The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

 

This story has two separate story lines.  Mari's story is from 1973 and Emily's story is set in present day. Seems all our main characters are writers, both past and present.

Emily is having trouble in her marriage as well as her writing career.  Her best friend Chess, also a writer, invites her on a 6 week vacation staying at an Italian villa.  It is mainly set in Italy and the villa sounds amazing. The setting and genre were my initial attractions to the book.

I found there were too many plots going on, back and forth between Mari and Emily's time period.  The toxic relationship development was not surprising between the friends so after a while I became distracted. I would not describe this book as a thriller at all.  It was a mystery but a predictable outcome.

Previously I enjoyed The Wife Upstairs and so I would read more by this  author.

Publication date January 3, 2023 by St. Martin's Press  Genre: General Fiction Adult, Mystery and Thrillers.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

 

Recently I read The Wife Upstairs and I thought that was a good domestic thriller. As I liked the style of writing I thought I'd love Reckless Girls. I did not. The premise sounded good but I honestly didn't like any of the characters well enough to get invested.

Lux and Nico are two of our main characters and I didn't dislike them but couldn't warm to them. Lux is the narrator of the story.  She meets Nico in San Diego shortly after her mother died.  She's ready for a fresh start and Nico is a charming goodlooking fellow who she decides to follow to Hawaii.

They plan to sail around the world but financial setbacks means they get stuck with menial jobs in Hawaii for a while.  Then Nico gets an offer of big money to sail two young women, Amma and Brittany, to a remote island called Meroe. Lux is invited along by the women and they all get along like a house on fire. The young ladies have big secrets which will be revealed near the end. Anyway, when they get to this remote island there is another couple there. This rich couple who also get along with Lux, Nico, Amma and Brittany.

It had it's twists but I found it anticlimatic. Prepare for some mystery and murder.  If this were my first novel by Hawkins I wouldn't seek out more as I did after reading The Wife Upstairs. Obviously this my opinion as there are planty of 4 and 5 star ratings for this book.  Just didn't do it for me.

Publication date January 4, 2022 by St. Martin's Press.  Genre: General Fiction, Mysteries and Thrillers

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

 

Jane is new to the Birmingham Alabama area and is trying to start a new life.  She has a secret about her past life, one she is running from, and this keeps you guessing about her past.  She is employed as a dog walker in this ultra rich community where women casually discard their diamond earrings in a bowl as they enter their mansions.  The neighborhood is basically full of millionaires who haven;t experienced hardship.

One day Jane is staring at one elegant home while walking a dog and Eddie Rochester careens out of his driveway, almost running Jane down.  Eddie is newly widowed, very handsome and fit. Her invites Jane inside for coffee and apologizes for almost killing her.  This is the start of the Eddie and Jane storyline.

The very title called The Wife Upstairs is a bit of a spoiler and that crazy scenario is revealed early in the book.  

I was interested in this book because a Jane Eyre comparison was mentioned.  It's not a ripoff story but you'll see a nod to the names and some of the relationships.  Jane, Rochester, Bertha plus the poor character of Jane who had a horrid upbringing.

This story has mystery, two big twists in the narrative (be patient and wait for it!) and a warning to those who are offended by the F-bomb.  It's not used as much as in The Big Lebowski but you've been forewarned :-) Doesn't bother me and was, in my opinion, approprite for the scenarios.