*Puts on best impersonation of Stefon from SNL*

The hottest new book from Rachel Hawkins is the Villa. It has everything. Cozy mysteries. Self help guru millionaires. Messy Fleetwood Mac style band recording processes. Divorces. Italy. Murder. Writing in Italy. Double crosses. Everything.

Rachel Hawkins is an instabuy author for me. Set aside a good chunk of time, 3 to 4 hours. Snacks and drinks. Prepare for your day to just be entertained.

The Villa reminded me of a very specific Douglas Adams quote "that's just perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the Universe has that.” Rachel Hawkins has an uncanny ability to tap into everyone's unconscious paranoia. It's a very slow subtle build up and that's craftsmanship.

Recommended for fans of her other work, Alice Feeney, Megan Goldin, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Agatha Christie and paranoia mysteries.

Trigger warnings aren't spoilers - child death (on page

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

I’ve read several books this year that have been told from different time periods, but this hands down is the best one.
Two groups of friends stay in the same villa about 50 years apart in Italy.
It starts in present day with Emily and Chess who have been best friends since they were kids. Both are well known writers in their own right.
The second timeline is 1974, Mari her stepsister, Laura Mari’s boyfriend, Pierce follow rockstar, Noel Gordon to Italy to write new music.
The story flip-flops back-and-forth between each group of friends, and the things that are going on in their lives. Mary and Laura are both very young and have run off from home and are both very trapped with these two men. Emily who is going through a divorce is finding out just how horrible her husband has been during their marriage. Tragedy strikes both groups of friends and changes their lives forever.
It’s definitely one of those books that’s gonna stick with me for quite a while.

I looooved this book! I've enjoyed all of Rachel Hawkins' adult thrillers so far, but this one may be my favorite. The villa itself was so atmospheric, the characters were interesting, and I really liked the layering of the stories from different time periods.

When freedom requires sacrifice.

First of all, I can’t believe that the same brain that produced The Ex Hex created this story. The twists in this book are what Verity’s dreams are made of. The Villa is a fever dream of rock and roll, murder, and new age feminism.
It follows two friends in the present (2023) and a girl ( from the past) who ends up surviving the murder that hangs over this whole book. Tension mounts on both sides of the story and the ending is absolutely wild considering that you know the conclusion from the get go. I loved so much about this book-the rock n roll murder mystery and Emma’s friendship is so toxic. If you love a gothic murder mystery then I recommend this book!!

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

First, I have to say I love this cover. Anyone who knows me, would know that I would love it though. :)

I was able to receive an ARC from NetGalley on this one. The Villa took me a little while to get into. A woman goes on vacation with her best friend (although I'm not sure how much she actually likes her best friend) after being stressed out by her pending divorce. She finds out that this beautiful vacation home has a history and she is anxious to uncover it. (For anyone needing a dual timeline for a reading challenge, this one does.)

As far as a thriller goes, I would not say this one kept me on the edge of my seat. It was mostly predictable and not a lot of build up. But, it was a nice escape to read and towards the end I did want to know what happened next. Overall, I enjoyed the read.

It was a summer of sex, drugs, and rock n roll in 1974, when Noel Gordon invited musician Pierce, girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister Lara to a villa in Italy. Noel was trying to spark creativity in his lagging musical career, but instead the summer was filled with envy, jealousy, and eventually murder.
Now, two childhood friends have drifted apart, but when heartbroken Emily is going through a divorce and suffering from writer's block, her friend Chess invites her to an Italian villa to reconnect and hopefully start writing again. But when Emily learns that there was a long-ago murder in the house, she becomes curious and starts writing a nonfiction book about the murder rather than the cozy mystery series she's been writing. What actually happened that summer? And why is Emily starting to doubt her friend's intentions in bringing her here?
I liked the story within a story as it jumped back and forth coinciding events in the past with Emily's writing in the present. This is my third book by Rachel Hawkins, and while it's not my favorite of hers I still really enjoyed the suspense and the writing. I look forward to reading more by this thrilling author.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First of all, thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Talk about a toxic friendship. You can tell from the beginning that Em and Chess have the kind of competitive relationship that makes friends “frienemies”.

The dual timeline in this book helped provide a basis for two women to come together on a project and gave back story to the villa they were staying in. I appreciated the history of the villa being included, but don’t normally really like dual timeline.

I had some questions and theories at the end of this but I don’t want to include spoilers here. The book held my interest but I felt there was a tiny bit lacking in regards to tying up loose ends. Overall a quick enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.

I am going to start with this, I love Rachel Hawkins. Several of her books have been five stars. I give The Villa these two stars with a heavy heart. I had such high hopes for this one, and it just fell flat for me. The entire story felt rushed which made it difficult for me to connect or appreciate the story line. I still remain optimistic and hopeful for her future works.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I love Rachel Hawkins so when I was granted access I couldnt wait to see what was in store. The very opening line "Houses remember" already haunted me and pulled me into the story. Two best friends spend a summer in a villa in Italy where a murder occurred decades before. Will they make it out untainted is the question that follows you as you read along. Readers are going to love the twists in this one.

This was my first Rachel Hawkins book and it was pretty good!
I enjoyed the multiple POVs and timelines but I found the chapters to be a too long. It is sometimes difficult for me to stay invested in a book unless I am really drawn into the story line, so the long chapters were a slight hindrance since I was not completely fascinated. My interest varied from chapter to chapter, and I thought that little was happening in certain chapters. But, I did like the setting and will mention that I preferred reading from Emily's point of view and seeing how she investigated the circumstances behind what happened.

My overall impression of the story was positive. It's likely that I'll read her other books, about which l've heard wonderful things. This one appeared to have mixed reviews - you either liked it or it seemed to fall short of the mark.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

*3.5 stars rounded up

Emily and Chess were best friends as kids but as their adult lives take them in different directions, their friendship isn't as strong. Until one day they meet for lunch and Chess invites Emily to join her at a villa in Italy, so they can both work on their writing. Back in 1974 this villa had a murder among friends who were in the world of rock music. Noel invites his friend Pierce to the villa to write songs. With a group of friends working on their music, one of them, Mari, is writing a murder mystery. As tensions build, Pierce is murdered. For Emily and Chess, their tensions are building as well and some buried secrets between them come out. The two stories have some similarities and some buried secrets. I read & listened to this book in a day! My thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Goodreads for an early copy of the e-book, audio, and paperback. A beautiful cover to set the mood at a lovely Italian villa....that holds secrets only the house remembers.

I was a bit skeptical going into this read. Rachel Hawkins’s previous books have not been my favorite, but this one is by far my favorite from her. I really enjoyed this.
Two best friends decide to spend the summer at an Italian Villa with a sinister past. Emily wants to escape her life where she’s stalled on writing her next book and is going through a tough divorce. Her best friend Chess, who is a famous self help guru, wants to finish her current book while also helping Emily regain control of her life. Emily dives into learning more about the past of the Villa while also wondering about Chess’s true intentions of bringing her to the Villa.
I really enjoyed the story within a story. I enjoyed the build up of Mari’s story because I genuinely didn’t know how it would end. Each little reveal felt like a fun surprise and I kept wondering where it would lead.
There was only one part of the book that didn’t really make sense to me and felt like a bit of a stretch. I hoped for something more sinister, but the reveal was lackluster.
I would definitely recommend this book for fans of slow burn thrillers.

Wow. This book was easily in my top ten for the year! The Villa basically has two plot lines: in present day focusing on cozy mystery writer Emily Sheridan and her self-help famous best friend Chess Chandler, and in the seventies focusing on a writer, a couple of aspiring musicians, and a rockstar. The setting of the novel is a character in and of itself, with both timelines taking place in the same Italian villa years apart. This story was fantastic and the author handled the switching of timelines seamlessly. I loved the characters, especially those from the seventies timeline. I wish there was more character development within the present day characters, but it’s a very small criticism. I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone I know!

I was quite taken with this book. It’s about love thwarted, lies, friendship, creativity, and betrayal.
Suspended between current day and mostly 1974, readers get acquainted with Mari, Pierce, Lara, Noel, Johnnie, Chess, and Emily.
I liked the present narrative the best, although I guessed some of the major plot points early on.
Hawkins depicts the environment of the 1970s and paints a reliable picture Of the inhabitants of the Villa.
The only person I cared for was Emily, but I found her to be extremely gullible and way too trusting, especially after she discovered a major revelation before Chess confessed.
There is a lot to ponder in this book.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins was such a smart, claustrophobic, suspenseful ball of fun and a really enjoyable read. We are following two different timelines here and tension is built expertly by Rachel Hawkins leaving you wanting more of each storyline at the end of every chapter. This made the pacing of the book, in my opinion, excellent and results in a dynamic and quick read. The friendships and relationships in this book are so layered and add so much depth to the characters in a fairly short book. I didn't see the twists coming and that is always nice when reading a thriller that has you suspecting everyone and questioning everything.

Emily and Chess have been friends for decades and like many friendships, they see each other less and less. When Chess offers to pay for Emily to follow her to Italy for the summer to get out of a writing slump, Emily rediscovers what it's like spending time with her best friend. While in Italy, they discover more about the crime that happened in the villa in the 1970s.

I love a good dual timeline story! Typically I find one that is more interesting than the other, but I actually liked Emily and Chess' story as well as Mari and those who experience the murder first hand. I also really enjoyed the small interviews that were tucked in along with some of Mari's book, Lilith Rising. I would definitely recommend this to some of my students who enjoy true crime and mystery/thriller fiction.

I loved this mash up of Daisy Jones and the Six and a thriller! I loved both storylines! The sex, drugs, rock and roll, and murder and the two writers on vacation. I loved, loved Emily - the fact that she was a cozy mystery writer turned into a true-crime junkie by the Villa and its history. I loved it all! The ending was probably a bit rushed, but I honestly enjoyed this read so much I couldn't give it anything less than 5 stars! I absolutely devoured it!

“Houses Remember.”

And I will, too. This was an excellent book, and I love the way the author mixed the dual time lines. Loved loved loved. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Really enjoyed this latest novel (coming out in a few days - January 3, 2023!) by Rachel Hawkins.

The novel centers around the Villa Aestas, and Ms. Hawkins uses dual narratives to tell the story. In the present, Emily is struggling trying to write her latest novel while going through a divorce from her husband. She agrees to go to Italy with her best friend Chess and stay at the Villa where a notorious murder happened in the 1970s. The second narrative is that of Mari, and that infamous summer of 1974.

As the pages turn, the two narratives weave back and forth and the Villa almost becomes its own character. I liked the gothic vibe and the way the two timelines worked together, I just didn’t want to stop reading. Ms. Hawkins throws twists in throughout, and just when you think you’ve got things figured out, another one comes right along.

Pick this one up - it’s a fun book to kick off the new year!

It took me a while to really get into this book but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. The characters and story line were so detailed that you felt like you were there watching it unfold. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars because I had a hard time following at some points in the book.