This is such a good book! I have read several books by Rachel Hawkins. This book is very clever and well-written, as it is a story within a story. Highly recommended!

A gripping fast read that's set on 2 timelines on the villa in Italy. I was more invested in the current time, Emma's POV than Mari's. I wanted more atmosphere of a 70s rock-and-roll and did not get it.
The dynamic between Emma and Chess was interesting, but there was not enough of a build-up. It felt like reading a diary, without any "special effects". The plot idea with a book inside the book was fun, the quotes from songs, podcasts, and articles worked perfectly and made the story come to life. I just wanted more suspense, more guesswork leading to a big revelation.
Ending with Matt felt too short, it felt too easy, and again, no suspense. I loved the ending with Chess, that was perfect and leaves the cliffhanger, but at the same time reader understands what is going to happen.
This was a good story and an amazing idea, but the delivery was short for me.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a gifted early copy of the book.

I really enjoyed this book! There are two different timelines in the book - one in 1974 that follows Mari, a writer who travels to the villa with her boyfriend, stepsister, a musician and his dealer. The other timeline involves two childhood best friends (both writers, although different genres) - Emily and Chess.

I was fascinated by Mari as a character and the look back in time. Their group had such twisted dynamics and showed the ugly side of the “sex, drugs and rock & roll” lifestyle. I loved and empathized with Emily a lot and couldn’t understand why she kept Chess around. Chess frustrated me a lot, she seemed like such a selfish and self absorbed person - which made the book even better!

I loved seeing the two stories intertwine and it got me thinking of the steep price of success.

4.5/5 stars ⭐️

Many thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts!

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
Ah, what can I say about this one??? I finished it yesterday and still feel unsettled by that ending!

Emily and Chess have been best friend since grade school. Many years have transpired at this point and Chess is now a famous author and household name, as well as Emily for her penning cozy mysteries, but Emily's life has taken a turn for the worse while Chess continues to catapult to fame. Chess invites Emily to Italy for the summer with her to give her a change of scenery and reconnect. Hoping to tap into her dried up writer's well, she accepts.

The house they stay in is a Murder house and is famous for the killing of up and coming musician, Pierce, in the 70s. Interestingly enough, two of the people staying in the house at the time of the killing created art out of their time there and became famous, as well. Emily becomes obsessed with Mari and the book she wrote after her time there, Lilith Rising, and believes it holds secrets as to what truly happened that summer.

The story is written in dual timelines and they seem completely unrelated until they come together towards the end... which is the part that left me a bit baffled. I won't give anything away, but I would love to chat with someone else who has read this! Message me! :)

The Villa
By: Rachel Hawkins

Number 39
4/5 ⭐️

“How is it that someone can bring out the very best and the very worst of you all at once?”

I got this book as an ARC from @netgalley and really enjoyed it! My last @rachelhawkins book I read (Reckless Girls) wasn’t one of my favorites but I did love The Ex Hex (by @erinsterling AKA Rachel Hawkins’ alias) so I was excited to give another one of her books a go!

I loved how the historical component of the novel seemed so real. When reading the parts of Mari’s story, I kept googling things to see if any of it actually happened. Hawkins’ writing had me fact checking, it was that believable! The background of a Villa in Italy had me mentally visualizing every scene, longing to be under the Italian sun.

I kept finding myself feeling sorry for Mari and her awkward relationship with both her boyfriend and her half-sister. That same awkward love/hate relationship (and love triangle for that matter) was paralleled into present day Emily’s life.

It was so interesting how Emily dove deeper to discover more secrets from Mari’s book. Even though it was a fictional tale, Emily was able to uncover more reality as to what went on during that murderous summer. That was, until Chess started to stake claim to Emily’s ideas.

Right off the bat I knew that Chess was the worst. Who gets the nickname Chess from Jessica? She ended up being a stereotypical frenemy (think Blair & Serena for my fellow GG friends!). SPOILER ALERT - She sleeps with Emily’s husband and tries to make it seem in Emily’s best interest? How manipulative!

In the end, both Emily and Mari got their version of a happy ending. Mari told her story even though it was a different version of the truth. Emily also had the world experiencing a different version of her truth as well. For a picturesque and thriller of a read, check out The Villa when it comes out January 3, 2023!

Em and Chess reminded me so much of Mari and Lara. The quote "houses remember" stuck with me throughout the whole book and it definitely proved itself true in The Villa.

This book was very entertaining. Vacationers turned to murderers! Even though part of the story was past tense, it all felt relatable.

I really enjoyed both of Rachel Hawkins previous two books, The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls. I was thrilled to receive an advanced readers copy of The Villa. I honestly would not classify this book as a thriller. I thought it was more literary fiction. To be honest, although it definitely kept my attention, I found most of the book to be somewhat predictable. I really enjoyed reading about the relationship between Emily and Chess. I enjoyed not knowing whether I could trust Chess. Initially, I wasn’t super invested in the Mari, Lara, Pierce, Noel, and Johnnie story. However, the ending of the book blew my mind. I’m honestly not sure I completely understand the ending. Questions were left unanswered. That’s the type of book I really enjoy. It bothers me when everything is neatly tied up at the end.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins was a slow burn for me. I’m a pretty quick reader when I’m fully invested in a story but I had a difficult time immersing into this one. There wasn’t a Big Bang twist like I expected going into this. It was more of a drama with some murder dropped in type feel. I also felt a bit disappointed by the lack of eerie that this Villa was suppose to give off. However, I DO feel this story was unique in it’s own way. I love the concept of the women realizing their talents, even if it came at a cost.

I liked this book more than I liked Reckless Girls, so I would round up to 3.5 stars. I really do feel this book was different than others I have read but I can’t put my finger on how it could have been better. Maybe these weren’t the vibes the author was going for, but a bit more of a creepy, mysterious atmosphere involving the Villa would have elevated this book for me.

Pros: The cover of this book and the title caught my attention—a book set at an Italian villa (with a bit of murder mixed in) sounded like lots of fun! I’ve also enjoyed some of the author’s other books.

Cons: This book was fine. It did not stand out as anything new or exciting. Like so many other books in this genre, it’s told in two timelines and the main character is a writer.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book.

I could not put this book down! I was very intrigued by both stories and kept guessing — and most of my guesses were very wrong. I highly Recommend this book!

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
#sixtysecondbookof2022 #arc

This quickly became my favorite book from Hawkins. I haven’t read her romances, just her recent thrillers, and those are an auto read for me now.

Houses remember.

This is quite literally several stories in one. We get the story of two best friends visiting Italy, a group of artists also on a trip, and a young girl who falls in love with a priest. That last story is referenced as a famous horror novel and I would love to read it, if it actually existed, but we only get small passages from it.

The main story is the two best friends. One of them is the absolute worst and I disliked her immediately, but the story is pretty engaging, especially since it’s cut with chapters of the artist group of 1974, which is a not subtle homage to the Mary Shelley trip to Italy with her husband Percy and Lord Byron, you know, the trip that gave us what eventually became Frankenstein? I’ve become sort of obsessed with Shelley so I’m up for anything that references her.

It’s all very cut and dried until you realize that it’s not, and I really loved it. The story was propulsive and I could not stop reading. Except for the first two chapters, I read it in one sitting. I do wish for a tiny bit more detail about how a decision the best friends make at the end was enacted but I loved the subtle digs the book made about true crime podcasters. I listen to those podcasts and I thought it was quite funny.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advance copy. (Pub date 1/3/23)

#thevilla #bookswithinbooks #housesremember

Houses remember.
How much of Mari’s Lilith Rising was based in fact? No one will ever know. Or will they?
Readers can draw their own parrallels to compare the past residents of the Villa to Chess and Em.
What’s holding them back from success?

The book was alright. I like the author and have read previous books written by her. This one was kind of anticlimactic. The husband being killed and being tied forever to chess seemed cliche and predictable. The book was slow moving for me and took me awhile to read because I got bored. I did finish it and would rate it 2/5

Thank you so much for the ARC net galley. I wanted to like this book so badly considering the author, but it just fell flat for me. I was annoyed by the MC, and all the twists made me roll my eyes.

Oh man while this book was short, the story packed a punch and it was really good. So this is a definitely a great gothic suspense with the narrative flipping from modern day 2 best friends and authors Chess and Emily reuniting for a summer in Italy at Villa Aestas formally Villa Rosata to help Emily forgot about her divorce and in 1974 with famous musician Noel Gordon, Pierce Sheldon and Step-Sisters Mari and Lara who are there to try to help Noel regain his creative spark. During the summer Mari ends up writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composes a platinum album and the summer ends with Pierces brutal murder. The murder is chalked up to sex, drugs and rock & Roll gone wrong but Emily starts digging into the history of the murders and the Villa. While reading Maris novel she starts realizing that she wrote it about the house and starts looking for her diary since everyone that was there in 1974 are all dead now so she only has Maris account if she can find it. Meanwhile Emily and Chess are not getting along and secrets start coming out that threaten their friendship and the twist at the end I didn’t see coming. This was a really great book, a fast read and it definitely didn’t end how I thought it would. I really enjoyed all the twists in Maris narrative, how toxic her relationship with Pierce and Lara was and how she ended up. All in all, another great book by Rachel Hawkins and can’t wait to read the next one.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

This is another home run by this fabulous writer! Told in alternating timelines it moves slowly yet perfectly as the horror builds. I’m going to think twice before I embark on another girls trip after reading this. The depiction of Italy in a gothic-horror way was unsettling and a bit scary but this is a true mystery with an incredible ending. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

Wow- I really enjoyed this! Told between dual timelines i was fascinated by what was happening with both Mari and Em! The plot twist were great and took me back to when I enjoyed the wife upstairs. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen Rachel Hawkins said psych! I would definitely recommend this one! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a slower read than other books by this author. It goes back and forth between current time and the 1970s. The book covers two stories both happening at the same villa. The wrap up was a little quick and seemed to come out of nowhere. 3 out of 5 stars.

What I enjoyed most about this book is that Hawkins has written completely unlikeable characters that have someone garnered my sympathy. This book is full of characters who deeply hurt one another for deeply selfish reasons, and yet, you are rooting for the women in the end.

Makes you really think about what the true "right" path in life is.

Author Rachel Hawkins drew me into this story right away & I love that! Emily & Chess decide to rekindle their decades old childhood friendship with a summer trip to Italy. Emily's life is in a turbulent place & Chess has somehow turned herself into a famous self-help guru. They will decide if they still have anything in common .
Villa Aestas comes complete with food, local wines, amazing views and a swimming pool and even better Chess is paying the bill. Emily ends up delving into to infamous history of the villa. It was the site of a murder involving a group of friends including a rock & roll icon and two sisters in 1974.
Great book to take along on a spring break getaway or to cuddle up with on a cold weekend.

Thanks to NetGalley,Rachel Hawkins & St Martin's Press for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review