Thank you so much to NetGalley, St Martin’s Press, and Rachel Hawkins for providing this slow burn mystery for my honest review. This is so atmospheric. I really enjoyed the pacing and unfolding of secrets. This is more of a family drama with plenty of mysteries and secrets rather than a fast paced thriller. I loved every minute of it! I really appreciated the three POV’s and couldn’t believe all the twists that took me by surprise. This is my favorite by this author and I can’t wait to read what she writes next. Thank you again for allowing me to review this twisty thriller! I highly recommend it!

Cam and his wife Jules have been called to Ashby House, a mansion in North Carolina that has been willed to Cam by his adoptive mother. Jules has never met Cam’s family, and he has always been super secretive about his childhood and his mother who had four husbands, all who died under mysterious circumstances.

This one started off a little slow for my taste, but it alternates between Cam’s mother Ruby telling the story of her wild life and the present day of his rude extended family wanting Ruby’s inheritance. There are so many twists and turns in the back half of the book! I was very satisfied with it.

Check this one out on Jan. 9 if you like dark family mysteries and unreliable narrators. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC!

4 stars

This might be my favorite book by Hawkins so far! I wasn't a fan of the last two - but this one was twisty and fun while keeping you on your toes. I was hooked at all the mysteries surrounding this strange family.

I did enjoy the alternating POVs and everyone seemed to have hidden secrets. Ruby's journals were my favorites and while I guessed some of her plot points I still enjoyed the ride to finding out what really happened. There's so much going on that you won't want to stop reading. This is the first book in a while that I couldn't put down.

None of the characters are really "likeable" but that was part of the fun for me. I wanted to know Jules and Camden's motives and I loved that we were still left with some questions to think about. This is definitely going to be a good release for the beginning of 2024.

Easily a 4-star read with all of the twists, turns and dark family secrets. I highly recommend this for fans of Hawkins other books and twisty family drama authors such as Sally Hepworth and Lucy Foley.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Oh. My. Goodness!! This one is really hard to put into a category. Just when you THINK you get it, you DON'T. At all. It took me a minute to get into it. I doesn't start out with a bang, but keep with it. This is probably the BEST book I have read this year!!

Cam McTavish is an English teacher at a boy's school in Colorado. Married to Jules, a woman who wandered into the bar where he was working and never left. They have now been married for 10 years and he has never adequately explained about his family, THE McTavishes of South Carolina. So when he gets a message from his cousin that the family estate is in sad disrepair and Cam needs to come take care of the problems, Jules is just along for the ride, not knowing exactly what to expect and why Cam never talks about his family or their home that he fled years ago.

But, WOW, is she in for a surprise when she sees the place. Although she has secretly looked it up and seen pictures, the reality is something else. But so is the remaining family, Cam's mother's sister and her two grandchildren who have tormented him his whole life. Because Cam was not born a McTavish, but his mother, Ruby adopted him and then left everything to him when she died. With a lifetime of being told he doesn't belong and doesn't deserve, is it surprising that he is not excited to return?

But there is more, a LOT more to this twisted story, and in the end, even Jules is not exactly who she seems.

4.5 Stars

This was the first book I’ve ever read by Rachel Hawkins. The book’s blurb caught my attention and the story really drew me in. I loved the twists and turns, the mystery, the wondering… All I can say is this is one messed up family. "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" I think that quote aptly applies to every character in this book. The story certainly kept me guessing until the very, very end.

"The Heiress" by Rachel Hawkins tells the story of a dysfunctional family with a ton of secrets. It's told from multiple perspectives, skillfully alternating between past and present through the reading of handwritten letters.  The characters range from likable to cringeworthy, but they all add to the overall complex dynamic of the story. This one drew me in and then was a sort of slow burn at the start. The more I read, the more drama unfolded with astonishing twists that had me  on the edge of my seat. The finale is so twisted that it leaves you with narrative whiplash.
This is for fans of multiple POVs, dual timelines, creepy houses, and twists.
Money might just be the root of all evil causing people to do some truly dark things. The Heiress is a must read in 2024.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with a digital ARC.

The Heiress, by Rachel Hawkins, is suspenseful thriller that kept me engrossed until all is revealed at the end. The story is told from three different POVs: 1) Camden, the heir to a huge fortune in North Carolina, 2) Cam’s wife Jules and 3) Ruby, Cam’s adopted mother . . . all told in two different timelines.

I was hooked from the beginning and especially loved Ruby’s POV. We learn about Ruby through a series of letters to an unknown recipient. Newspaper clippings fill in the gaps. Ruby is a well-written character who readers will love despite her shortcomings.

The Heiress is a fun, twisty, enjoyable read and is probably my favorite of Rachel Hawkins’ books.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc of Rachel Hawkins’ newest book!

Let me just say I devoured this! I was hooked from the beginning and didn’t want to put it down. I loved the multiple POVs & characters. Their stories unfolded and intertwined beautifully and I love how everything came together in the end.

The chapters are the perfect length and usually end with you reeling and ready for another reveal. I felt the pacing was just right for this story, not too slow but doesn’t jump into everything right at the beginning.

This book has the perfect mix of family secrets & drama, unreliable narrators, and twists to keep you intrigued.

Twisty thriller - some things I predicted but others I didn’t. These are characters you’ll love to hate as they all have flaws. I’ve read other books by Rachel Hawkins and this has my favorite of hers. Special thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

4.5⭐️

This is Rachel Hawkins' newest release and redemption in my eyes. I loved The Wife Upstairs but did not care for Reckless Girls. The Heiress was fun to read! My favorite parts were Ruby's letters and learning about her past husbands. I'll admit that I got a bit confused at the end with the Jules storyline, but by the end, it unraveled, and it made sense. In the end, it reminded me of a really good soap opera with families backstabbing each other out of greed. Everyone wants a piece of The Heiress' fortune. May the most conniving win!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rachel Hawkins’ books are an automatic read for me. All of her books, including The Heiress, have the same intriguing tone. You keep on reading because you are always left wanting more. And like a good thriller, you don’t see the ending coming. My favorite continues to be The Villa, but The Heiress is a close second, set in a mansion in North Carolina, I could not help but picture The Biltmore. Overall a 4.5/5

I just discovered Rachel Hawkins in September, binging The Villa on a plane. Then I quickly read all her other adult books, and many of her YA books (hex hall, so fun). She also writes under pen name Erin Sterling, if you like witchy romance. So yes, I love this author, and jumped at the chance to read an ARC of the Heiress. This latest thrilleresque book did not disappoint. I say thrilleresque because I don't truly find this book to be thriller. It was a mysterious web of lies that created a compelling tale, but it wasn't particularly suspenseful, although it did leave me guessing at times.
We had three perspectives, Ruby herself, through her letters, though she has been dead ten years, plus Cam, her adopted son and heir, and Jules, his wife. Cam has a 9 figure inheritance that he chooses to live without, and Jules, though happy with her man, has her sights on reclaiming Ashby house, the sprawling estate he grew up in, for herself. The problem is the rest of the family, Ruby's sister, and her two grandchildren, who still live in the house and hate Cam and Ruby. Things are further complicated by the fact that Ruby's true identify has always been in question after she was kidnapped for 9 months as a 3 year old. This book was really well done, and included snippets from newspapers and magazines mixed in with the letters and povs of Jules and Cam. It read fast, and the only thing I was a bit disappointed in was that the characters really just told us exactly how everything played out, rather than showing it., which left me hoping for one more twist or surprise to really satisfy me. That said, I would still highly recommend reading this book if you enjoy past/present, suspicious husband deaths, and ridiculous rich people drama.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC!

This story sucked me in so much. I love a fast-paced read. This was it! There were three POV'S and a past and present timeline that had letters mixed in. It all flowed so well together. I loved getting all the details in the order they unfolded.

The family fortune, which of course, caused family drama, was so entertaining. The twists that just kept unraveling had me buzzing right through because they just kept coming.

Ruby was relentless, and just when I thought it was just her boy, was I surprised lol
What a tangled web this story was! Lots of juicy secrets!

Thank you MacMillan Audio, St. Martin's Press and Rachel Hawkins for sending me this to read and listen to give my honest review. It was such a well done audiobook. Loved the narrators.

I have read and enjoyed every single book by Rachel Hawkins and this one was no different. Thanks to Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press, I was able to go back and forth between the ebook and the audiobook and I really liked both formats! The story is told from the perspectives of Jules and Camden, but there are also chapters that are letters written by Ruby. Sometimes multiple perspectives can be tricky to follow o while listening, but with four narrators, it was easy to keep track of what was going on.

Summary: Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore was the victim of a famous kidnapping as a child later becoming a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

In the aftermath of Ruby’s death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house, the money or the surviving McTavishes. He rejects his inheritance, and becomes an English teacher in Colorado, marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable.

As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

The Heiress felt more like a mystery/family drama than a thriller, but it was still suspenseful with lots of twists. It was fun trying to predict how the characters were connected and whether or not Camden and Jules would stay at Ashby House. I’m excited for another Rachel Hawkins book to recommend!

I have yet to read a Rachel Hawkins book that I have not thoroughly enjoyed, and this one may be my new favorite. This smart, fast-paced thriller, set in North Carolina, combines family secrets and old money into a plot that will leave the reader guessing to the very end. The main characters were complex and flawed but inherently likable. Readers will have a hard time putting this one down. Highly recommend for lovers of thrillers, complicated families and hidden secrets.

If The Seven Husbands of Rvelyn Hugo was a psychological thriller it would be The Heiress!

This book is a twisted new gothic suspense about an infamous heiress and the complicated inheritance she left behind.

Ok creepy house, multimedia format, multiple POV and dual timelines are my jam. Sometimes those things can be tricky but Rachel Hawkins blends them seamlessly. I loved the twists and turns of this one! You’ll have to check it out 1/9/24 when it comes out. I cannot recommend it enough!

This book started off really slow. I was hoping for more of a thriller. The last 25% was my favorite . It really picked up fast and had some really good twists.
It had multiple POV’s and I did favor the character Jules but the audiobook was fun to listen to with a different narrator for each character. I loved Ruby’s Evelyn Hugo vibes… and her letters 😳

I read this a few months ago. It was a good story. I enjoyed her other books more, but it’s worth a read. Great for a lazy weekend or holiday read just to pass the time.

Not sure if the book was based on a real event but it was a good read

I was looking for a quick mystery when I decided to pick this arc up. I definitely think I found that in this book as I read it in less than 24 hours.
You follow Camden, the mmc, and Jules, one of the fmc’s, as they’re called to Camden’s family’s estate after the passing of his uncle. Camden is the heir to the family fortune, but it comes with a history he wants nothing to do with. From the beginning you can tell each character has their own secrets. Then, we also have another pov from Ruby, whom I would say is another main character in this storyline, but only through her letters from the past (as she’s already dead).

I will say I did get tired of the constant family heritage / geneology that was mentioned in what seemed every single page. I get it. They’re a rich family that has history going way back. Let’s move on.

I guessed every single “plot twist” except for the very last one at the end of the epilogue. Overall this was an enjoyable story and I was intrigued from the very beginning. The mystery of how everyone connected is what kept me reading. I’m giving this a 3.75 or 4 star rating and would definitely still recommend it if you’re looking for a quick and easy mystery read.

Set in Ashby House, an estate in the mountains of North Carolina, a family's secrets begin to unfold and each is more intriguing than the next. Ruby McTavish was kidnapped as a child. She is now the matriarch of the McTavish family and the sole heir to the fortune and owner of Ashby House. Not to mention, she is known locally as "Lady Killmore." She is the first point of view of the story.

We meet Camden, a boy (now man) who was adopted by Ruby McTavish. He inherits the 9-figure fortune when his adopted mother dies in her sleep. He wants nothing to do with the family or with Ashby house. He has spent his adult life trying to stay as far as away from North Carolina as he can. In doing so, he met his wife, Jules, in Colorado. Until, Camden's cousin, Ben - an egotistical and pretentious bully of a cousin (think a semi-attractive Dudley Dursley) - reaches out to Camden to come back to Ashby house to sort out family problem's after a family member's passing.

That leads to the third POV, Jules. Jules grew up impoverished and sees Cam's return home as an opportunity for them to have a better life together with more means, yearning for a better life that what she previously had before meeting Cam.

Ruby's point of view is cleverly told through letters written to an unknown receipient. She tells all of her tales and even explains about how her four husbands mysteriously died under suspicious circumstances, but her family's money silenced any further investigations.

I was skeptical when I began reading this, as I have previously read 2 other books by Hawkins. I ended up enjoying this one much more than "The Villa" or "Reckless Girls." I really enjoyed the sections that were from Ruby's point of view. It kept wanting to keep reading to see all the juicy details. 4/5 stars.