The Villa is my favorite Hawkins book so far. “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--The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.”

Emily, an author in a rut, and her best friend, Chess, social media star turned best selling author, go to Italy to get away and rekindle their friendship. They’re staying a villa famous for being rented in the 70s by musicians and an author that went on to write a best selling horror novel after one of the musicians was murdered there. Emily stumbles upon clues leading her to believe the murder was more sinister than a rockstar party gone wrong. As tensions rise in the house between Emily and Chess in present day, you can’t shake the ominous feeling that something is going to happen again in that house.

I didn’t realize this book was inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and Percy and Mary Shelley prior to reading it (yeah- I didn’t read the blurb and pretty much went in blindly when I was sent the widget from the publisher). I felt the vibes throughout though and kind of love the book more now that I know the inspiration behind it. I liked the two timelines leading up to the twists in both the past and present. Not what I expected but in a good way. I can’t say much without spoilers but this is a great escape of a book.

I was fortunate to be sent an audio copy in addition to an e-galley so I was able to go back and forth between listening and reading on my kindle. The audio version had fantastic narrators, one of them being one of my favorites, Julia Whelan.

The Villa is available tomorrow 1.3.22!

Thanks @stmartinspress for sending this eARC and also @macmillan.audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

I have enjoyed many books from this author but I don’t know about this one. It definitely wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley I was able to listen to the audio version and I have many comments.
1. There was a part where we listened to an actual podcast and I literally thought that the book from NetGalley was messed up - it just was so random and I felt unnecessary. Especially since it only happened once.
2. I did enjoy the fact that the dual timelines were matched with separate narrators BUT I didn’t need that past timeline to be narrated by the people in the past. I didn’t think it added anything to it but it didn’t take anything away either.
3. My biggest issue though? I kept waiting for SOMETHING to happen. And then once it did it was so anticlimactic that I didn’t even realize it was the thing that happened until the book ended 15 minutes later.

So what did I read? A book about a couple of friends that go on vacation together to a Villa in Italy where there had been a murder. They’re both authors and decide to use it as a writing retreat of sorts. The one is going through a messy divorce and much of the drama from that is finding its way into their trip. They write their books. They discover the real history of the infamous villa. The thing happens. Houses remember. The end.

So this is a no from me.

⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for gifting me an ALC of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

The story is set in the same Italian villa told in two timelines, present day and 1974 , the summer of rebellion and revolution leading to an explosion of music and the arts. Present day sees two childhood friends who have grown apart but are looking to reconnect. When Chess, a now insta-famous self help writer invites her friend Emily for a girls getaway, Emily jumps at the chance as she needs to unwind from some stressful and difficult previous months. At the villa Emily discovers the long buried secrets that occurred in the summer of 1974. Will history repeat itself? Is this trip as innocent as Chess suggested? Lots of secrets, twists and surprises are brimming at the villa.

I really enjoyed the current day storyline but had a hard time staying engaged in the past plot-line. The story of sisters Mari & Lara was a bit convoluted with too many characters and too much backstory. I thought Julia Whelan did an outstanding job with the present day narration and it was her soothing voice that kept me fully invested in this book.

While this was not my favorite book by Rachel Hawkins, she did create a full bodied thriller which was suspenseful and clever. I’m sure readers of gothic and contemporary literature will enjoy this book/ audio. Book publishes Tuesday, January 3.,2023.

Emily and her lifelong friend, Chess, set out on a summer long vacation in Orvieto to write and relax. The Villa alternates between present day and the 1970’s during a time that a gruesome murder of a famous rockstar occurred in the same location. Emily is intrigued by the events that transpired in 1974, and soon similarities from the past start to become Emily’s present reality.

It is hard to sum up my thoughts on The Villa because I found it to be equally intriguing as it was flat. I would be entirely invested in the story one moment and a bit confused the next. The premise was there, but the various time jumps and choppy pacing made it hard to follow at times. Overall, it was entertaining, but don’t expect shocking twists or super eerie vibes. To me, this was more so a mystery or drama.

**4.5-stars**

A fantastic, paranoia-filled romp in Italy following two sets of women over two timelines. I really enjoyed watching the dual-dramas of The Villa unfold.

Villa Rosato, 1974: Step-sisters, Mari and Lara, are on an artist's holiday along with Mari's boyfriend, Pierce. The trio are staying at the lavish holiday home at the invitation of rock star, Noel Gordon. Mari is a writer and both Lara and Pierce are musicians. There's a lot of creating going on at the home, but also a lot of other things. It's sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, baby!

It's during her stay at the villa that Mari pens one of the greatest horror novels of all time, her magnum opus, Lilith Rising, with the opening words, 'houses remember'. This creative retreat ends with Pierce's brutal murder. Will the house remember?

In the present, Villa Rosato is now known as Villa Aestas, a luxurious holiday retreat, in spite of the fact that it's a murder house. For best friends, writers, Emily and Chess, it's the perfect spot for them to go and reconnect. Emily, the author of a Cozy Mystery series is in a bit of a rut after the recent separation from her husband. It hasn't been easy and with him going after her money, she's financially strapped and emotionally at wits end.

Chess is a very successful self-help author, who rents the villa in the hopes that her best friend, Emily, will join her there for the summer. Emily is concerned, you know about the murder house part, but it does sound like a nice escape. Chess always seems to be able to make her feel better, so maybe it will good.

Once at the villa, Emily is taken with the house and its history; more specifically the events of 1974. She begins researching and believes that the truth may be more sinister than what is currently believed. She also feels like the truth may lie within Mari's writings. It becomes a bit of a project for Emily. She's fascinated by the topic and begins writing about it.

The murderous events at the villa have already been of interest to True Crime aficionados and podcasters for years, but how many of them have actually had the opportunity to go live in the house. Emily could have insight nobody else has ever been privy too before. It's exciting to her and definitely reinvigorates her creative juices.

When Chess begins sniffing around the same story, Emily gets a little miffed. This is her thing. Doesn't Chess have enough already? Why can't she leave this alone? The seclusion of the home and foreboding nature of the house itself seems to be having an effect on the women. They're snapping at each other, running hot and cold, are they just going stir-crazy, or is there something more eroding their relationship? More importantly, will they be able to make it out of the murder house alive?

I was greatly anticipating The Villa and had so much fun listening to the audiobook. The narration was fantastic and absolutely channeled the slow-intensity of the story. I loved the initial set-up. Getting to know the cast of characters, both past and present, kept me fully engaged and present. I was very quickly invested.

One of my favorite aspects was watching Emily's character looking into the events of 1974; how those events intrigued her and gave her new focus. Emily was at a place where she really needed somewhere to focus her energy outside of her failing relationship and bad financial circumstances. The villa helped with that.

The relationship between Emily and Chess was complicated, as many friendships are, but I found it to be 100% believable. Friendships can get messy and this one definitely had its moments.

The 1974-timeline was giving me heavy Daisy Jones & the Six energy and I wasn't mad about it. It was interesting, with great characters and well-structured reveals. Personally, I could have gone a bit darker in that time period, but I understand the choices made by the author. It didn't need to get super dark to be effective and it kept it more evenly-balanced between the two time periods.

I also sort of wish there were more detailed excerpts from Lilith Rising included. I'm so intrigued by Mari's book. I wish it actually existed in real life so I could read it. That should giving you an inkling of how interesting it was, the whole concept of the ultimate Feminist Horror novel. This feeling also reminded me of Daisy Jones because I would have sold my soul for a copy of their nonexistent album.

I loved how this wrapped up. The influence of the one on the other; the permission granted in a way for the present to happen the way it did because of the past. It's really difficult to talk about this without spoilers, so I will just say, I found this to be incredibly clever. The final twist left me with that evil grin I love so much. It was just so well done.

Rachel Hawkins is crushing this gothic-infused mystery genre. I'm loving it. I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next. Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. <i>The Villa</i> was a ton of fun and a great way to start off a new reading year!!

Fantastic! Another hit by author Rachel Hawkins!

MC Emily is reeling from a failed marriage, unknown illness and slow moving writing career. Enter her former childhood BF, Chess, who has a multi million dollar non-fiction writing career as a self help guru. Over the past few years, they start to lose touch, until they decide to travel to Italy together. Told between multiple timelines (1974 and present), the story twists and turns around the sordid past (murder) at Villa Aestas. Past timeline features characters Mari, Pierce, Noel, Lara and Johnnie. Emily becomes engrossed in the history of the Villa and the crime that took place there, only to realize that past and present may collide and change her life forever!

4-star read for me! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Amazing narration!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and opinion?

This book grabbed me from the first chapter and didn’t let go until the last word. I loved the dual timelines and the shifting points of view, they worked seamlessly together. I loved that this book was female focused and I felt connected to them in a really unique way. The parallels between the two sets of women and the way their stories played out was really well done. Also, that ending was so perfect, I was not expecting that last bit and it really surprised me in the best way!

The audiobook narrators were fantastic!

I did like the book within a book storyline, but I had trouble caring about any of the characters. The story dragged a little too much but did ramp up towards the end, which was the best part of the book. The readers did a great job reading this and added to enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishing house and the author for the opportunity to listen to a complimentary copy of the audio book in return for a review based upon my honest opinion.

The narrator did a good job of this book and was pleasant to listen to. I did however struggle to connect with the characters in the book and found it hard to enjoy. It was an okay storyline, but I could not get into it.

I have enjoyed the other books I have read by Rachel Hawkins and The Villa was no exception. The different narrators really helped to add to the depth of this audio book. While I did like it, there was something missing for me, and I can't quite pinpoint what it is.

"The Villa" by Rachel Hawkins is set to publish on 1/3/2023, and I intentionally made myself stop finishing book on December 31 so that I can start 2023 with a satisfying read.

It is a suspense book in a dual time line. One is the present time where the main protagonist Emily is having a very difficult time in her life when her best friend Chess invite her to spend time in an Italian villa. This villa was the stage of an infamous death of a rock star almost fifty years ago. Emily starts to uncover what happened then - which is the second time line, involving musicians Pierce and Noel, Pierce's girlfriend Mari who is a blossoming young writer, and her stepsister Lara. This second timeline is inspired by Mary Shelley taking a trip to Lake Genova with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1816 and writing Frankenstein. However, because the second time-line setting is in 1970s, it feels more like Daisy Jones and Six to me. In any event, both storylines are interesting and especially current time of Emily and Chess story are filled with humor and relatable. The story kept my interest to the end. The ending was too heavy-handed for my liking, but overall I am glad I started my new book year with this book. I hope the rest of the year would be continued to be filled with enjoyable books!

While I absolutely LOVE her book jackets (I thought covers of the last three books were gorgeous), I didn't care for the Wife Upstairs and didn't pick up Reckless Girls because of that. I enjoyed The Villa a LOT more than the Wife Upstairs and I would recommend it to other suspense lovers.

This audiobook was narrated well by Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell and Shiromi Arserio.
An advanced copy was provided to me for review purposes courtesy of NetGalley and Macmillan Audio. Opinions stated here are my own. Thank you!

For this my last book of 2022 I did a blend of listening to the audio and reading on kindle. I liked the narrators and thought they brought their characters to life. I did have a harder time getting to Mari’s parts, but as I got further into the story those were actually the parts that had me more interested. I felt bad for Emily. She picked a poor husband and an even poorer BFF. I didn’t like Chess through the whole story and wondered why they were friends, especially by the end. This book wasn’t exactly the thriller I was expecting, but it was a suspenseful story told in dual timelines which I’ve always liked. This is the story of a Villa in Italy and two women who stayed there. Emily is surprised to hear a famous murder of a famous musician occurred in the villa Chess has for them to stay in that summer. But as Chess says someone has died everywhere. But the more Emily learns the more interested she is.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4873375427

Holy cow. I wasn’t a huge fan of The Wife Upstairs, but I do think this one was better. I love the narrators and the split timelines. Very cool literary divides going on here. I love a good twisty ending.

Emily, a cozy mystery writer, and Chess, a self-help writer, have been best friends since childhood. It would be more accurate to say that they are intense frenemies. Chess is wildly popular and successful. Em's cozy series hasn't allowed her to reach the same level of acclaim. She is recently divorced from the toxic Matt, who is now trying to claim a share of the financial rights to her past and future writing. Really, all of the characters in both timelines are highly flawed and unlikable.

The Villa is being advertised as a mystery/thriller. Chapters alternate between the present (Emily and Chess storyline) and the 1970s (Mari storyline). In all cases, we are dealing with unreliable narrators—one could get whiplash from the quick switches, beginning to end. Ultimately, I found this unsatisfying. As such, I lowered my rating somewhat. That notwithstanding, the story was entertaining. I never once thought of bailing.

The main narrator of the audio edition is Julia Whelan, who is a consistently strong performer. I'm not familiar with the other two narrators, nor did I find them to be nearly as skilled as Whelan. The podcaster narration (two characters) is especially obnoxious, as intended.

The story gave me a Taylor Jenkins Reid vibe throughout, perhaps due to the sensationalism. [When I started writing the review, I noticed in the publisher's description that the story was inspired by Fleetwood Mac, which makes my TJR vibe even more understandable.]

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review. Publication is expected January 3.

3.5⭐

adly, this was not for me. Unlikeable characters and disappointment that the “wicked gothic suspense” was an overpromise at best did me in. I switched between reading and listening to the audio version, The narrators did a fantastic job and that’s why I listened to the end. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

Two best friends, Chess and Emily, both writers (one a self help guru and another a cozy murder mystery writer) want to reconnect with one another and enjoy some time away! Sounds wonderful until Emily learns that the Villa is home to a murder that took place in the 70s. This makes room for an unfolding of the murder mystery and what’s to become of Chess and Emily!

This had twists, secrets, and female jealousy and some spice that I wasn’t expecting.. I found myself breeding through this at a good pace. Wanting to see how it ended.

Although this was a quick, easy read… it fell a bit flat for me. Mainly due to the characters. I loved Chess and Emily but really disliked the set of characters portrayed in the murder plot line. Drugs, rock musicians and sex just felt oddly juxtaposed with the modern story line.

Fun but not a must read.

"The House Remembers" What a chilling line to start off with. This is a dual timeline thriller that has a lot of similarities and tragic endings.

This book slowly ramps up. I did enjoy that in the current timeline, Em and Chess try to uncover more details from the 1970s timeline. Writing and song lyrics hold clues and all of the characters express themselves via writing.

One wish I had was to have gotten more of a creepy vibe from the house itself, it seemed to be a bit more ordinary other than a couple bad events. The characters are truly what makes this book though.

I enjoyed the audiobook version and the narrator was great, but it felt a bit disjointed due to some of the letter writing excerpt parts that were intermixed in the story.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this Audiobook for my honest review.

Thank you @macmillanaudio and @netgalley for my free audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed listening to the audio version of this book, with multiple narrators and even music at one point! The creative format also includes musical lyrics, news articles, and diary entries, all of which add to the enjoyment of the story!
This one unfolds with dual timelines, Emily, in the present, and Mari, in the past.

EMILY is getting over a divorce when she reconnects with her childhood best friend, CHESS. Both women are writers. Emily writes cozy mysteries; and Chess, who is much more successful, writes self-help books. When Chess invites Emily to join her for a summer in Italy, she readily agrees.

When they arrive at the villa, Emily and Chess discover it was once the notorious scene of the murder of a famous rock star. Emily decides to research the villa’s past and she discovers a diary belonging to MARI, the girlfriend of the murdered rock star. Emily is soon drawn into the mystery surrounding the murder and she plans to write about it. But as Emily gets closer to the truth, tensions develop between Emily and Chess. Soon, shattering secrets are revealed, leading to yet another murder!

This is a slow burning thriller that takes place in a villa in Italy. This book takes a while to get going, because it focuses a lot on the detail of the two stories the author is telling. This book is broken up into two stories that are parallel, and each chapter rotates both stories. The first story focuses on two stepsisters in the 1970s who decide to run away with each other to follow a run married musician. The trio ends up at a Villa in Italy where they meet up with a rock and roll star Noel who invites Pierce and the two stepsisters Mari and Lara. Mari is the girlfriend of the married up and coming musician Pierce. This story is filled with sex, drugs, partying, jealousy and self-discovery. The time in the Villa ends with someone being murder, and the other lives being changed after dealing with the murder.
The second part of the book focuses on the two childhood best friends named Emily and Chess. Both Emily and Chess are writers and have had some success with their writing. Chess, is a bestseller writer of self-help books who is getting over a very bad relationship and is living a very nice lifestyle. Emily on the other hand is a writer of cozy stories and is going through a very bitter divorce with her husband who wants half of all her book royalties. Chess talks Emily into going away with her to a Villa in Italy. This is the same Villa where the famous murder in the 70s took place and considered a place for true crime stories shows. While at the Villa, Emily becomes very interested in the crime story that involves musicians and finds herself motivated to write her own thriller novel. The catch is that while investigating the Villa for clues of the 70s murder Chess and Emily are involved in their own murder story.
I enjoyed this book. I started to put together pieces as I listen to the audiobook. If you are a lover of thriller, and like a good mystery I highly recommend this book. I want to thank MacMillian Publishing Audiobook and Net galley for allowing me the opportunity to review this book.

The Villa is a slow burn thriller that is told in duo timelines. It had the makings to be a 5 star read for me but ended up falling flat.

I listened to this as an audiobook and it started out being rather confusing even though I knew it was being told in dual timelines. Once I had everything straight, I was really intrigued to see where it was going! I had a good time reading it but it was incredibly predictable. I was also more invested in the current storyline than the mystery in the past. The ending made me mad and sad which is never a good combination for a reader so I will just leave it at that.

Overall, this was my first book by Rachel Hawkins and I am not sure if I will be picking up another one anytime soon. I thought the writing was great but this one was too predictable and lackluster for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.