I was intrigued by this book from the start and admittedly, I wasn't anticipating much. Thankfully, I was wrong and enjoyed it. The characters were very dynamic and kept my attention. Definitely a book I'd recommend.

When Camden, the adopted son and sole heir of an infamous North Carolina heiress, is forced to return to the family estate after several years away, he and his wife, Jules, aren’t quite ready for the homecoming that awaits them. Scheming relatives, a broody mansion with its own name (Ashby House) surrounded by treacherous woods, dark family secrets and intrigue…sign me up. When determining my rating for this book, my immediate thought was “don’t overthink it.” I’ve had mixed feelings for Rachel Hawkins’ previous books but keep reading them, mostly due to the gorgeous cover art, and I’m happy to report that this time I was NOT disappointed. I just really enjoyed the execution (always a sucker for letters and rich old ladies with secrets) and the twist(s). This was just a damn good time and I didn’t want to put it down.

Pub Date: 1/9/24
Review To Be Published: 1/2/24
eARC received from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“I wish snakes were the worst things that lived on this property.”

The Heiress had me engrossed from the first chapter. I absolutely love the flips between Ruby’s (the deceased matriarch of the family) letters and the present tense, how the mystery slowly unfolds. The story is also told from Ruby’s adopted son, Camden, and his wife, Jules’ POVs.

Set in a beautiful family mansion in the Appalachian mountains of a small town in North Carolina, this domestic thriller is as grand as it is dark. There’s a new twist revealed pretty much every chapter and no dull moments. The house and its owners hold centuries of lies that slowly unravel.

Every character has so many layers to them and each secret is revealed so well - usually in a “woah didn’t see that one coming” way. The dark truths of what being that wealthy means are captivating. I trust exactly zero of the characters.

This is a fantastic, fast paced domestic thriller. Solid 4 stars from me!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Appreciate the opportunity to read this ahead of pub day. This is my second Rachel Hawkins read. While this “thriller” wasn’t overly thrilling, I do enjoy when “random” characters end up having sooo many accidental and coincidental ties to each other. Gave me vague The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo vibes when it came to the grandmothers 4 previous husbands.

If you've read other Rachel Hawkins books, you know what you're getting. This one doesn't disappoint. A quick read, twists, characters who range from mostly likable to horrible humans. It's quick and decently fluffy if you're looking for brain candy.

fantastic! The best of Hawkins yet!

Engrossing story with fantastic pace! I loved the added back and forth between the different POVS in present and the letters (to who?) of the story of the past and the newspaper articles. Kept the reading fun.

While I did guess the twist before the end it didn't keep me from reading and being surprised by a few things along the way.

Absolutely solid!

I really enjoyed this book. I just wanted to keep reading to find out more although there were some parts that were a little slow. I liked the multiple narrator's and really liked Ruby's back story told in letter format, her multiple husbands and how they died. Ruby was a force to be reckoned with and I loved her personality. There were multiple twists that I was not expecting and we really surprising.

Detonates with an ingeniously orchestrated display of secrets, family, and of course money.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 rounded up!

I went into this with two concerns. 1. I've read a couple Rachel Hawkins already and they were rated 3 stars and 2 stars, respectively. 2. I just finished another book about a rich heiress surrounding an estate and it was a bummer for me. So I wasn't getting my hopes up.

This, however, was so much better than I thought it would be! I loved the writing, the characters were actually likeable (hard to find in a thriller these days), and the twists were unexpected yet not too unbelievable. Some characters were genuinely witty and had me laughing. The pacing was great and I never found myself bored like sometimes I do in the middle of thrillers. I enjoyed how some of the chapters were broken up with some news letters or clippings from the past. Sometimes its nice to have little breaks like that in books to break up the monotony.

I seriously couldn't put this down and read it in only a couple days. Strongly recommend for thriller lovers!

Rachel Hawkins seriously never disappoints!! Ever since reading "Reckless Girls" I have been thoroughly obsessed!! These books are always so eerie and leave me wanting more...

This book was just okay for me. The end revealed a lot of secrets but I felt like it kind of dragged along. It’s like all the good parts were clustered at the end but it took a long time to get to them.

Synopsis: This is a twisty domestic drama surrounding a family who are full of secrets.
Pros: I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would! The twists just kept on coming! I saw some coming, others I didn’t. There was truly so much content in a quick read.
Cons: Everyone was dirty in some way, so not super likable characters, but it did add to the intrigue.
Overall I loved that this was something totally different. Not a romance, not a thriller, just a rollercoaster of a book. I recommend you check it out when it’s released in January!
Big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this early copy!

I received this as an arc from netgalley. This one was SO GOOD!! Even if you picked up on things, you still weren’t sure and were still waiting to find out. I loved how it turned out and twists all the way up until the end. I’m teetering on a 5 star rating because it was such a good book but feeling like it’s more like 4.5 if that was possible. Definitely recommend if you like twists!

There are few things I love more than a dramatic family tale, intertwining secrets, complicated dynamics, and too much money to count. For fans of "Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo", the newest novel by Rachel Hawkins offers the same level of suspense, novelty, and gothic vibes. I read this in a mountain house in the Blue Ridge mountains and it was the perfect backdrop for a story so rich in place. Rachel Hawkins makes you as a reader feel that you are invested in the people but also in the family manor embroiled in the conflict. While I didn't "like" most of the characters, I was invested in them which I think is the skill of an excellent writer. Similar to "The Villa", this book will stick with me for a long time.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins follows Camden and his wife Jules as they journey back to Ashby House in North Carolina to settle Camden’s family affairs 10 years after his adoptive mother Ruby’s death. Camden knows the secrets hidden within the walls of Ashby house, and he’s not sure if he wants Jules anywhere near it. On the outside, Ashby house is serene, regal, and secluded, but the inside holds so much more. Camden is torn between getting in and out of Ashby house as fast as possible and hiding these secrets from Jules, who may just have a secret or two of her own.


This book was fast-paced and kept my attention the entire way through. While I was able to see where the plot was going in some aspects, there were a couple twists that I didn’t see coming. I enjoyed this thriller novel and rated it 4 out of 5 stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel, which will be published on January 9, 2024!

I can't believe this is the first Rachel Hawkins book that I've read! It certainly won't be the last because I freaking loved this book! She had the eerie gothic suspenseful atmosphere perfect. The book really nailed down the three m's in these types of books: murder, money, and mystery!

Why is it that rich people always take the worst traits of humanity and bring them to completely another level? Well, this book will not answer that question but will suffice as proof to justify the hypothesis.

Jules and Cam are a regular couple who live in one of those awesome states that have views and mountains. Both of them tho have their secrets. Cam comes from an extremely rich family, for whom he's the sole heir and the time has come for him to come home and deal with some family issues As we follow them, we also learn more about Cam's caregiver, the rich heiress with a highly iridescent life. When she was done with all her 4 husbands' dead shenanigans, she decided to adopt a boy. Now she writes a letter in which she explains her motives leading to this decision.

In the story of watching characters intertwine, there is a sense of foreshadowing and following the footsteps of ancestors. The way it was written tickled my interest enough to be glued to the book for a longer time. I had my theories and some came to fruition, some didn't, and I caught myself thinking how obvious the clues were.
Overall, I enjoyed this ride. The writing flows, yet at times it felt overexplained. Some things don't have to be repeated from each point of view.

Rating 4 ★
Personal rating 3 ★
The review will be published on the day of premiere, Jan 9th.

Oh man, what a ride! This was surprisingly unputdownable. I wasn’t sure I would love this as much as I did after reading a few of the others past novels and them not being my cup of tea, but the Ashby House and all of her colorful tenants just sucked me in and held me for the ride. The story focuses on 3 main characters - Ruby, through letters, her adopted son Camden and his wife Jules. Through the three a complex story evolves from a young girls disappearance through mysterious deaths and familial drama. Fast paced the entire way. Loved it!

4.5/5 ⭐️
Whew this one was a wild ride! Just when I thought I had it figured out, I definitely did not. This is my first book by Rachel Hawkins and I can’t wait to go read her others!

“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.”

This book had me hooked from the beginning. I loved the twists and turns and it just kept me wanting more. This story is a southern gothic thriller full of wealth, greed, and murder. The whole family tree is flawed and is full of secrets!

I enjoyed reading Ruby’s letter and I also liked the dual POV with Cam and Jules.

If you like fast-paced thrillers, full of lies, greed, and murder, check this one out January 9th!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

The Heiress is none other than Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore, the much married, richest woman in North Carolina in this novel coming out January 9. She was kidnapped as a child but was later found to have been taken by a worker on her family’s estate, Ashby House of Tavistock in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

None of the marriages last for long—husbands’ death all under suspicious circumstances--but she did adopt an orphan named Camden who is in position to inherit everything after her death, including the estate and a 9-digit fortune with nothing going to Ruby’s younger sister who has always lived on the estate with her family.

Surprise, surprise, Cam does not want the house, the money, or the family. He just wants to teach English in Colorado where he had settled with his wife Jules. After 10 years away, he reluctantly returns to North Carolina to address things that need to be taken care of within the estate.

His calculating aunt and his cousins are as unpleasant as ever as they seek a way out of Cam’s inheritance to their benefit, raising questions about whether or not the Ruby who died was really the Ruby who was kidnapped nearly 7 decades ago. A rousing conclusion will settle the estate in a way that could have never been predicted.

The Heiress is Rachel Hawkins' fourth novel for adults. An Alabama author, she also writes under the pseudonym Erin Sterling. She wrote her first novel while teaching high school English.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting November 20, 2023.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.