Enjoyable book, one to read by the pool. Not entirely sure you would go back to where the tragedy happened and you lost a friend. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy

Three years ago a wild and raucous hen weekend ends in tragedy when bride to be Aoife is killed. Dani is still unable to recollect the events leading up to her best friends death. So three years on she gathers the hens to stay in the secluded villa again, seeking closure and hoping for her memories to return.

The Villa by Jess Ryder is a pacey thriller that makes the perfect summer read. I loved the sunny Spanish setting which contrasted perfectly with the chilly and foreboding atmosphere inside the villa.

The story is told from the POV of the four hens, with past and present timelines. I loved the characters, they are flawed and mostly unlikeable but that made for a compelling read, full of lies, jealousy and betrayal. There were some interesting twists and the ending was certainly unexpected.

Thank you to Random House UK and Cornerstone for providing me with a digital copy to read and review

The premise of this book was great. However for me, it just didn’t live up to it. Firstly, I could not warm to any of the characters. Secondly I found the book overly slow and way too long. I was waiting for the suspenseful build up with a great twist but for me, it never came. I would rate this book 2.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and the author for the chance to review.

A thrilling summer read with a questionable or unlikeable main character. Every thriller needs a villan right? It's one of those reads by the pool thats so easy to pick up. I'm excited to see what new novels will be published by this author. Hopefully they're summer thrillers in future, this was good.

Thank you to the team for an ARC review.

This was a well written book, bit atmospheric and and I read this in the time I watched a sporting blitz.
However it isn’t anything new, a book again, about a group of friends going away and one not returning.

A great story cleverly revealed by different points of view and then and now timelines. 5 women go on a Spanish hen weekend but only 4 return. Three years later the remaining four revisit Spain and try to unravel what and why the tragic event occurred. This is a page turning, just one more chapter book that will have you up late into the night.

This was an enjoyable and well written book, but didnt really add anything different to the genre of a group of friends going away and one not returning
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

This book was my first one by this author. I really liked the writing style. I thought it was a good story. Nothing to crazy but still enjoyable.

A hen party goes wrong and the bride to be died. A few years later one of the original group decides that they should all return to the scene and try to get closure. Interesting interactions between different individuals.

An enjoyable read set in two time periods, pre and post death. Who is the murderer and why. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this. A great summer thriller, where things aren’t quite what they seem.
Aoife was due to be married. Her hen do is a fabulous weekend in Marbella. A small group of friends, from both past and present, but from the outset it is clear that something is very wrong. Tension picks up and things come to a head when Aoife is killed.
Three years later the surviving hens make a trip back to Marbella. They each have their reasons for wanting to honour her memory, but for Dani it’s also about trying to work out exactly what happened.
The timeline fluctuates between past and present so as details come to the fore we come to understand the characters a little better. We are definitely steered into a particular way of seeing events, which makes the reality slightly more interesting when it is finally revealed.

This was such a fun read although very claustrophobic and unsettling. The more the story unravelled the more issues came to the fore and made it more interesting. Yes there are so many books like this right now but this one has stood out and really enjoyable. It was a binge read by the pool on my summer holidays so fitted in well..

A raucous hen party in Marbella that ends in the death of the bride to be. No spoilers here, this is known from the start. Who killed Aoife is the question. One of her friends Dani was unconscious while her friend died. The other hens, Tiff, Celine and Beth are a mixture of disgusted and angry that Dani was so drunk she couldn’t help their friend or remember who killed her. Three years on and all but Dani have moved on with their lives and are not happy to receive an invitation from her to return to Marbella to commemorate Aoife’s death. Dani needs to return to try to piece together what happened on that fateful night. This uncomfortable story weaves between the past and present and highlights the awkward relationships between the girls. Full of secrets and deception, drunkeness and sordid behaviour this book will make you cringe in places and probably refuse any future invitations to a hen weekend. It builds with increasing menace and fear until the whole horrifying truth is revealed.

I found it hard to like Aoife, the main character, and the more I read on, the stronger this feeling got. As the intricate plot unwound, it seemed like almost everyone had a reason to murder Aoife. I did not guess the ending – it had a clever twist!
The premise of this novel is that Aoife is killed on her hen night and three years on her hen party go back to the original scene of the crime to pay their respects – though one member of the group has some blank spots in her memory and her driving force to revisit is to uncover these locked memories. Aoife’s fiancé, Nathan, is controlling and it was easy to jump to the obvious conclusion that he is to blame, but this plot keeps spinning and weaves to an unexpected resolution.
I did find the constant use of the flashback technique a little irritating by the end, but it did work, and was crucial to the ending and Dani recovering her lost memories – with each revelation, another mystery was created.
The various relationships between the hens feels quite realistically portrayed. It is an unnatural time – bringing together friends from different parts of your life and the competition between Tiff and Dani for Aoife’s affection was hard to witness but understandable.
An uncomfortable read, with many shallow characters but such a clever ending! This is one villa holiday that I did not envy.

An interesting read, the story line had me hooked and wanting to keep reading. The story was easy to read as I enjoyed the way storylines were told from each of the characters points of views. I feel this either works or doesn’t in some books and in the villa this method of writing really helped with the plot.

When lies and betrayals are the main subjects in a book you know it’s going to be interesting. This thriller is told in multiple POVs with two different timelines and a beautiful Spanish setting.

Each character has its flaws and reasons to commit the murder but the twist at the end was one I didn’t see coming at all! The story unraveling step by step leading us to the big reveal and who did what. To be honest, the characters were not very lovable but that made the story even more compelling.

This is was a good summer thriller and I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you Jess Ryder, Random House UK, Cornerstone & NetGalley for an e-ARC copy.

#TheVilla #NetGalley

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Random House UK, Cornerstone for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Its been 3 years since bride to be Aoife was killed at her own hen weekend. Now Dani, Beth, Tiff and Celine have returned to the same villa to celebrate her life and so that Dani can try to remember just what happened that fateful weekend.
This was a really enjoyable read, a little slow to start but once I got into it I was hooked.
Told from multiple points of view over a dual timeline it was really interesting to see what was really going on behind the facade that each of the hens put up.
The relationships between them all were so odd because they weren't actually friends with each other just the hen but some major parts that jumped out at me as unrealistic were how they behaved with each other in certain situations involving leaving some of the girls alone with dodgy men without question.
Otherwise with the wonderful setting of a villa in Marbella it was a perfect summer read.

3.5 in this ‘hen party that goes to hell’ story there are 2 timelines and multiple POVs so at times it can be a little confusing.

We are told from the outset that Aoife’s hen party in Marbella led to disaster. 3 years after her death, her friend Dani organises a reunion, ostensibly as an act of remembrance but really to try to reclaim her memory of what happened that night.

As with other books around a group of friends abroad, everyone has a secret and there are lots of red herrings. The central mystery is competently handled and the pace was right for the plot and it would make a good holiday read - unless you’re going to Marbella!

With thanks to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and Jess Ryder for an arc of this novel.

I enjoyed The Villa it was a very enjoyable read. Didn't find any of the characters very likable though, but I will look out for more books by this author.

Dani's best friend Aoife is getting married, and they are off for an unforgettable weekend in Marbella.

It isn't cheap, but the girls are determined to give her the best send off.

Aoife, the hen has been friends with Tiff and Beth since School, Dani since University and Celine more recently via work.

She will shortly be marrying the man of her dreams, Nathan. The hen is her last chance to let her hair down before she settles into married life and she is determined to make the most of it.

But untold tragedy unfolds when Aoife is tragically killed.

Her killer isn't caught, and the hens return home devastated, without the bride.

Three years on and Dani is determined to mark the anniversary of Aoife's passing with a small memorial ceremony, and by finding out the truth about what happened.

She leads the others back to Marbs by persuading them that it will be good to celebrate and remember Aoife's life together, misleading them about her true reason for returning.

Seeking the truth...

Because Dani is sure that there is more to that night than she can remember, but she just doesn't realise just how much danger she has put herself and the others in by trying to discover the truth.