Thank you to #NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Rachel Hawkins for the opportunity to read an advance copy of The Heiress, to be published 9 January 2024. This 4/5 Star murder mystery was about a family, their relationships and power. All of them had secrets; some bigger and nastier than others. The Heiress’s role was through her point of view, described in letters and news articles. Ruby was a quintessential woman whose life revolved around the power of her wealth, both in her community and in her family. The twists and turns in this novel were remarkable, but nothing could match the finale. Great read. #NetGalley #StMartin’sPress #RachelHawkins #TheHeiress

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 stars, publishes January 9 2024

- dysfunctional rich family who comes together over matriarchs death and fights about money 🤑 and finds out about multiple family secrets in the process.
- kind of reminded me of a thriller version of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!

Overall a worthwhile thriller! So far I’ve read The Wife Upstairs (5 stars) & own Reckless but haven’t read it yet!

Thanks @netgalley @stmartinspress for the earc!

Somehow, when I picked this book I missed the word GOTHIC in the very first line of the description. Gothic is usually not one of the genres that I read.

In the beginning, I found it a little confusing due to the way it was written. A couple of narrative voices, a few newspaper stories, a serialized letter from the deceased “heiress”. I found it disjointed but I kept on and quickly found this writing style gave me the past and the present simultaneously. And, of course, the past explains the present, little by little, but, not quite. My mind has the chance to go down several dark tunnels of possibilities.

Right from the start, there is a dark undercurrent. I couldn't wait to find out what was going on.

The family in this book could be on the poster for toxic and dysfunctional family relationships. The various generations and branches of this family are all together in a huge country estate in the woods. This home exudes a very negative vibe. There is a LOT of family conflict and a lot of jealousy and a ton of money involved.

The twists and turns start around the halfway mark. Subtle at first and then they become more intense. And, they don't stop until the very end. This is one of the most convoluted books I have ever read. It kept me turning pages until I was finished. Even though there were times I thought I had figured things out, I hadn't because another twist was added.

I'm glad I finished this book in the afternoon. If I had been reading it in bed, I would have been up until I was done. And, then I wouldn’t have been able to sleep because I’d be thinking about it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

So many secrets... Even the *secrets* have secrets in this novel. Read the plot summary! I'm sure it had to be carefully crafted to not reveal any spoilers. Jules and Camden are extremely likable characters. Cam's family, on the other hand, is full of snakes in the grass who continue to surprise the reader with exactly how awful a family can be. These are people you don't want sitting around your holiday table. You might not get up from dinner.

There are plenty of surprise twists, and I didn't see the final one coming until just a few pages before.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Enjoy this suspenseful mystery from the talented Rachel Hawkins!

What a page turner! The character were great, the story plot was easy to get lost in! I definitely want to read more from this author

I was excited to receive an ARC of the newest book by Rachel Hawkins. I love how she takes stories that we may know or have heard of and twists them into something new and exciting. The author herself in an interview with Paste Magazine said that:

"While no specific work influenced The Heiress, I do feel like this one is probably my most Traditionally Gothic book yet, so anyone who read Victoria Holt or Barbara Peters back in the day would recognize some elements. There’s the big house on the hill, the twisted rich family, the mysterious and possibly deadly woman, hidden letters, a spooky portrait…It’s also inspired partially by the obsession with Dominick Dunne books I had as a teenager, so in some ways, this is very much my ode to books like The Two Mrs. Grenvilles and A Season in Purgatory."

So not a topic that I had previously heard of, but now my interest in those is piqued because I LOVED The Heiress. The creepy setting, the cast of characters. It gave me what I want in a twisty thriller. I highly recommend this one for people who love creepy, gothic settings, unreliable narrators, and lots of twists.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one was…cute? Easy? It was a quick and fun little read, but not what I was expecting. And not really a thriller, which is what I’ve come to expect from this author. And maybe it’s my fault, because I went into this one blind, assuming it would be a thriller.

It wasn’t a bad book at all, but it’s more of a family drama. There’s some of the ‘rich people problems’ trope with a few thrilling twists thrown in. I kept waiting for the plot to take off, but it never really did. Overall I enjoyed it, but unfortunately it wasn’t a stand out to me.

The McTavish family is royalty in small town North Carolina. Ruby, the notorious “husband killer” is an heir to millions of dollars that is passed down to her adoptive son, Camden, and is upsetting to the rest of her family.

The Heiress is a web of lies and family secrets that comes together with a twisty ending. This is a fast paced, atmospheric thriller that you can easily read in a weekend! I didn’t find myself getting as invested in this family drama as I’d hoped, but still enjoyed the twists and unexpected ending.

Read this if you enjoyed The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC, out 01/09/2024!

I want to start by first saying that I am a big fan of Rachel Hawkins. She writes such unique and interesting thrillers/mysteries that are all quick reads that keep me entertained the whole time. They also all have beautiful covers. The Heiress was no different; I really enjoyed this book and I read it in only one siting, I could not put it down.

The synopsis is a bit confusing but it makes sense as you read it. We have Ruby McTavish, an old woman who has had four husbands die in mysterious circumstances and the leader of a very rich family in North Carolina. She also has a bit of a past. When she was only 3 years old, she was kidnapped. She is returned a few months later after being found with a family in Alabama. But is that what really happened? (That is one story line you follow throughout).

She also adopted a young boy and when she dies she leaves everything to him. Camden did not want the money or house or the relatives down his throat about it so he went to California and wrote off everyone. When he gets a letter years later, him and his wife go back to the house to explore the family secrets and man there are a lot of secrets. Camden's wife even has some secrets of her own. We also get diary entries from Ruby about her husbands and some newspaper articles throughout about the rich family and their house. This story uncovers a lot of family secrets and it touches on the power that money brings to people.

This book was so good! I could not put it down. While the synopsis sounds a bit confusing, it is not a hard story to follow. There were a lot of twists throughout, some I saw coming and some I did not. I think there were the right amount of twists where it was interesting but not too much. The author did a good job at writing unlikeable characters. You root for Camden the whole time but his family is terrible (talk about dysfunctional!) I think money really brings out the worst in some people. I also really loved the diary entries throughout. It added a whole new layer to Ruby as a character. The articles also helped add to the story and showed this rich family through the eyes of the town.

My only complaint was that when some secrets came out, I don't feel like people acted like an actual person would. This is mainly when the secrets between Camden and his wife were revealed. It just seemed like they ignored it and made up too quickly. However, this did not take away too much from my reading and I still really liked it.

Family thrillers take on such interesting twists and turns - especially when there's money involved.. but The Heiress takes the cake for the reveals. Set in the sleepy mountains of North Carolina... there really just is something about the misty Blue Ridge.

Everything I thought I understood throughout this book came crashing down one chapter after another most spectacularly. It's not often that I really like a book so much that my mind doesn't start skimming through the pages? But in Hawkin's latest... you really have to pay attention to every chapter's intended audience!!!

Up there with another of my favorite family-based thrillers like The Maidens - The Heiress is one I'm going to recommend to all of my fellow thriller readers down here in the South!

**Thank you to St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I received this book for free, but all thoughts are my own. – SLR 🖤

Quick and enjoyable. One of those layered try to figure it out reads with a few red herrings that were clever. Thanks to Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review,

We have another Hawkins Hit on our hands! This book moves very quickly, and has a cast full of villainess family members.

The book opens with Ruby telling her story through letters. As a toddler Ruby went missing, lost in the woods surrounding her family's estate. Luckily for her, she is not the Lindbergh baby, and she is found alive.

In present day, we meet her adopted son Cam, who is no longer on speaking terms with his mother, her sister Nelle, or his cousins. Cam is the heir to the family fortune, and eventually must head back to the family estate to deal with the responsibility passed to him.

Of course everyone, including Cam's wife Jules, has something to hide and an angle to play. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout, and the book moves very quickly. In typical Hawkins fashion, this one is easy to read, and you finish it quickly.

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

The Heiress is full of secrets, terrible people, old money, and twists upon twists, all combining into one very fun read. Alternating viewpoints interspersed with letters to...someone...slowly unwind this tale of greed and betrayal, and by the end, you kind of hate everyone, but it's so fun to feel that way you don't mind it. This is the perfect thriller to start 2024 with!

The Heiress is a quick page turner that can pull you out of a slump and at only 304 pages, you can easily get through this one in record time.⁠
This one ended up middle of the road for me at 3.5 stars. Somehow it managed to be a slow burn while also keeping the story moving forward at each chapter. I think since our alternate POV was letters that Ruby had written explaining her past the time jumps made the story feel like it was moving forward at a decent pace. The reality is that the actual story of Cam and Jules going “home” moved quite slowly. ⁠
I really liked Ruby’s stories and the writing was well done. I could picture this complex woman that struggled between who she was and who she was supposed to be, while grappling with the choices she’d made along the way. ⁠
Where this one push it middle of the road was that it was ultimately so slow and predictable. I called many of the things that would end up happening in the first 20% of the book and really, nothing of note did happen until the end. ⁠
Overall, in the Rachel Hawkins lineup this was was good, and I definitely do recommend it, and hopefully you don’t guess the ending so you can enjoy the surprises!

Wow, wow, wow! I could not put this down. I love it. I highly recommend this book. Thanks NetGalley and publisher for the ARC.

This book was really good. It kept me flipping pages and I did not see the plot twist coming. I recommend checking this one out. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As with any of Rachel Hawkins’ books, you enter the story on the first page and you live through each event. Her staging, character creation, her quick wit and cunning will keep you entombed until the final page. Only then may you leave.
In “The Heiress”, Rachel takes the reader to a gloriously run-down mansion in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. Cam. who’s adopted mother has passed, isn’t happy about inheriting the mess, mainly because he doesn’t feel like fighting with his kin who now reside there. He has no choice but to go, so he takes his happy-go-lucky, down-to-earth wife with him to help keep him sane. Jules tries to play it cool, but she can’t contain her awe when she lays eyes on the home. Even with its needed repairs, it's a beautiful and extravagant manor. Let the feuds and back-stabbing begin.
Through an intricate web of past and present, the true nature of all involved is slowly exposed. The history of Cam’s mother, Ruby (the heiress), is colorful, entertaining and reminiscent of finer times. The remaining family’s opinion of her is less than stellar. And each day it gets worse, then less safe.
This is a fun read for anyone drawn to thrillers, mysteries, Gothic, and family jealousy.
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is January 9, 2024.

Amazing story! I went into this book blind like I do with most books, I just knew I liked the author. I was not disappointed. It gave me seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo vibes but more of a thriller. The twists I didn’t see coming, and a possible even bigger twist in the epilogue shook me. I enjoyed the different viewpoints and the huge underlying message of the story. Overall 5 star read. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. Rachel Hawkins did not disappoint again. This book was a page turner. You would think you know the plot...then it changes..and changes again. I read the book in one day!

I have read a couple books by Rachel and enjoy her writing but this is by far my favorite! Lots of twists and a quick read! I read this so fast because I couldn't wait to see what happend next!