I enjoyed this slow burn mystery. I would not qualify this one as a thriller. It reads more like contemporary/historical fiction with a little mystery thrown in. I thought the beginning was very slow burn, and it took me to about the halfway point to feel invested in the story. The end was a minor surprise but not shocking. Overall I enjoyed the book, but it did not wow me.

#thevilla:⁣
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“…I find extremely annoying given that you’re already young and beautiful. Being talented on top of that just isn’t fair.”⁣
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Thank you @stmartinspress @macmillan.audio @librofm for the gifted copy!⁣
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This book has it all! You have a book within a book, a podcast insert with some hilarious commentary, a beautiful and heartbreaking album, unfinished business between childhood besties, a [bit of a stretch but] vacation gone wrong, I mean let’s just check every box we need to get this shit done!⁣
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The audio is amazing. Julia Whelan, of course, killed it. There are different types of media in the book and how that played on audio is phenomenal. Kimberly M. Wetherell and⁣ Shiromi Arserio also read The Villa and both knocked it out of the park. I highly highly highly highly highly recommend the audio. ⁣
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Overall, another solid Rachel Hawkins read. I felt the beginning truly pulled me in, the middle was just a middle, and the ending had me gripped! I love when reality is blurred and this was a wonderful (and super toxic) read.⁣
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Thank you again @stmartinspress @macmillan.audio @librofm for the gifted copies! The Villa is out 1/3!

A very interesting concept and take on a classic thriller. Really loved the juxtaposition between present conflict and past, unrelated conflict. Also really liked the way the villa was such an integral part to both stories and had its own secrets. My biggest complaint was, again, the resolution just moved way too fast and felt quite unfinished and confusing.

I’d like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first Rachel Hawkins’ novel and I saw quite a few good reviews before I cracked it open.
The story is dual time line. It’s primary focus is current with Emily and Chess and their attempt to reconnect with each other and their writing at an Italian Villa. It also concentrates on Mari in 1974 and the fast lifestyle she lived.
See full review via Instagram @kels_shelf
Neither timeline was great.
Moreover, I was slightly disappointed in this read. The synopsis and cover were enticing, but I didn’t find myself caring about the story or characters at all.
2.5/5 (I rated 2 on Goodreads just because they don’t have .5 ratings).

This book was not what I expected and that surprise alone made it a truly satisfying read. Told through duel timelines of writers staying the same villa forty years apart, both looking for inspiration to get back into writing, both caught up in complex relationships with their closest friends, The Villa is a slow-burn suspense where the twists are all but plainly written on the wall. But the true story is one of ambition and creation and the roots of art, more than about who killed who and why.

Yes, there are still twists and surprises, but unlike other thrillers, they feel beside the point. The point the book makes about muses and artists and women is much juicer than any murder mystery.

I both liked and disliked this book. I struggled with the rating on this one. The story didn’t feel like a ‘thriller’ to me. I didn’t find any aspects of it to be suspenseful, it just felt like a novel with some mild mysteries to it.

My least favorite part of the book were the two main characters, Emily and Chess. They have gone to stay in an Italian villa for the summer to reconnect their friendship, but throughout the book it makes no sense why they would want to remain friends, as it is pretty clear neither of them like each other. I didn’t find their bits in the story interesting at all. Neither of them were likable characters, one was whiny and the other bratty and that made for an annoying combo. By the end neither of them had a redeemable character arc to make me root for them, and the conclusion to their part of the story was disappointing.

The part of the book that kept me intrigued were the flashbacks to the summer of 1974. The group of characters staying in the villa at this time were complex and had interesting dynamics between each other. I think the book would have been fantastic if it had solely focused on the 1974 plotline.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I think I’ve found a new auto-buy author. I liked The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls, but I LOVED The Villa! With this thriller, I think the author has really hit her stride.

Told in two alternating perspectives, we follow two friends in present time and another group from the past. They all visit The Villa, this gorgeous yet unsettling mansion set into a gorgeous Italian mountainside. Slowly, the plot reveals increasingly haunting occurrences we start to see reflected in the present.

Once I started this one, I couldn’t put it down. I finished it only a couple days (fast for me! I average a book per week), and was dying to find out how it would all come together in the end.

Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress @ladyhawkins for this early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

✨ The Villa ✨⁣
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⁣Rachel Hawkins is back again with another addicting thriller! I enjoyed her last two books and was excited to read The Villa. This book follows to childhood best friends, Emily and Chess, who travel to Italy to spend the summer writing at a beautiful villa. The villa was the location of a horrible murder in 1972 and Emily finds herself investigating the event.⁣
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⁣I enjoyed this book- especially the modern day storyline. I’m always a fan of the “rich behaving badly” troupe. The 1974 timeline was a little bit stilted and I found my mind wondered a bit. ⁣
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⁣Word’s I’d use to describe this book: multilayered, smart, twisty, absorbing and suspenseful. ⁣
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⁣I really enjoyed the audiobook! It is extremely well done.⁣
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⁣Four stars! ⁣
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⁣Thank you to @netgally and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of The Villa in exchange for my honest review. This one publishes on January 3, 2023.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is a great page-turner that keeps you guessing throughout the book.
The Villa is a dual time-line book. It follows two groups of friends. Emily and Chess go on a month long vacation to a Villa in Italy. The house they are staying at has a past. While staying at the house Emily and Chess find some things out and end up working on a project together. The other time line is what actually happened at the house the first time.
This book is a good read for those rainy days. The story is fast paced and you just want to know what is going to happen. I would highly recommend this book to lovers of a good thriller.

The Villa was 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.

What appealed to you in this story?

I really loved the premise and idea of staying at a “murder house.”

“It’s not like anything I’ve ever written before, but there’s something there, I’m sure of it…I seemed excited about writing again.”

The above quote was taken from the story, and I’m wondering if it pertains to Hawkin’s herself in any way. I feel like this book was a departure from her previous works and she was possibly working her way through a writer’s block.

How many storylines are in this story?

The Villa has three storylines: Mari’s point of view from the past, Emily’s from the present day, and Mari’s manuscript from her book she wrote while staying at the villa in the 70s.

Was this a thriller?

I did not find that this story had any thrills or suspense. Instead, it was a gothic noir style story. The plot, characters, pacing and lack of suspense and twists didn’t really hold my interest, especially since nothing of much interest happened. To me it felt like the book had a lot of filler, and I was just following along as everyone went through the motions.

How was the pace?

This was a slow burn gothic noir style story. I’m thinking that the audiobook may be the way to go for this one, because adding voice to the story may bring it more to life and increase the pace and impact of the story. Plus, Julia Whelan is one of the narrators and she is phenomenal.

Do you recommend this book?

Overall, I think this will come down to the individual reader. As for me, this was a decent read and pretty predictable for the most part. Possibly worth reading, but not remarkable.

I read this with Kaley, and we both had our opinions and were surprised that this was a direction Hawkin’s decided to take.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for this gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Emily is a cozy mystery writer who is just recuperating from a long illness and her husband leaving her. Chess was her best friend in high school who found success as a wellness/self help writer. They haven’t been close for a while, but Chess decides to invite Emily to spend the summer with her at an Italian villa.
The villa is a famous one because a murder occurred there in 1974: a couple of musicians and a writer were spending the summer there, and one of them turned up dead. From then on, the story is told in two different timelines: 1974 and present day.
The goal of this trip was to rekindle their friendship, but Emily and Chess find more and more things separating them, and some ugly truths will come to the surface.

I half read and half listened to this one, and I must say the narrator does an amazing job bringing these characters to life. I particularly enjoyed the 1974 timeline with all the complicated characters and intricate stories, but I can’t say the same for the present-day protagonists, who were both extremely annoying and immature. I could not understand Emily and Chess’ choices, and I absolutely did not buy their reasoning.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I will only say that although this was not much of a thriller, it still would’ve worked great with a plausible present-day story. As it was, I will only give it 3 out of 5 stars, but I will continue reading what this author writes next!

First of all, I loved the atmosphere of this book. The setting was perfect and enjoyable to read about. I also really enjoyed the narration of The Villa. It has a large cast and was done really well. The present storyline I really liked as well - it captivated me from page 1 and I was excited to see where it was going. The past storyline, however I found distracting and a bit confusing. I understand the reasoning behind it and I think it’s quite clever, however it just didn’t work for me personally. Overall, I found myself bored with this plot and disinterested with where the story was going. I have yet to find a Rachel Hawkins book that is a page turner for me, so again this is just my personal opinion.

Rachel Hawkins’, The Villa is an unforgettable and unputdownable tale of women, their influence on each other, and the men in their lives. Written across two timelines, set in the same location with a dark history, both stories evoke speculation. A searing chain of events merges and unfolds, leading you to second guess people’s motives carefully clothed in the sweet and comforting guises of “care”, “love”, and “support.” It’s dark, unsettling, and exciting. And I adored it.

5/5, I recommend this book.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press , Rachel Hawkins, and NetGalley for an Advanced Review Copy in exchange for an honest review. My review/reaction is voluntary, all thoughts are mine and unbiased, and receiving the ARC does not influence my rating and/or recommendation.

"Houses remember"

I'm not a big reader of gothic novels but I am a fan of suspense novels and Rachel Hawkins so I thought I might enjoy this gothic suspense novel.

I did!

I had a review copy of the e-book as well as the audiobook for this novel which was really nice. Sometimes I really wish I could have both for all books.

A gripping storyline with many well developed characters.

Rachel Hawkins is definitely on my must read list and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Special thanks to the publishers for my egalley in exchange for my honest review.

Two best friends go and stay at a "murder house" called Villa Aestas in Italy for a girl's trip. During their stay they discover secrets galore and find themselves entwined in a decades old mystery resolving in history repeating itself and thereby unfolding a whole new tragedy.

This book was so different for me. It was unlike anything I've ever read before and for that reason alone I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved that there was almost this mysterious scavenger hunt and a story within a story. I have always loved hearing real-life stories where someone finds something in an old house's walls or floorboards and this had that which I thought was so unique and well thought. I think the only thing I did struggle with at times was identifying when the story was in the past or present. I almost wanted it to be divided up as: one chapter from the present and the next in the past..etc. Other than that I really enjoyed this one.

This was my first book by Hawkins and what a treat. I'll certainly be reading the rest of her works after this and look forward to what she comes up with next.

4/5 stars!!

3.5 stars

This is definitely a different kind of Rachel Hawkins book. Told in parallel timelines we learn the unfolding stories of two sets of women with complex relationships with each other and the men in their lives over two summers in an Italian villa. The parallels between mari and Emily and chess and Lara. I must say I was much more drawn into the Daisy Jones and the Six esque messy 70’s musician drama that you know ends in murder than the tense relationship between besties who often can’t stand each other (although that is the more relatable storyline lol)

I didn’t love this book nor did I hate it. I wanted to like it more than I did. It had such hope and promise but something was missing. Mari’s ending is probably my favorite of the bunch.

But can we also just take a moment to say this is another absolutely fabulous cover. Her books are always so pretty.

Emily and Chess have been friends since childhood. They are both published authors, but Chess is now famous for her self help books. When Emily is going through a divorce and in a writing slump, Chess suggests a trip to Italy for the summer to reconnect and get their writing juices flowing. Turns out the villa where they are staying was the site of a murder. We learn the story of Mari, Lana, Pierce, Noel and Johnnie and how one of them ends up dead. Emily is able to get rid of her writers block when Mari’s story inspires her.
Personally I want engaged with the story from the 70s leading up to the murder. I enjoyed reading about Chess and Emily’s friendship and the many faces that took on throughout the book. This is one I enjoyed but didn’t absolutely love.

Emily and Chess were best friends in elementary school but have grown apart. Emily is an author of cozy mysteries and in the middle of an expensive divorce. Matt, Emily's husband, is claiming that he has rights to some of her book royalties,

Chess has a life that appears freer and more glamorous to Emily. Chess is an influencer on social media. When they meet after a long separation, Chess suggests that Emily go with her to visit a house in Italy where a famous murder took place. .

In 1974, a group of flower children stayed at the Villa, and one of the two men murdered the other. The group included a rock star, a musician, the musician's girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister Lara. The killer died in prison. After the murder, the sisters ended up composing well known works - a best selling horror book and an album that went platinum.

The events at the villa have always been a mystery and Emily and Chess hope to gain some insight from staying there. Emily is hoping for inspiration as she is having trouble writing. Then Matt shows up, and I will give no spoilers about what happens next. Emily does write a book about the house and the events of 1974, with her friend Chess named as co-author.

This book is well written and well plotted, but it left me with questions. I didn't understand the close relationship between Emily and Chess, as after they grew up, they had little in common. I also could not understand why Emily shared rights to her books, and she did it with two different people. She is the one who created the characters, plotted each book, wrote the thousands of words, did the editing, and ensured continuity between books. To me, that was one of the biggest mysteries.

Thanks to the publisher St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed it, and all opinions are mine.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC

This book kept me invested despite my dislike for many of the characters. Almost everyone showed a level of selfishness that kept me shaking my head. Despite not liking the life choices of most of the characters, I became invested in finding out what happens in the end. Surprisingly the story didn't go as dark as I was expecting, but I left still satisfied. I might have liked the current story arc to be a bit creepier, but that is my one complaint. I give The Villa a solid 4/5 stars. Especially if you want something a bit edgier than a cozy mystery but not super graphic.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For the most part I enjoyed this book. I thought the dual storyline kept it interesting. I really only liked one character in the book and she often got in my nerves. But, the story was unique.

3.5