The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

DRB Reviews...
Here is letter V for my alphabet challenge! I had some minor surgery and decided to choose The Villa as my next alphabet challenge read; mainly because it was my only pocket size paper back within my twenty-six books, and would be easy to carry around to and from the hospital. But, secondly, I chose it because spring is in the air and I loved the lemons on the cover!

This is my first Hawkins novel, and I became consumed by the story very quickly. I bought The Villa simply because the title began with the letter V, and it completed my challenge. What a genuinely sweet surprise to have enjoyed it as much as I have. The captions "Friends...or Frenemies?", "An Italian Villa with a murderous past", "A Secret Hidden in the Walls" and "Will the Villa claim another victim before the summer ends?" They all had me hooked! I truthfully did not want to put it down! I carted this book everywhere I went, and would steal whatever time I could to devour more of it. 

Hawkins had two story lines running simultaneously and its the first time in a long time I have enjoyed both stories so much that I was waiting with anticipation for the next transition. I often find novels that have two different sets of character plots, one tends to fall a little flatter than the other. But Hawkins did not disappoint me, the characters in both stories were so intriguing. (And she linked them brilliantly!) The Villa reminded me why I love reading...to get lost in a story, deep inside it's pages. I so needed to get lost for awhile. Thank you Hawkins, for catapulting me to a faraway place, and helping to take away reality for a bit.