The Villa by Rachel Hawkins is a wonderful mystery read!

Emily and Chess have been beat friends for years, they are both writers although one writes mystery, thrillers and the other writes self help.

Emily has recently gone through a divorce and Chess has hit a slump in her writing so she decides to rent a villa in Italy that has its own murder mystery tied to it.

This book journeys between current time and the era when Mari and her sister and friends were there. Emily wants to relax and write her current book and then she finds a journal from the Time Mari and her friends were there and she learns even more detail about the murder that happened at the house.

The lessons learned by both sets of people, contemporary and the earlier time seem to line up in some pretty big coincidences but you don’t really see what’s happening until it smacks you in the face.

I really enjoyed this book and recommend it!!

Emily has had a rough few months: divorce, writers block, and unexplained illness. So when her oldest friend Chess (formerly known as Jessica) who is now a well known self-help guru, says they need to go on vacation to Villa Aestas in Italy together, Emily doesn’t really see any reason to say no. Hoping a change of scenery will stop her writers block, she becomes engulfed in the idea that a murder that occurred in the villa in the 1970s hasn’t been portrayed truthfully. Will she reveal the secrets of the Villa? Or will the Villa reveal the secrets about her and Chess?

"The House Remembers". The house in question is a beautiful villa in Orvieto, Italy. A dramatic backdrop for what could have been a moody, suspenseful thriller/mystery. Instead I found the story more of a psychological study of 4 women separated in time by decades.
The story follows two time lines 1974-where we meet sisters Lara and Mari. Sex drugs, rock & roll and love drive this plot line. Mari and Lara are in love with the same man...much drama ensues and a murder is added to the mix.
Moving forward to the present day we find two women authors who are also "best" friends. Traumatic events
find the 2 at the Villa for a six week vacation; Once again, a man is the catalyst to this plot line and these long time friends find themselves at questioning their friendship and their future. . All I can say is that "with friends like this who needs enemies".
There are plenty of twists and turns but I was disappointed that given the wonderful setting. the story had little atmosphere, suspense or mood..

After reading the last two novels by Rachel Hawkins, I thought I knew what to expect from The Villa. That is, a spunky female narrator, lots of bad language, and doing whatever it takes to survive. The Villa, however, took me completely by surprise.

One location, two storylines, decades apart. Amidst a contentious divorce, Emily travels to Italy with her longtime best friend to write the (long overdue) next installment of her mystery series. Her attention while there, however, continues to drift to a different topic: the infamous events of summer 1974 involving a murder at the same villa in which she is currently vacationing. Back then, Mari was staying in Italy with her musician boyfriend, her stepsister, a rock star, and a drug dealer. Great works of music and fiction came out of that summer, but little is known about what actually took place there.

I loved the dual storyline format, especially when it included song lyrics, articles, and book excerpts. I typically don’t love fictional rock star storylines as I find them unoriginal, but Hawkins writes in a manner that is neither cheesy nor stereotypical. Her focus on the relationships and inner thoughts of her female protagonists swept me up and stressed me out, worrying about what’s going to happen to them. And Hawkins included plenty of surprises along the way.

I have to mention a major trigger warning for me. One of the main characters is grieving the death of her infant, with many references and flashes back to the illness that ultimately led to him passing away. As a parent, there were portions of the book that were difficult to read and times I chose to take a break from reading, but I am glad I stuck it out because it didn’t really detract from the overall story.

I have really really enjoyed Rachel Hawkins prior books but this one wasn't one of my favorites. I found the story line super slow and had a hard time getting into the story. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This is my second book by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed both. 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This story is set at a charming villa in Italy. When Chess asks Emily to go on vacation and mentions the villa, Emily realizes that it is the same villa where a murder happened in the 70's. “Houses remember.” “The Villa” combines two different stories, two different timelines. I was equally intrigued by both. The villa still holds secrets and Emily is determined to find them. This was different and original and I would definitely recommend.

I can't wait to read another Rachel Hawkins book!

A big thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

I first want to say thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

Gosh...I really thought this was going to blow me away. I had heard amazing things about Rachel Hawkins' previous novels so when I saw this I was thrilled and couldn't wait to BE thrilled. I was NOT thrilled.

Lets start with the most obvious thing about this novel. THE COVER. It's stunning, but unfortunately what's on the outside doesn't match up with what's on the inside.

The first 3/4's of this story had me invested and interested, but when that plot "twist" showed up, it totally lost me. It was obvious and cliché and totally un-original. I'll help you out; the bestie slept with the main character's husband and they both hate him so they lure him ALL the way to Italy to kill him. SO ORGINAL.

This story is told from 2 different perspectives from 2 different time periods. Emily (an author of cozy murder mysteries) in the present and Mari (author of one of the scariest fictional horror novels ever written) in the 70's. Emily has writers block while trying to write her next book and finds inspiration from Mari's novel, 'Lilith Rising', that was written during her summer at the same villa Emily is staying in. The author tried to create a correlation between the two women, but other than the fact that they're writers, they were nothing alike and their life experiences were in no way similar. So the kinship Emily claims she feels with Mari just doesn't make any logical sense.

Mari "supposedly" kills off her partner Pierce, and blames it all on a man named Johnny who is staying in the villa with them. In the present, Emily is reading Mari's novel and comes across journal entries from Mari where she wrote down and confessed to the murder of Pierce Sheldon. It's with this confession Mary and her best friend Chess decide to off Emily's ex. But, the REAL doozy in this story is that we learn near the end of the book that Mari LIED in her journal entries saying she did it because the fact that it really WAS Johnny (he and Pierce got into a fight resulting in Pierce's death) wasn't very interesting and so senseless that if she HAD been the one to do it, it would have made it more dramatic. HUH?!

Are you confused? Me too. Does it sound silly and convoluted? Yep, sure does. I'm not sure where this idea came from but it really wasn't a good one.

This is beautifully written. Hawkins really understands the way humans interact with one another, and really gets human motivation - she just /gets/ her characters, which immediately makes this one of the better books I've read this year. I don't think this is too shocking or suspenseful, but there are some twists and reveals that I wasn't expecting - so not perfect, but not sooooo expected that it becomes boring.

Emily and Chess, 30-something best friends, decide to take a summer vacation away from everything and escape to Villa Aestas in Italy. Emily is in the process of getting a divorce from a toxic husband and also needs to meet a looming deadline from her publisher for the next book in her cozy mystery series. Chess is working on her next book, full of positive vibes, 'you can do its,' and self-help. Both of them are a little unhappy, but the trip to the Villa is sure to brighten up their outlook on life and their current situations.

Flashback to 1974, where the Villa was the location of a scandal. Up-and-coming musician Pierce, along with his girlfriend Mari and her step-sister Lara all join famous musician Noel for a summer free of inhibitions but full of inspiration. Things take a turn, though, when one of them is murdered.

So what really happened that night? And what secrets can be found when Emily and Chess start digging around, not just into the past lives of famous people and their murder house, but each others' lives as well?

What I enjoyed:
- The writing overall was well done from a literary standpoint (though, that being said, I am the type of reader that prefers more plot than what was given here).
- There was a decent enough amount of suspense to keep me reading initially (which sort of petered out a little before halfway through), and the suspense did come back towards the very end with a few things being revealed.
- I did appreciate that the storyline was inspired by a mix 70s music and real events (the Manson Murders & Percy and Mary Shelley's summer with Lord Byron).
- Some of the reveals and discoveries were enjoyable to learn about and helped spur on some of the plot, which made everything feel like it got more fast-paced (thank goodness!).

What I didn't enjoy:
- This one slogged a bit. Once I got to 40%, I remember thinking, "Gosh, I'm already 40% in and feel like hardly anything has really happened." Sure, there was a bit of scratching like "surely we're leading up to something happening ... I feel like I can feel it coming" ... and then I continued to wait and wait. At that point, I was setting down the book and it just wasn't drawing me back to it. I was on the verge of DNF'ing but decided to stick to it and finish it out. But things only really started rolling and feeling more suspenseful at the 75% mark, and even then, the results of that were a bit lackluster and deflating.
- The characters weren't generally likeable, and that could have been done on purpose but I didn't really feel connected to the main POV characters and really didn't have an opinion one way or the other if things went well for them or not.
- I was hoping for some good twists that would make the slowness and the not-super-likeable characters all worth it, but the twists that happened just left me saying, "Oh. That's it?" Hawkins dropped in one, what I think was inteneded to be, "large" twist at the very end, but it didn't seem to really land with what I think was the intended effect.
- The dual timelines and their characters are very similar to one another (by design) - a bit mirrored - but there were times when the switching back and forth did get confusing especially more in the beginning with keeping the characters all straight in your mind.

Overall:
I was hopeful that this would be a solid mystery/suspense novel but it fell a bit short for me. I do have to hand it to the author for the writing because it was well crafted, but as a reader, I need more plot to help keep the pace up, and I wanted larger, more impactful twists that would leave me with eyes wide and my hand over my jaw-dropped mouth. Because it was well-written and clearly well thought out, I'm handing it a 4 of 5 stars (rounding up what feels more like a 3.5 to me). I do think there is an audience of readers that will enjoy this immensely, but I'll be considerate of recommending this book to those who don't necessarily need big twists to enjoy a storyline and who also don't mind heavier character-driven novels.

A thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the e-ARC! This one publishes January 3, 2023!

Absolutely twisted and unforgettable. I kept waiting for some crazy twist and thought I finally knew what it was but again I was floored. I love the back and forth between current and past and the insight into the house that seems to hold everyone's secrets. A complete page turner that you won't want to end.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC of this title! Before reading this book, I'd read The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls, and I enjoyed it just as much as RG, and more than TWU. Best friends Chess and Emily embark on a girls trip to focus on their respective writing projects, and recently-divorced Emily hopes it will rejuvenate their friendship. However, she notices more and more red flags as the trip goes on, and can't help but be suspicious of Chess. Concurrently, we read Mari's story, set in 1974 in the same Villa. Mari travels to the Villa with her musician boyfriend, Pierce, and the home sees a summer of scandal - sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. How will the old and new come together, and is history bound to repeat itself?

The Villa takes place in Italy and gives you all the summer vacation feels - a beautiful, you guessed it, villa in the Italian countryside, warm weather, and plenty of food and drinks to go around. I loved the atmospheric feel of the book in both timelines; Hawkins really transports you to her settings! The story kept me guessing with each layer that was unveiled between both POVs, and there were several twists that I didn't see coming. The ending left some questions unanswered, and lots for the reader to think about! Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and am so grateful I had the chance to do so early!

Houses remember.

“The Villa” combines everything I love about a good book: true crime, horror, mystery, toxic friendship, and phenomenal storytelling. I was blown away by how deftly Rachel Hawkins combines all of these elements.

I enjoyed reading Emily and Chess’s story, Mari’s story, the news articles, and the excerpts from “Lilith Rising” - the author weaves a tale that keeps you guessing throughout. The ending was not what I expected, in all of the best ways. There is also an amazing cast of characters - everyone had a story to tell. This book is fast-paced and hard to put down. It releases on January 3, 2023. It is an incredible read, and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital advanced readers copy of this terrific book!

Two friends reunite after their lives have gone separate ways. Chess has become a successful self-help writer and Emily is busy writing cozy mysteries but currently has a writer's block and a divorce on her mind. Chess invites Emily to Italy to stay at a villa that was a site of a murder in the 1970's. The reader should think sex, drugs, rock and roll and death. The Villa holds the secrets to the past and soon the two women, Em and Chess, find themselves wrapped in the past as their future evolves. Em is the primary voice of the novel. She finds herself easily manipulated by Chess. I found myself not liking Chess very much! The author alternates telling the story between the past of the 70's and the present. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC and also to St. Martin's Press. This is a fast read.

The Villa is a story told in two time periods, which I love. It was intriguing and made me want to keep reading. However, there was one scene that definitely turned me off from recommending the book to others. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

📖: The Villa
✍🏼: Rachel Hawkins
💁🏻‍♀️: ⭐️⭐️ // 5
🗓: January 3, 2023

🤔💭: First off, thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me an eARC and I am voluntarily leaving my review. So after really enjoying Hawkin’s book, The Wife Upstairs, I definitely wanted to check this one out, and I know this may be an unpopular opinion from those who read this already, but I was just disappointed in this book. 😩 For me, it was just slow and I was really having a hard time getting into it. The premise sounded really intriguing, but it didn’t really give me the thriller vibes I was looking for. I wouldn’t discourage others from checking this one out because others seemed to really enjoy it, but this one just wasn’t for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️ (Swipe ▶️ to see book description)

I’m really confused on what I just read. I was super excited for this book but what a letdown. Nothing was interesting to me about until about 70% in. I really enjoyed The Wife Upstairs but this one just was not for me.

I really liked this book and read it in one sitting, late into the night. The story centers on 2 protagonists, Emily and Mari, ~ 50 years apart but staying in the same Italian villa. The chapters alternate between their 2 POVs, and Hawkins cleverly weaves the timelines together to create a cohesive story.

There was definitely mystery in this book and there was more than one twist that caught me off guard (in a good way). I didn’t really find this to be a “sex, drugs, and rock n roll” book (though there is some of that) but really just a story about these 2 girls in 2 different generations who are in toxic relationships and trying to find their way. There are some truly deplorable characters (most of them, in fact) but the author wrote them in such a real and honest way that their behaviors were almost understandable and the dynamics between them felt authentic.

Overall, I found this to be a fantastic and unique read that combined a cool mystery with deep character development. I’d definitely recommend for those who like mysteries and psychological thrillers and are looking for something a little different. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very intriguing and original story. The storyline of Mari and co. was so complex and beautifully sad. I was not too crazy about the Chess and Em storyline, though I loved the back and forth between present day and Mari’s journal entries. While none of the characters were exactly lovable, they each were honestly human.

Once I got about 50 pages in, I was HOOKED. This was a perfect summer read although not coming out until January which I find to be a bummer as a mood reader.

This book reminded me a lot of Daisy Jones and the Six but with a murder mystery and a whole lot more sex, drugs, and rock n roll.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I knew I needed to read this book when I saw this book was kind of murder/mystery and about rockstars in the 70s. I would say for the most part I did enjoy this book- I go back and forth between giving it 3.5 stars to 4 stars.

The point of views from the book change between 1974 and present day which I enjoyed and was very easy to follow. The characters were all great and well developed but I absolutely hated Chess. Once you read this I’m sure you will find out why and dislike her as well. I’m typically not a fan of books that have a decent amount of characters and to keep track or remember them all but Rachel Hawkins did a great job with them in this book.


Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of this book. Pub date is Jan 3, 2023

Thank you, NetGalley!

I will say this book started off slow and didn’t really pull me in until about 65% into the book. I found Em to be likable, but Chess to be intolerable. She had no redeeming qualities at all and just got worse as the book kept going. The parallels between past/present were an interesting connection and a twist I haven’t really read before.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4849694382