3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Rachel Hawkins has become an automatic read author for me. The Villa was a fun mystery that I could have easily finished in one sitting. Part We Were Never Here and part Daisy Jones & The Six, The Villa bounces back and forth between a modern story of two "besties" in Italy and a tale of sex, drugs and rock & roll in 1974. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these two stories unfold and connect, but ultimately the ending fell a little flat for me. Overall, The Villa is a fast-paced, fun mystery that makes for a great summer read.

Many thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

We all know over the years how friendships can evolve and change. That is what is happening with Emily, and Chess. They have been best friends since they were kids. But growing and adjusting to their adult lives has caused a strain between them. This is why they decide to go on a girls trip to Italy! They will be staying at a notorious villa that once held the story of a crazy chain of events in the summer of 1974.

Back in 1974 Mari, her boyfriend Pierce, her step sister Lara are invited by a famous musician, Noel, to stay in the Italian villa. A beautiful setting that transpired to the murder of Pierce. Mari goes on to write one if the most beloved horror novels. Lara goes on to write one of the most beautiful, and loved folk rock albums. What really happened that summer?


What I enjoyed:
- Rachel Hawkins books are an automatic read for me. I really enjoyed this one! The Villa did not disappoint.
- I like how we switch timelines between Emily’s modern day and then to the summer of 1974. I loved seeing both women’s perspectives on the villa.
- The mystery of this house! I enjoyed following Emily’s discovery of the history of villa.
- Women empowerment!

This book was such a fast paced, and haunting read! I couldn’t put this one down and I finished it in one night. We are given an eerie story set upon a beautiful backdrop. The book explores the relationship dynamics between sisters, and friends. I loved a lot more from the book. But ai don’t want to spoil anything. This book is perfect for any thriller/mystery fan! 4 stars out if 5. Thank you to Netgalley, and St Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for a honest review!

A quick and fun read that has an ending you think you see coming - but changes at the last second. The story jumps between 1974 and the present today and how the two stories connect is clever. A story of friendship, fiction and murder. This story has strong female leads you’ll love.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

Emily’s life has stalled out while her best friend, Chess, has rose to stardom as a famous self help guru. She’s navigating a nasty divorce, she’s been unexplainably sick for a long time, and she’s unable to meet the deadline for the next installment of her cozy mystery series. Chess offers to take her to Italy for the summer where they can both work. The only catch is that they’ll be staying in the infamous Villa Aestas, known for a brutal murder in the 70s while a group of young musicians stayed there.

The Villa doesn’t quite fit into any category, which is what I really liked about it. About 60 percent in it started to feel mystery/suspense, but it’s focus was a lot in female relationships and jealousy which was a really interesting focus. I loved how it switched back and forth between present day Em and Chess and then to Mari in the 70s and her experiences in the Villa before the murder takes place. I loved Hawkins use excerpts from Mari’s novel, podcasts, interview, and other devices to keep the story moving and engaging.

I enjoyed this one and would recommend!

Like other reviewers, I started out fully loving <i>The Villa</i>. It has all of the elements of a great mystery with a ton of atmosphere. There are two plotlines-- best frenemies Emily, a recently separated cozy mystery writer, and Chess, a Rachel Hollis type motivational guru, decide to spend 6 weeks together in an Italian villa to work on their respective books. Their friendship is complicated from the start as Emily admits she sort of hates Chess for her recent viral success. The villa the pair stays at is also known as the Murder House, infamous for a murder that took place there during the 1970s among a group of young British people who achieved varying levels of fame before and after the murder. Emily becomes intrigued by the murder and starts to investigate what happened there. Through flashbacks, we get the story of the young group of semi-famous Brits who are at the heart of the tragedy.

There is so much to like about this book. Both plot lines--that of Emily and Chess and Mari and Lara are really intriguing. However, the story goes a bit off the rails in the contemporary plot once the truth begins to come out. Like some other reviewers have mentioned <spoiler>I just couldn't buy into the reveal that Chess was sleeping with Matt and Emily just goes along with the events that unfold and forgives Chess. It's such a letdown of a twist and makes Emily such a wet towel of character, that the contemporary plot never really recovers from</spoiler>. I really enjoyed like 75% of the book, so it made the ending that much more of a bummer.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

The Villa by bestselling author Rachel Hawkins is another brilliant mystery that spans dual timelines. In the present day it focuses on two best friends Emily and Chess. Both are authors, Emily is a mildly successful writer of cozy mysteries while Chess is a bestselling self help guru and her personality matches her larger than life persona. Emily is reeling from a broken marriage and recovering from her mystery illness of the past few years which has left her feeling drained. When Chess suggests she come and spend the summer with her at a luxury villa in the Umbria area of Italy she agrees. Emily is in desperate need of completing her long overdue book and she hopes this change of scenery will inspire her, and spending time with Chess is an added bonus. Once at the Villa, Emily becomes inspired by the decades old murder that occurred there, in the bohemian 1970s.

What I liked about this book:
-had both an intricately woven plot and well developed characters
-the attention to detail to the Italian setting…It painted a beautiful picture of the villa and the Umbrian scenery
-the dual timeline of present day and the rock and roll, bohemian 1970s
-loved the story within a story and the mystery that unfolds
-the parallel between Emily and Mari

What I didn’t like about the book:
-I basically loved everything about it but I got frustrated with some of the choices Mari made and Chess irritated me with how she treated Emily at times and was so self centred
-would have like to see more written about Matt
-the 1970s ending and Mari’s reasons for doing what she did confused me…I had to re read that part
-Pierce was a selfish narcissist who I detested

My rating: 4 out of 5

My final take away:
This is a wonderfully delicious read, it makes you want to be swept away in the Italian countryside. I loved the immersive nature of the book and I equally enjoyed the dual timelines. The story within the story was very satisfying. I highly recommend this book!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC.

I was very excited for this book because I loved Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins, but The Villa kind of fell short for me. There were some parts that needed less details and some crucial parts that needed more details.

This novel was told in a then/now timeline, and I liked the present time frame way better than the past. I really liked seeing all the parallels between Em and Mari's characters, and I enjoyed the plot twist a lot. Overall, this book was not my favorite thriller/mystery, but I did like it.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

I was expecting a haunted house story. That’s not what this book is at all, but I was not disappointed.

This book follows two childhood BFFs, and both have become authors. One is going through a messy divorce, so the other offers to take her to this “Villa” in Italy for the summer.

This villa has a history…50ish years ago…a group of friends (one of which is an author who writes a bestselling novel while there) also stay at this villa and a violent murder occurs. Who did it and why?

We jump back and forth between storylines, friendships get tarnished, secrets spilled, new secrets formed.

I enjoyed the back and forth, the house remains the same but the events that occur are different. Great concept. Interesting twists.

And the cover is beautiful! This authors covers are very unique and inviting!

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!

While I enjoyed the author’s previous book, Reckless Girls, I felt like this one was a thousand times better. It was more intricately plotted, more intelligently written, and was much more creatively conceptualized. The writing style also seemed more mature.

I was completely drawn into the storyline, and equally invested in both timelines’ stories. The setting worked perfectly and there were so many details cleverly added that enriched the plot. I could picture the characters and house so vividly.

In short, the author took her works to a completely new level with The Villa. And I am an even bigger fan than I was before! Huge kudos to Rachel Hawkins for producing this brilliant book… I already know this is one I will be recommending to everyone.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary digital copy. All opinions are my own.

Okay, now I want to go to Italy! I felt like I was transported there, switching between the two connecting stories and timelines, although I wish they had been better differentiated by chapters. I’m not usually a fan of slow burn mysteries but this one was well done and kept me turning the pages. Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Villa was a total vibe! Absolutely loved the 2 storylines from past and present and how they seamlessly come together throughout. I adored the setting where the Villa took place and the aspects of murder, friendships, family, and betrayal. This is probably my favorite book of Rachel Hawkins to date! Thanks for my early copy! I loved it!

First things first: I am a Mary Shelley stan. I cannot describe how much I love the original Goth girl: for her role in a literary family, for pioneering the modern science fiction genre, and for her radical lifestyle among the English Romantics. I read her biography with the relish that some people read tabloids. I'm especially fond of the mythos surrounding the origins of Frankenstein and the Shelleys' years in Italy. I heard that Rachel Hawkins wrote a mystery / thriller based on the Villa Diodati crew (Lord Byron, his doctor John Polidori, Percy and Mary Shelley, and Clara Clairmont), and I came running.

The Villa is composed of two narratives: the Villa Diodati-inspired plotline, set in the 1970s in which a group of artists and bohemians, hosted by the iconic rockstar Noel George Gordon, spend a heady, creative summer together, stewing in sexual tension and producing multiple genre-defining artistic endeavors: the Stevie Nicks-meets-Carole King album Aestas and the pioneering feminist horror novel Lilith Rising. However, this legendary summer is tied up in scandal, as their stay at the Villa ends in murder, but the surviving members of this party are circumspect about the events of that summer for the rest of their troubled lives. The murder is tied up in the lore of the art that came out of that summer, remaining an object of tabloid fascination and true crime speculation.

The second plot line takes place in the present, in which two writers and best friend spend the summer together at that very same villa . Em, our protagonist, is coming off a hard year: she's in the midst of a messy divorce, recovering from a period of illness that defies diagnosis, and struggling to complete her manuscript. Cass, her best friend and wildly successful self-help guru, invites her to spend the summer in Italy at the infamous Villa Aestas to refresh both her stalled novel and her general sense of self. Em finds herself drawn to the author of Lilith Rising, Mari Godwick, as she pieces together the relationship between the novel and the villa where it was written. Em finally finds the inspiration she needs, working feverishly on a new book, as she works through her fraught relationship with her best friend and the dissolution of her marriage. As we follow Em on her discovery, we piece together the many questions surrounding the events of that fateful summer.

I knew I would love this book, if only because the 1970s plotline is an especially rich and delightful English Romantics fanfiction (I mean this in the absolute best way). The author's attention to detail in weaving the historical inspiration into the mystery / murder plot feels like a series of rich Easter eggs for Villa Diodati fans. I was especially surprised by how the two plotlines ultimately connected in the end, and the masterfully constructed layers of secrets, playing into the novel's theme of reconstructing and manipulating the truth. I will be buying a copy for my Mary Shelley curation, and I will be excited to reread this book to better appreciate how the pieces fit together.

This book was pretty fast-paced and I often found myself wanting to read more. My favorite thing about this read was the Italy setting. 😍 The descriptions were beautiful and really made me want to take a trip. 🇮🇹 I do wish the two timelines (1974 vs now) would’ve been split into different chapters. Not only would that have made the chapters shorter (I love short chapters), but it also would have made a more concrete distinction between the two storylines. All I can say is that I wish Lilith Rising (book) and Aestas (album) were real so that I could read/listen to them! I’m still not sure how I felt about the ending but I think I mostly liked it and this was overall a really good read!!

A very special thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Rachel Hawkins for this ebook ARC that will be published in January 2023!

Another winner for Hawkins. I enjoyed the alternating timelines and the characters. Well done and intriguing read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60784641

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

The Villa is Rachel Hawkins' newest novel, set mostly in a small, medieval town in Italy. More aptly, the story takes place in the gorgeous Villa Aestas, alternating
between two timelines, past (1974) and present (2023). The two main characters, Mari (1974) and Emily (2023), lived in two different times, yet lived remarkably similar
life circumstances. Full of betrayal, intrigue, and mystery, this Hawkins novel is sure to keep some fans on the edges of their seats.

I couldn't put this one down, but I will allow that is more due to the easy flow of the writing and my despise of the characters and not due to the strength of the plot. I found the plot to be interesting but predictable and saw the ending coming for each character from a mile away. The book overall wasn't a read that will leave many readers shocked or thinking about the ending after they've finished, but it was enjoyable for its medium-pace and interestingly despicable characters.

I loved to hate all the characters that the author seems to have wanted us to hate—Chess, Matt, Pierce. I didn't feel much for Mari, Emily, or Lana, unfortunately. They almost seemed to be side-characters in their own stories. I wish we could have seen more character development from them. I believe the author tried to develop them a certain way (no spoilers), but the attempt fell a little flat for me.

Overall, I recommend this novel to fans of engaging, easy-to-read, soft thrillers.

Thank you to St. Martin's Publishing Group for an ARC. This review was written honestly in exchange for an advanced read. #NetGalley #TheVilla

The Villa is about Emily and Chess who are best friends since childhood and take a trip to Italy. Emily believes the trip will help her escape from a writer's block while going through a divorce. The story goes between the present and the 1970's in which a famous murder happens at the same Villa they are staying at. We get a chance to find out what happened along with Emily while secrets start to come undone.

I really liked the writing style of this book and loved the idea of the story. However, I only give this book 3.5 stars due to the fact that I found the plot twists to be too obvious. I was able to guess most of the twists before they happened. I also also found myself getting lost with the storyline at times.

Overall I thought that this book was well written and it did keep me interested for most of the book. I definitely recommend giving this book a try and see if you enjoy it more than I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and Saint Martins Press for giving me the chance to read this book before it is released in 2023!

The Villa is a delicious story or two stories of friends; Chess and Em in one and Mari and Lara in the other. Chess and Em are current day, both writers the decide to spend a summer at The Villa in Orvieto Italy. Mari and Lara are stepsisters who in 1974, spend the summer at The Villa. Both stories and characters are intense, artists in some way, and both seek some sort of vengeance. This book is so good, you'll not be able to close until the end, there is rage, there is love and there is the end!. Thank you #NetGalley#StMartinsPress#TheVilla.

This is not just another mystery/thriller. Told between dual timelines Rachel Hawkins explores the blessings and the pitfalls of relationships, whether they be friends, lovers, or siblings. Throw in the astounding beauty of Italy, the grit of 70s rock and roll, a horror novel, and a few twists and turns and you have a gripping mystery that kept me reading non-stop to find out WHO DID IT? Do not worry as you will have all of your questions answered. And then some.

Thank you for the ARC, Rachel Hawkins and Netgalley! I will definitely be recommending this book come January 2023!

This is my first book by Rachel Hawkins and I absolutely fell in love with her style of writing. I loved the 2 different povs one from 1974 and the other in current time. The way both povs seemed to intertwine together but still tell two different stories. It had me dissecting both stories trying to guess what was going to happen next. Highly do recommend.

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s press, and Rachel Hawkins for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

*Thank you to St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for the ARC*

Wow, my recommendation is don’t try and finish The Villa at 2 am because you absolutely will get sucked in and it will simultaneously give you the creeps!

The premise of the book centers on several characters but the main setting is Villa Aestas formerly Villa Rosato, where a murder took place back in the 70s. Here stepsisters Mari and Lara are supposed to be muses for their male counterparts to write an album, instead they each strike success as writers in their own sense, but not before a life is claimed to the adage of drugs, sex, and rock & roll.

A parallel story is also told in the present when best friends Emily and Chess are visiting said “murder mansion” to write their prospective books. Little did they know how the Villa and its dark past would have its grip on their own lives.

Truthfully it’s hard to break The Villa down succinctly since there’s so many characters involved. There’s lots of overlapping stories and themes, from past to present, real and written, lyrics, articles, and even podcasts. It gives a Daisy Jones/VH1 THS vibe with the different cuts of media interspersed throughout. It can get a little confusing at times but there’s enough overlap for everything to fall right back into place.

Although there’s lots of foreshadowing due to the parallel timeline, overall The Villa was a quick read, and engaging enough to keep me on my toes. 4.5/5 stars because the build up was greater than the end, which shows how well Hawkins can build that eerie, foreboding feeling. The Villa publishes in January ‘23 and I have no doubt it’ll be a hit and can totally see it made into a tv series! 🍿

Spoilerish CW: drug use, infant death, chronic illness, fade to black MMF scene