3.5 stars for this book. I enjoyed the story and found myself hooked from the beginning. I enjoyed the two timelines and narratives unfolding. The transition between the two timelines did at times feel abrupt and choppy. I really wanted to give this one 4 stars, but the last third if the book fell short for me. I felt like the ending was rushed and wrapped up way too quickly. I wanted more and was left with questions. Great audiobook narration and enjoyable to listen too. Thanks NetGalley and McMillan Audio for the ARC of this audiobook.

Emily, a successful author, is in the middle of a bad divorce when her best friend, Chess, comes to take her on a vacation to Italy. They stay in a house dubbed "The Villa" which was where a famous murder took place in the 70s. The goal is for Emily and Chess to work on their new books but Emily gets sidetracked by the murder. When Emily's husband starts back up harassing her, Emily throws herself fully into her book. But things aren't as they seem.
Opinion
I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook. The narrator did a superb job with tone. She managed to seem mysterious while telling the story of the 70s and current day.
While there were parts of the book I saw coming, the ending was a nice twist that I did not. When I'm reading a mystery, I definitely like to be surprised. The way this book paralleled two stories certainly gave clues but at first there is so much difference between the two timelines that the similarities are easy to miss.
This book is well worth the read and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery and suspense.
Many thanks to Net Galley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of the audiobook.

This is a mystery suspense thriller, set in two different timelines, with dual points. The story has a story within a story, setting and plot were interesting, I like the overall idea of the story, however, I felt it was a bit predictable for my liking, I was expecting something different. The writing is good, and the audiobook narrated by Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, and Shiromi Arserio made this whole lot more than reading it. I suggest you get the audiobook for this one.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC (that I didn’t realize I had until after the pub date lol).

The narrators are all deserving of 5/5 stars.

This was a Charles Manson/female empowerment/Fleetwood Mac inspired thriller.

What I liked:
- the first part of the book moved the book along beautifully.
- I liked Mari and rooted for her throughout. Her storyline was intriguing and her character multidimensional
- I really liked the newspaper articles, and podcast snippets of the 1970s murder

What I didn’t like:
- the middle got a little long and slow
- the twists were all very predictable (okay except the last one hahah)
- I didn’t like either of the present day characters. Also Chess is the stupidest fcking name hahah
- I would have liked it The Villa was more creepy and played more into the book than it did

𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙚 🎭: suspense
𝙋𝙖𝙘𝙚 🏃🏼‍♀️: moderate
𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙚: 🚫
𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 🖤: Fleetwood Mac & diaries, mystery within a mystery.
𝙏𝙒 ⚠️: 🚫

🍋dual POV/timeline
🍋book within a book
🍋70s rock band and groupies
🍋famous Italian murder house

This was a really fun read. I enjoyed the story within a story and dual time periods. I found myself frequently frustrated by Emily’s bff Chess - hello gaslighting 👀.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 ♥️

During the 1970s British portions I got major Fleetwood Mac vibes (which is my fave so I loved this aspect).

The entire story was engaging and I binged this book as quickly as I could.

I absolutely loved the narrators - transitions between characters were seamless, the story was engaging, and it was easy to pay attention.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞:

I would have liked to see more of how the two time periods/stories connected. The 1970s oasis of sex and murder and affairs was fascinating and it would be fun to get a little more of those twists.

There were a couple twists that were predictable in the present day storyline where Emily and Chess visit the Italian villa for a writers vacation. I did not love the resolution of this storyline - but that is personal preference and I don’t want to spoil 🍋

👏🏼👏🏼 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙 to readers who enjoy slow burn suspense/historical fiction crossovers and stories about books.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

This book was phenomenal. It's not often that I find myself unable to figure a story out and this one definitely had me guessing at times. Beautiful setting with fascinating characters and dual storylines, definitely a must read. I absolutely loved it.

This book reads like Taylor Jenkins Read and Lucy Foley had a baby. Not as good as either of their individual stories but an interesting and compelling mash up. Fans of the author's previous works will definitely find it hard to put down! Though there are side narrators, Julia Whelan reigns supreme again as the main character.

3.5 stars for a fun framework story mystery. 5 stars for audio narration - really great! The backstory gives off Daisy Jones and the Six vibes (which is a compliment), and the present day best friends' trip is a little more predictable and therefore slightly less interesting. Overall, this is a fun and easy read and I recommend it for summer reading or when you're wanting to feel summery.

3.5 rounding up to 4 stars!!

This story hold two different time lines

1. Emily “Em” is a cozy little mystery writer, 9 books into her series “Petal Bloom”. Emily has had some writers block ever since her and her soon to be ex husband filed for divorce. Emily’s Best friend Jessica “Chess” is successful self- help author mostly for her first book “Things My Mama Never Taught Me”. Chess invites Em to an all expenses paid summer vacation at the Villa Aestas, in Umbria Italy. A chance for them to both reset and get back into writing.
2. Mari goes on vacation to the Villa Rosato in the 1974 with her step sister, Laura, & her boyfriend Pierce. Along with the trio 2 others are staying with them to enjoy an artists vacation.

I have had My Wife upstairs in my TBR for awhile, & after reading this one I am moving it up a little to the top of my list! I flew through this one I couldn’t put it down! I actually thought I had this book figured out & I ended up being wrong, which doesn’t happen often when you read a lot of thrillers, I love being wrong about what’s going to happen next! Kept me on my toes!

I would like to thank NetGalley for my free copy of The Villa!

Excellent narration - the pacing and acting made the story even more of a "page-turner." Possible spoilers ahead....

I'm not really a fan of the trend of unlikeable characters but I thought the author did an excellent job with the characters in this book. Are they unlikeable? Why? And who gets to tell that story about them? Overall a fun thriller in a beautiful, other-worldly setting. Yet the well-developed characters, and some great twists make it much more interesting than that.

Emily and Chess were childhood friends who were joined at the hip. As adults they’ve grown apart, but Chess has rented a villa in Italy and invited Emily to join her. Emily figures it might be just what she needs to cure her writer’s block. She’s in the process of getting a divorce and after feeling unwell for quite some time, she is starting to come around and a vacation may be just what the doctor ordered.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto, formerly known as Villa Rosato was the scene of a murder in the summer of ’74. A notorious rock star invites a musician along with his girlfriend and her sister to join him at the villa. Sex, drugs, and a love triangle later, the musician is murdered. All is not lost as the girlfriend writes a great novel and her sister a platinum album.

Fast-forward almost fifty years and Emily feels there is more to the story of what happened there that long ago summer. She reads Lilith Rising more than once and listens to the album as well, to try to deduce if there are any hidden messages. Emily starts to uncover some secrets from the past and has started writing a new book, not the book her soon-to-be ex-husband is hoping she is working on. Tensions rise between Chess and Emily and before the end of summer, Villa Aestas may claim another life.

I enjoyed listening to this novel and the different narrators made it easier to discern who was speaking especially since it flipped between past and present.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for allowing me to listen to an ARC of this novel. #NetGalley #TheVilla

Okay, this one! It was fun, and I LOVE Rachel Hawkins’ writing style. It is gothic and haunting and suspenseful. But the beginning was a tiny bit too slow for me. At 50-60% it really picked up and I loved the ending. Will definitely be reading more from Hawkins!!

I’ve loved Rachael Hawkins prior books, especially The Wife Upstairs so this was a no-brainer to pick up. I enjoyed the relationship of the competitive besties who could stab each other in the back if so you had to keep an eye on them. What I wasn’t a fan of was the characters who were involved in the murder during 1970s in the Villa as I found it a bit confusing. Thank you for the gifted copy.

Most days, I turn on an audiobook and expect to have it lull me to sleep as background sound. This was not the case with the Villa. The first third of the story I had a hard time following with the storyline changing back and forth in time. It was at about one third of the way through that I could start to piece together what was going on and from there, I was upset if anyone distracted or interrupted me. Our main character was the perfect sympathetic lead and I wanted nothing more than to see her get the happy ending she deserved. Little did I know all the twists and turns that would come about!

If you're looking for a story that will keep you wondering.... this one is it.

I loved all the twists! Great characters.
I believe readers will enjoy this story and I look forward to tell patrons about it.
The story draws you in and it is not overwhelming in length. Thank you for the opportunity to listen early.

As a fan of Rachel Hawkins' former books, I was excited about THE VILLA, but I think she raised the bar on her craft with this book. She is a master of multiple time lines, as always, weaving stories together from the past and present, but THE VILLA feels more gothic, more tragically romantic than her previous work. I feel like that stems from both her inspiration and the setting, but I know that Rachel Hawkins also centered gothic fiction in her graduate work, so in a way this book feels like she dug deeper into herself. The narrators were perfect. I loved that they didn't do anything weird to their voices to read the opposite sex, making each character believable because we aren't distracted by unnatural changes. Inflection was perfect and fully believable. I have interviewed Rachel Hawkins about her previous books, but I would love to chat with her about this book because there are so many wonderful layers. Thank you for the opportunity to preview this work.

Here’s my review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved listening to the audiobook and reading the book at the same time! The audiobook narrators did such a great job of making the story come alive with different voices for the characters and lots of animation while telling the story. I really liked the story and found the plot intriguing. The main characters were relatable so it was easy to get caught up in their drama. There are so many parallels between Mari, Emily and the house and so much foreshadowing in the story that I couldn’t put the book down because I wanted to know how it all ended! At the end I still questioned what really happened.

I didn’t care for all the swear words popping up regularly throughout the story. I thought it was a little much. I also didn’t think the story was all that suspenseful. In fact, it was pretty tame which is good for readers that don’t normally enjoy a gothic suspense read. I also felt the ending was a little anticlimactic. I guess I was expecting more of a shocking reveal.

Despite my dislikes, I would still recommend reading this book if you enjoy a good mystery. If you do read it, let me know your thoughts!

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillian Audio for the ARC and audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

I enjoyed the present day story more than the flashbacks. I really could not bring myself to care about the rock and rollers but I do feel that if there was more to their story I would have loved it. I did love the present day story and the dynamic between the two friends. The narration was also well done.

I’m a big Rachel Hawkins fan and couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! It kept me on my toes the whole time. I loved that I was basically reading two stories in one, as I always enjoy dual timelines. She did this one so well. You’ll be kept wondering. If you like thrillers this is for you! The narration with this book was perfection as well. All around winner!

This was really enjoyable as an audiobook. I did like that there were several narrators rather than just one! The story was set in 2 different time periods - 1974 and the present day, in a villa in Italy. It was a bit obvious what was going to happen before it did, but it was still interesting. Though I thought the ending would have done better with a bit more of the ends tied up better.

This review was also posted on Goodreads.