story within a story as it jumped back and forth coinciding events in the past with Emily's writing in the present. This is my third book by Rachel Hawkins, and while it's not my favorite of hers I still really enjoyed the suspense and the writing. I look forward to reading more by this thrilling author.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First of all, thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Talk about a toxic friendship. You can tell from the beginning that Em and Chess have the kind of competitive relationship that makes friends “frienemies”.

The dual timeline in this book helped provide a basis for two women to come together on a project and gave back story to the villa they were staying in. I appreciated the history of the villa being included, but don’t normally really like dual timeline.

I had some questions and theories at the end of this but I don’t want to include spoilers here. The book held my interest but I felt there was a tiny bit lacking in regards to tying up loose ends. Overall a quick enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.

I am going to start with this, I love Rachel Hawkins. Several of her books have been five stars. I give The Villa these two stars with a heavy heart. I had such high hopes for this one, and it just fell flat for me. The entire story felt rushed which made it difficult for me to connect or appreciate the story line. I still remain optimistic and hopeful for her future works.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I love Rachel Hawkins so when I was granted access I couldnt wait to see what was in store. The very opening line "Houses remember" already haunted me and pulled me into the story. Two best friends spend a summer in a villa in Italy where a murder occurred decades before. Will they make it out untainted is the question that follows you as you read along. Readers are going to love the twists in this one.

This was my first Rachel Hawkins book and it was pretty good!
I enjoyed the multiple POVs and timelines but I found the chapters to be a too long. It is sometimes difficult for me to stay invested in a book unless I am really drawn into the story line, so the long chapters were a slight hindrance since I was not completely fascinated. My interest varied from chapter to chapter, and I thought that little was happening in certain chapters. But, I did like the setting and will mention that I preferred reading from Emily's point of view and seeing how she investigated the circumstances behind what happened.

My overall impression of the story was positive. It's likely that I'll read her other books, about which l've heard wonderful things. This one appeared to have mixed reviews - you either liked it or it seemed to fall short of the mark.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

*3.5 stars rounded up

Emily and Chess were best friends as kids but as their adult lives take them in different directions, their friendship isn't as strong. Until one day they meet for lunch and Chess invites Emily to join her at a villa in Italy, so they can both work on their writing. Back in 1974 this villa had a murder among friends who were in the world of rock music. Noel invites his friend Pierce to the villa to write songs. With a group of friends working on their music, one of them, Mari, is writing a murder mystery. As tensions build, Pierce is murdered. For Emily and Chess, their tensions are building as well and some buried secrets between them come out. The two stories have some similarities and some buried secrets. I read & listened to this book in a day! My thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Goodreads for an early copy of the e-book, audio, and paperback. A beautiful cover to set the mood at a lovely Italian villa....that holds secrets only the house remembers.

I was a bit skeptical going into this read. Rachel Hawkins’s previous books have not been my favorite, but this one is by far my favorite from her. I really enjoyed this.
Two best friends decide to spend the summer at an Italian Villa with a sinister past. Emily wants to escape her life where she’s stalled on writing her next book and is going through a tough divorce. Her best friend Chess, who is a famous self help guru, wants to finish her current book while also helping Emily regain control of her life. Emily dives into learning more about the past of the Villa while also wondering about Chess’s true intentions of bringing her to the Villa.
I really enjoyed the story within a story. I enjoyed the build up of Mari’s story because I genuinely didn’t know how it would end. Each little reveal felt like a fun surprise and I kept wondering where it would lead.
There was only one part of the book that didn’t really make sense to me and felt like a bit of a stretch. I hoped for something more sinister, but the reveal was lackluster.
I would definitely recommend this book for fans of slow burn thrillers.

Wow. This book was easily in my top ten for the year! The Villa basically has two plot lines: in present day focusing on cozy mystery writer Emily Sheridan and her self-help famous best friend Chess Chandler, and in the seventies focusing on a writer, a couple of aspiring musicians, and a rockstar. The setting of the novel is a character in and of itself, with both timelines taking place in the same Italian villa years apart. This story was fantastic and the author handled the switching of timelines seamlessly. I loved the characters, especially those from the seventies timeline. I wish there was more character development within the present day characters, but it’s a very small criticism. I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone I know!

I was quite taken with this book. It’s about love thwarted, lies, friendship, creativity, and betrayal.
Suspended between current day and mostly 1974, readers get acquainted with Mari, Pierce, Lara, Noel, Johnnie, Chess, and Emily.
I liked the present narrative the best, although I guessed some of the major plot points early on.
Hawkins depicts the environment of the 1970s and paints a reliable picture Of the inhabitants of the Villa.
The only person I cared for was Emily, but I found her to be extremely gullible and way too trusting, especially after she discovered a major revelation before Chess confessed.
There is a lot to ponder in this book.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins was such a smart, claustrophobic, suspenseful ball of fun and a really enjoyable read. We are following two different timelines here and tension is built expertly by Rachel Hawkins leaving you wanting more of each storyline at the end of every chapter. This made the pacing of the book, in my opinion, excellent and results in a dynamic and quick read. The friendships and relationships in this book are so layered and add so much depth to the characters in a fairly short book. I didn't see the twists coming and that is always nice when reading a thriller that has you suspecting everyone and questioning everything.