TITLE: THE VILLA
AUTHOR: Rachel Hawkins
PUB DATE: 01.03.2023

THOUGHTS:

I was so excited to pick up THE VILLA by Rachel Hawkins having read and enjoyed, two of her previous thriller books, The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls. Hawkins’ thriller reads are perfect to enjoy on a cold night and binge read over a sitting or two.

The Villa is a twofer of a story, set in the same Villa in Orvieto, Italy - with the initial story line about childhood friends Emily and Chess set in the present, while the other story line is set in the 70’s where rockstar Noel Gordon and his musician friends stay and a murder takes place. I was so happy to pick this book up having just spent the summer in Italy, while I was really feeling the intense hangover. The Villa certainly transported me right back to Italy - the sights, sounds, and suspenseful atmosphere makes this a fantastic read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this atmospheric thriller from Rachel Hawkins. It was dark and twisty with some definitly turns that I didn't see coming. As much as I liked The Villa, I didn't like any of the characters very much. I rarely like a book where I don't like the character but in this sense it's what really makes the book work. The dual time lines and the extra excerpts made the story a little hard to get into at first but it didn't take too long to get the hang of how it was written and submerse myself into both timelines. I found the ended most intriguing and it really rounded out the story. I appreciate that Hawkins toned down the language this time around. It's still there but isn't overdone like usual.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy to review. What a ride! While I didn’t read this consistently enough for the first third, I was a little confused with the various stories (present day Emily, past Mari, fictional Lilith Rising) but once I stopped putting it down as much, I kept turning pages. I needed to know where the story went. I don’t know if I’m truly satisfied with the ending, which is why this gets 4 stars. I enjoyed how the various stories were entwined. I definitely preferred this book of Hawkins’ last, Reckless Girls.

The story of this book was ok. It was good enough to mostly keep me entertained, even if I wasn’t thoroughly invested in it. The characters were more annoying than anything, and overall everything was just ok. It was a quick read but that’s about the best thing I can say here.

The concept of this book was really interesting & I loved the dual timelines & how it was really a story within a story within a story (storyception?)
It reminded me slightly of Verity with the idea that you aren't sure who's story to trust even when you get to the lady page.
Once I started this book , I tore through it, finishing it in less than a day.
If you enjoy books that are dark & suspenseful & will have you second guessing evert character, this is a must-read for you.

I love this author, but this is my least liked book by her so far.
It had dual timelines which I liked and a wide variety of characters. It also had a book within the book within the book, which was at first confusing, but was actually a cool way to tell the story.
I enjoyed the past timeline more than the present timeline. There were some things in the present timeline that didn't fit in for me.
I also was confused by the ending. This author always has good twists, but this time they were just confusing and I didn't like it.
I will definitely be waiting for this author's next book as she is a MUST READ for me.

A slow burn thriller about a crime from the past which impacts the future that happened at The Villa. I Love the alternate timeline and the dynamics between the friendship of Emily and Chess! At first I did not connect with Emily but as the book progressed my interest shifted in her storyline. To be honest, I struggled to connect with any of the characters in the beginning but after pushing through the book is definitely worth the read.

Cozy mystery author Emily has been suffering from writer's block since her marriage collapsed in the wake of her health crisis. So when her childhood best friend, who now calls herself Chess, invites her on a girls' trip to an Italian villa, Emily leaps at the opportunity, hoping a change of scenery will spark her writing. That the villa Chess has rented has a rather well-known history only adds to the allure.

In 1974, it was the scene of an infamous murder, when budding rockstar and general jerk Pierce was presumably killed in a drug-fueled rage by Johnnie. The events of that summer inspired both Pierce's lover, Mari, and her sister, Lara, to creative genius, while it spelled the downfall of their host, Noel Gordon.

As Emily gets drawn into the events of that summer, she begins to distrust Chess and her motivations. Discovering the secret Chess has been keeping is a catalyst for life-changing events.

This very ambitious, dual-timeline, Gothic-inspired suspense novel has so many twists & turns it's hard to keep up. As is often the case, the ending seems a bit abrupt, almost as if the author were unsure what to do with Emily and Chess. Still, the earlier story is really the more interesting one. This book made my Goth-girl self happy. #TheVilla #NetGalley

Loved this one! The setting is fab, and the ending is such a gut punch. Will definitely be recommending this one!

I'm not sure how I haven't read Rachel Hawkins before, but I intend to correct that oversight. The Villa is a great story told in two storylines with a few books within the book. In the current storyline, you have Chess and Emily, best friends since childhood. Emily is getting over a painful divorce and has writer's block, although she desperately needs her next book to pay her bills. Chess is a successful lifestyle writer. She invites Emily to spend the summer with her in a villa in Italy, so they can bond and write. However, with friends like Chess.... Meanwhile, the villa in Italy is the scene of a brutal murder from the 1970s and the other storyline takes you through that time. It focuses on Mari, who becomes a renowned horror writer. Both storylines are compelling, although I found myself getting drawn more into the sex, drugs, rock and roll story of the 1970s. And, the excerpts from Mari's book, "Lilith rising," makes me wish that book was real. There were some surprises that weren't really surprises, then there were surprises that were really twisty. A fun read and hard to put down. I especially liked a book focusing on female writers.

My thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an early copy. My opinions are my own.

Rachel Hawkins tends to be an author who uses ideas that have already been done. The Wife Upstairs takes ideas from Jane Eyre. The Villa takes ideas from Daisy Jones and the Six. A Character in The Villa are based on the author of Girl, Wash Your Face, which isn’t a selling point. There just aren’t any original ideas. Without giving away spoilers, there wasn’t a logical reason for the main character to accept what Chess did, and Chess’s reasoning is the worst.

Great read for fans of The White Lotus and Daisy Jones and the Six. This book flips between present day and the 70s, focusing on a famous murder at Villa Aestas. I didn’t really care for the flashbacks, especially once the twist at the end was revealed. Quick, easy thriller that I recommend picking up if you want a brief escape from the world.

So I have been a major fan of Rachel Hawkins (as Erin Sterling) with the Ex-Hex series. I've always loved the characters, story telling, and tension she has created in her books. The thrillers of hers I've read have always been kind of average for me. but The Villa totally changed my mind! What an exciting and unique book!

Childhood best friends Chess and Emily take off to a villa in Italy for a writers retreat. Emily is going through a divorce and is long overdue for her next manuscript, and Chess is due for another one of her best-selling self-help books. They villa they visit happens to be a "murder house" where a rock-star was killed decades before. As they spend time in the Villa Aestas, Emily becomes fascinated with the stories surrounding the murder and the artists that were there at the time. Soon she begins to realize that there are more connections than she realizes in the book and musical album that were written there the same summer of the murder.

Going back and forth from modern day to the 1970s, the story of that summer unfolds. The 19 year old writer, Mari, is visiting the villa with her partner, Pierce, and step-sister, Lara. Invited by a rock-star Noel, Pierce is there to collaborate on some music and hopefully make it big. In typical rock-star fashion, sex and drugs play a major roll in the summer of these young adults, leading to the death of one of the housemates.

There is a lot of suspense in this novel. I read the whole book in about a day and a half and loved every second of it. The Villa has a unique mix of writing within the book with snippets of news articles, music lyrics, and books intertwined into the main story. You kind of never really knew where the story was headed and what was true and what was not. Very unique and intriguing concept and execution!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for granting me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Damn, I loved this book. It's the feminist thriller of my dreams and I loved everything about it!

This might be a slow burn but I was gripped from start to end. The multiple POVs and dual timelines were all enjoyable, with news articles, song lyrics and other creative storytelling formats adding authenticity and life to the story.

There were also various settings that I could picture so vividly. Whether it's Villa Aestas and its legacy of both horror and beauty or that lonely phone booth in a snowy New York City, the author has painted such atmospheric and immersive portraits of each scene.

Same goes for Aestas and Lilith Rising — I so badly wish they were real. How can they simply be fictional works in a work of fiction?!?!?!

There weren't really any shocking twists and turns for me but I loved all the layers and how everything played out. Complicated female friendships, women reclaiming the narrative and their power, gothic suspense — this is a page-turner with much to offer! That last chapter hmmm...

Sadly this one wasn't for me. I found the contemporary timeline intriguing, but ultimately the pacing of the story, the character development, and the cutaways to the past timeline just did not engage my attention. The ultimate climax was underwhelming.

I think fans of Hawkins' past books, domestic fiction, and mystery books would find this one appealing.

Being a fan of Reckless Girls, I was so excited when I saw that Rachel Hawkins had a new book coming out. After reading some of the ARC reviews, I wasn’t too sure whether I would like The Villa, but after going back and reading the synopsis again, I decided to pull the trigger and request a copy. I’m so glad I did!

The Villa is one of the more interesting stories I’ve read in a while! It jumps between current day and 1974, but also has snippets of stories within a story through the novels that Emily (present day) and Mari (1974) are writing while staying at The Villa. While this seemed to bother other readers, it didn’t bother me in the slightest. This has become a common style of writing and I’ve actually come to prefer it in a lot of ways.

I also really enjoyed the individual stories in both timelines as well. And who doesn’t love Italy as a backdrop?! I think even though the book gets to be a tiny bit predictable towards the very end, I still really enjoyed the unique story and the different characters.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me the opportunity to read another gem in exchange for my honest review! I’m hoping for a movie/series of The Villa one day!

Emily and Chess, best friends for 30 years, spend a summer at a beautiful Italian villa where an infamous murder happened in 1974. They go as a chance to reconnect and both work on their upcoming books. Emily is finding it hard to find inspiration so she starts digging into the murder that once happened there and she soon finds out there’s more to that mystery and more to her best friend as well.
I blew through the book! It was told from multiple POVs, different timelines and a multitude of mediums (podcasts, magazine articles, etc.). I hated Chess from the second she was introduced and knew something was off about her but that’s what kept my intrigued and rooting for Emily. With the time jumps and different mediums, it kept me engaged and wanting to know what was coming next. I liked the twists that happened at the end, but one part of the conclusion did annoy me a bit haha stupid Chess! Not my first Rachel Hawkins books but I definitely enjoyed this one more than the other one I read. I’ll definitely keep reading more from her.

The Villa is a suspenseful novel that includes murder and mayhem. The story and its characters are based on real life real life musicians, murderers, and famous horror writers. It is a fun read and one of Hawkins’ best to date. I would give 4 1/2 stars. Very good read!

I began 2022 with a book by Rachel Hawkins and find that I am ending my reading year with another offering from the same author whose works always manage to keep me hooked. Her latest novel, THE VILLA, features a dual timeline(the summer of 1974 and the present) in which the reader is taken on a voyeuristic adventure exploring friendship, inspiration, creation, morality, deception and murder as lived and observed through the eyes of the women inhabiting the luxurious villa in Italy during different summers.

All of the characters help to supply an energy that keeps the story moving and is guaranteed to keep the reader engrossed in the narrative right up to its unusual and unexpected conclusion. 4 1/2 stars

Book inside of book. Is this a cold case or is there a new murder expcetate. With Rachel Hawkins you never know.