This book is not what I expected. It had gothic horror themes elements because she’s staying in the villa where a murder was committed. But she’s also dealing with grief over martial issues and her friend takes her to Italy to get it off her mind. Little does she know, her friend is keeping something from her. Will another murder happen at the villa?

I LOVED this book! Rachel Hawkins is such an auto-buy author for me now, and this is probably my new favorite of hers. It was so immersive and kept me on the edge of my seat. Perfectly written.

Beautiful and interesting setting, with duel timelines and a nice twist. It took me a while to get into it and I wasn’t fully satisfied with the conclusion, but it was enjoyable. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

This was my second novel by Rachel Hawkins. I loved Reckless Girls and knew that I needed to read this! I love Rachel’s ability to highlight the complexities of female relationships. Many times while reading The Villa I could picture some of my own complicated relationships with friends over the years and could feel my own memories come flooding back.

While this book did keep me engaged I found it to be a little slower than I would have liked for a psychological thriller. The past and the present were so similar but yet so different and at times I went back and forth on which story I enjoyed more. I would recommend this book to those that like a mystery that isn’t too intense.

There’s something to be said about the binge-able quality of Rachel Hawkin’s books and how once you pick them up, you better have some time on your hands because you won’t be putting them down. Same was absolutely true with The Villa.

This book follows two different timelines set between two different groups of people in the same Italian Villa. One group of free spirited musicians and writers from the 70s and then two best friends who are writers in the present day.

When Chess invites her old friend Emily to Italy with her, Emily begins to research the infamous Villa they’ll be residing in and along with it, the gruesome murder that took place there in 1974. The deeper Emily digs though, the more secrets she reveals not just about the prior occupants, but about her relationship with her best friend as well.

I stayed up until 2am reading this which is a sign of how much I enjoyed it. I loved the nostalgic feel and the vibes this book gave me while devouring it. Although, I did sometimes find it difficult to follow and a lot of information, articles and conversations were all thrown together, but it might have just been the way the ARC was laid out. I’m truly looking forward to recommending this book to friends and am excited to continue reading Rachel’s book. Thank you so much for the ARC of this book and allowing me to read it. It was a pleasure.

This story was so amazing! It was a perfect cozy read to start January month by. Especially appreciated the dual story timeline and the suspense build up. The similarities that you see between Chess and Lara and Emily and Marie was uncanny and I loved it! Overall, Rachel Hawkins did it again! I love her cozy mysteries.

I was given a copy of this book in return for an honest review. Thanks Net Galley!

This story follows two time lines one in current day following Emily and her best friend Chess and one in the 1970s following Mari, Lara, Pierce, Noel and Johnnie while staying at a villa in Italy. We follow Emily and Chess as they vacation for the summer in Italy in a Villa where a murder occurred in the 1970s (the same villa where Mari and friends stayed). Emily eventually becomes very interested in the murder and we learn more about it as the story progresses while also learning more about Emily and Chess’ friendship.

This was an easy read. It kept me turning the pages and intrigued enough to carry on. I saw what was going to happen from extremely early on but that didn’t detract from my interest in the story. I enjoyed Mari and Lara’s relationship and story line and found myself eager to get back to their perspectives. Unfortunately there were a few times when I became confused while reading, with random newspaper articles/ magazine articles or excerpts or poems thrown in throughout the story, but I think that is just a me issue. Overall I did enjoy the book and would recommend. I will be picking up more books by this author!

When best friends, Emily and Chess, decide to reconnect and have a little writer's retreat in Italy, they soon come to find that their relationship may not have been built on solid ground. As the spend the summer in an Italian villa each working on their respective novels, secrets from their past and the past of the house, begin to creep into their lives. The villa they are staying in is actually known for a murder involving Rock & Roll's notorious superstar, Noel Gordon. And as Emily digs more into the past of this murder and the past of her friend, she starts to feel like this villa may claim another victim.

I was a big fan of Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins and was very excited for this gothic-suspense centered around friendship, an Italian villa, and murder. But, I will say, this one fell a little short for me; this is mainly because I did not have much of an interest in the second storyline which was focused on the past murder. I normally am a big fan of dual POVs, but in this case, I personally did not have much of an interest in that storyline despite it being important to the overall plot of the book. I also felt like it jumped around very sporadically which also threw me off.

I did enjoy the main storyline focused on the illusive friendship between Emily and Chess and the Italian-villa setting really redeemed it all for me.

Overall, this was enjoyable read and a suspenseful story, but not my favorite of Hawkins. I still will eagerly be awaiting her next read!

The Villa has all the elements I love in a novel. Exotic setting, suspense, and in the skilled hands of Rachel Hawkins, a story within a story.

Chess and Emily have been best friends since childhood and were inseparable. After college they go their separate ways without contact. Independently they become published authors. Chess is extremely successful writing self-help books. Chess had the idea of them staying at an exclusive villa in Italy. The villa is charming, secluded, and holds a mysterious history. This is the perfect getaway. Emily is reluctant to take the offer, but ultimately decides to rekindle their friendship and use the time to reflect after her recent divorce and write the next installment of her series. She is captivated at the idea that a famous musician stayed at the villa and there is speculation that a murder occurred. Her writing has suddenly taken off in a new direction and Chess is too interested in Emily's new project. Secrets begin to emerge, and relationships begin to fray, but at what cost?

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early release copy.

Thank you so much for the advance copy, j was so excited to get my hands on this after enjoying her previous works! The setting was so well written and I was easily able to picture myself there. I enjoyed the twists and was not able to predict all of them. I did enjoy the present day story more than the flashbacks. Overall a great read and another solid thriller from this author. I would recommend this book!

I'm always up for reading anything Rachel Hawkins writes. I loved the dual timeline of this story, but was especially drawn to the story from the past and found myself anxious to hurry and get through the present day story and back to the past story. So I definitely had a preference for the historical fiction part of this book, but as the two timelines started to connect, I couldn't put it down. Excellent character development, although many of the characters were very unlikable - they were unlikable in their own unique ways. The description of the setting and scenery was fantastic - I could picture myself right there. I did alternate between the e-copy and the audiobook and the narrator of the audiobook was great. I had no difficulty switching between the two and for me, when I hear the narrator's voice in my hear while reading the book, I know they're a good narrator, and that was the case here. If you're a fan of Rachel Hawkins other books, or just a fan of mysteries, give this a try.

Wow! This book held me captive from the start and each time I thought I had it figured out, it would twist. Rachel Hawkins does it again!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the privilege of reading this in advance!

I flew through this book! I've seen it labeled as a thriller but I'd look at it more as a fast-faced mystery. What I really liked about it was the Italian villa setting, the exploration of friendship and sisterhood, and that even though the storyline jumped between characters in the present and the past, they were all so interesting and it really kept my attention. What I didn't really love was the way some "secrets" were revealed at the end. Sometimes I think when an author lays an intricate storyline, the ending can seem a little too unbelievable and I felt that was the case here. I still very much enjoyed reading the book, and I would still recommend it because the multiple storylines really fleshed the story out, but the ending wasn't my favorite.

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. It's always such a joy to be able to read a book before it's release!

Rachel Hawkins has done it again! This is a great novel that had me guessing the entire time! I would definitely recommend this for anyone this winter who's curling up in front of the fire and wanting a good heart-pounding thriller!

"The Villa" was the perfect novel to break me out of a new year reading slump. It has everything a reader could want in a thriller. We have frenemies, we have a murder house, we have a greedy money hungry soon-to-be ex-husband, we have dual timelines, and we have women rising from the ashes of tragedy to become queens of their chosen fields.

1974- When her stepsister Lara comes home flaunting a summer-long invitation to a romantic Italian villa, Mari is skeptical. When she reveals that the invitation is at the behest of rockstar Noel Gordon, Mari realizes that this trip could be just the ticket to helping her small-time musician boyfriend, Pierce, realize his full potential and bust them out of the borderline poverty they've been living in. In her wildest dreams, she could not imagine how productive (and how life-altering) the summer would be for her. She will walk away from the summer having penned one of the preeminent horror novels of all time, "Lillith Rising," Lara will walk away having written one of the defining albums of a generation, and Pierce, unfortunately, won't be walking away at all.

Present day- Childhood besties, Chess Chandler and Emily Sheridan have decided to spend the summer together on a girls-only writing retreat/vacation in Italy. Chess is coming off the release of an uber-popular self-help book (think "Girl, Wash Your Face") and Emily is picking up the pieces from a failed marriage and a divorce battle that has turned brutal. As Emily basks in the beautiful and atmospheric Villa Aestas, she can't believe the home was the site of the brutal murder of Pierce Sheldon. As she digs into the mystery, she finds herself drawn away from her safe, bland life as an author of cozy mysteries, and into a connection with the reclusive author, Mari Godwick. Tensions rise as Emily throws herself into this new project, and she isn't sure just what will happen when Chess realizes Emily has always had the potential to outshine her. Will history repeat itself? Or will two friends rekindle a lifelong friendship that had fallen to the wayside?

"The Villa" has the potential to be the standout thriller of the year. Fans of the genre will not want to miss what might be Hawkins' greatest novel yet. A thriller that will have readers on the edge of their seats as they fly through both timelines, desperate not only to see what really happened in the summer of 1974 but also to see how jealousy and success might make history repeat itself once more. Special thanks to NetGalley and to St. Martin's Press for providing an Advanced Reader's Copy of "The Villa" in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is hard for me to rate because the beginning was intriguing, then slow, then the ending I absolutely loved. Rachel Hawkins knows how to write characters you kind of hate, but also sometimes love or at least like a bit more. I love her unreliable narrator and characters and how sometimes the plot may seem predictable, but then there is a twist that uses that idea and changes it in such a way that is so enjoyable (and hard to describe). I enjoyed how this book had two POVs, along with interludes of articles, crime podcast transcripts, and excerpts from fictional books. This was a slow burn, with just enough juice to keep you turning the pages, but nothing that had your heart racing. I enjoyed this book even though I didn't like most of the characters, which is usually a turn off for me.

I really wanted to love this book but I just couldn't. It started off interesting with the story being told in the past tense and the present. How could Em be such a pushover with not just her BFF Chess but with her husband or rather soon to be ex husband, for that matter.
Chess didn't care for anyone but herself. She didn't care that she ruined Ems trust by sleeping with her husband to "prove a point" or to use her in her book as a loser sort of speak. Then Em for not standing up to her asshole of a husband or her supposedly BFF Chess. Like what the hell happened to make her feel like she owed Chess anything? Why did she put up with it all? Then we got like we got 0 detail as to why they both came to share their "BIG secret".
What was the point? Did they want to be like Mary and Laura from the past? Who's idea was it? Why did it happen and how?
Then the random "truth" from the past of Pierces death? So damn random! I have so many questions left and no answers. It felt sort of rushed at the end for me with no real closure.

Rachel Hawkins is a marvelous storyteller, and the tale she weaves in The Villa sucked me in right away and had me turning pages well into the night. Two friends reconnect in a beautiful Italian villa made famous by a gruesome murder and a novel written there during that summer in the 70s. Told as a story within a story within a story, the reader is pulled in to the mystery of the fateful night of the murder, as well as the suspicious friendship between Emily and Chess. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, Hawkins pulled a fast one on me and left my head spinning. Such a fun read.

Thank you to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press and Rachel Hawkins for an advance copy for my honest review.

Hawkins is a successful American author of "The Wife Upstairs" and of many YA novels including the Hex Hall and Rebel Belle series. This new release is another suspense thriller. Emily is going through a divorce and trying to write her tenth cozy mystery in a series that has proven moderately popular. When her childhood friend and now a successful self-help author, Chess, invites her to spend the summer with her at a villa in Italy for some bonding and to finish their latest books, she jumps at the chance. Emily soon realizes that the villa was the location of the murder of a famous rock star in 1974. She quickly gets distracted from her cozy mystery and starts to write a book about the murder. Told in two timelines the story jumps back and forth from 1974 to the present, each time revealing more secrets about the lives of the characters. The story has suspense, friendship, romance with a small dose of "sex, drugs and rock & roll' and is a great recommendation for customers looking for a fun read, with some flawed characters

I’ll start out by saying, I was fully engaged the entire time! Two sisters, who haven’t had it easy, are in love with men who only see them as muses. They all spend an entire summer in a beautiful villa in Italy to live the Rock & Roll life style (we all know the one). But things definitely don’t go as planned.

This is a dual timeline story bouncing between the sisters in the villa to two best friends spending their summer in the same villa many years later. How much can a house remember?

I wanted to know what happened and who was involved and how everything ended. It was an engaging book and well written. I just had a really hard time with the characters. I didn’t like a single person. I wasn’t rooting for the MC or hoping for all to be resolved. I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that while reading.

I really enjoyed the storyline, the dual timeline, and the setting made me want to hop on a plane and spend the summer in Italy! It was overall an entertaining read but it didn’t rock my world.

“Boy, don’t you know? The brightest stars that lit your sky, were the ones you couldn’t see.”