Villa is three dimensional, smart, claustrophobic, women empowerment story with creepy and intriguing plot!

Two stepsisters in 19 marked this place! Mari created her the most scariest gothic novel: Lilith Rising and Lara; the most popular album ( moms’ favorite) at the same eccentric place they’ve been inspired. The place is actually gorgeous, homey villa located in Orvieto: a small town in Italy. It is called Aestas just like Lara’s name of the album. But this place is not known by inspirational sources for newbie artists. It is known as a MURDER HOUSE . Mari and Lara accompanied by Mari’s musician boyfriend Pierce to be guests of famous rock star Noel Gordon and his bestie, dealer Johnnie boy! During their stay, things got escalated and somebody died, one of them was sent to prison!
Those events took place in 1974. But the events and people’s energies already tainted the place. The VILLA is only place really knows what happened behind the closed doors: toxic relationships, lies, raising charm of insanity, pain of creativity, numbness of drugs! HOUSE REMEMBERS !

Now two best friends since their childhood came here to spend six weeks at the villa to get inspired for their next novels and taking break from everything they’re dealing with!

Emily and Chess were inseparable friends till Emily gets married with Matt, becoming popular with her YA cozy mysteries and Chess moved to the big city, being social butterfly and finally making her big turn by becoming self help guru with her bestselling nonfictions!

Things didn’t go well for Emily as expected. She is dealing with overwhelming divorce case: her husband demands royalties from her novels because he thinks she couldn’t write them without his support! She struggled with an unknown disease for a long time that made her dizzy and dysfunctional!

When Chess invites her to spend a holiday in Italy, she sees this opportunity to get rid of her recent writer’s block!

As soon as they arrive, she gets affected by the eerie energy of murder house which pushes her learn more about house’s history but her investigation will reveal more ugly secrets about her own life!

Overall: I loved the idea of murder house and Emily’s searching for the truth but I think the revelations are not satisfying enough! I didn’t like how both two stories unfolded. I was expecting something more sinister instead of spiritual. In my opinion this is women’s fiction with feminism vibes but the characters were not the great examples to represent girl power! I think there are so many trust issues they have to work on!

Mystery about the house wasn’t a twisty enough. The setting and plot line were great but the execution and ending could be so much better. So I decided to give three solid stars! It was still gripping, fast pacing read but I was expecting something more surprising, gothic, effective!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This mystery was such a fun read! With two stories wrapped up in one, I could not put this book down! Rachel Hawkins is one of my favorite authors and this novel did not disappoint. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Super excited to receive an advance review copy of #TheVilla from #Netgalley. I love the cover, and a "deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set at an Italian villa with a dark history"? YES, please! Unfortunately, I was a bit underwhelmed. Didn't really care for any of the characters and found some of the plot points to be a bit contrived. Still, read over two days and can't say I didn't enjoy.

P.S. Thanks to #Netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC! This book was labeled as a gothic suspense/thriller but I personally would label it more as a mystery with gothic tones.


What I loved:

-Strong and interesting start to the book which caused me to be immediately drawn in and want more

-The past and present timelines were written parallel to each other perfectly and I was equally interested in both stories (sometimes I find myself favoring one over the other)

-I loved that the book incorporated snippets of news articles, documentaries, podcasts, and chapters of books to give insight to the characters rise to fame and the work and mystery that developed post-1974 villa murder (kind of felt like breaking the fourth wall to me)


Tropes that I really enjoyed in this book: childhood to adult frenemies trope, the idea of a house holding memories

TBH the only thing I didn’t really love was that the ending seemed a bit abrupt for all the time the author took to establish and grow characters throughout.

This is definitely my favorite Rachel Hawkins book so far! (compared to the Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls). Keep your eye out for this one (and this author)! Publish date is 1/3/23

This was exactly what I would anticipate from this author. I loved it!! Full of drama, suspense and a villa in Italy with a murderous past. Two best friends and authors retreat to a villa to relax and work. With a dual timeline and sub-plots, this one will keep you on your toes.

Thanks to NetGalley for the free advance ereader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel Hawkins just gets better and better and The Villa, a gothic mystery / thriller set in an Italian villa in Orvieto, is her best yet. The main character is the villa itself, site of a 1970s murder. Someone dies among the musician and writer friends - Mari, Lara, Pierce, Noel and Johnnie - while Mari writes a novel - and a secret diary. Who died and who dunnit? We won’t know the first answer until midway through the novel and as for the second … no spoilers!

It’s also the setting for a 2020s getaway for best friends and writers Emily and Chess. Emily is a cozy mystery writer who becomes interested in the history of the house and the infamous murder. She’s also reeling from divorce proceedings in which her ex, Matt, wants a cut of her earnings, both past and future. Chess is a self help writer and guru. Will they reconnect? Collaborate on a book? Again, wait and see.

Captivating and surprising until the shocking conclusion, you’ll be thinking about The Villa long after it’s over. Five stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Villa is an ambitious work of fiction even though I found the ending to a bit lackluster. The two stories present day Emily and Chess and past Mari and Lara felt all over the place and in my opinion never tied together intricately or neatly. However, this was still an enjoyable read overall. 3.5 stars

Rachel Hawkins does it again with another perfect thriller. My favorite part of her thrillers is that they combine a lot of different aspects: mystery, psychological, action. All three are here and told through a dramatic story.

Emily and Chess have been best friends since grade school. They see each other a few times a year as life has gotten busy for them as adults. They meet for lunch and plan a summer getaway to a Villa in Italy. They are both authors and they plan to work on their respective books and soak up the Italian atmosphere. The Villa is beautiful but it turns out to have a tragic past. In the summer of 1974 Mari and her wanna be rock star boyfriend Pierce stay at the same Villa with her step sister and 2 other men. This is told in dual timelines alternating between present day and 1974.
I enjoyed this book but I didn't really like the ending. I saw things going differently between Emily and Chess and the ending with the 1974 timeline was confusing.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book for review.

Thanks netgalley for the chance to read this book! This is my first book by Rachel Hawkins! The two story lines went and meshed together very well but there was something missing. The ending just didn’t do it for me. The story with the husband.. that was very predictable and I saw it coming. Overall it was an ok book.

A great suspense book. If you love Reckless Girls, you'll love this book too. Two sets of women tied together even though they are decades apart. Very twisty and addictive. The ending shows how well-plotted the novel is. Love the description of Italy too. An excellent book for people who love gothic suspense novels.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Rachel Hawkins has become one of my favorite authors. Each book she writes are simply magic. Her character development and plot lines are intertwined beautifully to the point where I’m up late reading because i simply needs to know what happens next. I adored The Villa and i think fans of her work will too. Thank you NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC in an exchange for an honest review, I’m so grateful.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is a dual timeline twisty suspenseful thriller that alternates between Mari in 1974 & Emily in present day. An Italian Villa, Author protagonists. Rock stars. Need I say more? Highly recommend!!!

Rachel Hawkins has done it again. She has spun a tale of intrigue and suspense, along with interwoven relevant flashbacks, to tell a tale of love, loss, and what happens to a lover spurned.

Sadly I wanted to love this more than I did. It was written well I just could not connect with the characters or storyline. However I do believe fans of The Paris Apartment will adore this book and find themselves attached to the story.

Rachel Hawkins delivers another thriller that I could not put down, and The Villa quickly became my favorite of hers to date! Told from two perspectives and two time periods, the story unfolds with twists and complexities that kept me up until I finished it. Emily and Chess are childhood best friends, and their story centers around a summer trip to a villa in Italy - the Villa Aestas - with flashbacks to early times in their friendship. Mari and Lara are stepsisters, and their story centers around a summer trip in 1974 to a villa in Italy - Villa Rosato - with flashbacks to earlier times. There are friendships, betrayals, sex, drugs, and rock & roll, and again - the twists and revelations that happen along the way - will make you not be able to put this book down either. Highly recommend!!

This is the second book I’ve read by Ms. Hawkins. I enjoyed “The Wife Upstairs” very much and gifted it to a family member who also liked it. “The Villa” was equally as good though it was a totally different type of storyline and genre.

The method of combining past and present stories and their alternatives for the people who stayed at Villa Rosa/Aestas was very imaginative and attention-keeping. This, along with the idea of writing a book-within-a-book, was very unique and engaging. I enjoy historical novels and this one reminded me very much of that genre.

Neither of the main characters, Chess and Em, were really likeable. I found weaknesses in each that were a bit aggravating but I continued to read about them nonetheless.

I will definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy travel to Italy as well as 70’s rock and roll performers. Readers who like reading about the writing process will also enjoy this book.

I definitely am a fan of the author’s writing style and will read more of her work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Hawkins and St. Martin's Press for this eARC.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins checked all of the boxes for me! It is a hot summer, psychological thriller with a past/present style that was written exceptionally well! I was personally excited to see that the past was set in the summer of 1974 as I was born that year. While I was hooked from the beginning, it is not a book that I quickly skipped through to get to the end. The writing and storylines are so satisfying that reading every page was enjoyable. The relationships between the pairs of women from the past and the present as well as their career trajectories and personal struggles were a refreshing and captivating part of the story as the secrets from the summer at the Villa were unraveled. This is my favorite Rachel Hawkins book, and I highly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley, Rachel Hawkins and St. Martin's Press for this eARC. This is my first book by Rachel Hawkins and I will be reading more by her.

The story is about 2 sets of women in different periods of time tied by staying at a Villa in Italy. The book had me captivated from the beginning wanting to know what happened, who did what and how they were all tied together. I was not disappointed, getting to know the characters was fun and finding twists and breadcrumbs along the way kept me intrigued.

Thank you again Rachel Hawkins for a great fun summer read.

The mood in this book is the best part - the eerie undertones to everything really bring it all together. I always enjoy the book within a book technique and I wish I could read more of Lilith Rising as it sounds really intriguing. I hate Chess as a character and the annoying influencers she’s based on, but I think that means Hawkins did her job.

After getting over a sophomore slump, I’m excited for Hawkins’ next novel. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.