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Book Review:: The Villa | Rachel Hawkins

Rachel Hawkins is my favorite kind of suspense writer. A modern Gothic master. Her stories are somber and interesting and layered. If you enjoy historical mysteries, The Villa is the one you’ll want to pick up.

Emily (a suspense writer), and her best friend since grade school Chess (the world’s latest most popular self-help guru) decide to get away for the summer and rent a little Italian Villa with a dark and storied history. Emily is in the middle of a messy divorce, coming out of some unknown health issues, and has a stubborn case of writer’s block. She also doesn’t know how much she actually likes her best friend anymore. The place they’ve rented is where the world’s most popular horror novel, Lilith Rising, was penned, and one of the most popular albums of all time, Aestis (forgive me for any misspellings, I listened on audio, which I recommend!) was inspired by. Unfortunately that long lost summer, a man was also killed. Emily feels immediately inspired by their new setting and gets to work researching what happened at the Villa all those years ago. But life imitates art, and history tends to repeat itself. One thing is certain, this summer at the Villa will change everything.

I really loved the slow peeling back of historical layers, and how it merged with the modern timeline. Emily and Chess have a complicated friendship that has strayed into rival territory. They are both writers, and planned to write a book together one day. When Chess sees how invested Emily is in this new story, she wants to jump on board. But it was Emily’s idea, and she wants to keep it. The tone is fraught with tension, and the mystery of the past only elevates it.

While this is not my favorite Rachel Hawkins novel, it is certainly worth a read if you’re in the mood for gothic suspense!

Details

Title:: The Villa
Author:: Rachel Hawkins
Genre:: Suspense
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 279 pages
Audio Length:: 7h 57m
Audiobook Narrator:: Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Shiromi Arserio
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: January 3rd, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

The Heiress | Rachel Hawkins
The Wife Upstairs | Rachel Hawkins
The Midnight Feast | Lucy Foley

Book Review:: The Wife Upstairs | Rachel Hawkins

One of my top books of all time is Jane Eyre, so do I think you should read this modern, exaggerated, twisted novel that heavily draws upon it for inspiration?

Hell yes.

The Wife Upstairs Rachel Hawkins Book Cover

Jane has run away from her old life in Arizona and has taken a job as a dog walker in the ultra-chic suburban neighborhood of Thornfield Heights (already getting good, amiright?). One day she runs into a new man, Eddie Rochester. When she finds out he’s a widower and at least intrigued by her, she decides to wiggle herself into his life, which she convinces herself she deserves. His wife, B(ertha), and her BFF Blanch Ingram, disappeared from a boat on a trip to the lake several months back (hello nod to Rebecca). The investigation is ongoing, but Jane doesn’t let that stop her. Eddie gets a new dog (Adele) and hires Jane to walk her. Before long, their affair is hot and heavy and the neighbors are talking. She’s moved out of her dingy apartment she shared with her foster brother John Rivers and has installed herself into Eddie’s house. But that’s not enough. The other women in the neighborhood won’t accept her as one of them until she has a ring on her finger…

I forgot just how many Jane Eyre references there are in this book until I recently reread it. Each one is like a little Easter Egg, but the kind that’s just thrown on the lawn for the youngsters to find instead of actually hidden. This book is loud and proud about what it is. If you have any familiarity at all with the classic gothic romance, you’ll catch on pretty quickly. And we all know the twist from that book…

The Jane in The Wife Upstairs is the exact opposite of Our Lady Jane. She is a kleptomaniac and obsessed with how others perceive her. She manipulates and gaslights and convinces herself when all is said and done, she will be happy. And she gets what she wants…somehow, things come a little too easily to her.

Rachel Hawkins is so good at mastering a tone of something-just-isn’t-right-here. The investigation of the two women’s disappearances put off Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca vibes both in the suspicions and manor of…what happened. If you haven’t read Rebecca – come on. That is gothic lit Required Reading (But be forewarned, you won’t get that first read back, so savor it the first time!). Being in a relationship with B’s husband, she begins to wonder what actually happened to her out there. Was it Blanche’s husband? Was it her own?

I am a big fan of Rachel Hawkins, and it all started with this gem of a book right here. The balance of suspense and intrigue and mystery and f***ed up s***…it’s delicious. Feast yourself.

Details

Title:: The Wife Upstairs
Author:: Rachel Hawkins
Genre:: Mystery/Suspense
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 290 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 57m
Audiobook Narrator:: Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, Lauren Fortgang
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: January 5th, 2021
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check these out…

The Heiress | Rachel Hawkins
Wrong Place Wrong Time | Gillian McAllister

Book Review:: The Heiress | Rachel Hawkins

Rachel Hawkins is a master of subtle psychological thrillers. Her books have a flair for being compelling contemporary reads with a dark twist. I’ve read them all, and they’re all worth your time. While The Wife Upstairs is my favorite (I mean, it’s an echo of my favorite book of all time, Jane Eyre – hard to beat that), The Heiress comes in a close second.

Everyone has secrets. Cam and Jules are an ordinary couple working meager jobs to afford their Colorado rental. The secret is that they don’t have to. Cameron is the heir of Ruby McTavish, an Appalachian princess married and widowed four times before her death ten years before. He’s a multi-millionaire, but he doesn’t want anything to do with the money, or Ashby House, the mansion he inherited, and the few remaining family members who remain inside it. But after a couple of cryptic emails, he knows he can no longer put off the inevitable. He has to go back. The past has a way with catching up to you.

Cam’s family is deplorable. They resented his mother, and they resent him even more for the decisions she made. He was always an outsider, and they weren’t afraid to let him know it. It was an unhappy childhood he ran from as soon as he got the chance, but even putting an entire country between himself and his past isn’t enough to save him from it.

Ashby house is the perfect gothic setting. A mansion full of old portraits and antiques in every room, a sprawling property in a dangerous wooded area, all fallen into grotesque disrepair-Bronte couldn’t have written it better herself.

A big chunk of this novel was comprised of letters written by the heiress, Ruby, in what turned out to be her last weeks. Her life was plagued by rumor, and she decides to finally set the record straight, if only in private correspondence. Though she is long dead in the narrative, the letters bring her to life in such a vibrant way, and the contents of the letters are…captivating.

The theme seems to ask an age-old question: are people who do bad things, bad people? Is it our surroundings who make us who we are, or is our nature buried someplace deep inside us, impregnable to corruption? It certainly doesn’t answer the question, but it begs the question with every carefully crafted character, and a plot that often swerves in unexpected directions.

I was gripped by this story early on, and ate up every twist and turn. Fans of Colleen Hoover’s Verity, or the author Lucy Foley (The Midnight Feast, The Paris Apartment) will enjoy the suspense and intrigue of this book. While there is some darkness in these pages, it wasn’t scary, so I feel like it’s a good choice for people who enjoy thrillers, but are a little wimpy, like me!

Details

Title:: The Heiress
Author:: Rachel Hawkins
Genre:: Gothic Mystery
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 294 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 20m
Audiobook Narrator:: Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla, & Patti Murin
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: January 9th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars