Take the story of Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, set it in the 70s with very Daisy Jones & The Six vibes, and throw in a modern-day plot involving toxic friendships and men being trash, and you have The Villa. Sounds like it shouldn’t work but it really, really does. A fantastic summer read: 4.5 stars rounded up to 5

FROM THE COVER📖

As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable, but their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is breath-taking, but it has a dark past: in 1974 it was rented by a notorious rockstar, who was joined by up-and-coming musician Pierce Sheldon and his girlfriend, Mari. By the end of the holiday Pierce is dead, and Mari goes on to write one of the greatest horror novels of all time.

As Emily digs into the villa's history, she begins to think that Pierce's murder wasn't just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but something more sinister - and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari left behind.

Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge - and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.

REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I had to request this Arc when I saw it being compared to “The White Lotus”, “Daisy Jones and The Six” and the author Alice Feeney I was not disappointed it was all they things rolled into one with a gothic edge and tantalising wickedly whip smart twist.

Told in a dual timeline we hear from Emily in the present day in the first POV and from Mari in the 1970’s in the third POV. Both woman are writers with love hate relationships with their best friends. They’re behind what is a twisted love hate story between two friends with deadly intent. The author flawlessly moves between the timelines creating an eerie feeling in both. It well written and clever the dynamics of the women in both timelines interesting and compelling they keep you guessing right to the end. The author really captures what female friendships can be like…Queens lift Queens but sometimes Queens want to be Queen Bee.

There is real Daisy Jones And The Six vibe to the 1970’s sections and with the addition of snippets from interviews, press cutting and podcasts the book is taken from what would be a good domestic thriller to something a bit more special.

Loved the Italian setting it was described beautifully.

This is thrilling quick to read book that is perfect for holidays and would make a great choice for a book club loads of discussion points. I read most of this over late night and finished it the morning I was intrigued by the full premise it was a fresh take on old classic, well done to the writer it’s rare for me to be really hooked in a thriller these days and I was very much hooked with this.

Emily and Chess were inseparable as children but after college they have taken their own paths. Now Chess is a famous self help guru and Emily is recovering from a mysterious illness and a bad divorce. However, wanting to reconnect they decide to travel to Italy for 6 weeks. The Villa is set in a picturesque town but was the site of a vicious murder. As the past and present collides is it true that houses do remember and if so who will be next.

I really enjoyed this novel; the multiple time lines and perspectives was really engaging and as past and present collided I was on the edge of my seat. A fast paced and enthralling thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

A slow burn thriller with dual timelines.
Emily writes cosy mysteries and her best friend Chess is also a writer and a famous self help guru.
When Chess suggests they go to Italy for a break at the Villa Aestas it seems like the ideal time for Emily to concentrate on her writing
The Villa is where a murder of a famous rock star occurred
The second timeline is set in the 1970’s where rockstar Noel Gordon invites musician pierce and his girlfriend Mari to the villa where Mari writes the greatest horror novel of all time
I enjoyed this atmospheric novel which is inspired by Mary Shelley’s writing of Frankenstein, there is gothic vibes as well as murder, mystery and music
I loved the fact this is all about writing in different forms, the whole book comes together so well as well as both timelines being interesting
A great read

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an arc in exchange for my honest review

Spanning two different timelines this book gives you a murder mystery in a mystery.

As Emily’s health fails, she and her best friend Chess go on a girls vacation to Italy and there Emily tries to work out the previous occupants demise.

I found this book disappointing, Emily and Chess did not read as best friend’s and things felt stilted. I couldn’t get past it.

"Not a love story at all. Or yes, a love story, but there's horror inside of it. There's death and loss, blood and sweat. Just as there is in every love story, after all."

Rachel Hawkins is a master of suspense - and The Villa is no exception. An indulgently dark, twisty and intricately complex story that engulfs the reader in a chilling gothic thriller but set against an unsuspecting contemporary backdrop. We find ourselves arriving in in a beautiful summer in Italy, only to end up dropped into a world of betrayal, isolation, mysterious deaths and missing clues.

The story moves slowly, taking time to set the scene and leave us thinking about what's lurking on the next page with bated breath. And underneath the cinematic, high-stakes mystery is a story about friendship, love and sisterhood that was both delicate and devilish. They explore the grey areas between love and hate, admiration and envy, obsession and love. The storytelling throughout is quiet, calm - and that makes it feel even more sinister. There isn't explosions and shock reveals, just creeping and lurking evils waiting to be revealed.

Emily was a complex narrator - a little distant and matter-of-fact. But her thoughts, the way she saw the world intrigued me. She was a woman on the edge; she'd had enough of a toxic ex-husband, of her failing health, of her own insecurities and a best friend who doesn't seem to understand. Her relationship with Chess was a vivid portrait of a lifelong love - a lasting friendship, but one that over the years has been tainted with jealousy and resentment.

Our misguided summer vacation moves onwards, only broken by fragments of the past from diaries, manuscripts, media snippets - almost making us see the ghosts of the people who'd been in the Villa before and building up a complicated network of people, lies, and death that spans decades and continents.

On the surface, our main characters feel oddly familiar - almost generic castings in your average thriller; and I adore how Hawkins sets up these characters and then develops and changes them, adding layers and layers to them as we get to know them and then do it all over again. These layers keep adding up, leaving us fully in the dark about how far people really will go.

I am a sucker for books about books, so seeing a mystery novelist like Emily find herself in her very own murder mystery was deliciously twisted and morbidly entertaining as reality and fiction blurs and conjoins. A disturbingly dark story about obsession and possession that absolutely demands to be read in one sitting.

This book kept me guessing till the end. I really liked the change in timelines and the two stories interchanging. I thought the twist at the end was great and I didn’t see it coming.

Thank you to the publisher and Net galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The villa is told from the perspective of two women, one in the present day by writer Emily whom is struggling with her health and is in the middle of a messy divorce when her best friend Chess, also a writer invites her to an all expenses paid stay at the idyllic VIlla Aestas in Orvieto, Italy where Emily can work on her overdue cozy mystery novel and 1974 by Mari Godwick who spends the summer at the VIlla Rosato as it was known back then with her musician boyfriend Pierce Sheldon her step sister Lara Larchmont and famous singer Noel Gordon and his friend Johnnie.Dorchester.

The events of summer 1974 sees one of the group of bohemians brutally murdered, one in prison for the crime, a platinum album called Aestas written by Lara Larchmont and Mari Godwick is inspired to write a bestselling horror novel called .Lilith Rising’.

During her stay at the Villa Emily finds an old copy of Lilith rising and begins to see connections to the Villa and the events of that summer of 1974 which may take her on a journey to reveal what really happened all those years ago.

I found that the first half of the book a bit slow as it was setting the scene but the second half of the book really picked up pace and I could not put it down, good twists and turns, very well written, this was my first Rachel Hawkins novel and certainly won’t be my last.
‘

In the present day, Emily, a writer of cosy crime novels is trying to motivate herself to write after an illness and a marriage break up. Her old school friend Chess, now a best selling author of self help books and a social influencer suggests that they stay in a villa in Italy for the summer. Villa Aestas was the scene of a murder in 1974 when upcoming rock star Pierce is murdered. After the murder, his girlfriend Mari goes on to write a classic horror novel and her step sister Lara makes what becomes a classic folk- rock album.
The novel is told in these dual timelines , moving between Mari's story in the 1970s and Emily in the present day. I loved the concept and was intrigued to find out more about the murder and the relationships between Mari and others in the 1970s. However for me, although the 1970s aspect is interesting I never really connected to it and the characters did not feel real. I definitely enjoyed the modern day storyline more; the toxic friendship between Emily and Chess and Emily's discovery of what previously happened in the villa.
An enjoyable novel and I'd definitely read more by the author.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
3.5 stars.

Great book- so well -written. It is a gentle murder mystery full of little nuggets of brilliance. It is definitely one for book club!

I’ve been a Rachel Hawkins fan ever since I read (and loved) Hex Hall in 2010, but The Villa is my first foray into her adult writing. I really liked it and got pulled in straight away, though it’s quite difficult to pin it to any one genre. It falls into many different categories, but for the purpose of this review, I’m going to call it a thriller with gothic undertones and relationship drama that wouldn’t be out of place in a quieter Daisy Jones and the Six.

The Villa mostly takes place in a villa in Orvieto, Italy, in both 1974 (Mari’s story) and the present day (Emily and Chess’s story). It also has a story within a story, thanks to Mari writing a successful horror novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed dipping in and out of fiction and real life. The parallels with both timelines are clever, if a little easy to unravel the further you read, and the ending left me completely surprised.

Although I like both Chess and Emily, and to a point I do understand their friendship, I wonder if they would have stayed friends for as long as they have. They don’t always treat each other well, and this has obviously been going on for years. Emily knows this, but yet she still lets Chess manipulate her and call all the shots. I suppose that’s the nature of a toxic relationship, whether it be romantic or platonic, but would Emily honestly never have questioned it? I’m on the fence about that one.

The characters who inhabit Villa Aestas in 1974 (back when it’s known as Villa Rosato) are all brilliant, some visibly deeply troubled while others are hanging on by an invisible thread. There’s sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll aplenty, along with an unhealthy dose of jealousy permeating the air. What happens between them is explored really well, unfolding at a good pace without feeling out of place in contrast to the present day sections. The 1974 timeline is darker, with flecks of gothic Italy found in the dark nights and stormy weather, and I think it’s my favourite part of the whole book. It definitely has an atmosphere, and I would have been quite happy to spend more time with Mari, Pierce, Noel, Lara, and Johnny.

The Villa isn’t at all what I expected it to be, and sometimes those are the best books to get lost in. I read it with no preconceptions or expectations, and I ended up with a multi-layered story of what happens when ambition and obsession ultimately collide. It’s not always what you think, but it makes for a great suspenseful reading experience that I hope will find its rightful audience.

3.5/5.

The Villa is set in a dual timeline between 1974 - when Mari's stay at Villa Rosato with her rock star boyfriend and tempestuous half-sister ends in tragedy - and the present day, when Emily and her toxic best friend Chess stay in the same villa and work on writing their respective books. Mari is also a writer - a sort of 1970s Mary Shelley - and goes on to publish the most famous female-penned horror novel of all time. It's clues in this text, and in a series of diary entries hidden at the villa, which lead Emily to believe everything she knows about the famous death at Villa Rosato in 1974 might be completely wrong.

I thought this novel was so clever. The Emily and Chess dynamic keeps you guessing right up to the final page - and beyond. I've never read any Rachel Hawkins before, but I will be seeking out her earlier books next!

This was a pleasant surprise! My first Rachel Hawkins, and I'll definitely read another of hers if I feel like a fast-paced, easily digestible suspense novel. Because that's what this was. Lots of suspense, a bit of mystery, a bit of rockstar life, and an ode to writers and books.

The Villa is about Emily, a woman recently separated from her cheating husband who is trying to snub her out of her money made as an author in the divorce. Her best friend, Chess, also an author, suggests they spend the summer in Italy to decompress and get some writing done, in a villa that happened to also be the scene of a murder in the 70's. This story is also about Mari, who was there in the villa during that murder. Through alternating chapters we learn both of their stories—the complicated relationship between Chess and Emily, Emily's discovery of some hidden notes of Mari's about that summer, and what really happened back in the 70's.

It's a very fast paced story, possible to read in one sitting. There were elements of Daisy Jones & The Six, with a rockstar group of friends and interview/newspaper clippings all throughout, Verity, with finding a hidden manuscript that tell the true story of what happened, and The Lost Apothecary, with the dual POV of a present day woman struggling with a separation who uncovers the mystery of a woman in history.

Overall I really enjoyed it. What made me not give it five stars is that I was left a little unsatisfied by the ending. I understand what the author was doing, but personally I would have wanted it come to a more solid reveal, with all my suspicions being clearly confirmed. As it was it was left a little open-ended, but overall a fun read!

This books looks so interesting and I am so thrilled to bring int to our location. I’ve been a fan of Rachel’s work for many years and I love how this book incorporates both White Lotus and Daisy & The Six vibes as well. I’m looking for something interesting and page turning than some of the usual predictable fair and this looks so good! I can’t wait to see how the mystery unfolds and all the twists, turns, and secrets along the way! I think this woulD make a great book club pick!