4.5 stars!!! What a great story!!! A captivating thriller with a shocking ending that grabbed my attention right from the start. The story begins with Jane the dog walker and her quest to elevate herself to the likes of the residents of the gated community of Thornwood Estates.
The storyline quickly involves a romance for Jane, a disappearance and a death of two women in the neighborhood where Jane walks dogs. All the characters are great and all have issues and secrets that are slowly revealed as relationships and friendships begin. There is also a bit of sarcastic humor thrown in that had me laughing out loud.
There were lots of twists and turns along the way that kept my interest. Just when you think you have a clue as to what is going on another twist or secret is revealed.
This was my first NetGalley audiobook and I loved it. The narrators were spot on with their voice inflections & southern charm really made the audio version very enjoyable.
I definitely recommend The Wife Upstairs if you enjoy fast paced shocking thrillers!
Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for The Wife Upstairs audiobook in exchange for my honest review. #NetGalley

Alrighty. This is a book I've seen all over bookstagram and I got my hands on an ARC (thanks, Netgalley and McMillan). The Netgalley app is nothing if not consistent and the narration gets funky at any speed over 1.0x. I'm assuming this will be fixed at some point, but damn.

First things first. I have tried and never made it through Jane Eyre. On paper, I should love it but I've never gotten into it. Now, having a modern version of Jane, Mr. Rochester, and a wife upstairs in a murder/mystery/thriller? That's more my bag. Which is why I'm so disappointed that it didn't wow me. I thought Jane's backstory would have been denser and a bigger motivator, but it wasn't. Ditto the relationship with John, the relationship between Bea and Blanche, the whole side story with Tripp, and the fact that we basically completely forget about the dog for the last 2/3 but dogs are the reason she's in the neighborhood to meet Eddie in the first place. I'm all for unreliable narrators but I think my struggle was that a narrator we know is manipulative can only be so unreliable if the unreliability is expected.

Knowing at the beginning there were a male and female narrator - and that male narrator is Kirby Heyborne whose Mormon movies I watched as a teenager - felt weird. He didn't pop up until >80% of the book was over and seemed like an afterthought that didn't add much to the narrative.

I rate it 3.49 stars/5. I liked it but I can't round it up to a 4.

What a great book. I'm so glad I was able to listen to this wonderful audio version. The narrator was fantastic with the voices and really brought the story to life.

What a twist, and then whiplash turn of a storyline. I thought I had most of the story figured out (one of the big predictions I made was actually based on the title), but the ending was great. I liked the development of Jane and could sympathize with her in some of the situations she found herself in throughout the book. The reader is enticed to cheer for her.

Psychological thrillers are my favorite genre and this fed my need for a new read in that category. I will highly recommend this book to others who enjoy having this kind of thrill.

Well, this story was an experience! I truly enjoyed how the story unfolded and the twists and turns.

I would like to thank @Netgally and @Macmillan for giving me the chance of listening to this audiobook.

The audiobook was actually very good! The narrator did a pretty good job of bringing the character and the story to life. I enjoyed it very much.

This book had numerous twists. All the characters were flawed.It was compelling. I will definitely recommend
this book to readers looking for a "whodunit."

First thing you need to know about this book: You don't have to have read Jane Eyre before to read this one. In fact, I think it would be really fun to go into it completely blind. I DO recommend reading Jane Eyre AFTER you've finished to compare the two, because how English-major-cool would that be?

The second thing to know, this book is fun from beginning to end. If fun means: unreliable narrators making questionable choices that involve hot, rich guys... (Um, yes please.) The different point of view changes were handled brilliantly, with more information being released with every new chapter. Plus, there was a lot of great social commentary, strong women, blackmailing, theft, and secret rooms.

The third thing to know? Once you start this book, you won't be able to put it down. Between the mystery that keeps you turning the pages, and the short chapters that make you think, "I can read one more before I go to bed..." time will fly by.

One additional note: The audio of this book was so well done. I loved the distinct narrators, their accents and inflection, it made me feel like I was watching a movie. This book got me through miles of walking.

Thank you to @Netgalley and @macmillan.audio for allowing me to listen to the audiobook of The Wife Upstairs. I enjoyed the book so much I ordered it from @BOTM so I could share the book with my friends and family.

This book was published the beginning of January and ever since I have seen lots of well deserved praise. This story just drew me in. I was excited to read it for two reasons: 1. I heard it compared to Jane Eyre, which I love, and 2. This is the January book pick of the #readroversbookclub which I belong to.

Jane, is a young woman, who is running from her past and has found herself in Birmingham, AL. She is living paycheck to paycheck walking dogs for the rich residents of the gated community of Thornfield Estates. When she can not make ends meet she has to pawn the items she lifts from the homes of her rich clients. Oh, and Jane is not her real name.

As Jane is walking dogs, she meets the rich and handsome, Eddie Rochester, who sadly lost his wife in a mysterious accident. The whole community is talking about it, his wife and her best friend are missing. They are believed to have drowned in a boating accident. Jane is definitely interested in handsome, rich Eddie.

Oh, yes, Eddie is interested in Jane and seems so nice. He is attentive and listens to all of Jane's stories and showers her with everything she could want. He even lets her move in and supports her so she doesn’t have to dog walk. But something they both have is secrets and secrets have a way of catching up.

This story is a page turner. You just need to know how it will play out. And just when you think you have it all figured out, Oh no, there is a twist and more twists. I give this story ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It is a wonderful thriller.

Thank you Netgalley for the free audiobook! I couldn’t listen to this one fast enough. While I didn’t totally love the ending, I really enjoyed the rest of it.

I did not realize this was a retelling of JANE EYRE until I heard the WIDE SARGASSO SEA epigraph. I should have paid more attention to the title of the book! I am not a JANE EYRE fan, but I listened to the entire audiobook because of the Birmingham/Mountain Brook, Alabama, setting and all the wonderful reviews. I'm not sure the third, briefest POV was necessary to the telling of the story. I liked the contemporary way in which the madwoman could take another lap around the attic.

Psychological Thriller has been my go to genre for some time because I love surprises and twisty turns in a book. However, recently this genre has been fading for me and I feel like a nitpicky customer when it comes to the genre these days, but it's being over run with books that are just 'meh' and this book is just another on the list for me.

None of these characters are likeable, and a good book needs one likeable person to cheer for. But - even so, i continued to read on. Yes, there were twists, but this book does some stretching of the imagination to pull it off and I just couldn't suspend belief in several areas, and this ruined the book for me. I don't want to give away spoilers but I have so much to say about why this book didn't work for me. I won't post those here to keep this spoiler free , but I will post them on my blog.

It had potential with the premise, but it missed the mark for me - like so many have these days.

#NetGalley

I received a copy of the audiobook from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

This was a really good book! I have always loved the novel Jane Eyre and this is a modern retelling of sorts, definitely a new story and twists that one would not expect. I like that the author mostly focuses on Jane's point of view throughout the novel, however, a few chapters here and there are from other view points and just spice up the story even more!

This story is mostly told from Jane's point of view, a foster care girl who is out of the system and works on trying to make her way in the world by coming into a rich neighborhood to walk various neighbors dogs. One day she stumbles upon a handsome widower and Jane realizes she can have everything in her life change. She does not even care that Eddie Rochester's mysterious death of his late wife, because all that matters is she is improving her life, right? Suspenseful, thrilling and certainly some twists that even I didn't see coming! Quite enjoyable

Lately I have been less than thrilled with domestic thrillers but Rachel Hawkins delivers with this multiple narrator fast paced thriller. Brings me back to my first reading of Gone Girl - though not quite as shocking of a conclusion as I experienced with Flynn. On audio, the use of multiple narrators made the book more engaging and the characters more real.

Wow! I am so glad that I read this one. It's my favorite book of the year so far and it was a really good, suspenseful mystery. The best kind are those that aren't predictable and that you make your predictions and assumptions but they're either not right or only somewhat. Rachel Hawkins really hit the spot for me with this one.

First, Jane starts off with walking some dogs, which I loved since I am a huge dog lover. :) While walking dogs in a wealthy neighborhood for a rich woman, she meets Eddie who is also filthy rich. It's a story of rags to riches in some ways, but that's only a small part of the story. I honestly don't know what to say without ruining it/spoiling it for others.

Let me say that I really enjoyed all of the characters and I thought they were complex and realistic. No one seemed contrived or unbelievable, once you realized how they fit in. There are surprises, so watch for clues and when you think you have it figured out, think again.

I highly recommend this one!

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a free audiobook in exchange for my opinion. I only had the audiobook, no hard copy version, so the narrators really added to my pleasure listening. Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, and Lauren Fortgang annunciated clearly and I was able to follow along without needing to refer to a written copy.

"I didn't know you could love someone but also not know them at all." -- "Jane" soon-to-be Rochester

Twisty and dark, this was a satisfying novel of crime and passion, secrets and rumors. It wasn't particularly unique -- [book:The Wife Upstairs|53137893] doesn't hide the fact that it's a contemporary retelling of [book:Jane Eyre|10210] -- but it was intriguing in a fresh way.

Do I love a book filled with flawed characters and untrustworthy narrators? Usually no, but this one spread the unlikable stuff thinly, so I could still glimpse the worth and warmth beneath.

As for the audiobook, the narrator for "Jane" sounds eerily robotic. Otherwise the narration was decent, though a bit slow. I blame the setting for this, as it seemed the narrators almost tried to draw and drawl things out Southern style.

The Wife Upstairs is told from three points of view—Jane, Bee, and Eddie. Bee and Eddie are a wealthy couple who live in a new neighborhood of McMansions in Birmingham, AL. Jane is a dog walker in the neighborhood. Rachel Hawkins has done an excellent job of providing different viewpoints on the mystery at the center of the story. She provides great background information on the three characters. Without giving anything away, I can say that nothing was as it seemed and Iwas kept guessing until the very end. I loved it and highly recommend it.

I loved loved loved this book. Thank you! I'll be posting my review on Goodreads, Storygraph, and Amazon!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for this advance copy, and here’s my opinion freely given.

Jane, Mr. Rochester, and a wife who’s supposedly dead but isn’t - sound familiar? The Wife Upstairs’ modern twist on Jane Eyre is buoyed by fantastic narration of the audio book, and the writing style is solid. Story recaps can be found elsewhere so let’s get to the good and meh.

A struggling heroine succeeding, and a cast of characters to love and hate, all brought into modern day worked well. The twists and turns of the story holds your interest, but unfortunately I felt the overuse of the f-word served as a distraction, and the play of a political card felt more like a reveal of the author’s position than a fit for the storyline. I want to escape and be entertained when reading fiction, not get into political leanings.

The ending is satisfying, and if you don’t mind the “meh” things above, you’ll find much to like in The Wife Upstairs.

This was good! SO GOOD!

Let me just say, I have not read the classic Jane Eyre....so I didn't know how the story would go or if it's similar or not....

OMG! I was hooked from the beginning.. This was so twisty! Literally made my jaw drop and even made me scream! No other book has done that as of yet. Of course I have cried before and laughed....but screamed. NEVER. I thought I knew where this book was going but I did not. The twist was so sharp! Definitely a fast paced novel which I love. Definitely recommend.

I listened to this, and I loved the 3 POV and different narrator for each. LOVED all 3. They fit perfectly.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a free audio copy of The Wife Upstairs in exchange for my honest review.

I lnow this was advertised as a modern retelling of Jane Eyre. Now Jane Eyre is my FAVORITE book so I was excited. This book is nothing like Jane Eyre. The similarities are that the author uses some names from Jane Eyre, the fact there is a secret wife upstairs, and that there's (spoiler alert) a fire at the end.

The story is about Jane, a woman with a secret past she is running away from. While a dog walker in a fancy neighborhood, she meets the charming Eddie Rochester. There is a whirldwind romance, but both of them are hiding secrets.

I really don't understand why the author used the names from Jane Eyre. Jane in The Wife Upstairs is nothing like Jane Eyre. In fact, she was incredibly unlikeable, as is Eddie. I had a hard time getting into the novel at first because I found the two main characters so unlikeable. However, as I kept reading, other points of view were introdiced and the story became more intriguing. I'm happy I kept at it, because I loved all the twists and ultimately sped through the rest of the book,anxious to find out how it would all end. It was a satisfying read, and in my opinion, would have been better if not for the author's use of Jane Eyre as source material. (I found it to be more like Rebecca anyway.)

The Wife Upstairs is a modern retelling of Jane Eyre - and, if you are like me and only vaguely remember reading Jane Eyre in about twenty years (note to self: time to revisit some classics!), you’ll find plenty of unexpected twists and thrills that will keep you in suspense throughout this book.

Jane (not her real name) is a newcomer to Birmingham, Alabama who finds herself employed as a dog walker in the exclusive Thornfield Estates neighborhood. She enjoys picking up bits and pieces of gossip that she overhears from bored housewives - along with picking up bits and pieces of their jewelry that she can pawn for some extra pocket money. When Jane has a chance meeting with Eddie Rochester, a rich, handsome widower, she sees the opportunity to finally escape her checkered past and settle into the privileged life that she knows she deserves. But what should be a new fairytale life is haunted by thoughts of Eddie’s wife Bea, who died in a tragic boating accident alongside her best friend Blanche. As events from Jane’s past threaten to catch up with her new life, she dives into learning as much as she can about Bea and Blanche to try to uncover the truth surrounding their mysterious deaths.

The audiobook version was so well done - I was instantly captivated by Jane’s story - and while she wasn’t always an overly likable character, I was sucked into wanting to understand her past and how it would impact her future in Thornfield Estates. As the book unfolded, each part was told from a different character point of view - each voiced by a different actor - which I really enjoyed. Overall, the book was not as dark or suspenseful as I expected from the “gothic” description, and had a lighter, almost snarky, tone that I appreciated. It was a good read, and if you have the opportunity to listen to the audiobook I recommend it!