I really liked this book. I felt like it was a quick read that kept me guessing and turning the pages. I wanted more from the ending but overall I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this book, kept me guessing and entertained. I would even say it was one of the better books I read this year. So way only 2 stars you ask.? Because of one line in chapter 29 @ 80% we get to this: “Tripp is so many ugly things -a drunk, a lech, a Republican- but murderer still doesn’t fit on him.” Really.? Absolutely no political reference anywhere but let’s get a little dig in? Really? Classless and disgusting, I realize it’s currently cool to call people who have opposing political views all kinds of ugly names, but really? I read to escape and this line was not necessary. This would have been easily a 5 star book, but nah...I’m over it. Thanks to netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book!! It’s fast paced, I read it in one sitting. I absolutely hated the characters in the best way possible. The rags to riches love story was brilliantly used alongside crazy secrets and lies, and some southern gothic vibes!! I cannot wait to read more from Rachel Hawkins, this book read like a guilty pleasure.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy of The Wife Upstairs. Can I jusy say WOW, WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. What a weird plot that totally worked. Captivating! I just loved it!!! Enjoy this fabulous ride.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this arc and provide my honest feedback.

This was my first book by this author and I was pleasantly surprised. The book draws you in from the beginning with a good story and relatable characters (to an extent). The author provided enough detail to get a feel for what's going on but not overdoing it, and even avoided having terribly annoying characters. I would definitely recommend this as a quick enticing good read!

4.5 stars

Talk about a fun book with plenty of pleasing twists and turns!

Jane is a down on her luck, dog walker in the gated community of Thornfield estates. She enjoys walking the dogs there and imagining what it might be like to live there. Her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester, a man whose wife, Bea drowned in a boating accident along with her best friend Blanche. When they fall for each other, Jane no longer must imagine what it might be like to live there. To have a nice home and not a dingy apartment. As her life begins to improve, she attempts to fit in with the women who once hired her to walk their dogs. Plain Jane tries to look right, dress right, eat right, etc. The women include her in their many committees and meetings but all the while letting her know she is not Bea, that they knew Bea first and perhaps know more about Eddie than she does.

I really love being introduced to characters with pasts, hidden agendas and who are not quite as they seen. Who is Jane really? For that matter who is Eddie? Who is Bea? How well do you really know someone? Who has secrets? What happened the night the women drown? This make for some juicy reading. I really enjoyed how Hawkins gave us little glimpses into the characters’ lives, their thoughts and their motivations.

Besides being a fun juicy book, this was also beautifully written, perfectly paced and pleasing all the way around. I also enjoyed how she told the story. There is some jumping around in time, but she has the chapters clearly titled and there will not be any confusion. I found this to be a nice touch. Sometimes this annoys me in books, but not in this one. Rachel Hawkins is very clever as is this book.

I found this to be a fast read which had me turning the pages. Glued to my seat and engrossed in the story, I did not want to put this one down. As the book progresses so does the suspense, you know something is going to happen, but what?? You will need to read to find out.

Whether you have read Jane Eyre of not, this book will not disappoint. The Wife Upstairs is captivating, well thought out, and entertaining.

Highly Recommend.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

An amazing thriller that you won’t be able to put down. I noticed this was also a Book of the Mon5 selection and selected the hard copy just to have it in my library. Check this one out!

This was a fantastic thriller! One of the best of the 2020! I couldn't put it down! Great characters, great plot (I wasn't aware it was a retelling of Jane Eyre), a wonderful who done it. Bravo Rachel Hawkins!

Whoever wrote the teasers for this book did NOT do it justice! I almost wonder if they even read the book? A Southern Gothic, Jane Eyre-style drama?! Hell no. This was a nice, twisty thriller that FINALLY had a female not portrayed as a drunk or unreliable (like most thrillers lately), but as strong and sly in her own right! I think that would interest more readers than "southern gothic ... Jane Eyre ... blah, blah, blah". Turn off. There's still time to turn that around before the book is released!

This review was also published on Goodreads.

Let me start by saying that I have never read the book that this is based on, which seems to be a good thing for me. That fact left me with no preconceived notions.

I found ALL of the characters unlikeable, and I couldn't identify with a single one of them. I don't believe that we were supposed to like or identify with any of them, so that is a point in the author's favor.

I enjoyed this book right up until the ending. Well, actually, in my opinion, there was no true ending, so a point against the author for that. I really wanted to know a little more about the future of Jane,
Bea and Eddie. But it was not to be unless there is going to be a sequel!

Since I have not read Jane Eyre and only know what I've heard about it, for all I know, this book might end the same as the original.

I'm starting to think that author's really need to come up with original ideas and leave the classics as they are.

*ARC supplied by the publisher and the author.

Things aren't always the way they seem in this Stepford Wives-esque neighborhood. Who is the bad one? Jane, Eddie, the grieving husband?
This book was a little farfetched but I enjoyed it. I don't think there was anything really original or new here. The last 1/3 of the book spun out of control a little and seemed rushed.

I had no idea that this was a modern spin on classic "Jane Eyre" until I read other reviews.probably because I never read "Jane Eyre" haha.

Fans of psychological thrillers will like it.

Modern retelling of Bronte classic Jane Eyre.
Jane is a 23 year old woman running from her past - foster homes, neglect, vigilance.
She moves to Birmingham, renting a room from John - a kid she met in care.
Jane is a dog walker in a neighborhood dripping with money, looking for her next step up. In walks Eddie Rochester. Wealthy widower, sexy, down to earth - but Jane doesn't know his wife is still alive. And is locked upstairs.
This novel is an intriguing spin on a beloved classic - I loved it. The drama. Neighborhood snotty women. Jane's attempt to recreate herself, gain wealth and status.
Highly recommend.

This modern retelling of Jane Eyre is quite the page turner. I was really impressed with Hawkins ability to retell a classic in a gripping and compelling way. She twisted the tale enough to keep my interest. I loved the short chapters, alternating POVs and ending. A solid 4.5 stars.

Thank you St Martin's Press and Netgalley for this advanced copy to read in exchange for my honest review.
I loved loved this book! I never have read anything by this author before but am looking forward to reading more.
The storyline was complex which I liked and was so intriguing that I had a hard time putting it aside. This is one of those books where your wondering who is conning who?
I'm going to be referring this one to all of my friends. 5 stars.

This novel is a twist on the gothic classic Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It takes place in a gated community in Birmingham, Alabama and follows dog walker Jane as she meets Eddie Rochester six months after his wife, Bea, and her friend, Blanche, disappeared. Jane and Eddie's relationship quickly blossoms and before long, Jane is no longer the neighborhood dog walker but instead is a member of the community. As Jane and Eddie's relationship grows more serious, Jane starts to hear whispers of theories about what really happened to Bea and Blanche and as much as she wants to put these rumors out of her mind, Jane just can't seem to stay away.

I'll admit that I haven't read Rebecca, but I knew enough of the plot from just pop culture references to get a general idea of what this plot was going to be. After I finished reading The Wife Upstairs, I did look up spoilers for Rebecca just so I could have a rough idea how much of a twist this book put on the original plot. I read this article by Mashable (ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS) which compares the original book to the recent Netflix movie adaptation. In my opinion, The Wife Upstairs takes a perfect amount of inspiration from Rebecca but there are enough modern twists and changes that make it a unique story. I found this a very fun and enjoyable read and didn't feel like I was missing out on anything from not having read Rebecca.

By far my most favorite thing about this read was the actual writing. The prose was pretty straightforward, not super flowery or stylized, but it sucked me into the story so fast I was 30% in before I knew it. The majority of the story is Jane becoming one of the ladies in this community and listening to them gossip about past events. In theory, that could come off as very boring and lazy storytelling. However, Hawkins injects so much personality into Jane's inner thoughts or into the little witty retorts that other characters have that it becomes so interesting. I got the same feeling when I read Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train where, for the majority of the book, there wasn't a whole lot of action going on and most of the characters were pretty unlikeable, but there was that certain pull in the narrative that just kept me turning the pages.

I really enjoyed the way the narrative was split up. We get both Jane's and Bea's POV in different parts of the novel as well as flashbacks to both their lives before meeting Eddie. I think this not only plays on reader expectation, but it gives a really interesting comparison between what Jane is hearing from the neighbors and then the truth of what happened in the past. Being in both Jane's and Bea's head also allows the reader to know exactly what type of person each woman is. Jane is hiding her identity for some reason, thinks often about stealing items from the wealthy ladies of the community, and she makes very calculated moves in her relationship with Eddie. Bea is very similar in that she manipulates the people and situations around her for her benefit. I think the POV switching was done at just the right time to heighten the tension of the story. I find that some multi-POV books will use one POV as almost a forced cliffhanger where the main POV has a major plot development but instead of exploring that more, we have to hang out in a secondary POV for a while to artificially build tension and suspense. I didn't find that was the case in this book and I was relieved. It really felt like the two POVs were working together and building on one another, which I give Hawkins big points for.

Maybe it was just the fact that this was a gated community, but it was giving me major Desperate Housewives vibes the whole time. The reader gets these glimpses of the underbelly of these perfectly manicured houses and lives and each time we would get a hint of something going on under the surface, I just wanted to dive right in. The little battles and snide remarks that Jane first puts up with and then participates in were very well done and showed Jane's character development. I also found it really interesting how invested Jane was in fitting in with the other ladies of the neighborhood. She was constantly evaluating how they acted, how they dressed, what they talked about and then would imitate them in order to get closer to their inner circle. I also thought it was interesting that all of these characters are flawed in some way and it is a little hard to root for any one character in particular since they all are active participants, in a way, of their own unhappiness. We know Jane isn't some naive girl who gets blinded by a whirlwind romance and Bea wasn't an innocent victim of circumstance.

I do wish we would have gotten more of the relationship between Jane and Eddie. I never really found their relationship believable. In the above mentioned Mashable article, they state that du Maurier never saw Rebecca as a romance and didn't like when people categorized it as such and I can get on board with that idea. However, I would have liked to see more emotional development and feelings on both sides. We get Jane's POV which does show that she really does like Eddie, but she also manipulates him into moving faster along in their relationship at times in order to cement her place in the neighborhood. These inner thoughts and manipulations are contrasted by other thoughts about how in love with Eddie she is and how, much to her own surprise, she really can see a life with him. It came off a little disjointed for me and maybe if we had more slice of life scenes with the two of them being an actual couple, I could understand their relationship more.

I really loved the ending. No spoilers, of course, but I think all the characters got their appropriate ending. The ending is a little open-ended on some details but overall, I think the reader gets a good idea of where these characters are ending up after the whole ordeal of the book. Toward the end, we actually get a scene with Jane and the police detective investigating Bea and Blanche's disappearance and I wish we had gotten more of these scenes throughout the book. It was really interesting to be in Jane's head as she chose her words and way of speaking specifically to mislead the detective. Jane knew she needed to come off as X so she made sure to say Y and act like Z in order to do that. I wouldn't say that I was rooting for Jane by the end because she was a good character that I wanted to have a happy ending, I would say that I was rooting for Jane by the end because she's just so damn good at manipulating to get what she needs and I want to see her do more of that.



Overall, a great mystery read that takes a classic tale and gives it a fresh new spin. The characters were all fantastic and the writing style really pulled me along. It was a bit of a slow burn mystery but really pays off in the end.

304 pages

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC! Publication date is January 05, 2021.

This modern day retelling of Jane Eyre asks us to suspend belief all the way through, but it still keeps us entertained from beginning till end. Jane is a down and out dog walker in Thornfield Estates. A ritzy, gated neighborhood that’s full of young wealthy couples. Jane hungers to be part of their group and when she has a chance meeting with Mr. Rochester, her dreams are about to come true. Eddie recently lost his wife, Bea in a boating accident. Being in the right place at the right time ushers in a whirlwind romance for Jane and Eddie, but both have secrets, some bigger than others...much bigger! Soon Jane is questioning things about Eddie and his former life with Bea. Can she ever live up to his perfect first wife or will she miss the chance her happily ever after?

It took me a little bit to get into this book, but once I did it was very intriguing. In this retelling of Jane Eyre we find Jane, a broke dog-walker and thief. When she meets Eddie she is instantly drawn in and not bothered that his wife disappeared only a year ago.

Through the tale of both Jane and Bea we start to weave together a story that is haunting, mysterious, and interesting. I flew through this book, but in a way that I felt like I was missing things and was wanting more of something.

This book gave me mystery and suspense, but I wish it gave me something more.

Meet 'Jane' - a dog-walker for the wealthy whose background in foster care and group home she wants to stay hidden. When she meets 'Rochester', er Eddie Rochester, it is raining, she is walking someone else's dog and he practically hits her with his car. Jane soon learns that Eddie's recent past is anything but idyllic, despite the beautiful home in the gated community of McMansions. Jane learns bits about Eddie's life from her dog-walking clients and then more from Eddie himself as he soon becomes a dog owner, too.
Parts of the book are clichéd and predictable - I mean the title alone gives you a huge clue! Jane and Eddie grow closer, but what DID happen to Bea and Blanche? Why on earth didn't Jane tell Eddie about the scumbag ex-roommate the first time he tried to blackmail her?
The book is well-written. It moves quickly, the character development is pretty good. The protagonist is not terribly likable, so it makes it hard to figure out who to root for. And figuring out who the bad guys are takes a bit, too. All in all it was a pretty good weekend read.

Jane arrives in Birmingham, Alabama in need of money, so she walks dogs for residents in a wealthy enclave called Thornfield Estates. She’s treated as ‘the help’ amongst the country club set in this community, but she rests easy knowing that they don’t take enough interest in her to find out that Jane isn’t her real name.

Then she meets a handsome widower named Eddie, whose wife Bea drowned in a recent boating accident. Eddie is immediately drawn to Jane, and she is soon pulled into his life, struggling to fit in amongst the wealthy lifestyles of those at Thornfield.

Jane is increasingly concerned about the fate of Eddie’s wife, as well as the secrets about herself she’s tried to keep hidden. When it comes to their future, it seems like her past -- or his -- may pose a deadly threat.
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This was a very fun read!! I’ll read Rachel Hawkin’s writing any day. As an author, she is decisive and playful, and she comes across with such confidence in her narration. Her skill at writing YA translates very well into a psychological thriller!!

The emotions of Jane are incredibly heightened and swing wildly, and there’s some YA-type sass, too, to some of her dialogue and internal thoughts. This puts us into the mind of a main character who is boldly crafted, flawed and unreliable (my favorite type!).

This has a southern gothic element, with a backdrop of Birmingham McMansions owned by wealthy athleisure housewives. It’s fun to watch Jane try to shoe-horn herself into the lifestyles of the wealthy, ladies-who-lunch set.

This story has parallels with “Jane Eyre,” although it’s definitely a modern retelling. There’s some similarities with Daphne Maurier’s “Rebecca,” too.

I highly recommend this for those who love psychological thrillers, but also those who enjoy well-written YA, New Adult and even romance.

This hits the shelves on Jan 5, 2021 or you can get it as an early release with BOTM right now, for the month of December!!

Thanks so much to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the ARC!!

I really liked this one. It was intriguing enough of a plot that I didn't want to stop reading because I wanted answers.

I did guess who it was quite early in the book, but that wasn't a let down because following along as it unfolded for the main character was quite a journey and one I enjoyed. Also, I was more invested in finding out why's and what for's that guessing didn't interrupt the reading flow.

My only complaint really was the pov of Eddie. It really wasn't necessary and didn't fit with the flow of the story. It felt out of place and just plopped into the story. And we only had the one time pov which I always find odd in books.

Overall, I'd recommend it as a quick fun thriller.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this eARC