I liked The Villa, but unfortunately I didn't love it quite as much as I had expected. The story is told between two different timeline (the 70's and present day) but take place in the same Italian Villa. I started by reading an e-copy of the book, but thankfully received an audiobook which made it easier for me to follow. Yes, at times it's atmospheric and mysterious, but I was left feeling like I wanted more from it. The story is told by three narrators. And as usual, Julia Whelan was amazing.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the arc and the alc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was a really interesting story of dualing timelines all based in an italian villa.
I enjoyed the murder mystery in the earlier storyline. I did not enjoy the relationship between Emily and Chess as I found Chess to be very self centered. Overall, I enjoyed the setting and the subject matter.

All three narrators did a great job. They really brought the story to life.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rachel Hawkins for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback and review.

Chess and Emily are two friends who agree to go to a villa in Italy to help them both get a new view and break up writer's block. Emily is coming off a health crisis and divorce. Chess is trying to find more of that self-help guru writing she's been doing. In an alternate timeline we have Mari, her boyfriend, and her stepsister joining a rock star at the same villa back in 1974. What unfolds is a mystery that will have you guessing.

I wanted to love this book because I have loved all of Rachel Hawkins books before. I was sucked in immediately then it seemed to hit a lull for me. So I requested the audio-book. Julia Whelan is a wonderful narrator and it hooked me back in. The only reason I'm giving it 3 stars is because I honestly expected a little more. I won't spoil any details but it did not go where I thought it was gonna go. I will still add this to my collection but I am looking forward to Hawkins' next book!

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is an enjoyable thriller perfect for readers who don’t like anything scary and enjoy a story within a story. I really enjoyed this audiobook with a full cast to bring to life the story from the 1970s of an unsolved murder in the Italian villa that our 2020s author friends are visiting for the summer.

Our MC Emily (voiced by the lovely Julia Wheelan) is a cozy mystery author going through an ugly divorce. She heads to Italy for six weeks with her friend Chess, a pithy memoir author. This book explores levels of deception and distrust as well as what it means to share a secret.

This thriller won’t rock your world but I enjoyed it all the same. Well produced with music and podcast elements, I definitely recommend this one in audiobook form.

This book is told between two different time lines, the 70's and present day. In the 70s you have two sisters crashing a rock stars vacation, The Villa. One of the sisters writes a novel, the musician writes an album and someone winds up dead.
Present day cozy author ends up at the Villa wither her frenemie Chess. As they start to unrvael what happened in the 70s, things start to come to light about the friend's termoutulous relationship.
I really struggled to focus during the past timeline, infact I tuned out several times. I found it labourous to read through. On the flip, I really enjoyed Chess and Emily's story. I also believe Julia Whalen as the narrorator did a great job and could listen to her read just about anything.
I can see why Rachel Hawkins is loved by many, I will give her another shot.

Thank you Netgally for this Advanced Copy Read. I was not reimburst or influenced in anyway for my honest review.

DNF at 10%.

I found this very confusing on audio. I'm going to try reading it instead of listening.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
This was a very slow burn thriller, with long chapters. And those long chapters were broken up with alternating timelines. I found the audio version made it all flow seamlessly. I liked that there are different narrators for the 2 main characters, which made it easy to know what timeline of the story was being told, and if it was in the past or present. The narrators did a fantastic job. The infliction and emotions in their voices kept me interested and brought the story to life. I thought this was very entertaining.
Many thanks to Rachel Hawkins, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audio version in exchange for an honest review.

The slow build up of the plot wasn't doing it for me on this one. You can tell by the middle of the book how the end is going to play out between Emily and Chess (which is just a dumb name for a character if we're going to be honest), and then that's exactly what happened. I enjoyed the voice narrators of the book, they did a great job!

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ARC.

As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.

For being a slow-burn thriller, I flew threw this! If you’re like me and struggle with long chapters, don’t worry. Chapters may be super long, but are broken up with the alternating timelines.

I enjoyed Emily’s character. She was trying to get her life together as she goes through a tough divorce with a loser of an ex husband that is out for her money. Chess is super suspicious.

I didn’t like Mari in the beginning, but as her story went it got darker and more interesting!

Enjoyed both narrators voices! I had a copy on my kindle as well as the audio so I got through this one quickly.

Emily and Chess were childhood friends who did everything together. Like most, they grew apart when they got older, but Chess invited Emily to Italy with her for a small vacation. The Villa Aestas is where they stayed and the figured out that it used to be called Villa Rosato until a murder took place during the time that a famous rock start and his friends stayed there. Emily decides to look more into what happened and even starts to write about it. It is the first time in a long time that she has felt inspired. Chess snoops through Emily’s journal and that is the starting point of all of their drama and secrets coming out.

I loved the twists of this book. Chess and Emily are like any two best friends who grew apart and Chess’ betrayal was a huge drama point for me in the book. I really liked how the book was showing Emily researching and putting things together through the clues she was finding in the book she was reading about the murder.

I loved the dual timelines as we followed two groups of people staying att he same Villa in Italy, one group of the 1970s rock era, all about sex, drugs, rock & roll and murder. The other about two friends in the modern era trying to reconnect, amidst secrets, lies and betrayal.

As with any good thriller not is as it seems and I was drawn to both stories, anxious to see the resolution.

The audio was absolutely superb and I highly recommend that version.

Emily is in the middle of a divorce and under pressure to produce her next book. When her best friend Chess suggests she join her for a summer in a villa in Italy, it seems like the perfect solution to move forward. Only this is also the scene of a famous murder. The rest of the world may have moved on, but houses remember. As the house starts to give up it’s secrets, Emily starts to discover things in her own life, even about her best friend, that she’d rather keep hidden but it could be at the cost of her career. For fans of Ruth Ware.

Hands down my new favorite thriller from Rachel Hawkins!! I loved how this was a story within a story full of unexpected twists that focused on the bonds of sisterhood and female friendship and the ways those bonds can get tested by toxic men! Excellent on audio narrated by a full cast including the amazing talents of Julia Whalen. The story included podcast excerpts and is perfect for fans of Jennifer McMahon or Simone St. James. Much thanks to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, Librofm and Tandem Collective Global for my ALC and the readalong opportunity!!

I really enjoyed the two timelines. They were exucuted with PERFECTION, and was very easy to follow. Very “action packed” lead. I was expecting the same for the ending, so that was a little dissapointing. Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for approving this Audio ARC.

4 STARS!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - 4 ½ stars. ½ star deducted because the story plot about Chess and Em seemed not quite finished. But the story about Mary, Lara and the rock'n'roll gang in 1974 carried the story through. As a child of the 70'ies, it is funny to me to start seeing that decade depicted as 'history'.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC and the chance to review this book.

I received this ARC from NetGalley. This was quite a unique mystery/thriller! I loved the nonlinear timelines and the history of the villa. This story tests relationships and finding out who you can really trust. The audio narration was very well done. Although I liked the concept of this story, I was hoping for more of a spooky mystery. I still enjoy Rachel Hawkins’ writing a look forward to more of her work.

Full disclosure, this not my favorite genre. I have no idea why I keep putting myself through it. This book is just like all of the other novels that fall into ubiquitous category of the psychological thriller with an unreliable female narrator with a feminist twist for good measure. No surprises here. The writing itself is generally non-offensive and the narrator does a decent job, but it is all so predictable. In the author's attempt to not be predictable, she is actually all the more so my creating layers of twists in the story which are not so much engaging as they are annoying. I won't be seeking out any other titles from this author. Those who really do enjoy this type of book will probably find this a nice book to zone out to, so don't mind me and my negativity.

Twisty! I really liked the separate timelines aspect of this story and how different art forms are used to progress the story (Mari's novel and Lara's album lyrics as well as Em's current-day writing). This was like a past mystery being experienced in present day by two women, friends on vacation, at The Villa where it happened almost 50 years ago. There were also mysteries in the current time period, which added to the suspense of the story overall; like Em's growing unease with her relationship with Chess. Is Chess acting strange? I liked it. And Mari's dynamic with her step-sister, Lara, felt really similar -- were they besties, did it just appear that way on the outside and they were really at odds/ in competition with each other?

I thought each of the narrators did a great job! I liked that there are different narrators for Em and Mari; it was easy to know what timeline of the story we were in (past or present) because of that. There was great inflictions and emotions and they kept me interested in the story. Even the podcast chapter was super fun. The narrators really got into character and it was entertaining.

Big thanks to Macmillian audio via Netgalley for the advance listener's copy to read and review!

This was my first Rachel Hawkins book and I was not quite sure what to expect. Her books get a lot of mixed reviews, so I was excited to dive in and see what I thought.

The Villa follows two different characters along two different time lines. Maria who went tot he villa in the past with her rockstar boyfriend and a group of a few others. Maria was a writer and her step sister who was with her ended up writing one of the best albums while on their trip to the villa. At the end of Maria’s trip there was a horrible murder that changed the course of Maria’s life.
Emily, who goes on a trip present day with her best friend to the same villa is also a writer. Emily is going through a divorce and also battling some health issues. Emily discovers Lilith Rising, Maria’s book she wrote while at the villa and starts to try and figure out what exactly happened during the time Maria was at the villa.

I am not sure what category I would place this book in. It is not really a thriller or a suspense book. There is a murder but there is not too much of a mystery around it, just really no clean detailed pictures. So, I guess I would classify this as a mystery, women’s fiction book.

I will say the story kept me interested, but I did not feel a pull to the story or the characters. For me, I was not super invested in what happened or who the murderer was. A lot of time in books I am on the edge of my seat trying to solve the mystery, but for this I kind of just knew in my head what happened.

I will say, I did figure out most of the plot twists, except for the very end. The ambiguous ending was definitely not something I was expecting and I did like that there were some things that were left up to the reader to decide on their own.

If you like a good character driven novel, then I really do think you’d enjoy this story!

4/5 stars! I enjoyed this read. It has a strong sense of place and kept me intrigued from beginning to end. I also enjoyed going from past to present as we learned what actually happened at the Villa.