This was a slow burn, gothic thriller that turned out to be a quick, entertaining read. With dual timelines the stories of Mari (set in the 70s) and Emily (set in present day) are unraveled as past murders get revealed and Emily figures out where her future is going. I had no idea that this was based off of Fleetwood Mac and the Mason murders, so you can bet I'll be doing some research after this one. The Villa is not short on some scandalous sex, drugs and rock n roll, as well as an interesting plot. This was my first by Hawkins and I will be sure to reach her backlist. Coming out January 3, thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the early eArc.

I spent the first half of this book sort of just waiting for anything to happen, for anything to be revealed, etc. and it doesn't really happen until ~60% of the way through and even then it's lukewarm. The final twists are better for sure, although I can't believe this book has probably the most despicable character and she's in it all the way till the end. The final 1/4 is really fun but it's a slug to get there and then you just feel a little icky at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins.

This was a 4⭐️ book for me. I enjoyed the two timelines and it kept me guessing as to how the two would tie together. The gist of this book is that in 70s, Mari, her boyfriend Pierce, and her stepsister Lara join musician Noel Gordon and his friend Johnnie at a villa in Orvieto Italy. In current day, Emily and her long time best friend Chess visit the same villa. As you jump back and forth between the two timelines, you learn more about Mari and Emily along with the tragedy that they experience and their fame. Ultimately, their stories overlap.

This book kept me turning the pages, though at times I did question how the two stories would connect. Overall, if you like a bit of mystery/thriller this would be a good choice for you!

I really loved the current POV but did not like the past POV at all and it really took away from the story for me. I understood why it was included and it all tied together at the end but those parts really dragged for me. This one just didn't really do it for me like I was hoping it would. I liked the dynamic between the two friends but found the rest of the storylines to be a bit tired and boring.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy and exchange for an honest review.

* I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

I was really excited to read Rachel Hawkins’ newest novel because I really enjoyed Reckless Girls, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It mostly felt like two separate stories where I think Hawkins was trying to intertwine Mari and Emily. From the beginning you can tell that Emily’s friend “Chess” honestly just sucks. The ending also felt a bit rushed to me, and the Matt situation felt like it wrapped up too fast and that part should have been written into the book instead of happening off page.

Overall, wasn’t a bad book. Would probably recommend it.

I really enjoyed Reckless Girls so I was really excited to read The Villa. I loved that it's a book within a book within a book. I also loved the morally grey characters and dual timeline. It's a solid little gothic thriller!

⭐️Rating: 4/5
✍🏼Author: Rachel Hawkins
📖Genre: Women's Fiction, True Crime, Suspense, Mystery

💭Summary:
This story centers around a 1974 rockstar Noel Gordon who rents a villa in Orvieto, Italy. He invites a few people with the hopes of re-inspiring his love for music, and writing and collaborating with an up-and-coming musician, Pierce, his girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister Lara. Mari gains inspiration from everything Villa Rosato has to offer and ends up writing one of the bestselling horror books, her stepsister Lara finds her voice/talent and becomes a successful artist. Although a lot of good came out of their stay, there's also a haunting story of the reality that unfolded.

The story flips to 2023 when authors Chess and Emily book the villa - now "Villa Aestas" to find inspiration and rekindle their estranged friendship. Emily becomes fascinated with the history of the Villa and ends up writing about the reality of what happened in 1974- she also finds a lot of parallels with Mari. Come to find, both friends end up resurfacing their own haunting truth throughout their visit leaving them to question if the history of the Villa will repeat their own reality.

💭My thoughts:
This was the first book I've read by Rachel Hawkins, and I was captivated by the embedded narrative, dual timeline, and mixture of true crime/murder mystery. I also loved the references to landmarks within Orvieto, Italy! This was a page-turner that kept me on my toes, wanting more. If reading, I encourage you to pay attention to the details, because everything evolves so fast, and each detail matters. Overall I really enjoyed it!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the digital copy of the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I really liked The Villa.
There are a lot of mixed reviews, but I think I went into this with low, beach read-y expectations having read some of the authors other “thriller” books and knowing they aren’t as dark and gothic as the descriptions makes them sound.
So with the expectation that this book would be fun and light while being about dark things, I enjoyed the book.
I felt bad for Emma, despite having all the ingredients for a successful life, she felt backed into a corner as her husband left her, she got sick, and her money ran out as her writers block (and knowing her husband was getting a cut of the profits) were making it hard to move on.
I didn’t like her friend Chess, but I understood that sometimes if you meet people and they stay in your lives, sometimes you can have super crappy people as friends. But when I thought one thing was happening, I realized I was wrong about it.
I also liked the POV of Mari and her experiences in the Villa. It was a bit Daisy Jones and the Six and Frankenstein with a group of musicians experiencing drama and Mari getting struck with the inspiration to write what would later become such an iconic horror novel. In many similar ways, Mari was stuck just like Em because her boyfriend Pierce was married to a wife he never did anything for, he slept around, and even slept with Mari’s sister. And her sister kept coming along, being super obvious in her quest for attention and blaming Mari when her own boyfriend started to take an interest in Mari and Pierce. Lots of relationship drama and potential hurt mixed with drugs and inspiration.
Overall, The Villa was interesting and fun and I would recommend it. Don’t take it too seriously or expect the next Rebecca. It’s not anywhere near that dark.

I love a Rachel Hawkins thriller and I was not disappointed in this one. Absorbed it in just a couple of days. I loved the different timelines and the gothic feel despite it being summer in Italy. I loved the information unfurling slowly, imperfect and the narrators unreliable. The end gave me similar feelings to Reckless Girls. I’m glad I’m a vindictive way, even though I shouldn’t.

Like Rachel Hawkins previous books, The Villa is a real page turner. I couldn't put it down and ripped through it in two days. Emily and Chess have been best friends since childhood, but now in their thirties, their relationship is quite strained. Chess is a successful self-help author hanging out with Oprah, while Emily is struggling to write her next cozy mystery and going through a nasty divorce. When Chess invites Emily to spend the summer at a villa in Italy,, she jumps right in, hoping to fix her relationship with Chess and get her writing groove back. It turns out the Villa is the site of an infamous murder in the 1970's. The murder filled with rock and roll royalty and mystery begins to intrigue Emily and the more she learns, the deeper she gets into what really happened at the Villa. Filled with twists and turns and several versions of one story, you'll ask yourself, "Do Houses Remember?"

Although I did find this book gripping, the back and forth timelines were slightly confusing. I wanted to know about the murder in the past so it kept me hooked and intrigued to keep listening but then finding out that there was actually a different ending tot hat then they made you believe was true several chapters earlier was confusing. Overall it was 3 stars but I think it could have been 4 stars if it was slightly different and also did not have the murder in present time.

I loved how atmospheric this one was, however the ending did not sit well with me. The story within a story narrative is one of my favorites though, and the cover is stunning!

This is one that I enjoyed the experience of listening/reading more than the actual story itself. I was uncomfortable and fully expecting twists and turns the whole time which kept me engaged and very curious. However, while there were a couple twists, I felt like a lot of potential was left unused with this one. The ending could've been much stronger and while the past and present timelines presented a fun mystery within a mystery kind of feel, it wasn't enough to blow me away.

Emily has been battling an undiagnosable illness, a stalled career as a cozy mystery writer, and a nasty divorce. So when her on-again-off-again best friend, and famous positivity influencer, invites her to Italy for the summer so jumps at the time. She hopes to use the time to focus on the next book of her series, but is instead captivated by the history of the house and the famous murder that took place there decades ago.

In alternating storylines we get Emily's viewpoint in current day and Mari's- one of the inhabitants of the Villa when the murder occurred. Dispersed throughout are also excerpts from Mari's book written in the house, excerpts from magazine interviews and stories about the murder, and lyrics from Lara's album.

This was my second book by this author. I must admit I was not crazy about the first I read so I was hesitant going into this one, but I ended up really liking it. I thought some of Emily's decisions were questionable, but overall I liked the build of her story. Some of the details were a little out of place, but for the most part I liked the build of the story and all the mysteries. I appreciated the pacing and I especially liked the ending entries from Mari's perspective.

A girls trip to Italy! What could go wrong? In their villa a man who they become close with dies.. Was is random? It didn't seem like a robbery gone wrong. Are the girls in trouble?

Another winner from Rachel Hawkins! It took me a bit to get my bearings in each of the dual POV in this book, but once it got going I was pulled right in. The twists and turns in this thriller were a lot of fun and I flew through it - highly recommend!

Thank you @stmartinspress for the #gifted eARC of THE VILLA.

Rachel Hawkins is back with another creepy slowburn. One thing I love about her books is how much the location plays a role in the story. In THE VILLA, our dual timelines are set at the gorgeous Villa Aestas fka Villa Rosato. Emily and Chess are childhood BFFs who rent Villa Aestas to reconnect and write over the summer. While there Emily slowly becomes obsessed with the murder of rockstar Pierce Sheldon that happened at the villa in 1974 and his girlfriend turned famous novelist, Mari Gotwick.

I found the 1974 timeline much more compelling than the present day one. I found Mari’s character fascinating as she struggled to write her first novel, grieved the loss of her child and navigated her complex relationships with her boyfriend and stepsister. I also really wish that the horror book Mari writes while at the villa actually exists because it sounds so good!

The tensions that Hawkins wrote between Emily and Chess in the present timeline perfectly mirrored the tensions between Mari and Lara. This is definitely a book about toxic relationships.

Some other early reviewers didn’t love the ending, but I actually really liked it. It’s not a shocking twist but it flipped some of the narrative on its head and I loved that.

THE VILLA is out 1/3/23!

Cw: death of an infant (off page), suicide (off page), drug use

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4804703456
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmPHwh2p3S7/

As a fan of Rachel Hawkins, when I saw The Villa was coming out - this was a no brainer for me. I had to get my hands on this book..... and I'm *so* glad I did. I loved The Villa.

Told from a dual timeline (which was done well) we follow Chess and Em as they take a summer retreat to a Villa. But this Villa isn't an ordinary Villa, there is a murder that took place there. As Em starts to dig in, she starts to realize things may not be as they seem.

This book sucked me in and while there wasn't a lot of likeable characters, I found I couldn't put this down. And the twist at the end was unexpected.

Thanks, Netgalley for this ARC!

I appreciate the complimentary e-arc but this story was just not for me! I could not finish it. It did not keep my attention. I typically like a dual time line in a suspense but this just didn’t do it for me.

The Villa is another intriguing story with a gorgeous cover from Rachel Hawkins. The Villa sucked me in quickly - I couldn’t wait to be absorbed by the atmosphere: a gothic suspense set in an Italian villa with a dark, sordid history. Emily and Chess have their own dark, sordid history but they still set out on a girls trip to Italy together. They’re staying at the infamous Villa Aestas, the place where famous rock legend Noel Gordon stayed during the summer of 1974 with up and coming musician Piece, Pierce’s girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister Lara. What comes out of their stay is Pierce’s brutal murder and some of the best art of all time. In present day Emily works hard to uncover the truth of what happened here in 1974 - but while she is pursuing that she has issues of her own to manage with Chess. Will they fall victim to the deadly legacy of Villa Aestas, or will they get out alive?

Overall, I loved the concept and the atmosphere of this novel - no one creates an environment quite like Rachel Hawkins. That being said, the revelations and ending missed for me - I felt like it was a bit obvious and I wanted more. I really enjoyed the characters and so I would recommend this read - I think many readers will enjoy it and be pleased with the choices the author made at the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC - The Villa will be out 1/3/23!