Welcome to Litsy!

Childhood best friends Emma and Chess are both writers and spend a summer together in a villa that was the site of a murder. Both women become interested in writing a book about the murder that occurred years ago at the villa. The house holds clues within it to what really happened that night and history begins repeating itself. Predictable but worth the read.

The future mimics the past in this haunting thriller. Dual timelines jump from sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll to college educated authors vacationing in Italy but in the same villa many years apart.
The setting inspired this Limoncello Spritz 🍋

I enjoyed the present day timeline in this book but wasn‘t invested in the past timeline, so it prevented me from really getting into the story. I enjoyed it but there wasn‘t anything surprising in it. And I feel like it ended abruptly.

I‘m kind of dumbfounded on this book. It started out pretty good but just kind of sputtered at the end for me. The pivotal points were lackluster and details of the story just never filled. The ending was just kind of weird and left me kinda asking WTF just happened? I get it but I don‘t get it so moving on to another book…lol

I like the books by Hawkins I‘ve read so far. This one was well put together and despite being told in two different decades, it was easy to follow.

The end got me on this one!! My third Rachel Hawkins and I‘m definitely a fan.

I have some unanswered questions, I think some plot points may have fell through the cracks, but overall I really enjoyed the mysteries in both timelines

Brilliant.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A fun thriller with two intertwining storylines across two timeliness (and two murders). In the 70s, we have a group of rock stars and artists in the villa, and in the present, we have two writers seeking inspiration in the villa. While I found the present storyline a little unsatisfying overall, the past storyline carried the book for me, with interesting characters, good suspense, and a great surprise ending!

#ReadAway2024 my 1st audiobook for #JoyousJanuary,
@Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
Emily and Chess have been friends forever. When they spend several weeks in Orvieto Italy, Emily's writers block is unstuck unraveling the mystery of a famous murder that happened where they are staying. The audiobook was great as the reader had various inflections for each character. Definitely recommend!
#52bookclub24 @BarbaraBB
⬇️

This was a fun and twisty audiobook that made the work week go faster. It was on my summer reading list, but I just now got it from the library. Would have been fun to read on the beach, but it was also fine under a blanket. Note to self: don‘t be so tied to seasonal reading lists.

Yesssssss!

Managed a bingo for #ISpyBingo November

@Clwojck @thearomaofbooks

A twisty, slow-burn thriller. Great story telling once you get used to the multiple story line, multiple POV style. I love Mary‘s reclaiming of her story and her style of justice. Houses remember. Book #77 in 2023

5/5

I don't usually read thrillers, so when I picked this up for #booked2023 I didn't expect a five start read. The novel alternates between Emily staying at an Italian villa with her best friend, and Mary who stayed in the same Villa in the 70s when one of her group was murdered. It's a great book full of twists, that never left me too stressed out.

🎧 Audiobook: The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

📖 e-book: The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

📗 Non-fiction: The Best American Science and Nature Writing of 2023 by Carl Zimmer

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

“Somewhere around the time she started calling herself “Chess“, I realized I might actually hate my best friend.“

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

My favourite of Rachel Hawkins' books that I have read so far. The Villa does everything you want it to without demanding too much from you as a reader. There are multiple timelines, and a mystery from the past, a complicated and competitive friendship, characters writing books about mysteries in a book about a mystery, and a glam location. A fantastic, compelling, easy read.

I think I liked this one more for the connections to the summer Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein than anything else! A good start to spooky season 👻

Dual timelines. 1970‘s and Present Day. Italian Villa with a tragic history. British Rock & Roll. Writing music. Writing books. Best friends. Sisters. Twisted love. Murder. Gothic. Fast paced. A bit confused on ending. Audio. Difficult to turn back the pages. #sunshinenoir #booked2023 #blameitonlitsy

New audiobook. #blameitonlitsy

Well I binged the second half.. now I‘m confused but not confused.. this is why I like Rachel Hawkins she will leave your jaw dropped at the end of a story

Will I enjoy this one?? I have enjoyed every other book I have read by this author and I recently finished one so maybe it‘s too soon but oh well

The Villa was my favorite of this author‘s books so far! A story within a story within a story with lots of twists and misdirections I just couldn‘t get enough. My only “complaint” was the tendency for betrayed characters to place the blame fully on one person while wholly forgiving another (it happens a few times). I always hate that and find it too convenient for the narrative. But other than that it was an interesting story! 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫

Book #73
4/5
Another good read by Hawkins, though I was a bit disappointed by the lack of actual horror as mentioned in the synopsis - maybe I'm just too desensitized by watching true crime documentaries and reading thrillers, but the murders in the "murder house" didn't really seem all that horrific or murder-y. Otherwise, still an anjoyable read.

This book! Two timelines. One Italian villa. Secrets. Lies. Murder. Tragedy.

1970‘s - Five musicians living the #SexDrugsAndRockandRoll lifestyle at a villa in Italy.

Present Day - Two best friends, both authors, take a girls‘ trip to Italy to work on their books. They stay in the same villa.

The two plot lines overlap and intertwine in fascinating ways. Who can be trusted? Who is lying? Great reading!

#TitlesAndTunes

My title for July‘s #SexDrugsAndRockNRoll theme is The Villa by Rachel Hawkins, and my tune is Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf. Let the wild rumpus start! 🎸
#TitlesAndTunes @BarbaraBB @Cinfhen

I struggled on how to rate this book. It takes place across two timelines, the present, and in 1970s. I enjoyed 1970s timeline it was more exciting with the sex, drugs, and rock & roll theme. The present timeline dragged along and repeats information. I loved the setting, a villa in Italy with a haunting history. I hated the characters, I enjoyed how the author unraveled the mystery that took place at the villa and the ending was totally worth it.

Interesting book with a story within a story. It is a layered, suspenseful and very enjoyable 🙂

The story was just ok to me. I found Emily and Chess to be rather annoying–I didn‘t really like either character–which took away from the story. The audiobook fell into the ok category as well. While I liked the emotions given to the characters through changes in the pace and inflection given to words, overall the narration was way too slow for my tastes and if I had been unable to increase the speed I feel that the book would have dragged for me.

This has such a great set up, but it just ended up a bit boring for me. I needed more ghosts, more gothic, maybe? I still enjoyed it, but there were times it was hard to get excited about

This #blameitonlitsy read ended up being a low pick. I couldn‘t stop listening and will probably read more by this author, and I have a fondness for stories about groups of artists and the work that comes from their messy interconnected process. But of the 3 big reveals, one I saw coming from the first pages, one was ‘please tell me they‘re not seriously headed there‘ and the last was just meh.

This is my favorite Hawkins novel. Emily is a cozy mystery writer who goes on a trip to Italy with her best friend Chess, a self-help guru. There at Villa Aestas, Emily finds the journal of Mari Godwick, who wrote Lilith Rising, a cult horror novel from the 70s. It's very gothic, Mary Shelley with some Fleetwood Mac thrown in.
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #ReadySetRead #setinalodgehotelmotelorinn #Pantone2023 #Blazingyellow @Clwojick

Very good. I usually don't like dual timelines, but didn't mind them in this one

So good! This is only my second Hawkins book but will definitely read more!

#bookspinbingo
#booked2023 - sunshine noir

3½⭐Low Pick
I liked the present timeline over the past timeline…and other readers felt the opposite of me. My feelings were skewed by the narration, though…since I didn‘t really care for the narrator of the past storyline. Overall, this was mostly entertaining, although maybe be prepared for some drama and a wackadoodle ending.

Daisy Jones vibes and Death Becomes Her vibes. Dual timeline 1970s British rock scene and current day. Bffs and writers Em and Chess spend the summer in Italy at an infamous villa working on their projects and nursing an intense rivalry. As they dig into the 1970s murder, rivalry, and betrayals, history may repeat itself. It is easier as a book due to dual timelines and thrown in multimedia exerpts. IMO. Predictable but still very good. 5 🌟

Rachel Hawkins really said "I support Women's Rights AND Women's Wrongs" with this one, and God bless her for it. The final twist had me on the edge of my seat, and Emily's voice was hysterical! Easily her best thriller yet. #thriller #contemporaryfiction #historicalfiction

3-4-23: My 27th finished book of 2023! Best friends, Emily and Chess embark on a summer holiday in Italy at Villa Aestas in Orvieto. Back in 1974, the villa was the site of a murder during the time a famous rockstar and his friends Pierce, Mari, Lara and Johnnie were staying. Now, Emily, trying to write her next novel, starts to dig into that murder, finding the book written by Mari during that stay. Secrets come to light now and in 1974. ⬇️

4⭐️/5⭐️

⭐️⭐️ Exactly the type of domestic thriller that steers me away from the genre. The parallel story trope is fine, but make it surprising or even just slightly interesting. Idk. At least it didn‘t have “girl, woman, or wife” in the title. Moving on. #thankunext

This flips between present day and past. The sections in the past are like if Mary Shelley wrote Daisy Jones and the Six while the sections in the present are like if you are frenemies with Rachel Hollis.

I was ready to write this off as predictable and slow but the ending earned it points. Not enough to give it a “Pick” though. Easily my least fave by Hawkins - felt very “buzzword soup” (despite a main character teasing the other for the same thing).

This so appealed to me: gothic suspense, an Italian villa, murder, and a book about books.
I couldn‘t put it down! I enjoyed the two time periods in the storyline, with my favourite being Emily and Chess‘s story. And there were some fun twists and turns set against the sunny backdrop of the villa in Orvieto where they‘re staying.I don‘t think this does anything new but I loved the setting and the focus on writing and books. Recommended!

I like this fast read by Hawkins, though I think I like Restless Girls better because the ending didn't really sit right with me. The Villa has a dual timeline, journal entries and newspaper and book excerpts. The atmosphere of the sunny villa versus the darkness and drama inside it was on-point.
#FabulousFebruary
@Andrew65

Book 26🎧 3.8⭐️

A good cozy thriller! Told in dual time lines (kind of)🙃

2 best friends take off to Italy and soon discover the secrets hidden in the villa.

I really enjoyed this one! I preordered it because I liked the author‘s last book and I‘m so glad I did. This book cleverly modernizes Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Claire Clairmont on their famous Italian excursion as fictional characters in the mid-70‘s, juxtaposed against a story set in a current timeline. I highly recommend if you like historical mysteries or modernizations.

I‘ve enjoyed Hawkins‘ earlier novels for adults, so I was thrilled to get my hands on an early copy of this one! Available now, this book offers an engaging story about friendship, a book-within-the-book, journal entries, & articles within its dual timeline. It‘s a fast read and while the characters aren‘t always likable, their stories are compelling and I couldn‘t put this down! I really wanted to read the entire book-within-the-book though!!