Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Villa

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

savheath's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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nursestern's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was twisty and captivating, I enjoyed the relationship dynamics between Chess and Em. I also enjoyed the similarities between their friendship and the relationship of Lara and Mari. The deeply interwoven tale of the residents of Villa Aestas will have you on the edge of your seat, devouring every detail as you try to piece the puzzles together.

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mars_loves_books's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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bookstorian's review

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3.5

➕️ Something about reading about writers that fascinates me. I really enjoyed the dynamic between Emily and Chess, it was intriguing.
➕️ I was gripped and shocked at times but not as consistently as I would have liked. Perhaps because the book wasn't really a thriller as I was expecting.
➕️Enjoyed some of the post reading activities surrounding the book such as listening to podcasts, reading some interesting theories about the ending and discovering that it was inspired by Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein)

➖️Struggled between the timelines, amount of characters (two with the same name) and genres that were thrown in, some of these exerpts were unnecessary.
➖️The execution of the concept of how houses remember. It was an intriguing idea but I didn't really find the house to really remember.
➖️The genre seemed to be more adult fiction or mystery than thriller, mainly due to pacing. It also was trying to be gothic (place as character) but didn't achieve this in my opinion.

✍️ "... a legacy is both a gift and a curse". Pg192

🛍 I purchased my copy from The Nile Australia

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audaroundtheworld's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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wrestleacademic's review

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mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

It would’ve been a higher star rating without Mari’s final diary entry that to me undermined the whole narrative.

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ladylothlorien's review

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Really enjoyed this! I have a bad habit of starting books that I haven’t really properly read the blurb for and then being like “oh this is a ‘Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein’ retelling!” Then again it does add a level of delight to realize this as I’m reading so maybe it’s for the best? As with her Jane Eyre retelling, Hawkins isn’t slavishly devoted to the source material so she jumps in very interesting directions with this story. I do also have a weakness for historical fiction-type stories where someone in the present is connecting with someone from the past and both stories are unfolding together for the reader. I identified more with Emily I think than Mari but that’s more of my own personal experiences that were similar to Emily’s. Although I’ve never had a friend like Chess thank goodness.

once again though the ending is kind of throwing me off. Like of course killing Matt isn’t going to result in a breakup with Chess like Emily was hoping for in a mirror of what she thought happened with Mari and Lara. It’s just going to make Emily beholden to Chess forever since Chess knows this huge secret. I don’t really have a problem with that. I don’t really like the revelation that pretty much all of the Mari sections were fictionalized by Mari to make what happened more interesting. Maybe it’s less the betrayal of Emily who clearly used it as a blueprint for freedom and more the betrayal of me the reader. I’m sensitive to stories where the author (in this case Hawkins) deliberately lies about something without there being any indication of it that I can point to and go “oh I missed that hint!” <\spoiler>

So the ending ended up knocking off a star but I still overall enjoyed the book. And I’m really enjoying Hawkins’s penchant for these sort of literary retellings, so definitely going to read more by her.

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