I went into this book completely blind, so I didn't even really know what it was about before starting. This one blew my mind. I loved how slowly everything unraveled and the narrators were so perfect for the characters. There were multiple twists, leaving me guessing throughout the book, even until the last few pages. I really like when I spend the entire book trying to put the pieces together, only to have everything explained in just a few lines. If you are a fan of mysteries or thrillers, this book is for you!

Thank you so much to Net Galley and MacMillan Audio for this advanced audio of the book!

There a couple things about this book that are fantastically done. The southern gothic atmosphere of the book was very well done and left a creepy feeling behind. The twists in the book were great and very well done as well. I definitely didn't see things turning up the way they did. I didn't love Jane though, she was a bit naïve and at some points a little ridiculous. She showed her age quite a bit and just seemed lost. I understand the point of the lost part but I think she could have been a little smarter of a character. I like Eddie though, even more toward the end of the book. Overall this was a good thriller that I really enjoyed. I have to knock a star off though because the ending didn't completely work for me. I do think this one is worth the read, or listen if you enjoy audiobooks. The narrators do a fantastic job with this one!

The wife upstairs by Rachel Hawkins was an absolute thrill ride! I have not read this author before, but will certainly be looking at all her pervious books now. Jane, Eddie, Bea are some of the most interesting characters I’ve read in a while. Right away the reader is drawn to Jane, a woman on the run who is using her RWF (rich, white & female) dog walking clients as much as they are using her. She has lived a rough life, growing up in foster care out west and is running from a past and event that the reader isn’t let it on until well into the book. Jane is a survivor, plain and simple. She lives by one rule, “Trust no one.” Eddie is a recently widowed man, who lives in the high-fluent neighborhood that Jane walks her dogs in. After a he meets Jane, Eddie buys himself a dog! I think everyone knows where this is headed, but don’t be too sure. This book almost gave me whiplash with all the twists, turns and completely unexpected happenings. The writing was fantastic, with biting dialogue, and such a wonderfully developed setting. Who hasn’t driven through this type of neighborhood and looked at the amazing lawns, huge mansions and thought to themselves, “These people have it made. If only I could live here, yada yada yada.” Well things aren’t always what they seem and bad shit happens everywhere, no matter how much money you have. The narrator did a fantastic job and I blew through this book in a day and half.

This book was a trip!

The book is said to be a retelling of Jane Eyre, which I have never read. I can't speak to how well it was re-told, but I can tell you that I couldn't put this (audio)book down! Jane is a nobody with a past she's running from, when she meets Eddie, rich and fairly recently widowed. Jane thinks she's getting everything she wants until she finds out the truth, she isn't the only one hiding a dark secret. As the story progresses, we are faced with the question of how far we will go for the ones we love and what we are willing to sacrifice in the process. The beginning is a bit slower, working up to the huge twist at the end, but it's well worth the wait. I didn't particularly like or dislike any of the characters, but they all worked well for the story, as we gets bits and pieces from each of them. The narration was well done and I think you get a good sense of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

WHOA! 🤯 This modern take on #JaneEyre is dark, thrilling, suspenseful, and full of twists and turns. I *had* to keep reading #TheWifeUpstairs to find out what was going to happen!

The classic story of Jane going to Mr. Rochester’s estate and finding his crazy wife upstairs is completely twisted in this version...in a good way! No one is who you think they are and you don’t know who to trust. I loved that this book has three different POVs so that the information you want to know unravels slowly chapter by chapter.

I listened to the audiobook of this and the three voice actors are *so* good. I really enjoyed listening to this!

I don’t want to give too much away since it’s best to discover this book’s shocking reveals as you read it.

“I’m just a girl who got caught up in other people’s bullshit.”

**Listen, before you come for me. It’s my fault. I didn’t like Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train either. So what made me think I’d like a book that was compared to those? The only reason I finished this was because I had to review it for Netgalley. And it was painful for me. I’ve suffered enough. Also, I’ve never read Jane Eyre so that was my bad. **

This is the story of Jane. Poor (literally and figuratively) Jane. Who starts walking dogs in a rich neighborhood and gets caught up in all the rich folk’s drama. As an outsider who is considered the “help” she gets to listen to the juiciest gossip and steal all the diamond earrings she can get her hands on. One day the neighborhood’s hottest bachelor, even though he is a recent widower, puts his eyes on her. All of a sudden Jane is not the “help” anymore but the most envied woman in Thornfield Estates. Sadly this doesn’t last. Of course it won’t last. We have a wife upstairs. *wink wink*

I can see the appeal of this book. The mystery part of it hooked me in the beginning. I soon lost it though. I didn’t like the characters at all. They were ALL awful human beings. I mean both women, Jane (not her real name) and Bea (not her real name) changed their names and had shady past. And the people in Thornfield Estates with so much money yet no one was happy, BUT I could get over that. I could, because money doesn’t alway equal happiness. However that ending. When you find out who the real killer is and why. Really? That was another thing, I didn’t buy any of it. Rich people, who have been rich their whole lives, like money. They don’t let any of it go. Why would they? So we get to the ending and I’m like...really? I just didn’t buy any of it. I was hating the book little by little the more I read it. I just don’t buy any of it and I’m kind of mad at the whole thing. I feel lied to and so bored by it all.

This was a wild ride, and didn't go where I was expecting it to. I've never read Jane Eyre, so as far as a retelling, I can't say how it was. But as a mystery/thriller with romance vibes, it was good. The changing perspectives were interesting, and the narration on the audio was well done.

This follows a trio of terrible people doing terrible things to each other, and I kept changing my mind on who I felt bad for or was worried about. There is Jane, not her real name, who is determined to wife herself to the rich widower in the community where she dog walks, whilst keeping her sordid past a secret, even as it tries to catch up with her. Eddie, the widower, who is keeping his wife captive, when everyone else thinks she and her best-friend died the same night. And Bea, the trapped wife, who through flashbacks we learn wasn’t so honest about her what her past was like, either.

Definitely twisty, for fans of Verity, The Family Upstairs, and If We Were Villains this is a family drama with a love triangle, rich socialites, and some past perspectives to fill in the gaps as we go. You never quite know who is the victim and who is the villain, but you can't put it down until you find out.

This book was a good thriller. Not groundbreaking, not shocking, but good. It leans heavily on the southern rich people drama and sprinkles in the mystery. I felt like for the entire thing something was missing, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I felt that way unfortunately until the end. I kept waiting on the other twist because the first just seemed too easy. Overall, the writing was good, the story intriguing, and I'l read more from Rachel Hawkins in the future.

I received an audio of this book for my honest review. While the narrator in Jane's perspective, I thought did a good job, I could NOT stand the fake southern accent. As someone who grew up in Alabama and has lived in Birmingham for years, the atmosphere was spot on, but the accent? Big yikes LOL.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

What a great thriller! I really enjoyed listening to this and while I had an inkling of some of the twists coming, I was still surprised a couple times, and even what I did guess I did not see coming very far in advance. I will say that I have not read Jane Eyre, so I can’t speak to how this novel is as a retelling. I did look at the Wikipedia for Jane Eyre just to see the similarities - interesting.

I enjoyed the story very much and also thought the narration was really well done. I did not connect to or like any characters particularly, but with this book I was ok with that. If you like thrillers, I think you’ll enjoy this book.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio, Netgalley and the author for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Pros: A modern Jane Eyre with a bit of Gone Girl and Rebecca mixed in. This was a fun, fast read!

Cons: None really. Although no great work of fiction, this book does what it sets out to do and is one of the better I’ve read in this genre!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 on the Goodreads scale

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for the audio version of this book!

(When I attempted to post a review to Goodreads through NetGalley, Goodreads was unable to find the ISBN number. I manually added the review above to Goodreads.)

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins was such a great audiobook. The characters were well developed, even the secondary ones. The plot was interesting. The reader knows fairly early the ‘what’ and the ‘who’ but not the ‘why’. The twists and turns made for good suspense. The narrators, Emily Shaffer; Kirby Heyborne; Lauren Fortgang, brought the story to life. I really like when the audiobook has more than one narrator for the main characters because it gives them depth.

***** I received an ARC from NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my honest review. *****

I loved this audio book. It sucked me in and I could not stop listening, it was quite the tale!! A less fortunate girl landing a spot in a rich neighborhood with a handsome widower. Only to find she’s not the only one with secrets!!! The ending... get ready!!

The Wife Upstairs is one of the most buzzed about thrillers of 2021, and you might be wondering why. Well, to start, one doesn’t often find a hook as tantalizing as a modern retelling of Jane Eyre set in Alabama, teasing an atmosphere of gothic mystery meets southern charm.

In the story, our main protagonist Jane is a dog walker for the wealthy residents of Thornfield Estates, one of the most exclusive gated communities in Birmingham. Flat broke and on the run from a dark secret in her past, she came to this southern city to lie low while she decided her next steps. What she did not expect, however, was to meet the charming and handsome Eddie Rochester, a recent widower who lives in the same upmarket neighborhood where she works. Experiencing an immediate spark, Jane is thrilled when Eddie buys a puppy and becomes a client. Pretty soon, one thing leads to another, the two begin seeing each other romantically, and not long after that, Eddie asks her to move in.

And just like that, Jane hatches a new plan. Tired of surviving on odd jobs, petty thievery and running smalltime cons, she sets her sights on making Eddie hers. Inheriting his dead wife’s successful southern lifestyle company has made him fabulously wealthy, and with all that money, Jane could simply make her past problems disappear. It also doesn’t hurt that she is developing some very real feelings for Eddie. So, when he finally gets around to proposing to her, it doesn’t even feel like a lie.

Still, lately Jane has been learning more about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Eddie’s wife, Bea. The late Mrs. Rochester had been presumed drowned along with her best friend Blanche after the two of them disappeared in a tragic boating accident. But then the friend’s body is eventually found with new disturbing evidence, and Jane can’t help but become suspicious. After all, she’s no stranger to doling out lies and deceit. Might Eddie be more like her than she would like to admit?

Before I continue, I must confess to not having read Jane Eyre, though I am familiar enough with the story. Still, at the end of the day, I’m not sure it matters. There are certainly parallels and similarities to the original, most notably in some of the names of characters and places, but the bulk of the twists and turns are Rachel Hawkins’ own creation. The Wife Upstairs is a mystery about hidden agendas, secret identities, and concealed pasts. Jane shares a similar background as her namesake in the classic—orphaned, growing up in a miserable foster home, abused and neglected until she aged out of the system. However, she is also upfront about Jane not being her real name and candid about her contempt for the rich ladies she works for, relishing in stealing from them. We’re dealing with some pretty unpleasant characters here, and it’s a wonder Hawkins was able to drum up sympathy for her protagonist—perhaps just enough. It helps that she may have met her match in Eddie Rochester. Of all the characters in the book, I enjoyed the spin on him the most. Jane’s certainly not the only player in this game of wits, and the questions surrounding Eddie just makes the stakes feel higher.

I also thought the setting was clever, particularly the integration of southern society into the mystery plot. The people are rich, beautiful, perfect, and none more so than Eddie’s late wife. No matter what Jane does or who she marries, she knows she will never be accepted by the other ladies or be a match for Bea’s elegance and success. Despite the novel’s Jane Eyre inspiration, comparisons to Rebecca are also apt here, and incidentally, the treatment of the original source and writing style reminded me very much of The Winters by Lisa Gabriele, another reimagining of a classic. The Wife Upstairs definitely falls in the same family of retellings, so if you enjoy that kind of novel, this one might also be worth checking out.

However, by its very nature, the book’s strengths are also some of its weaknesses, among them the predictability of the story and its unavoidable clichés. While most of Hawkins’ new takes are fresh and interesting, a few of them are also awkward and don’t work too well, especially towards the ending. It just seemed like things should have ended with more of a bang, or with a better twist and a more consequential conclusion.
That said, I would still recommend The Wife Upstairs if you’re into thrillers and are curious about its hook, especially since Jane Eyre retellings are somewhat rare. The audiobook was also an enjoyable listen. There’s a lot of talent in the narration, with Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, and Lauren Fortgang (of whom I am a big fan!) all delivering fantastic performances.

This book had many twists and turns throughout. All of the characters are broken and dysfunctional on some level. They aren't very likable, but they are certainly interesting.

This is reportedly a retelling or reimagining of Jane Eyre. I'm not sure which because I've never read the classic. However, after reading this I think I may give it a try. I am really curious to see how much of this, aside from the names, came from the original.

I have to admit that I did see some of the twists coming, but the more you read the more the twists continue. It was fun to wonder where the author would go with the story and where all the characters would end up. I really enjoyed going along for the ride.

This was the first book I read by Rachel Hawkins and I'd be interested in reading more of her work if she writes more in the mystery/thriller/suspense genre.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, and Lauren Fortgang. I thought all of the narrators did well and fit the characters perfectly.

Happy Publication Day!

Jane is a dog walker in a wealthy community. She notices that there’s a single man with a dog in the development who she decides to meet so she can hopefully change her life. Once she starts walking Eddie’s dog they click and start dating, but in a small community rumors are always going around. She starts hearing whispers about Eddie’s deceased wife and decides to figure out what happened to Bea and her friend.

Not to give spoilers, but this is a modern day retelling of Jane Eyre. I thought I had read Jane Eyre in high school, but after reading this book I didn’t remember it at all. That was a good thing! I was glad I didn’t see the twists coming!

I thought the author did a great job with this story. I really enjoyed it and honestly didn’t know how it was going to end. The big twist did take me by surprise. I look forward to reading more books by Rachel Hawkins.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

4 stars

Very interesting book. I thought I had this one figured out numerous occasions but to no avail, I got it wrong. It is an interesting tale of “what wold you do for love”. Eddie doesn’t have much time to decide the answer to this intriguing question and the author will take you on an adventure to find out the truth.

I enjoyed this audio, the narrators were good and did a great job with the southern accents. I really like when the narrator reads with emphasis and puts some life into the story they’re reading.

This is my first book by this author, so I’m looking forward to reading more from her!

This was such an enjoyable listen. Luckily, I had a physical copy of this book and was able to read along as I listened to this audiobook. I was able to get through this book in two sittings...and the only reason that I had to stop listening the first time was because it was way past my bedtime. I probably would have finished this in one sitting if I could have.

I had a love/hate relationship with Jane. I'm not sure if that was the intention by the author but my hatred for her didn't take anything away from wanted to read more about her. I'm honestly not sure if any of the characters were suppose to be too likeable. Reading about them, however, was still enjoyable.

There were several twists and turns throughout this book. Yes, some of them were predictable but even when those twists were revealed, I love how it was revealed. I am eager to check out more books from Rachel Hawkins.

A heart-pounding thriller based on characters from Jane Eyre. It was enjoyable but I had a hard time connecting with or liking any of the characters.

What a great book to start a new year with! Dear reader, prepare yourself for a phenomenal roller coaster of events.

Jane's life turns upside down when she meets a handsome, rich, and newly widowed bachelor on a street in the most upscale and gated neighborhood of Thornfield Estates. Mother Fortune has given Jane this lucky chance, and she is not stupid to pass it by. Shortly after Jane's address changes, as well as her wardrobe, daily routine, manners, tastes, and new shiny bling on THE finger. Besides the wealth, Jane inherits Eddie's dead wife's shadow that begins to follow her since the first time she stepped foot into Eddie's residence. Blinded by such a turn of events, Jane doesn't right away notice her future husband's strange behavior. And what follows next will open her eyes to the truth behind the unfortunate accident that took place before Jane's fabulous entrance into the Thornfield Estates and it's residents' lives.

Ah, what a marvelous, intriguing, and captivating read this was. Way better than I expected. Fabulous characters followed by a twisted plot at the end of which the hunter becomes hunted, victims become victimizers.

A modern Southern Gothic take on Jane Eyre? Yes, please! Set in a neighborhood of McMansions in Birmingham, Alabama, we have a Jane, a dog-walker with a mysterious background. We have a widowed Mr. Rochester. Of course, their paths cross. But what are those occasional thumps from the Rochesters' attic? What really happened to Bea Rochester and her best friend? I found this book to be intriguing and entertaining, not just the mysteries but some sly social commentary on the lives of the Rochesters' neighbors. I won't get into how far the Jane Eyre parallels go, because I don't want to give too much away. But I do recommend this book. I listened to the audio version, and it was excellent - very well narrated.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.