The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is a mystery, a story of friendship, a tragedy and incredibly captivating! It twists and turns and then twists back again. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. 4-1/2 stars

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for my honest opinion, thank you.

Another epic read by Rachel Hawkins.

I was immediately drawn into this story. I read this book in two sittings - it was very hard to put down! The information was layered into the story in such an interesting and engaging way, that I was just kept turning the pages wanting to know more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book demands to be read on a beach or someplace cozy with a fun beverage. It’s that kind of cuddle-up-read-in-one-setting book. Love the inspo of Fleetwood Mac/Manson/Shelley writing Frankenstein. As far as the plot - it drags at times and a little Scooby-Doo but does the trick to entertain and get away from reality. Know what I mean? Thanks to St Martin’s Press. I’m grateful for the advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this one. Rachel Hawkins is a definite read for me now, as this is my third book by her, and I was really impressed with the crafty storyline on this one. I also love stories within stories. It reminded me of Daisy Jones & the Six, only much darker in theme... Which made me compulsive in reading it - I didn't want to stop!

The Villa is an interesting book with a not so mysterious mystery. I admit, I expected a story revolving around a haunted Villa in Italy with a tragic and horrific past. Well part of that is what I got but this is not a traditional haunted house story.
I enjoyed it, the parts from the 70s more than the current relationship between the 2 life-long friends. My only complaint, and that is more personal than any fault of Ms. Hawkins, is that the story started slowly and continued at that slow, onion peeling pace. I would have prefered more to happen in the time it took to read this.
But none the less, I do recommend this.

Thanks NetGalley for this book!

If you go into this book expecting a breathtaking thriller with turns and twists you will be disappointed, so set your expectations accordingly. In my opinion this is not a thriller, it has thrilling elements but it’s more like a literary fiction. It has a rather slow setting and it sets the scene at the beginning. It explores the situation, their relationship and the past.
Once I realized this i set my expectations accordingly and then I enjoy it a lot more though I don’t normally like the contemporary fiction. I was expecting a thriller twist but there wasn’t really any. For what it was it was quite good actually.
If these conditions are okay for you and you like this author once it’s out you should check it out!

This was definitely not my favorite Rachel Hawkins book - I really liked her first book "The Wife Upstairs' and was expecting the same from this one. There were definitely elements I liked (the setting, the rock and roll background ,etc), but I felt like the main characters backstory was not built up enough. There was a good amount of story but not with enough depth to make me feel related or close to the two main characters.

*3.5 stars*

The Villa is written with a dual timeline but it also has newspaper articles, song lyrics and book excepts scattered between the two timelines. This didn't work as well for me at first because I would start to get attached to the characters in one story line and then we would switch to something else. I did gradually get used to the format, and sometimes it did add to story, but I think there were just one too many of these inserts.

The past timeline worked better for me than the present. The atmosphere was mysterious and eerie, whereas the present timeline felt a little bland at times and focused a lot on friendship dynamics and the main protagonist's insecurities.

The ending did not go at all how I thought it would, either in the present or past chapters. There seemed to be a darkness to the book that kept building and building throughout the story, but then it just dropped off and the endings seemed anti-climactic.

All in all, I did enjoy the middle part of this novel, and found myself engrossed in the story. It's just unfortunate that the ending took a tonal shift that was a bit jarring and that the structure of the novel made it slower to get into the story at the beginning.

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital arc. All opinions are my own.

3.5 stars

Childhood best friends, Chess and Em are staying in an Italian Villa that while beautiful, was the scene of a brutal murder in 1974. This trip was meant to be a writing retreat and bonding time but the past keeps weaving it’s way into their summer.

First off, the cover is absolutely gorgeous then add in the opening line “Houses remember” and I was drawn right in. While the beginning was a slower burn, the setting and story was so beautifully atmospheric I was intrigued and read on. I was also enjoying the format of how there were pieces of articles, podcasts, the characters’ songs/book added in between chapters.

The middle of the book really picked up for me as we alternated between past and present, I couldn’t stop flipping the pages. I was eager to see how they would end up colliding together. Unfortunately the ending felt rushed and left something to be desired.

Part of that might be my fault though. I came into this expecting a thriller or mystery but those are the aspects of the story that fell short. The overall story was solid and interesting, it hit on some intriguing concepts. However my enjoyment of that got a little lost when there wasn’t a better thrilling punch at the end.

Best friends, Emily and Chess, are in Italy for the summer to work. Both writers, Em with cozy mystery and Chess with self-help and empowerment, this is the perfect opportunity for them to work on their books. The house they’re renting has a history. In the 70s, rocker Noel invites Pierce, his girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister Lara, to spend some time at the villa with him. When someone gets murdered, it tops the headlines, marking the villa as a murder house. Something Emily gets very invested in. Told in alternating timelines, this book packs two stories into one.

They’ve labeled The Villa as a thriller, but if you go into reading this thinking of it as literary or contemporary fiction, you won’t feel like you blinked and missed the thriller aspect. When a book is a thriller, I get the edge of my seat feeling, furiously flipping pages to get through the action, and that didn’t happen with this. That’s not to say this isn’t an enjoyable read because I liked it; it just isn’t a thriller.

The villa everyone stays in takes a backburner to the storyline, and I would have liked to feel ambiance with the setting. Make it creepy, foreboding, or gothic, as the blurb promises. Have it do anything with the storyline other than being an idyllic house that people have rented. The title is because of this house, so the house needs a presence.

I liked the alternating timelines, and that there were articles and excerpts to help further the storyline. If you can get over the promise of a thriller, then you can really enjoy the book. I think readers will like this one.

4.5 stars

Best friends Emily and Chess, whose relationship has slightly strained, decide to spend a summer at a villa in Orvieto, Italy where they can reconnect and both work on their respective books. They learn the house they're staying in was the of an infamous murder in the 1970s, but the women who survived went on to create a brilliant book and album.
*
I loved so much about this. It's definitely a slow burn, but I didn't care because I felt completely immersed from the beginning, even though I had no idea where the present-day plot was going or what the conflict was supposed to be. I really liked how it alternated between present day and the occurrences of the 1970s, and also interspersed quotes from the book, the album, and articles/podcasts about the murder.
*I didn't quite get to 5 stars because the climax de-escalated really quickly, and there seemed to be a bit of filler at the end. I did like the ending though, it left a wonderfully creepy vibe.
*But...did I miss something? Where were the final pages hidden??
*
Overall, I still liked Reckless Girls better, but this was really good and I would very much recommend!

Rachel Hawkins has done it again! I am a huuuuge fan of Rachel Hawkins and was so excited to get my hands on a copy of The Villa and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!

Childhood best friends Emily and Chess embark on a girls trip to a villa in Orvieto, Italy to spend the summer writing. Chess, a self-help guru, is there to write her newest best selling book, while Emily is trying to pick up the pieces after a divorce and health scare. Plagued by writer's block, Emily picks up a novel written by one of the villa's former occupants, Mari, and dives deep into what happened the summer Mari stayed in Orvieto.

This was a book I absolutely could not put down. Told from the alternating perspectives and timelines of Emily and Mari -- this book truly gave off Fleetwood Mac meets murder mystery vibes. Truly my favorite book of 2022!!

Thanks NetGalley and the Publishers for this advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is my third book by this author, and they all suffer from he same issue. The author is a great writer, I really enjoy the writing, the characterization, the inspiration from the stories she uses. I really enjoyed this story (and all of her others) until the ending. I'm not sure what goes wrong, but it feels a little anticlimactic. I think it's the extra twists that throw me for a loop, Overall I enjoy the reading experience even if I feel a little let down by the ending. I'll still read her next book.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this advance copy of this novel, The Villa. This was a good read and a page turner but I was not as found of the 70's section. The book will keep you reading to find out all the twist that keep on appearing. There is not a lot to say about this book without giving it away but if you like the author's writing style you will like this,

A fun page turner with dual timelines. It was easy to get into and fun to the very last page. The writing was immersive and the mystery fun to figure out. I liked the 197os rock n roll narrative and seeing it get solved in present day. Overall, a fast, fun read.

4 Stars

In The Villa, we follow two storylines. The first is set in the present day and follows Emily in a low point of her life. She’s going through a divorce after being cheated on by her husband and falling mysteriously ill. She catches up with her now famous childhood bestie, Chess, who pitches the idea that the two women spend their summer in an idyllic Italian villa where they can both work on their latest book projects. While there, Emily starts becoming obsessed with a murder that took place in this exact villa in the 70s. The second storyline follows Mari as she’s invited to the villa with her boyfriend and stepsister. This is the story of the murder that Emily is so invested in, and the two storylines parallel one another and are also interspersed with article snippets and email chains.

This is a book that needs to be discussed! It would make a great book club candidate, honestly. The reason for this is because I feel like every name and every date has an importance to it, and there’s still an air of mystery even after you finish the novel. It sort of demands a second read through if you want to have all the answers, which is definitely doable considering it’s a short read but I do find that aspect of the story unsatisfying. I also did not like the explanation behind Emily’s illness that doctors could never diagnose.

The only other novel I’ve read by Hawkins was Reckless Girls, and I saw a lot of similarities between the two. Both take place in utopia-esque settings with sinister backstories. Both feature a group cast with people you can’t quite trust, even those closest to you. Emily and Lux had a lot of similarities for me personality wise. It wasn’t until past the halfway point I felt this book take its own unique stride.

Still, I enjoyed this more than Reckless Girls. The plot twist at the end was surprising, but also reminded me of a different and very popular thriller twist by Hoover. I can’t deny the fun I had while reading this, the anger I felt during certain betrayals, and the fact that I’m still thinking about this book days after reading it. Take a trip to Villa Aestas, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

This book was good it moved very slow and is very different than the wife upstairs. With this one I loved the story and even the back story to every thing it just felt there was a lot of story missing and left me wanting more

This dual-timeline story flew by for me! Rachel Hawkins has a way of developing complex yet flawed female leads, where you're not sure how you feel as a reader.

But to be honest, The Villa is the main character here. I loved how immersive it felt as a setting for both the group in the 70s and the present day besties. Chess was every bit as cringey as her name, but I'm pretty sure that is intentional. I appreciated the attention to detail infused throughout, like podcasts, articles, excerpts from Lilith Rising or Lara's lyrics.

While some plot elements were predictable, I did really like the final twist, that was an unexpected way to end it for me! I read this but bet it would be GREAT on audio as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First off Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press and Rachel Hawkins for allowing me to read this book.

It was a very quick and fast paced story told in dual timelines and dual POV. It definitely keeps you on your toes trying to figure out what happened and then it twists and twists again. The characters are at times problematic but also hard not to empathize with. A very strong female presence is also present as well as men that feed off of power and manipulation. All in all it was a well written and easy story that keeps you engaged and delivers that Rachel Hawkins twist.

The Villa is a modern Gothic which tells two parallel stories. Emily and Chess have been friends since elementary school, but life has set them on different paths. Emily writes cozy mysteries and Chess is a social media star with a string of successful self-help books. After Emily goes through a mysterious illness which causes her husband to leave her and demand divorce, Chess suggests that they spend the summer in Italy at a villa which was once the scene of a murder.

Paralleling the present story is one written by Mari in 1974 as she recounts her time at the villa which results in her writing one of the best-selling horror novels of all time, her stepsister Lara writing a major Grammy winning album, and her boyfriend Pierce being brutally murdered.

At first, it looks like the girls were just hangers-on. Noel Gordon was a rock star looking for some new music to revitalize his career. He thinks Pierce might give him the spark he needs. It was a summer of sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll, but Mari still found the time to write the novel that made her famous with its own parallels to things that happened that summer.

Emily becomes intrigued with Mari's story and the events of the long-ago summer. Her latest cozy gets set off to the side as she begins to write her own version of that story, but Chess has a wrench to throw in. She wants to get away from her self-help image and co-write the story with Emily.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of this wonderful story. It was filled with lots of surprises and parallels and secrets and intrigue.