Reviews with content warning for Drug use - The Villa

THE VILLA is, without a doubt, my favourite of Rachel Hawkins' work thus far. Give me a gothic thriller any day, but especially give me the ones that achieve the deliciously dark tone and vibe that Rachel was so successful in creating here. The ending wasn't a win for me, but I immensely enjoyed the journey getting there.

Told in alternating timelines between 1974 and present day, we hear from the perspectives of two women reclaiming their power, going for (literary) gold, and exploring the parameters of some seriously unstable relationships. Add in Rachel's incredible ability to create a perfect tension-filled scene, and you've got yourself your first read for January 2023.

Fun tidbit: The Villa is "inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein"!!
------
♡Huge thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for approving the egalley for review!

Content Warnings

noladawnreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

daisyb3's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

savvyrosereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Out now! [Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!]

Rating: 4/5 stars

Emily and Chess have been best friends since childhood, but their relationship has become a bit strained. When Chess suggests a summer in an Italian villa—a villa that was the site of an infamous murder in the 1970s, moreover—secrets begin to unravel across two timelines.

I am absolutely obsessed with the story of the creation of Frankenstein—for anyone who doesn’t know, Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Shelley, Mary’s stepsister Claire, and John Polidori all stayed together in Switzerland for a summer, where Mary would ultimately write Frankenstein as the result of the party determining to each write a ghost story—so when I heard that Rachel Hawkins was writing a novel featuring a 1970s retelling of that very real summer (albeit with some added murder), it instantly became one of my most-anticipated reads of 2023.

Fortunately, I really enjoyed most of the book. I’ve seen some mixed reviews, and I understand any criticism that calls this book slow-moving, but I found it to be genuinely brilliant in terms of form, writing style, and the use of perspective and tone. The plot was interesting and I enjoyed the dual timeline, and the use of multiple forms of media (news clippings, etc) combined with the 1970s musician sections gave me vibes reminiscent of Daisy Jones & The Six.

All of that said, I ultimately took a star off the end because I just wasn’t sold on the ending. I thought I’d figured out where it was headed, but then things took a turn I didn’t expect, and the book ended in what was, to me, a pretty unsatisfying place. Still, if you’re a fan of historical/literary inspired novels and up for a somewhat slower burn, I would absolutely recommend The Villa.

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: retellings-but-make-them-history; meditations on friendship; slow-burn Gothic suspense

CW: Child death; drug/alcohol abuse; murder/blood; suicide (off-page).

Content Warnings

bookishlysimsy's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Disclaimer: I was provided a digital galley via Edelweiss+ for the purpose of review. This does not affect my opinion.

The Villa is an interesting, engaging thriller. With a dual-POV and timeline, there is intrigue and wonder between each line.

Rating: Starred

Check out my full review on my blog Belle's Archive now!

Content Warnings

booksbroadwaybubbly's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Emily is working on her novel, but is having no luck. When she meets up with her childhood best friend, Chess, for lunch, she is jealous of Chess’ fame. However, when Chess invites Emily to spend the summer at a villa in Italy, Emily wants the chance to reconnect with Chess and hopefully spark her some new ideas for her book. The Villa they are staying in may be beautiful now, but it is the place of a murder that took place in 1974, when a group full of artists spent the summer at the villa trying to inspire themselves. Emily & Chess spend the summer digging into old secrets, both of the villa and of their own lives.

•

I enjoyed this thriller, but I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters — all of them were unlikable, in both the past and the present. I also felt like it took a long time to build up to all the tension. There were so many twists and turns throughout this book that kept me on my toes. I also loved all the descriptions of the Italian Countryside! It brought me back to my time in Italy! I definitely can’t wait to see what Rachel Hawkins writes next!

•

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my eARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Content Warnings

chymerra's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

When I read the blurb for The Villa and saw that it was being compared to Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and Mary Shelly, I was interested. While I enjoyed the book, I was disappointed by it. Mari and Emily’s stories didn’t grab me the way I had hoped.

The Villa starts in present-day North Carolina. Emily is a successful author who has been battling a mysterious illness. She also is in the process of divorcing her husband, Matt, who is as greedy as they can get. So, when her best friend, Chess (who also happens to be a best-selling self help author), suggests a girl’s trip to Italy, Emily jumps at it. Emily discovers that the villa they are renting was the scene of a murder in 1974 and where a best-selling turned cult classic novel, Lilith Rising, was written. Jumping headfirst into investigating it, Emily soon uncovers clues that show a different story than what reporters told the world. She also discovers that things are different from what they seem with Chess. What did Emily find about the murders? And what is going on with Chess?

The other part of this book takes place in 1974 in London and Italy. Mari is in a questionable (to me, at least) relationship with a singer/songwriter. Pierce, desperate to hit it big, accepts an invitation to party/work at a villa in Italy. He would be working with one of the biggest rock stars in the world. Mari and her stepsister, Lara, come along and are swept into a world filled with sex and drugs. As tension rise, Mari starts writing a book, which will become an instant bestseller/cult classic, Lilith Rises. Then the unthinkable happens, and Pierce is killed. But, all isn’t what it seems. What happened the night Pierce died? Who killed him and why?

The Villa is a fast-paced book that mostly takes place in a villa in Italy. The author did a great job of keeping the book flow as it hopped from past to present.

The main characters were what made this book a meh book for me. I found them annoying to read. Even when everything was revealed (in both timelines), I still couldn’t care.

Emily—I did feel bad for her at the beginning of the book. She was going through a rough patch with writer’s block and her husband wanting half of her book’s earnings. Plus, she had been very sick for a year. But I started not to like her when she got to Italy and started becoming paranoid. Plus, she was boring. The only exciting thing she did was at the end of the book. Also, and I will discuss this later in the review, I couldn’t understand how she didn’t see what was going on with her soon-to-be ex. It was pretty obvious.
Chess—I didn’t like her. She rubbed me the wrong way for the entire book. I think she had good intentions, but how she did things was suspicious. She did another thing that is a massive spoiler if I said too much about it. It was an enormous breach of trust to do what she did, even if her heart was in the right place. I also felt she deliberately made it so Emily could never leave her.
Mari—My heart freaking broke for her. I couldn’t even imagine the pain she had gone through. The what-ifs were sprinkled throughout the book, more so towards the end, and she was getting sick of Pierce’s antics. I liked that she channeled all of her rage and pain into Lilith Rising. My only quibble was that she was almost too cool with things. Does Pierce want to sleep with Lara? Sure, but only once. Does Pierce want a threesome with Noel? Sure, Mari will do it.
Lara—-I didn’t care for her. I felt that everything she did up to a crucial scene was to hurt Mari. It is so hard to explain what happened between Mari and Lara that summer without giving away spoilers.

The secondary characters portrayed in The Villa did add some depth to the plotline. But I felt that Noel and Johnnie’s characters were fillers. Same with Emily’s agent and her ex-husband.

This book was a good fit for the mystery/thriller genre. The thriller angle was very slight and mostly overshadowed by the mystery angle. If the author had expanded the thriller angle to encompass the earlier parts of the book (or even the middle) instead of just the end, I would have enjoyed it more.

The storyline with Emily, Chess, and her ex-husband made me want to gouge out my eyes. I got very frustrated because I figured out both things (the sickness and the spoiler) reasonably early in the book. I couldn’t understand how Emily didn’t figure out the illness (or even her family!!). As for the other thing, Emily did figure it out shortly after I did, but she didn’t want to admit it to herself.

The storyline with Emily, Chess, the murders, the story Emily was writing, and the villa was also frustrating. But in a good way, well, most of the time. I understood why Chess wanted to change her brand and felt that co-writing with Emily would help her. I also understood why Emily didn’t want to do it. The mystery of the murders did help break Emily’s writer’s block, and she was possessive over it. But she also saw why having Chess’s name attached to her work would be good. The villa, in both storylines, did feel very calming to me. It did help both Mari and Emily to heal.

The storyline with Mari, Pierce, Noel, Johnnie, and Lara was my favorite storyline. Mainly because I knew what was coming; I wanted to see the events leading up to it. And you know what? It was good there. It was how I figured it would be. A disorganized mess of a storyline (and that is meant in a good way) that kept me guessing. And the twist at the end of that!!! I was not expecting it.

Mari, Pierce, and Lara’s storyline made me nauseous when reading it. I was surprised to find out Mari was as young as she was (barely 19). When I did the math, I couldn’t believe Mari was under 16 when she ran away with Pierce. Lara was, too (it just occurred to me). It made me sick to think about that.

Mari’s writing of Lilith Rising was very intense. As I said above, she channeled all that rage and pain into this book. I wish it were an actual book because I would have loved to read it.

There are trigger warnings in The Villa. There is semi-graphic sex, drugs, cheating, alcohol, attempted murder, graphic murder, talk of abortion, and talk of a miscarriage. If any of these trigger you, I highly suggest not reading this book.

I wasn’t sure if I liked the end of The Villa. Emily didn’t make the right choice. But I did love the twist on the 1974 plotline. Talk about leaving the best for last!!

Three Things I Liked About The Villa:

Mari. She was the most likable out of all the characters.
Chess and Emily’s friendship.
The 1974 storyline before Pierce was murdered.

Three Things I Disliked About The Villa:

Emily’s soon to be ex-husband. He was a dirtbag.
Chess. She came across as super fake.
Pierce. Ugh, so many things, but see my paragraph about the Pierce, Mari, and Lara storyline.

I would recommend The Villa to anyone over 21. There is language, sex, and sometimes graphic violence. Also see my trigger warnings.

Content Warnings

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Content Warnings

More...