The Villa
The Villa - Rachel Hawkins
my review : ✮✮✮
I wanted to start this year with a story that had me hooked right away, and this one fit the bill. Quick and intriguing, yet it left me with a few unanswered questions.
This thriller takes place at the gorgeous, iconic (& cursed?) villa in Orvieto, Italy. It’s a story of friendship, love, sex, and rock & roll. Emily and Chess have been best friends since childhood. While they’ve grown apart in their 30s, with Chess being a non-fiction girl boss advice writer (think Rachel Hollis 🙄) and Emily going through a divorce while struggling to submit her long overdue book to her publisher. Chess suggests a 6-week getaway for the two friends to reconnect and focus on their writing (why do I not have a friend asking me to jet to Italy for a summer? Maybe I need to be that friend if I win the lottery tonight! 🤞🏼). While the Villa that Chess reserved for the summer is stunning, it also has a dark past. Back in the 70s, rock star Noel Gordon rented the villa to reignite his creative spark and invited up-and-coming musician Pierce, his girlfriend Mari, and her step-sister to join him. The weekend ends with Pierce’s brutal murder, and the villa is forever marred by the shadows of that dreadful weekend. In the present day, Emily gets wrapped up in the villa’s past and spends her days digging into the villa’s history. As the summer unfolds and Emily gets more wrapped up in the secrets of the villa, she feels the tension with her old friend mounting. It seems the villa may take another life before the summer is over…
I am a sucker for a story set in Italy, and I found myself daydreaming about a sun-soaked vacation in a dreamy Italian villa myself—minus the murder, of course. While I found the story quick, addicting, and quite the page-turner, I felt a few loose ends were not tied up by the end of the book, and I wasn’t totally satisfied with the ending. It’s hard to get into it without any spoilers! Have any of you read this? Do you agree!?
Best paired with a shot of limoncello 🍋
you’ll love this book if you love:
A quick & easy thriller
Rachel Hawkins
