It was a little bit of a slow start but once the story got going I really enjoyed the parallel time lines. One happened back in the 70's,thenotjer is morenpr sent day. I really liked the twist at the end about how things really happened, didn't see that coming at all.

The Villa was an intriguing read as it followed the journey of two friends reconnecting in an Italian Villa that had previously been the setting of a brutal murder. I loved the way Hawkins intertwined the story of the original murder with the present day storyline between the two friends, Emily and Chess. The friends were able to take the history of the tragedy at the Villa and connect in an unforgettable way. I found that the storyline was a little predictable towards the end - however, if you’re looking for your next thriller/mystery quick read, this is it.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press and Rachel Hawkins for the ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are of my own volition.

After enjoying The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls, I jumped at the chance for an e-arc of Rachel Hawkin's newest book. I was so excited to get approved and was not disappointed with the twisty story that is The Villa. I read this book in under two days. The story tells multiple stories and I found both equally riveting, In the present, Emily has been suffering with a mysterious illness and a complex relationship with her best friend Chess. In the past, Mari struggles with her own complex relationships with those at the villa. Her story is very sex, drugs and rock and roll that gives me Daisy Jones vibes, but make it murder-y. Each timeline presented suspense met with quality twists that I didn't see coming.

Synopsis: Emily finds herself flying to Italy to spend the summer in a beautiful, but mysterious villa with her childhood friend turned best selling self help guru, Chess. Despite some tensions in their relationship, Emily is glad to escape home for the summer where nothing is waiting for her but an impending divorce and writer's block as she struggles to finish her overdue novel.

While in the villa, Emily starts to dig into it's rather gruesome past. In the 70's a famous murder took place in the house. This story is told from the perspective of Mari who stayed at the Villa Aestas in 1974 with her boyfriend Pierce, her sister Lara along with their host- the famous rockstar Noel Gordon and his friend Johnnie.

As Emily uncovers secrets from the past, her time with Chess threatens that there are more secrets in her present, leaving us wondering what to believe and if history will repeat itself at the Villa Aestas.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

The Villa is one of those books that has a few stories within a story---that all come together. i did find it a bit confusing in the first 20% I would say, but once it all clicked, I was hooked.

This is the story of two friends that both became writers. One is a very successful, self-help writer. The other writes cozy mysteries that have done well in the past but her future is not looking so bright. Wealthy self-help writer invites cozy mystery writer to spend the summer with her in a beautiful villa in Italy. This, my friends, is where the story gets good. We learn that the villa is a "murder house" and has a very dark past. There is a book within a book (in this book---love it!).

Rachel Hawkins does a great job of writing a compelling story (with just a few story loopholes that are implausible). I loved this title!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏, 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔.

With THE VILLA, Rachel Hawkins has returned to the darkly Gothic vibe first established in THE WIFE UPSTAIRS.

Chess and Emily were once the best of friends but have drifted apart due to the demands of adulthood. When Chess suggests a girls' trip to an Italian villa with a dark history, Emily, eager to reconnect with her friend, agrees. Neither woman has any idea what they have just set in motion.

Told from alternating points of view and utilizing dual timelines, the reader is brought back to 1974 when the villa was known as Villa Rosato and rented for the summer by notorious rock god, Noel Gordon. Joining him in the villa are budding musician Pierce Sheldon, his girlfriend Mari, and her step-sister Lara. During their summer at the villa, Mari writes one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composes a platinum album, and Pierce is brutally murdered.

Emily is captivated by the tragic history of the villa and is convinced that the tragic tale is much more than just a cautionary tale of rock & roll excess. She not only thinks clues are hidden in the now iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind, but she also believes the clues are hidden somewhere in the villa, just waiting on a keen eye to discover them.

The more engrossed Emily becomes in solving this mystery, the more distant Chess becomes. Is a decades-old feud about to rear its ugly head and claim another victim?

The Amazon description includes 'Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle, the birthplace of Frankenstein' and SO many things made sense after reading that!

I found this book to be nostalgic, deeply atmospheric and unsettling, and a great addition to the Gothic genre. Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for my early read. THE VILLA publishes January 3, 2023.

A stellar mystery novel set between two time periods. The characters are unique and just awful. You don't cheer for any of them. The mystery was well written and clear. There was just enough suspense to keep you wondering. The setting made it all the better. I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did but I will be recommending it to everyone.

3.5 stars A story told across two different times, but all relating back to the same house. Emily and Chess have a friendship that dates back to childhood. Although the years have seen Chess rise to fame and Emily trudge through some hardships. Chess invites Emily to spend the summer at a Villa in Italy. Emily accepts. This villa was also the scene of a murder many years before. That part of the story is told by Mari. She and her step sister, Lara, stayed at the house with Mari's boyfriend, Pierce and a famous rock star, Noel. Pierce is an up and coming musician and Mari hopes this time with Noel will rocket him to fame as well.
While staying at the villa, Emily begins to uncover details of the murder that happened there all the years before. She feels a connection to Mari and begins to write her own story about that time.
There is suspense and I wanted to know what was going to happen. There is a huge twist at the end that changes what you have read and thought throughout the book.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Rachel Hawkins and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

This is my second gothic novel I’ve ever read. Liked it, but didn’t love it. The writing was great and the story/setting/characters were engaging, but I just personally prefer rom coms! 🤪

i was so uninterested in the 70s timeline that i found myself skipping through most of it. i wish we got more of the current timeline. i found that timeline to be 10x more interesting even though, altogether, i wasn’t that invested or interested in any of the characters. plus, i feel like the twists weren’t nearly as big enough. i didn’t really feel thrilled, i guess. i am interested in possibly reading more by hawkins since i’ve heard so many good things about her, and she is such a well known author !! overall, i would give this 2-2.5 stars. i think it could’ve been far more interesting, but i’m sure a lot of people would absolutely love this.
thank you to netgalley/st martin’s press for the ARC <3

Overall enjoyed the book and the intertwined stories for the majority of the story. At times it was a bit confusing to keep up with which story was which, particularly with Mari and Lilith Rising. The cliche’d ending was a bit disappointing but enjoyed the main character and getting to know and understand her. Also too many attempts at name-dropping pop culture references.

Was gifted this book by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Villa was a definite winner in my book! It is a fantastic read with a complex intermingling of 2 main characters trying to better their life, but who keep getting brought down by others around them. It's about friendship, deceit and love with some twists thrown in. I would recommend this book, it's a great story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me an eARC of this book! I really enjoyed this. I thought that the way Mari and Emily’s stories intermingled was super interesting, and I loved reading each of them equally. I also thought it was interesting that Hawkins had the reader feel incredibly suspicious of Chess (a strange nickname) and then completely redeem her. The men who did objectively wrong things are the ones who get punished. Lastly, I’m confused by the ending — was it supposed to be jaw-dropping? I wouldn’t describe it as such, but definitely a satisfying take.

"Welcome to Villa Rosato, and the beginning of it all!"
Newly divorced and mysteriously ill, Emily agrees to go on a summer trip with self-help guru and her long-time friend, Chess. When Emily finds out this trip includes staying at an Italian murder villa, she is wary but intrigued. In 1974, 19-year-old Mari found herself on a summer trip as well. This trip would lead to the infamous murder and set off a chain of events leading to Mari's best-selling novel, Lilith Rising.

I've read 2 other books by Rachel Hawkins and enjoyed both of them (Reckless Girls and The Wife Upstairs). Hawkins has a way of grabbing your attention right from the beginning of the book. This is definitely a page turner and I was so into the plot for about 3/4 of the book. I absolutely loved the way that Hawkins combines news articles, song lyrics, and clips from Mari's book. This was a great way to keep me going even if I wanted to take a break. I also think it's very impressive that Hawkins was able to show both Emily and Mari's perspectives. This was such a cool way to tie the stories together. Toward the end of the book is where I felt like the plot became a little bit more confusing to me. I know that there is definitely a theme of feminism throughout the story, but I feel like the twists were somewhat hard to follow. I think my main feedback for the plot would be that it doesn't seem believable and there was a lot going on at the end. My questions for the plot are:
* Why would Emily be so loyal to Chess? I really thought there might be a twist where they fell in love, but that was not the case.
* How do 2 women decide murder is the answer? And what exactly was their book about?
* Is Emily plotting some revenge against Chess or something?
I was left with a lot of questions and it may be purposely written that way, but I feel like there's so much I am questioning. I like to think that Emily is going to get some revenge on Chess, but it did not seem that way to me.

The characters were written so well I found myself getting annoyed and irritated with some of them. I know that's when a character is written well. I wish I got to hear more about Emily and her past. Emily's name was not mentioned much and I realized this when Emily read Chess' manuscript and it was "Emma" and I was like "wait, what is the MC's name?" I also want to state that I hated Chess from the very beginning, which is quite possibly intended based on the opening line: "Somewhere around the time she started calling herself 'Chess,' I realized I might actually hate my best friend." Chess slept with Emily's husband, repeatedly lied and withheld information, gaslit Emily on several occasions, tried to steal her book idea, and then admitted she was being manipulative and knew what she was doing the entire time. I mean, I expected terrible things from her right away, but I cannot fathom how Emily went on to stay best friends with her. I was hoping for some revenge at the end, but it never came. I love how Mari was described and I found the switching back and forth to be so cool. However, I feel like I didn't fully connect with characters in a positive way. This could be on purpose as well, but it left me feeling more confused at the end.

I know that Lilith Rising was described as ambiguous and I'm assuming this book was supposed to somewhat mirror that. Hawkins' writing is so incredible and I love the way she writes, but I think the plot is what stopped me from giving this a higher rating. Overall, The Villa is a thriller that you won't be able to put down.

I found this book very easy to fall into. The characters, despite their similarities, are easily distinguishable thanks to the authors writing and the voice she’s given them. Some plots were easily guessed but still had a twist. The book is a nice mix of mystery, gothic, and easy reading. The plot shows some of the delicacies of female friendship. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

The Villa is a mesmerizing book. It's two stories in one. First, it's the story of Mari, her boyfriend, Pierce who is a musician, her sister Lara who is also a musician, the man she loved, Noel, who is a rock star, and Noel's pusher, Johnnie. They decide to vacation in Italy at the Villa Rosato. Their story is convoluted. Johnnie has a thing for Mari. Noel gets together with Mari and Pierce. Lara has slept with Pierce and Pierce still has eyes for her. Lara is pregnant with Noel's baby which she loses, and Noel wants nothing to do with her, although he does agree to take care of her and the baby. Johnnie doesn't like Pierce. While at the Villa, Mari has written a book, Lilith's Rising. At the end of their stay, when she is putting the finishing touches on the book, she hears the loud voices downstairs of Pierce and Johnnie. She gets up and goes down to see what the problem is and finds Johnnie killing Pierce. All of this took place in the summer of 1974. After a Johnnie is convicted of murder, he kills himself in his cell. In 1980, Noel dies in a plane crash. Lara dies in her jacuzzi after an over dose. And Mari dies in 1993 of cancer. But not before she goes back to the Villa in her last days, and rewrites Pierce's end. She writes that she killed him.

The second story includes Emily who is an author of fiction, her best friend Chess, who is also an author of self-help books, and Emily's soon-to-be ex-,husband, Mark. The friends decide to go to Italy to the renamed Villa Orieto. It has had three names: Rosato, Aestas after Lara's album, and Orieto after the town. They know the story of the murder. Both women are working on their books. Emily's is a sequel. But Emily finds in the library Mari's book and reads it cover to cover more than once. She gets the idea to write a book about the murder. While searching the Villa, she finds Mari's pages about how she killed Pierce and set Johnnie up to take the fall.

One day, while Emily is out, Chess reads what Emily has written. She thinks it's really good and proposes that they write the book together. At first Emily wants no part of that. Then Chess starts her own version of the book, which Emily reads. She decides to collaborate with Chess.

In the meantime, Mark has been trying to get money out of Emily from her book sales. She's been avoiding his calls. In the Villa one day, Emily sees that Chess has an ankle bracelet with an M on it. She puts 2 and 2 together and realizes that Chess has slept with Mark. Chess tells her the whole story, how, while Emily was ill, she invited them to her beach house but Emily doesn't go due to her illness. Mark is upset because he wants to have a baby with Emily but she continues to take the pill. He and Chess have too much to drink and, after he tells her his sob story, the two of them sleep together. All along, Mark has kept in touch with Chess and he knows their at the Villa. So Chess invited him under the pretense that they'll tell Emily together about them. The women end up killing Mark.

Their book, The Villa, ends up at the top of the best sellers list. People continue to ask them when they're going to write another. Chess thinks they should but Emily doesn't want to.

The book ends in 1993 when Mari is back at the Villa writing the different ending to Pierce's life. I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and I felt like I was right there with them. It was a page turner. I would definitely recommend it for book club.

If readers think this book's beautiful cover looks like a G-rated romantic novel, they are wrong. Very wrong. Dead wrong, as dead as some of the characters. At the beginning of the novel, pay attention to dates because there are two separate tales going on, and they come together with a common setting - an Italian villa.

There are quite a few names in the 1970's part. Plus, the relationships are not simple or monogamous; everybody seems to be a party animal. Yet, some of the people who are cheating on their partner or significant other of the moment, seem to hope for some loyalty. As a result there are plenty of hurt feelings, anger and desires for revenge. The modern tale primarily involves two early 30's women- Chess and Emily- who have been best friends since school days. Interestingly, their best-friends relationship has also been strained by feelings of competition. At the moment, Chess seems to be the most successful. She's a well-known social media personality, frequent guest on Oprah's television shows, and published author who makes plenty of money with her self-help books and an app which comes with a hefty monthly fee in order to receive her mundane happy thoughts to help users achieve a perfect life, just like Chess seems to have. Emily is having a tougher time at the moment since she's in the process of getting a divorce from Matt. However, Em, too, has had success as an author with cozy mysteries.

Some review sites have referred to this novel as gothic. That adjective does not seem to fit in my opinion. It would be like calling Taylor Jenkins Reid's book- Daisy Jones and the Six- a gothic thriller. In fact, parts of The Villa reminded me of Daisy Jones with invented media coverage from real publication such as Rolling Stone and People Magazine incorporated to move the plot along. The intimate scenes are more of an innuendo, so for readers who don't like a plot to be bogged down in detailed bodily descriptions during indiscreet behavior, do not worry; it is not in THE VILLA. While it is doubtful that readers will be caught off guard by some of the plot twists, the pace should still hold one's interest!

However, no character's story is quite as it seems to be, and there aren't any angels in this book. A few of the serious problems a reader might see coming, yet the book is still interesting. This was actually my introduction to Rachel Hawkins. Now I want to go back and read her other two books which are all over book review sites: Reckless Girls and The Wife Upstairs.

✨The Villa✨
▪️Read August 2022▪️
By Rachel Hawkins

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC!

Publishing date: January 3, 2023

From Amazon: “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.”

This book had some interesting twists. I loved how it bounced between the two time frames and built the story and suspense as you continued to read. I enjoyed the beautiful Italy setting described too! I was curious how the two stories/time frames would intertwine and really liked the ending.

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I have to say that Rachel Hawkins has completely done it again! I truly thought I knew the ending of this one.. and I was incredibly naive because if her past books have taught me anything it's that she is a master of twisty tales!

This book kept me incredibly engaged and I just needed to know more! I loved getting to see Mari and her encounter at Villa Rosado compared with Emily's experience at Villa Aestas decades later. "Stories change depending on who's telling them".. beware of who's story you choose to believe..

All around, a 5 star read and a perfect summer thriller.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Villa was my first book by Rachel Hawkins and it did not disappoint. When there are two timelines in a book I usually find myself more invested in one over the other, but that wasn’t the case here. Both timelines were equally interesting and had intriguing characters. I really liked the bookish elements throughout and pop culture dash of podcasts and articles. I flew through this and I am looking forward to checking out more of the author’s work.

Thank you #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review! The Villa was a book I could not put down- filled with love, friendship, betrayal and murder. In the story we follow two sets of characters that are in two different time lines. I could not put down this book I needed to know what was coming next!