Modern retelling of Jane Eyre, lots of twists and turns! I finished the book in a day.... I couldn’t put it down!

A wonderful mystery thriller. I devoured this book in one sitting! The characters were well developed and it had a great twisty storyline. It’s definitely one I would recommend to friends, family, or complete strangers!

The Wife Upstairs is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre, with some twists. Jane is a dog walker in a ritzy neighborhood in Alabama, hiding from an unsavory past. She meets Eddie Rochester, a widower, who buys a puppy just so he can hire her. Their relationship evolves and Jane is able to improve her circumstances, but the image of Eddie's hugely successful wife, Bea, haunts her. Can Jane live up to the larger than life persona? What really happened that night at the lake?

I loved this book. I was taken in immediately by Jane's internal monologue and couldn't wait to see how her character evolved. She grabbed my attention before the mystery of what occurred at the lake was explored. Fans of Jane Eyre will notice similarities, of course, but not enough that you will guess the twists.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for a review.

So, Jane is not who she seems. In fact, she is not even Jane, but most of the people she encounters in the private gated community where she walks dogs are also not what they seem. Among all the bored, shopaholic wives with way too much time and money on their hands, she is free to casually lift a trinket here or there to help her survive her life with a roommate who either knows too much or too little about her.

Then she meets Eddie, a recent widower whose wife, along with her best friend, disappeared on a nearby lake, presumably drowned while on a late-night drunken sail. Eddie is PERFECT, everything Jane has always wanted in a man. He is rich, attentive, loving and always makes her feel loved and wanted. There is just one small problem, but Jane doesn't know what that is, and is not too interested in finding out. The fact that his last name is Rochester may set off a few warning bells in reader's minds, but maybe not?

A good read - keeps you wondering and guessing right to the end. And Jane DOES get her happy ending.

The Wife Upstairs is a book that crept up on me... a surprisingly spooky, slow burn, domestic thriller that will most likely knock your socks off before you can put it down.

Well dang! The Wife Upstairs is more than your average thriller. While I'm not usually a huge fan of books that have "wife" "sister" "husband" in the title, this book capitalized and underlined the feeling of unease. I don't know why out of all books, this is the one that creeped me out. Maybe it's the fear of everything close to you can be a lie and some secrets are as close to a single staircase away? Who knows, but my paranoia was through the roof for this protagonist.

Another thing that I loved about The Wife Upstairs is how straight forward it is. There isn't anything pulling you away from the main mystery, and you're almost never distracted from the main plot. Clean and precise, which is exactly how I like my thrillers written. Along with the gothic horror, the book also has themes of conforming to a different "society" where you may/may not belong. And how outsiders could possibly perceive your life as strange, unnecessary, or hopeless.

Definitely will be talking about The Wife Upstairs a lot when 2021 comes rolling around, but take my advice and have this one on your radar!

This modern retelling of Jane Eyre doesn't have any likable characters. Jane, a bit of a con artist who has had a hard life, meets Eddie Rochester in the course of her work as dog walker and house cleaner. Eddie is a recent widower who now owns the company his late wife founded. Bea Rochester and her friend have drowned in a boating accident.

Jane becomes engaged to Eddie and moves in with him. She tries to take her place as a lady of the McMansion and befriend the other women in the neighborhood, who were her former employers. As in the original Bronte book, plot twists abound and the ending is not a fairy tale.

Fans of the original work might appreciate this one.

This gripped me from the first few pages. I adored Jane's voice as she introduced us to this shuttered world of enormous wealth and then the unfurling mysteries (yes, plural) had me hooked. It made me think of Big Little Lies with a dash of Desperate Housewives and I raced through it in a matter of days. I'll definitely be recommending this to fans of thrillers.

This book seriously had you guessing what the flip was going on from beginning to end. This author is so so good at suspense was really the amazing plot twists that have you saying what the heck? I seriously could not figure out who the bad intent person was in this scenario. The book was written so beautifully descriptive and from all angles my mind was just spinning. And the end. Oh my goodness the end. I did. Not. See. That. Coming. This book is a beautiful beautiful piece of work. A poke dog walker catches an eye of a widow - his wife has recently gone missing, presumed dead with her best friend who was also presumed murdered. But who killed them? Everyone has skeletons in their closet they are trying to hide from each other. But everything comes out. Literally. Highly recommend. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Wife Upstairs.

I was a high school junior when I read Jane Eyre. It is still my favorite classic of all time.

Of course, I was a spring chicken back then so who knows how age and wisdom might affect how I interpret Jane Eyre today.

Still, I have fond memories so I was pleased when my request was approved for The Wife Upstairs, a modern retelling.

** Minor spoilers ahead **

A young woman named Jane quickly captivates the eyes and heart of a wealthy man named Eddie (Edward) Rochester.

She is looking for safety, security and stability in the arms of a man who can provide the things she never had growing up in numerous foster homes.

The problem is...well, there are a few.

Namely, Eddie's wife has been missing for the last six months and though everyone suspects she is dead, she isn't. And she's looking for payback.

Sadly, I was not captivated by this, mostly because it contains too many modern tropes standard in so many domestic thrillers.

First, we have the insta-love connection between Jane and Eddie, how quickly he falls for her, and wants to be with her.

I didn't buy it. Their relationship was not believable which tainted the narrative from the get-go.

Second, no one is likable, not her vapid, Lululemon wearing frenemies, not Eddie (naturally handsome and buff) or his wife, Bea, and definitely not Jane.

Jane never struck me as someone wily, competent, or street smart, if not book smart.

She's just another woman looking for a man to take care of her. Ho-hum. Jane Eyre this Jane is not.

I did find Bea's backstory a bit more interesting, but not enough to root for her.

Also, how did Eddie not notice that Bea had put a notebook in his jacket?

Even a small notebook would make a jacket, no matter how heavy or light, feel differently in one's hand.

Another mark to add to the "not able to suspend disbelief for" column.

The writing was okay, but the ending was abrupt and goes in the column I mentioned above.

This was a little predictable, but I appreciated the twists and turns throughout that kept me second guessing myself. I enjoyed reading it, but felt it wrapped up a little too quickly/easily and I felt like I didn’t get closure (like what was Eddie trying? Did they both live or what?).

Well, well, well.

The Wife Upstairs has more crazy people, more people that can't tell the truth or recognize it if their life depended on it.

And it does depend on it .

A cast of characters from a gothic novel that will keep you guessing as to who killed the 2 B's .

The only one I was not suspicious of was the dog!.

Twists and turns that keep coming at you as the pages fly by.

The Wife Upstairs , like any gothic novel/movie, the ending has it all.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press for a great book to spend the afternoon with.

An easy and enjoyable read, it wasn’t what I expected but once I realized the story wasn’t going in the direction I thought it would I started to enjoy it even more!

I honestly don’t know what I think of this book. At first I seemed to enjoy it, I truly did! But as the book progressed it was lie after lie and it just seemed unrealistic. At first it sounded like everything pointed one way and then it just twisted and turned and I think it was over the top. The story line was great until it took a turn towards unrealistic.

They meet—a week later they live together and she had access to his accounts. The raw bones were there but the unrealistic aspects of the book got the best of it. Plus the book felt rushed. One paragraph you’re reading is set in one time and then the next paragraph jumped weeks to months ahead. It was very rushed and the rushed timeline added to the unrealisticness of the book.

I really wanted to love this book. Don’t get me wrong it was enjoyable, but not something I would run out and buy the moment it hits the shelves. The writing and language in the book was enjoyable and makes me want to read another book by this author! Just the storyline didn’t cut it for me. If the storyline added more realistic aspects this would be a great book!

Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy of this book!

3.5 stars rounded up.
The book had plenty of twists and kept you guessing, but some of the twists were (IMO) easy to see coming and it never had that nail-biting must keep reading feeling for me. Also, everything felt very surface level and so much more could have been explored, but then would have had to sacrifice some twists or made it longer I guess?
Overall it was an enjoyable story, just nothing spectacular.
Also, how/when Bea renamed herself the story changes in the book and that minor detail really bothered me for some reason. Maybe it's just different characters recollections but turned me off a bit.

Jane the dog walker meets a handsome, rich widow and they fall in love. Sounds too good to be true, right? This is a great mystery that alternates between past and present by way of various characters. Things aren’t always as they seem, as we know!

Well, the title kind of says it all. First, we meet Jane. She's newly arrived in Alabama, broke, living in a dump of an apartment with a lump of a boyfriend. To make ends meet, she begins walking dogs in a wealthy suburban neighborhood. One particularly nasty, rainy day she literally bumps into a gorgeous man. Actually, he nearly bumps into Jane with his car. The man is Eddie, and he is recently widowed after his wife and her best friend drowned during a girls' weekend. Eddie seems to good to be true, because, of course, he is too good to be true, but Jane falls head over heels and soon moves in with him. So what is he hiding? Lots, including the titular wife.

The Wife Upstairs is a fun read with lots of twists and turns. It's well written with interesting characters, and it's a very fast read. Be sure to put it on your TBR list. It will be published on January 5, 2021.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. This is sure to be a big hit.

I really enjoyed the majority of this book. It was a unique story and suspense factor was definitely there.

Jane, who was hired as a dog walker in the Thornfield Estates of Birmingham, Alabama, seemed completely out of her element compared to the wealthy clients she worked for. That’s why it surprised me that she caught the eye of Eddie. His wife and her best friend had recently drowned, so I wouldn’t have imagined he was ready to get back into the dating world, but Jane had ulterior motives that would not only benefit her monetarily but would also provide protection from whatever it was she was running from. But how well did Jane know Eddie and was he really worth all of the trouble? Could Jane live up to the reputation of his late wife and begin a new life with him? I’ll leave that for you to find out.

I thought this was a great book, and I loved peeling back the layers of this story, but at times it seemed a bit anticlimactic, especially toward the end, which I found a little disappointing. There was so much buildup but I felt it fizzled out too quickly.

Either way, I still recommend this book and look forward to reading more from Rachel Hawkins.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3525795241

This novel was a breath of fresh air with the twists and turns. You will not know who to trust and what to believe when you start this book! Highly recommend!

I enjoy psych thrillers & found "The Wife Upstairs" to be an engrossing novel of its genre. It keep me guessing until the surprising end! We have an "unreliable" heroine, Jane, who is not telling us about her past, her rise to riches in wealthy Alabama with Eddie, who recently lost his famous wife Bea & her best-friend, Blanche in a mysterious "Boat accident"... lots going on in this one & I highly recommend! My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC & opinions are my own

The Wife Upstairs: A Novel by [Rachel Hawkins]

This was just OK. The characterization lacked nuance, the plot plodded, and the ending had a decent twist but was poorly written.

Review copy provided by publisher.