Emily is recovering from an unknown disease and a failed marriage, when her best friend invites her to Italy for the summer. Emily is practically broke, heartbroken, and in desperate need to finish her next book. She thinks with space and a change of scenery she can hunker down and get her life back on track. Enter her self help guru friend, who invites her on this Italian adventure at a famous murder house. While trying to get into yet another cozy mystery Emily starts exploring the house and finds a copy of the book by the author that was part of original murder in this house and eventually wrote a best selling horror gothic based on her time in the house. This is Emily's story, Mary's story and the story behind the gothic novel. Exploring the house and its secrets also brings up secrets between Emily and Chess. Emily is inspired and is creating the best work of her life. Will the secrets between these lifelong friends, keep them close or break them apart? What is the mystery that this house has over its occupants? Will Emily succumb to this house or will she learn all the secrets?

Eek!! This was a good one - quite twisty! I thought I knew what was up quite a few times…. But then something else happened! Emily (gentle horror writer) and Chess (self-help guru/author) have been “besties” forever, and they go an Italian villa to write and catch up. Emily’s (soon-to-be ex) husband is trying to get money from her work. The villa itself was the setting of a gruesome murder of a young musician 30 years ago, and there is information about what really happened during that summer… This was very fun, kept my attention, and I loved the themes of writing, women winning, and some back-stabbing, too! Thanks @netgalley for the opportunity to review this one!

I must confess – I enjoyed reading The Villa so much that when I saw Julia Whelan was narrating the book, I had to dive back in. She didn’t disappoint.

I love Rachel Hawkins! The Villa is so good! The relationship between Emily and Chess kept me on my toes. I found the connections interesting between the past and the present. Especially, the current day relationship with Emily and Chess and the similarities to Mari and Lara in the past.

All in all, I don’t want to spoil this page turner. I highly recommend you run, don’t walk.

There were so many reasons for me to love this audiobook. First, it has two of my very favorite audiobook features: multiple narrators and a narrator with an English, Irish, Scottish, or Welsh accent. The book is somewhat multimedia. Besides the usual first- and third- person narratives, it features excerpts of other books, scholarly articles, musical pieces, and even a podcast. The audiobook format leant itself perfectly to each of these. I have actually heard part of Aestis!

Next is the story. Whether you are reading with your eyes or ears, Rachel Hawkins has delivered another female-positive tale full of atmosphere and suspense. I haven't read Reckless Girls yet, but The Wife Upstairs blew me away. The women at the heart of The Villa, Emily, Chess, Mari, and Lara, are all well-developed characters that you can imagine yourself knowing from real life. Just when you are ready to dismiss one as too one-dimensional, even a caricature, Rachel Hawkins will introduce another detail that keeps you reading.

This is where The Villa in any form excels. How do you want to enjoy it? Do you want juicy gothic suspense, something to savor curled up on a dark night? Or, could you be looking for something intellectual for your next book club? The Villa will meet your needs from one end of the spectrum to the other. For example, let's discuss the role of the muse, and what happens when the muse becomes creator. How might have Noel & Pierce's musical collaboration been inadvertently/unconsciously derailed when Mari and Lara began to create? In Scarecrow Has a Gun, one of Michael Paul Kozlowsky main characters is of the belief that "Men grow when women suffer." (p. 249) How does The Villa support this thesis? What about its inverse; do women grow when men suffer? All four of the main female characters tell different types of stories through different formats. Some are considered fiction, some non-. Based on your reading of The Villa, at what point do you think fiction conveys truth better than non-fiction can? The Villa is just a wonderful book, and there are so many ways for so many people to enjoy it. I highly recommend it, especially in its audiobook form.

I would like to thank Macmillan Audio for allowing me to experience this NetGalley audiobook.

A little too predictable overall. The 70's are great. The present not so much. Too many teased things that went nowhere. Some that happened off page, dull. I’m all for red-herrings or eerie tones, but this just came across lackluster. The characters in present day frustrated me and made me mad. Honestly, that’s probably just a personal preference so don’t take too much from it. But I didn't like the full reveal at the conclusion and I’ll fully stand by that one. Made it less interesting! Great elements here and there but not a lot of feeling for it in the end.

The audiobook was good though! The narrators were perfect and conveyed the story well. If you’re a listener, and interested, then I recommend the audiobook.

* I received a free audio copy from the publisher

I tried really hard to love this one, but it honestly just fell a bit flat for me. It was decent but not amazing.

This is my first Hawkins novel, but I have read Erin Sterling. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out they were the same person. Overall, I liked this book more than I expected. It was not at all like the typical thriller, and this makes it even more enjoyable. The pace is fast, but keeps the readers attention, without giving up too many details. There were aspects that I did not find enjoyable, like the podcast part. It felt forced and there for little to no reason, as it does not add to the overall plot. It was also a little predictable, but I did not mind because I still wanted to find out how it ended. The ending made me question everything I knew, and everything that happened. If "houses remember," then which of journal entry is the truth?

The narrators of the audiobook make it easy to follow along as the POVs change. I would definately list to book narrated by Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, and Shiromi Arserio again.

I will also be going back and reading more Hawkins novels.

I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book, and Macmillan Audio for an advanced audiobook.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a really good read, i like this author so i admit i was expecting a good read lol and i did like this one. Ngl really had me in the first half of JC's explanation lmfao would recommend.

The Villa is a duel timeline mystery. In 1974 we follow step sisters, Mari and Laura, and three others on an Italian Villa getaway to the Villa Rosato. The group is going to spend this time writing stories and songs and spending intimate time together. Emotions start to get the best of someone and another ends up dead.

Flash forward to present day to Emily and Chess. Childhood best friends who are both going through things in their adult life. When Chess calls Emily and invites her on a getaway/writing retreat, she can’t pass up the chance. The two women jet off to the Italian Villa Aestas- once the Villa Rosato, the setting of the 1974 brutal murder of musician Pierce Sheldon. Emily digs into the villa’s past and finds that maybe something more is to be told about that summer.

I enjoyed this story and the duel timeline. The audiobook narrators did such a great job bringing the characters to life.

I recommend this to someone who it looking for a beach read mystery. This is a perfect read for a warm day on the water!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to listen to an early recording on this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

My favorite narrator Julia Whelan she can narrator the cereal box for me, not my favorite Rachel Hawkins book.

Okay so I went into this one blind and I was glad I did because I did not know where this book was going until almost the end. So if you want to be surprised stop reading now and take this as your sign to just go ahead and read it.

If that’s not you and you actually want to read my review before making your decision here it is:

➕pluses- number 1 MURDER HOUSE! Number 2 this one is pretty short so I finished it in a day. Number 3 The audiobook is done by a full cast and features a podcast which I love. Number 4 This was definitely an original concept which I think can be difficult with thrillers since there are just sooo many! Additional thoughts- I enjoy alternate timelines so the past and present POV worked for me; though I did enjoy the past better than the present. I liked that the characters were all writers of some kind. The ending also felt satisfying and kind of reminiscent of Verity.

➖misses- Rachel Hawkins/Erin Sterling is now an auto read author for me, but I never feel like her books are my favorite. They just don’t have that special wow to land them in 5 star territory. It’s not super thriller-y just kind of suspenseful with wondering what will happen next. The climax also wasn’t very intense- like this whole book stayed pretty even keel when I wanted some more heart pumping moments. The Villa also had several awful characters. Chess is an insufferable friend. Mary held the book together IMO.

Overall, I would recommend this one. I think y’all will enjoy it for what it is.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The Villa
by: Rachel Hawkins
read by: Julia Whelan; Kimberly M. Wetherell; Shiromi Arserio
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio and St. Martin's Press for the early listen and ARC. This review applies to both the audio and digital ebook.
Suspenseful, thrilling, and shocking!
This book will definitely take you on a thrill ride and will keep you hooked until the very end. Loved all the characters. Great story line.
The author did an amazing job with this story holding the reader captive until the very end. The narrators did a fabulous job telling the story.
Will recommend

A very suspenseful novel that kept me on the edge of my seat. Such a page-turner written by Rachel Hawkins and narrated by Julia Whelan. This is the first book that I have read by this author, now I will be looking into her other titles. Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others. I went in skeptical because I found it hard to relate to the characters personally. Once I got past that though I really enjoyed the story. I loved the multilevel story within a story within a story. The narration for the audiobook could not have been better.

Emily and Chess were inseparable growing up, but in their early 30s, their relationship is no longer what it was. When Emily’s life begins to fall apart after her recent divorce, Chess invites her on a girls trip to a beautiful Italian Villa. The Villa itself has a dark history that Emily becomes fascinated with and inspired by during their visit.

I really enjoy Rachel Hawkins’ writing style. The way her settings play such an integral part to her stories and the way she slowly builds suspense makes her books so fun to read, and The Villa had so many of the aspects of her previous work that I loved. I particularly enjoyed the small flashbacks to the Villa’s past and how they were interwoven throughout Chess and Emily’s story. The mystery kept me intrigued from start to finish, and while there were a few plot twists I saw coming, the book still surprised me in many ways. I was so engaged, I read this one in one day!

The audiobook was narrated by Julia Whelan which means it was phenomenally done!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the advance copies!

Wow, I did not think I would like this book as much as I did, being that it was a thriller. Rachel Hawkins deserves all the stars though. This story was set up as two different stories, well three if you include the book within this story. At first, I thought it was going to be another jealous crazy best friend story, and while it does have hints of that it's so much more, especially when you get further into the story and realize everyone is not as good as they seem. Also, I'm one of those people, who get anxious and read the ending first, before I carry on with the rest of the story, but I still wasn't expecting the plot twist, and it left me speechless. Overall, it was a fantastic read, and all the narrators did a fantastic job narrating the story. I think the differences in accents between the different characters was amazing and really added to the story.

This book has a spectacular Italian setting which I love! Great settings and interesting characters are what I look for in a book. Two best friends go on a vacation to Italy and stay in a house that a murder took place in. Come to find out, back in the 70’s, several friends also stayed in the house and had experiences there and they were of the killing kind! The book is told in a dual timeline and is easy to follow.

I took to the current story of Emily and Chess more than the others that stayed in the house when the murder occurred in the 70’s but both storylines are great! I could relate to a lot of the music and happenings of the 70’s so that is what I looked forward to when I got to those chapters.

I love Rachel Hawkins’ books. I liked this one a little more than Reckless Girls but since she is such a great author I like all of them! Good build up of the plot and characters. A lot of the mystery happens from the middle to the end. Enjoyable read. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book.

I liked this book! I suppose it would be considered a thriller because there are suspected murders? Also at the end, the reader may need some time to absorb the book to figure out who one of the killers is, so I liked that part of the book. I wish there was more of a tie-up of what exactly happened in the second potential murder, but overall, the book was a pretty good read.

When Emily gets invited on a trip to Italy by her long-term best friend, Chess, she jumps at the chance to reconnect and continue writing the next book in her novel series.
When in Italy, Emily stumbles upon secret papers which show a deeper and darker history of the Villa they are staying in and is motivated to begin a new novel. As Emily gets into her writing, she begins to sense a divide and tension between her and Chess. As secrets begin to bubble up through the surface, Emily and Chess are forced into a life-changing decision.
Great read. Loved the narrator. Highly recommended.

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for my honest review

This sort of fell flat for me after reading Reckless girls right before. I enjoy Julia Whelans narration but when it switched back to Mary & Laura’s past I got so lost! I could keep up with the other parts of the book. For me the ending of the book really made up for rest of the book. I loved the ending!