3.5 stars. Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Rachel Hawkins for letting me read The Villa in return for an honest review. Warning: Spoilers. Let’s start with the cover. I love the cover. The color and the lemons are what first caught my eye and drew me in. Now the book was good but it felt like something was missing. It started off really good but felt like it felt short somewhere. The 2 stories- Emily’s and Mari’s were both interesting, but they needed to be linked together more. They felt like 2 different stories. I loved how Emily figured out that Mari’s book was set in the Villa with the discovery of the letter M in the window. I wanted more mysterious links like that between the two stories. I wanted more writing/explanation on how Emily and Chess handled the “bad guy” at the end. How did they do it? I want to know why Emily kept getting sick. She hinted at it, but that was it. Was she being poisoned? Seemed that way since she got sick after drinking one of Chess’s cocktails. I want to know where Mari’s “hidey-hole” is and why she hid the ending of her story there. I want to know why Emily forgave Chess and let her co-write her book after finding out what she did. I just wanted more. More mystery. More suspense.

DNF - I was excited about the premise of this plot but there was very little matter of substance to this story that would encourage the perusal of the entire book. By that, I mean that by the 40% mark, nothing has transpired to lead one to feel any sentiments of suspense or intrigue -- things are fairly clearly laid out & what we are then reading is the repetition of information that has already been made forthcoming. This includes the repeated scenes wherein Em talks about her ex-husband; Chess is 'being Chess'; the gratuitous sexual exploits of minors; the hint that 'someone' dies (although we know it's Pierce), etc.

This is the type of book that you read when there's nothing else. Perhaps, you are passing the time at the mechanic's & so you aren't too bothered by the slow-moving storyline that continues to harp about there has been a murder in a house & low and beholds someone's horror book is based on this real event - of course, it is. Em is an author & yet appears totally out to lunch all the time regarding basic plot device knowledge.

I know that there is an audience for this book but I am not part of it, unfortunately. I found myself wondering when any of what was being explained would lead to scenes of substance. Ultimately, I did not feel the desire to pursue reading but I know the target audience will get their hands on this book, no doubt.

DNF, didn't hold my attention enough as her previous books. Wishing you all the best on publishing day!

While I could see how the story would captivate readers, something felt off for me about the character development and the plot. I felt bored reading this, but I stuck through in case it changed. It didn’t. Maybe gothic suspense isn’t for me. Everyone has genres that they don’t click with. While I didn’t enjoy the book, I’m still going to rate it five stars because I know that fans of this genre will more than likely love it.

Three stories intertwining, two different timeframes, and one dang good book. This book follows childhood friends Chess and Emily as they stay in an Italian villa for the summer. The villa was the scene of a murder in the 70's that rocked the news world...rock stars and the women who love them were spending their summer at the villa when the unthinkable happens. Mari and Lara are stepsisters who use the tragedy to propel their careers as an author and singer/songwriter. As Emily and Chess unravel what happened in the past, they also unravel some secrets of their own.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4919392522

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is my first book by her so I cannot compare it to her previous novels. This one is complex because it's two stories tied into one. One narrative is based on two friends who go on a trip to Italy and the other is about a group of friends staying in one house where a tragedy ends up happening. I loved the storyline based on the friends staying in the same house. I picked this book up because I heard Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins was amazing. This book was fine but I wished the plot would have been more interesting and was told at a faster pace.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital advance review copy!

4.5 stars. This is a fast, compelling read.
Chess and Emily were childhood best friends who have drifted now that they are adults, but they still have things in common. They are both writers, for example. Chess writes wildly successful self-help books, and Emily writes cozy mysteries, but, thanks to an illness and an ugly divorce, she’s way behind on her next installment. When Chess suggests a getaway to Italy, Emily thinks maybe a change of scenery will get her writing again.

It does, but not on the cozy mystery she has a contract for. Instead, the Villa they stay at is the place where a vicious murder took place almost 50 years earlier that involved a famous rock star, drugs, and who knows how much sex. She’s inspired to write something of a true crime nonfiction book.

The novel is told partly from the point of view of Mari in 1974, who wrote a wildly successful horror novel partly based on the Villa that she stayed at with her musician boyfriend, her stepsister, the rock star Noel, and the drug dealer Johnnie one summer when the murder took place.

Hawkins does a great job of creating conflict between Emily and Chess, describing the way you can love someone and be driven crazy by them at the same time. A similar conflict occurs between Mari and her stepsister Lara years earlier at the same Italian villa.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 3, 2023.

Wow, what a ride! Chess and Emmy have been friends forever and travel to Italy for a best friend getaway. They stay at Villa Aestas, which was the location of a famous murder decades before. As they spend time there, the stories unfold simultaneously and we learn more about the past and the present. I truly enjoyed the past storyline written along side the present day adventures. While there were so many times I did not enjoy the content from the characters (partying, drug use, infidelity, etc), I truly did enjoy seeing how everything came together. I adored Mari’s character from the past. This was such a unique story that I have not seen 100 times before.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is marketed as a thriller surrounding a mysterious Italian villa. This villa has spawned the creation of numerous dark and twisted art pieces and has seen it's fair share of tragedy. While the premise sounded fantastic, the book did not live up to the hype. It read as more of a drama than a thriller. There were some twists and turns but it all felt predictable. I was hoping for more mystery and darkness.

The Villa is a slow building mystery with a dual timeline. At Villa in a small Italian village in 1974 a murder of a rising musician occurs is the house cursed? In present day two best friends who have drifted apart reconnect at the Villa for a summer of writing and reconnecting. Em is going through a painful divorce and has writers block for a series of books she authors. Chess is a best selling motivational author. What will be found during their summer in the cursed villa?
The Villa is a delightful read that focuses on friendship as well as mystery. Interesting plot twists I did not see coming.

A solid read but I liked her debut much better. I don’t know if it was the characters or the timeline shift or something else but I struggled through this book and didn’t love it.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital advance review copy in exchange for my honest review!

Rachel Hawkins is back with another classic-lit inspired slow burn. This time, she takes us to an Italian villa where writers and BFFs Chess and Emily have holed up for the summer, hoping to get the wheels turning on their respective works in progress. Emily soon dives into the villa’s dark past and learns it was the inspiration for a classic horror novel and the site of a brutal murder.

Told in alternating viewpoints in the past and present, this slow burn took a while to get moving. There was definitely groundwork that needed to be laid in the first half, but I was really wanting a bit more of a driving force.

Have you ever read a book where you like the characters (or if you don’t like them, you at least find them interesting) but you don’t like the plot? This was maybe one of those. There were a lot of things I liked about the plot, but I also felt like there were a lot of avenues and possibilities that were left unexplored.

Ultimately, this one was a middle of the road read. Hawkins’ THE WIFE UPSTAIRS remains my favorite of hers thus far.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins Book Review

Summary:
Former childhood friends, Emily and Chess (both authors), have grown somewhat distant. After meeting for lunch, Chess has an idea that they should go to Italy for the summer to work on their new books. The villa they end up staying in was where a famous murder took place back in the 70’s.

The book alternates between past and present. We follow Emily in present time and Mari during her time in the 70’s at the Villa.

Emily really bothered me as a character. I feel like she was weak and should have left Chess at the villa and never looked back. Without spoiling anything, I feel like it was completely unrealistic what happened at the end with Emily and Chess. It just didn’t make sense and it really pissed me off.

This felt more like a slow burn book about messed up friendships than a mystery.

Overall, I’d give this 2.75 stars

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This one comes out on Jan 2, 2023

This is the second Rachel Hawkins book I read. Cozy mystery writer Emily reunites with her famous self-help guru friend, Chess after Chess invites her to a beautiful villa in Tuscany. What could go wrong? It turns out the villa was the scene of a brutal murder in the 70s. Tensions rachet up in both timelines. Emily notices Chess is snooping on her laptop. Is she attempting to steal Emily's book based on the murder? Meanwhile, back in the 70s, Mari and her stepsister Laura, are both embroiled in their own drama, as they attempt to create art of their own, while surrounded by the rock-star host and his other guests. It had a great twist ending and evoked a gothic feel.

The Villa is two (almost three) stories in one. It’s the story of two women with a complicated friendship on a trip to Italy together. It’s also the story of a group of friends staying in the same house in 1974 during a visit that turned tragic. And it’s the novel that one of those guests wrote based on her stay.

As often happens in a book with dual narratives, one narrative is more compelling than the other. The entire book is very slow moving in general but the 1974 storyline is much more interesting and dramatic. The storyline with the two friends is bland and I was left feeling like a lot of the resolution to that made no sense. There are some plot holes that never got reasonably filled in (the explanation about the husband? That didn’t work for me).

I honestly don’t know if I want to keep reading Rachel Hawkins. This is my third book of hers and they’re just sort of…fine. I’m always left feeling like the plots could have been tighter and the pacing more even. I think that if a diehard thriller reader picks this up, they need to know right off the bat how slowly the plot crawls or they will just quit. It really took until between 50 and 60% of the way through it before much happened.

Man, Rachel Hawkins knows how to write a twisty mystery! I loved the Italian setting-- romantic and evocative and really fun to "live" in for a while. Some of the plotting was a little fantastical, but boy it was FUN, and that was more than enough for a really enjoyable summer thriller.

Houses remember

Somehow Rachel Hawkins books just always work for me. I loved the vibes of the villa, the house is almost its own character. I really enjoyed the different perspectives and how the story came together. If you love gothic houses and 70s band vibes I think you will love this one!


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4919516595

This is a story about vacations.

I liked it! It didn’t pack quit the same punch that Reckless Girls did for me (I have a thing for island settings!), but this was a really enjoyable read. The book within a book element was interesting, and I enjoyed the exploration of the dynamic between the protagonist and her best friend. The twist felt very quick, but satisfying.

Thank you so much @netgalley & @stmartinspress for the eArc!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Rachel Hawkins, & Netgalley for the chance to read and review this book.

Honestly…this book did nothing for me and was incredibly disappointing. While all the pieces were there - a Fleetwood Mac-esque love triangle, murder, secrets, an Italian villa - it ultimately fell flat. I never had the opportunity to really connect with any of the characters, and while I WANTED to sympathize with them…I just couldn’t.

I’m also not quite sure how this was a thriller when there really weren’t too many thrilling events.

Sadly a bust for me.

I’m a big fan of Rachel Hawkins, so when I received this copy from @netgalley to read and review, I couldn’t wait to get started! This was a phenomenal book. Gothic and dark. A mystery. Emily and Chess have been best friends since childhood. Both are successful authors but life has gotten in the way of friendship. They reconnect and Chess suggests a girls trip to a beautiful villa in Italy. The Villa has a dark past. A murder happened in the summer of 1974. While there, Emily becomes fascinated with this history and begins to see that maybe the accepted story isn’t what happened. Strange things start to happen with Chess and Emily realizes there are secrets in the present, as well as in the past. Read to find out what happened in the summer of 1974 and what happens with Emily and Chess.