This is my first read from this author, although I've had my eyes on some of her works. I'll be pushing those up my TBR now.

This was certainly an enjoyable, fast read for me. I think dueling timelines and POVs always capture me right from the start. I just have to know how the stories combine. This story bounces between 1974 with Mari and a group of friends and present day with Emily and Chess.

Emily and Chess are best friends since childhood, who read like they have a slightly toxic and competing friendship. The secret Chess holds is rather easy to guess until the reveal of it. Then it's not quite how it seemed when you figured it out earlier on.

With the story addition of Mari and her group of friends, you get quite another peak into a group of friends that are kind of toxic together as well. Or so it seems. I was pleasantly surprised by the twist towards the end of this one.

I think the ending went as well as to be expected with what they all go through in their separate timelines. And it was satisfying. You reap what you sow.

Bestselling Author Rachel Hawkins returns following Reckless Girls with her latest, THE VILLA —a Gothic-inspired cozy mystery where the past and present collide when two friends spend a summer in an Italian villa with a tormented and haunting history.

PRESENT: Friends, Emily and Chess (best friends) since childhood, decide to rent an Italian villa for the summer. It is a luxury villa but is also famous for the scene of a murder in the 1970s. Chess recommends it and pays for the trip. She became famous for her self-help books and her IG posts.

Emily and Chess were BFFs until Emily married Matt. Emily writes cozy YA mysteries, and Chess moved to the big city and writes self-help books (non-fiction).

PAST: Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday luxury retreat; however, back in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato. It was rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. To reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. There was also Johnnie the dealer and plenty of sex, drugs, and rock n roll.

Things got out of hand. Some died. Someone was sent to prison. A young woman writer finds inspiration for her horror work, a husband, and a famous aristocrat who pulled them there. Also, some ghostly stories.

Emily digs into the complex history and thinks there might have been something more to the story. Did they leave clues of something more sinister? Emily is trying to get away from her husband (lots of drama with her impending divorce) and has an illness that is worse with stress and deadlines.

Chess always wants to write together. The trip was for six weeks so they could finish their novels. But can Emily trust Chess? A betrayal.

Will the villa claim yet another victim in the present?

Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, the usage of podcasts, newspaper clippings, and the atmospheric past/setting added to the intrigue and some surprises, even though I was expecting something more sinister and shocking.

Atmospheric, an evil, wicked ending, and a cozy mystery with a Gothic flair and a "house that remembers."

AUDIOBOOK: I loved the front cover and thoroughly enjoyed the e-book and especially the audiobook, which was highly engaging and entertaining with narrators (love Julia Whelan) and the other two, Kimberly M. Wetherell and Shiromi Arserio, for a wide range of voices for the characters, both past, and present.

I also enjoyed her other two previous books. For fans of authors Lucy Foley, Carol Goodman, and Ruth Ware.

Thank you to #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers #Netgalley for a gifted ALC and ARC.

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www.JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Jan 3, 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars
Jan 2023 Must-Read Books

I liked this one a lot and really enjoyed the format of past and present and thoroughly enjoyed this audio. The narrators matched the characters perfectly! I was torn with both liking Ches and despising her. Satisfying ending!
four star for story but five star narration

I could not put this book down! It grabbed me from page 1, and I couldn't stop reading til I finished it, which is why it only took me 2 days to get through!

I really enjoyed the dual story-lines, and being able to get pieces of the past as well as the present. Although I do wish certain aspects were explored more and given a better explaination, such as Em's mysterious illness, and a certain "drowning", overall this was an incredibly atmospheric and fast paced read that kept me guessing about what really happened all those years ago til the very end.

I think the narration really helped bring this story to life in a way that just reading it might not have. That's not to say I don't think the book would be just as good if I hadn't listened to it, I just think the narrator's really added to the experience of the story.

This was another great inspired hit from Rachel Hawkins, and I really can't wait to see what she writes next!

Although Rachel Hawkins' writing is excellent, The Villa was not for me. Honestly, I love sex drugs and rock and roll but this book missed the mark.
Reading a story within a story is hard and in this book, it just didn't work. The characters were believable but again, I didn't really care for them enough to enjoy the story.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the audio ARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the change to listen and review this advanced listeners copy of The Villa. This book was… unexpected. As in it was not anything like I thought it would be. I enjoyed the dual narration- Mari in 1974 and Emily present day and how their stories intersected. It was definitely a slow burn, which isn’t usually a problem but I found the ending rather.. anticlimactic. I also really didn’t like Chess, and while I believe this was intentional, it made the ending that much less enjoyable. I enjoyed the setting and this made me wish I could spend my summer in an Italian Villa. I also wish Lilith Rising was a real book because it sounds thrilling. I enjoyed the mixed media telling of the stories and the added podcasts which made the story flow. I also think the narrators did an excellent job.

Rachel Hawkins is becoming more mediocre for me. I wasn't surprised by her plot twists and hated how one of was so easily resolved. I'll still read her but I'm going to need to be impressed next time.

This was my first time reading Rachel Hawkins, and I was not disappointed! The audio book for this book was INCREDIBLE, I honestly recommend reading it this way because it really brings the story to life.

This book follows two different stories, focusing on the women, switching between two different time periods, and different characters but both stories happening at the same villa in Italy. The first story is about childhood friends Emily and Chess who take a girls trip to the villa, the second focuses on Mari and her time in the villa with boyfriend Pierce, sister Laura, and rockstar Noel Gordon. Each story containing toxic relationships, a lot of drama, many secrets, and twists and turns.

The inspiration for this book is said to be Fleetwood Mac and the Manson murders and I definitely get that from it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn't stop listening to it. I'm not sure if I would've rated it the same if I had physically read it, but this is a 5 star audiobook!

Set in dual perspective and dual timeline, both surrounding their own trials and tribulations. a story within a story, similar character plots, but in different happenstances. We read along as the story unfurls slowly, each page giving more detail, more insight. Some storyline is predictable, but that seems intentional. Some of the storyline twists, but not in a jarring way that leaves you shocked to your core…it’s more the kind that makes you sit back and go, “who would thought"

BOOK REVIEW!!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

Thanks, NetGalley, for the advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed the audiobook of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins. This is a story within a story within a story, as confusing as that sounds! Emily is an author of a cozy mystery series with writer’s block, and has just separated from her husband. She joins longtime best friend Chess for a summer at an Italian villa. But this villa has a history - it was the scene of an infamous murder in the 1970’s.

Emily’s story is intertwined with the story of what really happened that fateful summer in the 70’s. Mari and her stepsister, Lara, spent the summer with Pierce, Johnny and Noel, all musicians at various levels of fame. Mari is a writer and Lara is a singer and plays guitar. Both go on to pursue their talents - Mari is an author of a bestseller, and Lara has a chart-topping album.

Secrets, secrets and more secrets, both with Mari and Lara’s story and with the story of Em and Chess. When the secrets come to light, things swirl out of control. What really happened then and what’s really happening now? It’s murky and twisty and dark. Is it something about the villa that leads to death? As the last line of the book says, “Houses remember.”

The audiobook is great, with an ensemble cast, which really helps the listener keep track of whose story is being told. I really liked the audiobook - it brought the story to life. I listened to this over the course of about two days because I just couldn’t stop listening any chance I got! It really drew me in.

Overall, this was a great read/listen. I liked the layers upon layers of the story and the detail that led you to question what truly happened and what is reality. I have read books by this author in the past that I loved so I had high hopes for this book. It didn’t disappoint!

This was an unputdownable thriller for me. Past and present timelines, sex drugs & rock and roll, Fleetwood Mac vibes, Manson murder inspo, and a gothic Italian setting made this an enticing story that hooked me from the start.

We have Emily and Chess. They are both writers, and to cheer Emily up due to her impending divorce Chess whisks her away to an Italian Villa. The intent is to drink, have fun in the sun, reconnect since their friendship has been on the rocks, and to also get some writing done for their books. However, the Villa has a dark history.

What’s the dark history? Well, that’s the past timeline told via diary entries. There’s Mari, Lara, Pierce, Noel, and Johnny. Mari and Lara are step sisters, Pierce is Lara’s boyfriend, Noel is an international rock star, and Johnny is Noel’s friend. They stay together as a group at the Villa in 1974, but their time there ends with a brutal murder.

Chess and Emily have their secrets and conflict, and so does the group from 1974. This book was gripping from the very first page with gorgeous scenery, while also having a sinister undertone. The characters were largely unlikeable, but that didn’t ruin the story for me. This was a fast paced story that I couldn’t get enough of.

I can’t rate this 5 stars simply because the ending took a huge turn and I am not sure if I loved the twist. I felt like there was a lot of ambiguity with Emily’s story, and I feel like I was left with too many questions, and too many of the “answers” felt flimsy.

Aside from those complaints, one of the narrators for the audiobook is the fabulous Julia Whelan. You can never go wrong when she narrates a book!

🗓️ This book is being published in January 3, 2023 so mark your calendars because this is going to be another thriller best seller that you’re going to want to get your hands on!

Thank you so much NetGalley, Rachel Hawkins, and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC, and MacMillan audio for the advanced listener copy of this book.

This is my third Rachel Hawkins book, and, just like the others, it held my attention in true thriller fashion. The setting and the history behind the villa was captivating, and the story kept me guessing, but ultimately I found both main characters to be pretty unlikable. Chess's affair with Emily's husband was predictable, but I still hoped I didn't guess correctly. It was an entertaining read but not one that really made a big impression on me.

Houses remember... Villa Rosato is the perfect jewel waiting for another person and their story.

Past - In the summer of 1974, a group of five comes to Villa Rosato for a fun summer holiday. By the end of the summer, two members of the group are dead, and two others become worldwide famous. However, the days the group has spent in the villa under the Italian sun remain a mystery.

Present - Emily, a murder mystery writer, receives an invitation from her childhood friend and famous self-help author Chess to join her for a summer holiday in the Italian Villa Aestas. After a year of a pure personal nightmare, Emily finds a hard time returning to her writing. While looking for inspiration, she discovers a diary of the woman that stayed in the house in the summer of 1974.

I've been a fan of Rachel Hawkins for a few years, and the author never fails to lure me into a spider web of her phenomenal thrillers. Although, The Villa is less suspenseful than her previous novels, nevertheless, I found it fascinating. Great characters and a setting that adds a dark mysterious vibe to the novel. The dual timeline and the tragic stories of the two heroines kept me captivated from the very first pages. Overall, it is a great read, with an unexpected twist at the very end.

THE VILLA by Rachel Hawkins is a thriller about two best friend authors with a bit of a rivalry. One friend has made it big while the other is struggling to write, has just divorced and is generally not feeling great about her position in life. The two go to Italy and rent a villa for the summer where they intend to write and forget about the rest of the world. Soon both become obsessed with the haunted past of the villa and things start to get dire from there.

I liked the concept of this book, absolutely love this gorgeous cover and thought the book had a good pace. It did keep me wanting to know more but I have a big complaint about this book and I find this is true of too many thrillers, but I did not find the relationship between the two characters to be all that plausible or relatable.

I get it that as we get older we grow apart from old friends and our values or life goals can change, etc. But there was tension between these two characters from the beginning and the idea that they would want to spend a whole summer in Italy together when they did not really trust (or barely even like) each other seems far fetched for me. I love to travel but I choose my travel partners wisely and certainly would not want to be alone in a foreign country with someone who I wasn't sure what the score was between us.

The lack of trust is a theme throughout and I also think that there are too many portrayals of adult female friendships like this that just perpetuate this idea that women always have to compete with each other. Maybe it is just me but is anyone else tired of this?

Anyway, this was my first Rachel Hawkins book and while I thought the writer did a good job of creating an intriguing story and atmosphere I just could not get into these characters and their surface level relationship.

Have you read any Rachel Hawkins? If so, which is your favorite?

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the audio ARC. This title is out in January 2023.

1974- A holiday at Villa Rosato rented by rock star, Noel Gordan for the summer and joined by up-and-coming musician Pierce Sheldon, Pierce’s girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister Lara. Tensions run high after a chain of events leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album, and Pierce being murdered.

Present- Emily and Chess are friends who go on a girl’s trip to Italy. As Emily digs into the complicated past of the villa, she believes there is more to the story. She is also inspired by the events to begin writing her own book outside a genre she is used to writing.

My Thoughts:
It took me a hot minute to finally get into the story, but once I did wow! It was full of twists and turns. I thought it was great how Rachel made this story nonlinear with the shifting timelines. Going back and forth between Mari (1974) and Emily (present) was a fun way to tell the story. Not only is it nonlinear, it is also a book about a book and other writers.

I felt like The Villa focuses on trial, tribulations, and relationships. The relationship part is key to why I did not like Emily’s “best friend” Chess. Not a fan at all. Also Emily’s ex-husband, Matt, is a SCRUB! Not a fan of his either. Emily was surrounded by crappy people and she deserved better.

I listened to the audiobook, and I thought the narrator did a fabulous job of bringing the story to life. Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillian audio for giving me a copy of the audiobook early in exchange for an honest review.

When two women, Chess and Emily, decide to take a summer vacation in Italy, drama unfold in their own lives that also connects them with a drama that has happened in the past. The Villa is witness to a infamous murder, and while the women are there, they are inspired to write about the past stories of the place.

Initially, I struggled to follow the multiple storylines within the book. (This could be because I had the audio version, and not a hard copy to refer to.) However, as the story continued and drama unfolded, I gained excitement and had a hard time putting the book (or my headphones) down.

By the end, I found myself wanting more. I wanted Emily to become a more powerful person. I wanted more twists within the plot line. I wanted to ending to feel more satisfying. Overall, I enjoyed the story and very much enjoyed the narrator, but I do not consider it the highest of my list of thriller/drama novels.

Another creepy dark twisted tale by this truly wonderful and prolific author. Emily and Chess have been friends forever, but are they? Emily is recovering from an unexplained illness and a divorce from her cheating horrible ex. She is an author who, though she has a successful series and her publisher is awaiting the next installment is bored and has zero motivation to revisit the series and desperately wants to try something new. Chess is riding the wave of celebrity having written some self help books, but she is over it and wants Emily, the more talented of the two, to partner up with her (or do all the work) as they’d planned long ago so she hatches a plan that draws Emily in. Chess is very full of herself and will use and exploit any and everyone to get what she wants. In other words, with friends like her who needs enemies? When Chess calls Emily goes running as who would turn down a free trip to ITALY? Maybe a trip to Italy will help to inspire her or maybe it will reveal who Chess really is and the despicable lengths she will go to to get what she wants. The plot is interesting, back and forth of weaving the dark history of the villa they’re staying in with current times is well crafted. I finished listening, but it wasn’t my favorite by this author. From the introduction of Chess you know she’s a narcissistic sociopath so the friendship/relationship between the women didn’t ever ring true to me so it was hard to finish, but still look forward to what comes next from this author.

This is a must read! Both stories are equally enticing, first I was very into the present time. I wanted Emily to make sure her ex would not take advantage of her and I never knew if Chess was trustworthy....but then, I got lost on Mari's drama with Pierce and everything going on at the Villa in the past.

Cleverly written, it throws your suspicious out the window, it's like Rachel Hawkins lead us to develop some suspicions and then, told us how wrong we are! I love how both stories are intertwined.

The narrators were amazing!

Thank you so much to Rachel Hawkins, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this awesome ARC!!

The Villa is not very thriller-ly, I would even say it's more literary fiction than a thriller, but it really shone in the ways that mattered more to me. While a bit slow, not much happens, it's still enthralling, with very astute commentary on the true crime industry, women's stories and traumas and friendship. While I do wish it've delved deeper into the suspense aspect of the story, I still really enjoyed this.

"Reckless Girls" and "The Wife Upstairs" were five-star reviews for me. I knew I would love anything written by Rachel Hawkins.
I loved the dynamic between Emily and Chess. Two strong female characters fight for what they want. I highly recommend this book.
The reviews were right when they said fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley would love this book.