Review of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

I love a good Gothic novel, and this one has a past/present storyline and feminist themes. I think The Villa could be very divisive read, which makes for a good discussion! Check out my Review of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

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The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

To be published by St Martin’s Press on January 3, 2023

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review.

What Else Has Rachel Hawkins Written? Rachel Hawkins books in order

Rachel Hawkins started out writing YA paranomals. Her Hex Hall series was published between 2010-2013. (You can read my review of Spellbound here.) She then wrote the Rebel Belle duology from 2014-2015, following that with the Royal duology from 2018-2019.

In 2021, Hawkins wrote her first adult books. In the thriller vein she wrote The Wife Upstairs (2021) and followed that with Reckless Girls in 2022, The Heiress in 2024, and The Storm in 2026.

She also writes adult paranormal romance series under the pseudonym Erin Sterling, The Ex Hex in 2021 and The Kiss Curse in 2022.

Review of The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

I think The Villa will be a divisive book, and I LOVE discussing those.

I’ve already read mini-reviews on my social media timelines.

Some readers loved The Villa while others found it slow-moving and confusing.

The Villa has:

-A past/present storyline, one inspired by real events

-Epistolary elements, including song lyrics

-Feminist themes (or were they?)

-A bit of a twist ending (or was is just weird?)

-A pace that some readers may find slow, with a long set-up before the pay-off

The Villa is a dual timeline book that shifts between the present day and the 1970s.

In the present, cozy mystery writer Emily is coaxed into going on an Italian writing retreat with her friend Chess, a successful self-help influencer who is also working on a book. Emily and Chess soon learn that Villa Rosato, their new home away from home, was formerly called Villa Aestas, but renamed after a tragic murder occurred there in the 1970s.

In the 1970s narrative, Mari, a young aspiring writer who is vacationing at the villa in 1974 with her boyfriend, her stepsister, a rock star, and his friend. There’s bed hopping and arguments and … a murder.

The Real Life Drama that Inspired The Villa

If you’re a history and literature nerd like I am, you will immediately notice the inspiration for this 1970s group.

The 1970s gathering depicted in the book was inspired by a summer that Frankenstein author Mary Shelley spent with her future husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet George Gordon, Lord Byron; British vampire fiction writer John William Polidori; and Mary’s stepsister Claire. During the summer of 1816, the group spent time at Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, writing ghost stories.

Mari Godwick is clearly Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, Noel Gordon is the brooding, charismatic Gordon, Lord Byron, Pierce would be Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lara is Claire. There are a lot of other parallels between the group in The Villa and this 1816 group, but I won’t go into all of them here, in case you are like: Jen, this is BORING!

If you are saying, “whoa I want to know more,” there’s a Mary Shelley movie starring Elle Fanning that runs it all down. Here’s a rundown on History.com and here’s more on John Polidori

Also, fun fact: Villa Diodati has a writer’s workshop!

So what did I think of The Villa?

Not surprisingly, I loved the 1970s storyline much more than the present-day one.

To me, the 1970s storyline felt a bit Daisy Jones: sex, drugs and rock and roll. Mari was an interesting character, a girl who had a baby with an older man at age 14 (!) and now was trying to write a horror novel.

At the villa was her married baby daddy, Pierce, Noel Gordon, a famous rock star, Johnnie, his drug dealer, and Mari’s half-sister Lara, an aspiring musician. All the (very problematic) drama between the group made for some juicy reading.

I wasn’t a fan of the present storyline

The Villa’s storyline in the present featured the rather depressive Emily and her vapid, painfully millennial friend Jessica “Chess” Chandler, who I suspect was modeled after Rachel Hollis.

I didn’t find this pair of BFFs very interesting. Okay, I didn’t find them interesting at all, until a little bit at the end. I am begging for an end to the influencer books. PLEASE.

Things eventually do get more juicy in the present between Emily and Chess, with catfights and calling-outs, but that part of the book doesn’t really get going until almost the end.

Epistolary elements work here!

I liked the epistolary elements except for the fact that the most dramatic scene in the book doesn’t even happen on the page, but is told through a newspaper article. WHAT?

The ending of The Villa was … hmmmm

The ending of The Villa was … strange. And somewhat unsatisfying to me. And I will discuss it in my Spoiler Discussion of The Villa. I hope you will join me there!