Rachel Hawkins is in the group of authors that I look for … I get excited when one of these authors puts out a book and I want to be the first to read it. I’m a little on The Villa, I’ll admit. I’ll confess I saw the ratings tumble as it was first released and didn’t feel the pull to purchase the book, instead waiting the long dreaded wait of a library hold. 

As I eagerly dove in, my first impressions were intrigued but not obsessed. That’s okay, I said to myself, ​ I’m not opposed to slow burns. Then the second story line was introduced and I was immediately put off. I wasn’t into the characters… I wanted more witty Em, more friendship drama with Chess. I was struggling to enjoy the characters already and the book got flipped upside to try to like  new characters. 
    In the middle, I kept waiting for the ‘house’ to reveal itself to me. 
     Three-quarters the way through, I thought… ​okay, not bad! I can’t wait to be shocked by this ending. I felt I had it. I felt I figured out the big twist and I was excited to see how Hawkins would tell it.
     The end left me with nothing by disappointment. She didn’t do my ‘big exciting twist’. It was boring. Actually, it was so boring, so lame that it ruined the rest of the book. Sometimes endings aren’t what you would expect. Either the author tends to give up or be too predictable … This was my first time it was plain ‘bad’. 

The entire book was messy and not executed as well as it could have. A couple times I found myself paging backwards (which is not easy with an e-book) to check if I misunderstood the friendship history, relationship history… in this case though, it wasn’t ‘me’, it was the editing. 
     Overall, I’m being generous with my 4 stars. Maybe I want to keep loving Hawkins and continue to look for her next release. It’s an easy, fast (but dull) read that if you have the time, I’d still recommend. I can see why the ratings tumbled as we neared )and after publication date).