Unfortunately this just didn't hit the mark for me. I was disappointed because the idea of the plot really grabbed my attention, but I think generally it was too slow for me and I didn't find the characters all that likeable.
I wouldn't say it's bad, just not my cup of tea, if you will. I'll definitely be checking out other works from this author!

Thank you netgalley for providing me an arc for an honest review!

This book follows 2 different timeslines of the present an dpast. In the past we follow a scandalous murder and in the present, 2 friends who are trying to figure it out. I got kind of lost in this book so until we got into the halfway point, I had a really hard time understanding what was happening. But the end was pretty interesting.

I was a bit disappointed in this one, especially after the amazing previous books by this author! I felt like the twist was a little underwhelming and the ending was very hurried. The elements of this one felt very done before but the story overall was entertaining. I wish there was more of the current timeline as that to me felt MOST interesting. The past timeline felt like it didn't add much to the story and honestly made this one a little slow.

Welcome to The Villa! This dual timeline mystery by Rachel Hawkins had me invested from the start. Emily and Chess have been friends since they were young girls. Now grown their relationship has morphed into frenomy terrain. Emily is a writer of cosy mysteries and Chess a mega star lifestyle guru writer of nonfiction. After a contentious split from her husband Emily accepts an offer to spend the summer with Chess at an infamous Villa in Italy. Nearly forty years earlier a group of five young musicians stayed at the Villa. Only four were alive at the end of the summer. In the aftermath one of the women wrote a best selling book, the other launched a music career with an iconic album for a generation. As Emily and Chess settle into the Villa to write their books Emily becomes preoccupied with the events of 1974. What really happened, and are there clues in the book and album written by the woman who stayed at the villa that summer.

Hawkins weaves an incredible web here, there is a lot going on! While this is undoubtedly a mystery, and we are left guessing motives of several characters until the end, there’s much bigger themes. Hawkins asks us to consider some morally gray ground as a balance of women’s creative efforts getting drowned out in service of the men in their orbit. I loved the way the stories intertwined, the complexities and nuances of the relationships. For me it was slightly overcomplex. I thought the basic premise was incredibly strong and well done so I became distracted when the story veered off course too much.

I think this makes a great buddy read as I really wanted someone to discuss some of the plot points and twists as I was reading! I think fans of Rachel Hawkins will enjoy this one, as well as readers who like mysteries set in Italy, where the location is integral.
I received an advanced copy from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley. It drops 1/3/23 so preorder from your favorite bookstore, and request from you local library now!

⚠️Outlier alert!

Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll!
Well, that sounds like an interesting little party! Unfortunately, (for me) this book was far from that!

Told in two timelines:
1974 - Young, star-crossed musical artists looking for inspiration and a getaway, rented an Italian villa.
Try as I might, I couldn’t connect to the past timeline and dreaded this part of the book!

Present day - Friends Emily and Chess have also rented an Italian villa to vacation and hopefully get some writing in as well. And maybe, fingers-crossed, get their strained friendship back on track!

This read had a similar vibe to Daisy Jones and The Six, but the execution just fell to pieces.

I tried the audio as well, since Julia Whelan was one of the narrators. And truly she was the only reason I made it to the end. Listening to her voice gave me the resolve to keep going.

I’ve loved previous works by this author in the past and know this is just a one-off. So will definitely be trying again with her next.

A buddy read with Susanne that left us both a bit speechless.🤦🏻‍♀️

Other readers have loved this one so I hope it works out better for you!

2.5⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins press and libro.fm for my 🎧ARC

An edge-of-your-seat page turner! The dual timeline worked well with this one, flipping from 1970’s and present day. Rachel Hawkins fans won’t be disappointed with this one.

After previously LOVING The Wife Upstairs and feeling very "meh" about her most recent release of Reckless Girls, I was excited to see where this book would land in my overall author ranking. I am happy to report that while it wasn't as high as a 4.5 stars as TWU, I definitely enjoyed it overall and gave it a solid 4-star rating, landing right in the middle of her three mystery thrillers so far.

The Villa was set in an extremely scenic Italian villa and alternated timelines and POVs, which kept me hooked throughout and kept the overall story moving quickly. It was extremely atmospheric and I enjoyed the all too familiar relationship dynamics that were woven into both timelines. Some of the characters I really wanted to punch in the face sometimes, but overall I still really enjoyed this one. If you enjoyed previous books by this author, I definitely recommend picking this one up when it publishes in January!

Thank you so much to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for my review copy!

Childhood friends Emily and Chess were a besties, but as with adulthood, lives changes and people have other obligations. Chess is doing well and offers her friend Emily a trip of a lifetime, to stay in a Villa in Italy to reconnect.

1974-The Villa has an interesting history and there have been a murder involving sex, drugs and rock and roll and one eventful summer.

Emily becomes intrigued with the Villas past and the people involved in that summer have written a novel and an album. Emily finds clues in what is left behind and this causes more tension in her relationship with Chess. What secrets will they find out? Will someone else be murdered? Is the Villa to blame?

Thanks to NetGalley for sharing a copy of this book with me.

I've only read one other Rachel Hawkins book, and both that one and this new one gave me the same reaction: Well, that escalated quickly!

I enjoyed this dual narrative, one set in the 1970s in an Italian villa, and the other set in present day at the same location. Both female narrators are going through romantic difficulties. The 1970s storyline ends in a murder. I liked how these two stories tied together, with the present-day narrator Emily doing some investigative work to figure out what really happened. In each storyline, there are also female friendships put to the test.

I won't spoil the ending, but it was definitely a shocker that made me re-read the last portion to make sure I was understanding everything correctly. Well done, Rachel Hawkins!

This was my first Rachel Hawkins read and i have to say i was actually surprised with the suspenseful plot twist. I felt it to be slow at times but it picked right back up when it needed too. I will definitely be grabbing more of Rachel’s books to read soon.

I have a love/hate relationship with Chess... and Emily is... well, she needs to find herself I think. I loved the twists in this and how the center of the novel truly is friendship. The duel timeline definitely mixes things up, but is well written and not confusing. I must say, I hadn't seen those twists coming either... Another winner from Rachel Hawkins.

I simply adored The Wife Upstairs so I was looking forward to this latest novel. It started off strong but then just kind of fell flat for me. I didn’t really like the story within a story. I read both the e-copy of the book and listened to the audio. Three stars is my rating

I was intrigued to read THE VILLA as I enjoyed RECKLESS GIRLS, but THE WIFE UPSTAIRS was a miss for me. THE VILLA was a little convoluted but I enjoyed the premise. It’s definitely a slower burn than THE WIFE UPSTAIRS and RECKLESS GIRLS but a unique plot and engaging for readers. Definitely recommend if you have enjoyed Rachel Hawkins’ previous work.

This is a unique and enjoyable read with dual time periods. I loved the Italian villa setting and the murder mystery which was interwoven with a present day examination of a friendship gone awry. Hawkins deliberately reveals secrets throughout, adding intrigue and suspense.

The Villa is such an interesting read with a unique suspenseful plot. I enjoyed the twist, which I didn’t see totally coming. It was interesting to see where this story was going and I was pleasantly surprised.

I’m a big fan of Rachel Hawkins books. And once again she did not disappoint. This is a dual time line story going back and forth between the 1970’s when a murder took place and current times. It’s mainly told from the point of view of Mari in the 1970’s and Emily in current times. It is a bit slow paced for my liking and I didn’t feel like it picked up until about halfway through the book. But it did hold my interest. Also, given the title of the book, I thought the Villa itself would be the main focus of the book. I was expecting more of a creepy haunted house vibe. But the Villa itself didn’t really have much role in the book. It was just the location where the lives of the characters intersect. Overall, a good read.

“The Villa” by Rachel Hawkins is a novel about two friends who decide to stay in Italy for the summer in an attempt to reconnect their friendship. The place they are staying at is a historical Villa home to famous writers and musicians, some who were murdered in 1974. While they chose the location to get inspiration, they start to get a lot more than they bargained for when artifacts from the past start showing up. What really happened that lead to the murders 1974?

This review contains spoilers.

What it got right: I really enjoyed the dual timeline in this book. It added depth and I love the idea of picturing a location in both the present and the past to get a sense of history.

Chess and Emily’s friendship is one that most people will be familiar with. It was well written and it really captured the dynamic between old friends who have grown somewhat apart while they’ve aged. There’s still the fond memories and inside jokes, but there’s also a competition of sorts, and harmful comparisons to each other.

In terms of Emily’s undiagnosed chronic illness, I would say her symptoms could definitely be caused by an acute reaction to stress. It also seemed that it could be a very mild form of a conversion disorder, but the symptoms of acute stress reaction fit better. In times of stress the mind controls the body, so with everything going on in her life this is a plausible condition for her to develop. This would also appear as a lack of physical findings that are causing her illness (which was stated by her doctors). Therefore I would say all medical / psychological information in the novel seemed accurate to me.

What it could improve on:
I did find some swaps between the past and present to be a little abrupt or confusing. For the most part they were distinguished by headings which helped, but a few transitions seemed a little rough. I loved the inclusion of quotes from ‘famous’ magazines, books, documentaries and podcasts within the book itself.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book!

I read The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins in 2021, and I really enjoyed it. How much I enjoyed The Wife Upstairs mixed with the super iterating synopsis of The Villa, I knew I had to read it.

I'll try my best to briefly explain what the book is about, but I also want to say - this book is all over the place. It's a dual timeline story, with different characters and POV for both timelines. The story centers around a Villa in Italy. At one point, there was a brutal murder that took place at the Villa. In one timeline, we meet a group of singer/songwriters that vacation at the Villa to spark creativity in their writing. There are two girls (teenagers), and three young adult men. In the present timeline, two best friends are visiting the Villa for a best friend reunion trip. Both friends are authors. One starts researching the history of the murder that took place in the past during the trip.

I usually enjoy dual timelines, but this one was too all over the place for me. I also didn't love the fact that Mari and Lara, the two girls from the past, were teenagers - and there was quite a bit of sex, drugs, and deception going on between everyone that stayed at the Villa in the past.

I enjoyed it enough to continue to the end, and I ended up being satisfied with the ending.

It's definitely a slow-burn mystery with a lot of character focus.

Overall, it was a good read in my opinion.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for sending me an ARC on Netgalley.

This was way too predictable and I’m wondering what the reason was for everything. Why the flashback scenes? Why the quick explanation for the murder. I don’t think I can give this author another chance

*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced audiobook copy*

Rachel Hawkins novels are always interesting and original. She writes her settings and characters with a uniqueness that instantly appeals to me.
The Villa is no different, considering that it won't be released until 2023 and I've already finished reading an advance copy of it. The Villa is less of a thriller and more of a moody, atmospheric thriller which is different from her prior thrillers. Think of Ruth Ware's novel The Turn of the Key.

The story's narrative includes a story within a story as well as a number of various time periods of focus. Childhood best friends Emily and Chess have drifted apart, but when Chess intends to revive their friendship on a writing retreat to Italy, Emily resolves to do the same.

Chess convinces Emily to go to Villa Aestas with her. As authors, they will use this lovely apartment as a getaway to unwind, get some writing done, and strengthen their friendship. However, Villa Aestas has a highly troubled past that is just now starting to come to light.

The Manson Murders, Fleetwood Mac, and the setting of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein served as inspiration for this work. We learn about the villa across the two timelines (both the present and the 1970s), and the house has a distinct personality. More than Hawkins' earlier works, the novel is incredibly engrossing and atmospheric, and really changes up her tone with this one in a great way. However, it did drag on a bit and the ending wasn't as twisty as I was expecting. However, I feel that was intentional as this book is very different from Hawkins' previous work