Date Reviewed: 10/14/2022
Publication Date: 01/03/2023

This book was just OK for me. It was a slow burner, kind of boring at times with few twists right at the end. I liked the dual timeliness - current and the past (1970s) however when the story went back to the 70s I was totally lost. I like this author's ideas but I think that her books are not really executed to their full potential. I am always left with needing something a little bit more out of them.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review

This was such a binge-able read. Less thriller and more suspenseful mystery with a gothic twist. Childhood best friends - Chess and Emily decide to spend the summer together in Italy. The Villa where they’re staying has a checkered past and was the site of a murder in the 70s when a group of artists & writers spent the summer there. Everyone from that group is deceased now, but their story comes to life as Chess and Emily spend time there, reading their book, listening to their album and being in the same exact place.

Chess is a nonfiction writer who specializes in self-help and mantras. Emily is a writer of cozy mysteries who is struggling after her marriage fell apart and a lingering illness that no one can figure out. The summer away is meant to help both of them finish their upcoming books and spend time as friends. But things take a sinister turn and they soon become suspicious of each other.

It was refreshing for this not to have the mental illness trope or over drinking so often used with women but it makes you question their friendship. I wouldn’t say either character is especially likeable. Reminded me of While We Were Here and The Family Upstairs. Dark, moody and hard to put down.

Let me just start by saying this book was everything and more than I was expecting. I really enjoyed the last book I read by this author, and the spooky vibes the synopsis for this one gave off were enough to convince me I HAD to read this one. Part of me was nervous however, because spooky murder mystery type stories with alternating timelines can go so wrong. But I am nothing if not a sucker for alternate timelines. And this particular one was done so well and was so enthralling.

The main timeline follows Emily, who has had a recent rough go of things in most aspects of her life. Her husband has left her. She’s been suffering from a mysterious illness for a long stretch of time and still has no answers. Her writing is in a slump and as a result she’s out of money. So when her best friend, Chess, invites her to stay in Italy for the summer, it doesn’t take much to convince her.

What she didn’t know before agreeing was that the villa they’re staying at was the setting of a mysterious murder that never seemed to have all the details come forward. However, rather than deter her, it actually ends up intriguing Emily once she gets there and starts digging more into it.

Enter the other timeline. This one follows Mari and the individuals she spends weeks with at this same manor in the past. It this side of the story details the lead up to the murder, setting up events and eventually showing what really happened when the murder occurs.

As Emily tries to figure out what really happened, there are a number of weird things going on in the villa and her life at the same time. She feels like something is up with Chess. She’s finally writing again about this murder, finally feeling that inspiration she’s been missing from her cozy mystery series Petal for so long now. But she feels like she has to hide this book from Chess. Her ex is hounding her for money, wanting her to write more Petal books. As she digs more into the mystery surrounding the murder that occurred in the villa, she doesn’t know if there’s actually strange things afoot, or if the paranoia of digging into the true story is getting to her.

I really, really enjoyed this book. There was so much tension revealing things bit by bit in both timelines. Despite everything seeming so ordinary, as there isn’t a paranormal tone to it, it kept me engaged from start to finish. I legitimately could not put this book down. When I had to for every day obligations I just wanted to go back to it.

The characters were actually really interesting all around too. They were all so different, and yet there were parallels between the two different stories going on alongside each other throughout this book. Emily was relatable in the sense of someone really down on her luck but finding a reason to be passionate again. Chess genuinely made me furious at times with her actions and attitude. Even Mari with her unique situation and the musicians and Lara had their unique quirks and engaging characteristics.

Not to mention the story itself was great. There were little details that came out as the story progressed they really kept the interest and left the reader wanting more at the same time. And the parallels between Emily’s story and Mari’s only add to all of that, rather than being redundant in any way.

And that news article near the end. While it does lead up to it, when I started this book I never would have expected the final outcome of it. Not to mention everything being twisted on its head right at the end just when you think you know what happened. I cannot wait for more books from this author. The more I read the better her books get because I loved this one even more than the last.

i absolutely loved the premise of this book, although story fell a little flat for me. it’s a slow burn that had alllll the twists and turns you’d expect from hawkins, which kept me on my toes!! some worked for me & some didn’t, but that’s okay bc her writing style ALWAYS grips me so i can’t put it down. i also really liked how each chapter was split into the past/present sections, so you always got a little of both!

dual timelines is usually hit or miss for me bc i tend to get a lot more invested in one storyline over the other. in this case, i was more interested in the past/1970s storyline than the present day (i felt the same with THE LOST APOTHECARY).

i prefer THE WIFE UPSTAIRS and RECKLESS GIRLS over this one, but i’m still so happy to have read it bc i love this author!! def keep it on your radar for 2023 releases.

There was not one word I did not love about this book.

Soaked in rock 'n roll history, this book is perfect for those who loved Daisy Jones and the Six and mysteries. I cannot say enough about how much I enjoyed this book.

Rachel Hawkins is becoming one of my favorite authors, and this book is another winner.

A fantastic gothic-suspense novel!

This is my first read by Rachel Hawkins, and I really liked her fluent writing style switching between narrators in different times.

"Stories change depending on who´s telling them":

1974: There is a rock star, a writer and a murdered musician entangled in the strange saga of Villa Rosato, today Villa Aestas (Aestas means summer in Latin). It is that summer that defines the fates of Mari Godwick and Lara Larchmont who are stepsisters and muses of musicians in their teenage years. Mari is the author of "Lilith Rising", a famous feminist horror novel, and Lara a musician and composer of the album "Aestas", which is basically Tapestry. But was Pierce Sheldon´s death really as simple as a drugged-up argument between two men that went too far? "Houses remember" is the opening line of Mari Godwick´s novel "Lilith Rising". She will understand where this opening line leads to and what kind of story follows during the Summer in 1974 in the villa´s own legacy of both horror and beauty. Everyone involved in that Italian summer is now dead.

Present time: Em and Chess are inseparable friends who spend their summer in Villa Aestas, nowadays an alleged oasis of calm and serenity nestled in the hills around Orvieto in Umbria. Chess writes self-help books and has become an internet sensation firing on all cylinders; she is single but happily rich. Em writes cozy mysteries, while her career is stalling out, her health is terrible, and is getting a divorce after seven years of marriage. Situating herself in a brand-new space may ignite her inspiration for her new book, Em thinks. Instead, she becomes interested in the link between a horror classic and the real-life horror that unfolded at the villa where they are staying. When Chess suggests to co-write a book, the chaos is about to unleash ending up in more secrets and wicked partnerships.

I absolutely love reading books about books and writers. It is fascinating to move between two time slots with strong female characters who reclaim the narratives for themselves in a way that makes sense to them only. Even, if it means walking over dead bodies!!!

A typical Italian saying from the book sums it up pretty well: "Errano tutti pazzi." = They are all mad. :D

Gradually tuning into horror of October reads. Unputdownable. Clean and fluent writing style. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I’ve read some rather polarizing reviews for Hawkin’s other books, which I haven’t read yet, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. Well, I really enjoyed it! A cozy-mystery writer who’s uninspired while going through a nasty divorce, her famous self-help writing childhood best friend, and their six weeks together at an Italian Villa with a dark and murderous history. I absolutely loved the dual timeline following a prolific, feminist horror writer named Mari who stayed at this villa in the 70s with a rockstar, her musician boyfriend, and her stepsister that fateful summer that gave the house its notoriety. There were diary and book passages, song lyrics, emails, news articles, podcast interviews, and other various media that really added to the story. The passages from Mari’s horror novel Lilith Rising were my favorite. It was a quick, easy read that maintained gothic suspense and, while it wasn’t a perfect read, I found that I couldn’t put it down. I didn’t find anything particularly shocking but that didn’t affect my enjoyment. If you enjoy dual POV, a slow burn mystery, and don’t mind a lot of bouncing back and forth between two timelines, I definitely recommend!

I’m a huge Mary Shelley fan and I loved the parallels here between Mari and Mary.

Definitely slow burn. It took me a while to get invested in the story but once I did it was really good! The juxtaposition of the past murder story with the current tenants of the Villa really brought out some skepticism and creepy factor to an otherwise productive writing vacation of the main characters.
I enjoyed the tension even with the secrets being pretty obvious.
Overall a fun thriller.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for an eARC.

Overall I enjoyed this book. There was back and forth between two time periods and a lot of characters to keep track of and a twist of an ending.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the eARC for an honest review.

This is the perfect spooky season read. It was told in dual POVs between different time periods. It was easily to follow, I know some people are turned off by that. There were a lot of twists and turns but despite being able to guess some it was an enjoyable read. Definitely recommend!

Book: The Villa
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub Date: January 3, 2023

I can’t believe I couldn’t finish this book! But I couldn’t! It got so many good reviews but the more I read the more bored I got. Too many narratives to follow and I completely lost my way when it went back to 1974. Just not the book for me at all.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is January 3, 2023

This book drew me in from the beginning. It goes back to the past (1974-1980ish) to Mari and the present to Emily. There is some thriller-crime along with friendships and sisterhood. I found the story interesting all the way through, especially towards the end. If you’re a fan of thriller-crime books, this is a good one.

I absolutely loved this! It has the perfect slightly creepy atmosphere throughout the book and I love that it just keeps getting darker.

Chess and Emily are best friends. Now in their 30s Chess is a bestselling self help guru and Emily is a cozy mystery author who's going through a divorce. Out of the blue Emily receives an invitation from Chess to spend the summer with her at an Italian villa. It turns out this villa was the scene of a gruesome murder in the 1970s involving a rockstar and two young women who will go on to become famous for the work they create during their time at the villa. In the 70s Mari and her stepsister, Lara, go to the villa with Mari's lover to spend the summer with a rockstar and his friend.

This is told in a dual timeline that flips between the present and the group that's at the villa in 1970s before the murder happens. I am such a sucker for a dual timeline and this one was great. I loved that there was so much background and the two stories were perfectly woven together. The past bleeds into the present in the book and things get creepier as Emily discovers more about the house and learns secrets about her friendship with Chess. The setting was just right and I enjoyed the descriptions of the Italian town the novel is set in. All the characters were entertaining and I was completely pulled in to the story of the cursed villa. I don't want to give too much away but this was a great thriller and my favourite book by Rachel Hawkins (aka Erin Sterling) so far!!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Overall, I am giving this 3 out of 5 stars. It was good but not amazing if that makes sense. I enjoyed the dual timelines and stories of The Villa but at some points it was confusing as to what was happening and when or if it was real or in their writings….which I guess was the point but I don’t know if it came across to the reader the way the author intended.

The Villa was a fantastic dark and twisty read. I was drawn in from the second I picked it up. It was so well written and the plot twists kept me guessing the whole time which is always great, I cant recommend this enough!

Compulsive read - this is a book you won't be able to put down. Loved the weaving of two stories of past and present.

Rachel Hawkins fans will be excited to read her latest novel. Set in an Italian villa, the story unwinds from a present day perspective with some every similarities to a rock n roll murder that occurred in the same villa back in the 1970s.

I enjoyed the switch between time and narrative perspectives but struggled with Emily the main character who was utterly unlikable for me.
I received this NetGalley advanced book copy for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley & St Martins Press for allowing me to provide this review.

DNF@42%. I don't think this is necessarily a bad book, I am just not interested in continuing. Not much has happened to this point. It has all been stage setting, I guess. I find I have no interest in picking it up when I put it down.

A fantastic slow burn gothic style thriller with a unique story line. In many ways it reminded me of the thriller version of Daisy Jones & the Six. The Mary Shelley influence gave the book its own unique voice though. I read this book in an entire day while on the beach and regret nothing. (Spooky books and the beach needs to be a new trend. Just saying.) The ending came full circle and made me wonder what the MC will do to escape the web she trapped herself in.

This book is great if you like duel timelines, slow building intensity, books based on rock n' roll history, the life of Mary Shelley.

The Villa is a novel that has two main POVs each in their own respective timelines. An experience in an Italian villa in the summer of 1974 changes the lives of Mari and the group of musicians she's staying with. This summer excursion left one dead and the lives of the others forever changed.
In the present, Emily, a struggling author finds herself in the same villa with her toxic best friend many years later with a book written by Mari. What happens next will leave you speechless as the past and present collide and Emily finds that her life won't ever be the same.

I honestly couldn't put this book down!
Normally I struggle with multiple timelines but not with this story! I was drawn into the plot of both timelines and found myself dying to figure out how the two were connected. The convergence of the two timelines was one of the most unique that I've ever read.

The decisions that Mari and Emily made were enough to annoy me at times but not enough to negatively impact my opinion of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for sending me an e-copy to review! The opinions of the Villa are all my own works.