The Heiress was such an interesting read! I had trouble putting it down!

Camden in the adopted heir of the McTavish fortune in North Carolina. His adopted mother left the entire estate to him, and next to nothing to her sister's family who still live on the estate.

After having been estranged for over 10 years, and setting up his own life apart from the McTavish fortune, high school teacher Camden receives an email that it is time to return to Ashby house (the ancestral home he inherited).

Camden and his wife, Jules, go to Ashby house to make some repairs. Little do they know they will actually be uncovering layers and layers of family secrets from the McTavish dynasty.

Booksellers this is a great hand sell with authors like Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewel.

This digital review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Huge thanks to netgalley and St. Martins Press for my review copy.

I read this book in one day, which should tell you how much fun the mystery is! It's twisty, it's salacious, it spills all the tea. I enjoyed the multiple POVs, particularly Ruby's, and every character is just so nasty that you can't help but chuckle at how awful they all are. Reminds me of my family, except we, alas, have no fortune to fight over.

THE HEIRESS is a terrific vacation or self-care read, perfect for the bath or comfy reading nook on a long winter evening. Just hope you don't have any untimely accidents while reading!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Rachel Hawkins has mastered a great thriller for me! I have read all of her books, but haven’t loved them all. But this one worked for me! It had a great story and kept me so intrigued as we switched from present day to past and both stories came together so perfectly! The twists would not stop, even at the end when I thought they were all wrapped up! Highly recommend for any thriller lover!

I couldn’t put this book down!! it was full of twists + secrets! reading about wealthy families is my guilty pleasure, so reading about a wealthy dysfunctional family had me HOOKED! I wouldn’t describe it as a thriller but definitely a good suspense!

This book was amazing! I loved the characters and there were so many plot twists and turns that I didn't see coming! The characters were so easy to like and hate

This new Rachel Hawkins release doesn’t disappoint! While some of the twists aren’t that shocking the overall story is engrossing enough to force you to keep reading to see how it plays out. I also think that I was a little disappointed in her previous work, Reckless Girls, so this novel felt like a triumphant return. Rachel Hawkins continues to be an automatic read author for me!

What a ride The Heiress is! So many twists and turns. You never know what’s going to happen next.

It’s a little slow. And the characters are all awful but it works for the story.

If you like family secrets and drama then the Heiress is definitely for you.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for a copy of The Heiress in exchange of an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and MacMillan Audio for my copies of the digital book and audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Ruby McTavish is a notorious wealthy heiress whose sensational kidnapping as a child led to her life of notoriety. It didn’t help that she later married four times (each husband dying under mysterious circumstances) and after her death, Ruby bequeathed her daunting estate home, Ashby House, to her adopted son, Camden, infuriating her blood relatives. However, Camden’s tumultuous childhood leaves him wanting as much space and distance from his Ruby’s legacy and his inheritance of estate in the mountains of North Carolina. He’s spent the last 10 years since his mother’s death living small with his wife, Jules, out in Colorado. But now Camden’s uncle has also passed away and his distant cousins plead for him to come to NC and settle the estate. Jules and Camden arrive at Ashby House and the scheming, posturing, and secrets start to test the bonds of family and their marriage. Readers are provided glimpses into Ruby’s past marriages through letters Ruby has left behind, but the intended audience is kept a secret; who is she writing to? what really happened when she was kidnapped as a child? How and why did each of her marriages dissolve and her husbands die? Why did she adopt Camden?

This is a brilliant, captivating, atmospheric, and chilling mystery. The multiple POVs and the dual timeline format added depth and smashed my ability to predict the twists and reveals! I binged it in two days. Kudos to the narrators for their accent work and ability to build suspense throughout their performances. In particular, when Ruby’s chapters/letters were being read I felt as if I had to hold my breath; an incredibly commanding performance bringing this huge character to life!

I can’t wait to highlight this book during publication week early in 2024.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“There's nothing as good as the rich gone bad.”

Rachel Hawkins stays true to her style in this page turning thriller! It’s safe to say, expect the unexpected. The book is told in three perspectives, letters written by Ruby McTavish, her adopted son Camden, and his wife Jules.

The book is about Ruby McTavish, North Carolina’s richest woman, who also has a notorious reputation. Starting out as a child she was abducted from her family’s estate, only to be returned months later at great expense to her father. As an adult she is widowed four times. When Ruby dies, she leaves everything to Camden, her adopted son. Through out the book Ruby reveals how each husband met their untimely death in letters to Cam.

After having been gone for ten years from the family estate, Jules, Cam’s wife, talks him into going back to help straighten out some family affairs. While there more family secrets, betrayal, and lies surfaces.

The drama and twists along the way made this a fun read!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was a quick and easy read for me. It kept my attention just enough to keep reading to find out where the plot was heading. I felt like the first half was slow, and it sped up in the second half. I think my favorite part of the book was Ruby’s letters she wrote to a mystery person where we find out all of the sordid secrets of the McTavish family. I figured out all of the twists except one before they happened. The one I got wrong, I was on the right track for. I still recommend this one because of the mystery and family drama of the family!

I would first like to thank Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Rachel Hawkins for providing me with an ARC of The Heiress in exchange for my honest review.

Going into The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins, the beginning was very confusing. The format of the book wasn't what you would normally expect as it flipped between three POVs but one of the POVs was told through letters. It was refreshing to see a different format and it felt like the best way to tell the story.

I would absolutely recommend this book, and have already done so. I recommended this book to my mother and sister and would recommend it to anyone else.

I found The Heiress to be a slow burn, that just fell flat for me. It was a good story however it took to long to get to the ok twists. The Heiress had several things I enjoy in books, quick chapters, multiple POVs and timelines, unfortunately it just didn't hit the mark.

I am gonna say it-this is my favorite by Hawkins and her best yet! I loved every delicious, decadent second of this book. It was twisty, witty and so full of spite it made me cackle. Who doesn’t love a rich old bitch?! I mean…

All of the characters are deceptive, holding secrets and a bit morally gray. I just love that…I loved the flip flop between POVs, letters and diary entries. It really helped confuse your loyalty to each character and kept you on your toes. Right when you thought you knew what was up-you were wrong.

The setting was perfection as well. The mountains with a giant gothic house just really set the vibes. Also-short chapters?! Heart was singing. I really enjoyed this one! Well done @ladyhawkins. Thank you @netgalley for my advance copy!

Cam, a humble schoolteacher in Colorado, is really anything but. Adopted by the rich and infamous Ruby McTavish at the age of three, he inherited her massive fortune and historic estate when she passed away 10 years ago. But Cam has refused to return home until now, when his toxic uncle has finally died and he is left with just his equally awful cousins and great aunt to contend with. He and his wife Jules head to the family home to finally confront the situation. But as secrets come out, who will walk away unscathed, and most importantly, with the family fortune?

The book is told through both Cam and Jules POVs in the present and Ruby’s story is told through a series of letters she wrote in the past, scattered throughout the.

So, Rachel Hawkins is officially a must-read author, right? I mean if she wasn’t before this book, she certainly is after. This book is so unique and so suspenseful, I was absolutely flying through it. I mean, I don’t know which storyline I was obsessed with more, Ruby’s or the modern-day one, that’s how good this book was!

And though I had an inkling of at least one of the twists, I feel like I only got that inkling when the author WANTED me to have it. Like when she strategically dropped the hints to see who could figure it out. And those hints did not detract from the big ending at all - which was just a great, haunting finish to what was an overall amazing gothic-like novel.

As I said earlier, this is just another in a great line of thrillers from Rachel Hawkins. Each one has such a unique vibe and such killer characters and a storyline, I can’t wait to see where she takes us next!

My best advice is to read this one, then read all her other books, then pick up her next one when it comes out ASAP!

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins was a five-star read! I just loved it. With twists and turns and a plot that moves quickly, I cannot imagine anyone not loving this. The story is told through three different perspectives. Jealousy and secrets lurk behind every door in the great Ashby House and I was excited to go along for the ride.

Synopsis:

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and 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.

But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and 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.

And 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.

Out on January 9.

Could. Not. Put. This. Down. Seriously so good. This is a twisty mess of a domestic suspense thriller. Ruby adopted Camden when he was young. While Cam felt lucky to have Ruby, his adopted cousins made his life less than desirable. Once he left the family estate he vowed not to return. But with Ruby gone, Cam's wife Jules suggests that the return to the mansion he grew up in when his uncle dies to put behind all the family drama once and for all.

I could not get enough of this book. There are so many secrets and mysteries surrounding this family. Ruby, herself, is at the heart of it. She disappeared from the estate as a young girl and was found and returned months later. Her sister has always suspected that Ruby was not, in fact, her sister returned but another child altogether. This carries on through her children as they consistently question the legitimacy of Ruby and Cam to the estate and family money. In addition, Ruby has four dead husbands. Jules knows very little of the way in which Cam grew up. And Cam has secrets of his own.

The audio recording of this book is perfection. We get several points of view in the book and all are done really well. The pacing is just what the story needs. The cast of narrators each brings a unique aspect to the book. I particularly loved Ruby's sass as the narrator reads her letters in the book aloud.

This is Hawkins at her best and my favorite of hers. Fans of The Family Game and Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone would enjoy this. I continue to love what this author writes and look eagerly for her next work.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins is a suspenseful novel that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. It is the story about a family that is very wealthy and what happens to them as they journey through life. One of the characters is the adopted son of the heiress. He wants nothing to do with any type of inheritance. In fact, he wants nothing to do with any members of his adopted family. Why is this? The adopted son does go home after a death in the family and it is then that the plot thickens. This novel will not disappoint the reader. It is the type of book that will have you up all night reading it! Thank you to Rachel Hawkins and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is my first Rachel Hawkins read and I really enjoyed it. It was twisty and dark with secrets. The characters were amazing. I loved the letter aspect. It was definitely a page turner.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I was so excited to read this book and it did not disappoint! If you are looking for a book with family drama, family secrets, extreme wealth, and MANY twists and turns, then this book is for you. Thank you, NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this advanced copy of "The Heiress"

This is my first book by Rachel Hawkins as her writing is not not my usual genre. I've seen her books on Bookstagram and BookTok so thought I'd give this one a go.

I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was so twisty, dark, and unbelievable. It starts with Ruby and takes you on the wildest ride. I loved how the POV changed and how you thought you knew what was happening and then you didn't. Was it original? Probably not... but worth a read!

-Rachel Hawkins is now on my radar.