I've enjoyed Rachel Hawkins' books in the past, and the premise of The Heiress intrigued me, so I was thrilled to be given an ARC for her upcoming release.

At the heart of The Heiress is a wealthy, dysfunctional family story unlike any others I have read. Cam and Jules head back to the Blue Ridge Mountains (always a great book setting) to deal with his family after the death of his adopted mom and cousin. Everyone has something to hide and something to lose. Chaos and conflict inevitably ensure.

The characters are unique without feeling cliche. I figured out a lot of the plot about halfway into the book, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it. I enjoyed the setting and trying to unravel a crazy and convoluted family tree.

You will like The Heiress if you like houses that feel like characters in a story or you like to pop some popcorn and read about unlikable people doing crazy things for money–or other interesting reasons.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced copy.

Thanks so much St Martin's Press and NetGalley.

“THERE’S NOTHING AS GOOD AS THE RICH GONE BAD.”

Without going into too much detail, Rachel Hawkins has another hit here. I enjoyed all the suspense from this story that had me locked in from the very first page. Wow!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

“THERE’S NOTHING AS GOOD AS THE RICH GONE BAD.”

If that ain’t the truth! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I love stories like this, and Rachel Hawkins is great at telling them. Another twisty thriller down.

This was a suspenseful mystery that kept me turning the pages wanting to find out more. I enjoyed the book and all the twists and turns the whole way through. However, there was quite a bit to tie up at the end! Didn’t really connect with any of the characters, but that’s probably because they were all crazy.!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Heiress follows a couple generations of the McTavish Family. Specifically, the Heiress herself Ruby McTavish and her adopted son, Camden. Ruby ends up dying, leaving the Ashby house to her son, but some of the other family members have something to say about that.

10 years later, there is another death in the Family, and Camden gets sucked back into the world of the Ashby House. During this time here, they start contesting his right to the property, and all the while LOTS of secrets start coming out and things start getting really messy.

The thing is… this book wasn’t bad… I just didn’t actually care about ANY of the characters. I didn’t find any of them likable. I liked the Flashbacks we got regarding Ruby and her previous husbands… but it wasn’t like they revealed anything that we didn’t already know. I found it just kind of boring, and I was waiting for a big plot twist… but we pretty much saw everything coming. The most interesting part of the whole book was the epilogue…

This was my first Rachel Hawkins book, and I definitely want to give one of her other books a try. This one just wasn’t for me.

Camden McTavish: adopted prodigal son of heiress AND former kidnapping victim AND former wife of 4 (dead) husbands, Ruby McTavish, returns home to the NC mountains with wife Jules to tie up some loose ends with the family estate and the family Estate.

Because the McTavish family- like the entire selfish, money hungry, and kind of psychotic extended family- lives in a beautiful albeit old and slightly out of date Estate known as Ashby House. To put it mildly they are essentially royalty.

Back to Ruby though, whose story (from kidnapping survivor to the deaths of husbands 1-4) is told through letters and articles dispersed throughout the present day narrations Jules and Camden.

Alarmingly the husbands aren’t the only *suspected* murder victims, everyone’s hiding something from someone else, and nothing from the 1940s on that concerns Ruby, Camden, or Jules is as it seems.

✍🏼🏞️💰✍🏼🏞️💰✍🏼🏞️💰

I HATE giving away anything in a twisty thriller so I will briefly (I’m never brief) say - I really enjoyed this one!

Definitely in the vein of her other twisty psychological thrillers, this one is probably my favorite of Rachel’s 4! I guessed a couple of the twists before the end but I was still anxiously awaiting the final chapters for it all to come together.

Ruby was a lot of things, most not stellar- but I could have read an entire book of just her letters. The audacity of that woman to be both likable and diabolical; bravo Miss Hawkins 👏🏼.

Read this if you like: Family drama and/or feeling like your family is not at all or less dysfunctional, a dual timeline, spilling the tea, and a true crime undertone.

Here's the thing, Hawkins's books always start out so enthralling for me. Then somewhere, they get a little lost and little unrealistic. I am sad to say, this one follows the same path as many of her others have for me.

I was all for the mystery in this one. "Where is Hawkins taking me with this?" Was she the kidnapped child or wasn't she? Who is the rightful heir? I was all in! The book wove its way into my head pretty fast, and I was determined to ferret out all the secrets.

Eventually though, the book slowed. Then it just left me feeling a little let down. It's like Hawkins had everything figured out except how to reach the ending she wanted. Around the 80% mark of the book, I was losing interest. By the end, I just felt bereft.

Loved this book and this author so much! Such an interesting plot and character development. Enjoyed the twists that I did not see coming!

“We’re made up of many different types of people, is my point. Good ones, bad ones. Most of them, like me, probably fall somewhere in the middle.”

This is a twisted, wild ride and I enjoyed it every step of the way. While I usually criticize books for trying to do too much, this one absolutely nailed it! Told through dual points of view – Cam’s and Jules’ – we get the current turn of events. Letters from Ruby fill in the historical gaps. And, the way it worked together kept me turning the pages.

I loved the sass and determination of Ruby. Her letters were a breath of fresh air. And, I appreciated that Jules was not a superficial gold digger, and Cam was not the rich boy snob. While I did have one of the twists figured out, it did not ruin the story for me, and instead made me keep reading to see how Hawkins wove it all together.

Verdict: 4.5 stars

I thought this book was great! I loved reading the letters in between chapters and how they explained everything. I thought it was very well written and suspenseful.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of The Heiress! I really liked this book, but I’ve given it a few days for me to process to try to figure out what it was for me that made it feel like it wasn’t 5 stars.

I definitely loved the Ruby story line, and surprisingly I didn’t see the twist at the end coming as soon as I probably should’ve! I feel like there were some things left unfinished though? I would’ve liked to hear more from Cam at the end of the book, and hear more about the things that happened to while he lived at Ashby to get a full picture. There were things he mentioned that were never fully explained. Maybe that’s what bothered me? There was a lot of character development with Ruby, but maybe not enough with Cam?

Either way, the book was still enjoyable but it didn’t reel me in the way I thought it would and took me longer to finish that I anticipated.

I really enjoyed this one! A quick and suspense filled read with lots of unexpected turns in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this arc.

This thriller was different than what I was expecting, in a good way. It had so many resistance so turns, kept my interest and was a quick read.

My favorite by Rachel Hawkins by far!

I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure what I would think and I put off starting it, but I'm glad I did. I felt compelled to keep reading to fight out what happened. A few big surprises and a few predictable ones. I would recommend it

The story of the McTavish family Living in Ashby House in the town of Tavistock. high in the Blue Ridge Mountain. Everyone loved the history of the McTavish Family their lives, their love of money. Yet no one knew the dark secrets that the McTavish Family kept hidden all these years. Especially the beloved daughter Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward MIller Kenmore who had quite a few deep dark secrets of her own. Will anyone figure them out.

Ruby was the beloved daughter of Mason McTavish a wealthy man who made things happen. Ruby was abducted as a child found eight months later living with another family and finally returned to the McTavish. From there Ruby's life spirals somewhat. The many marriages to men whom she thought loved her, yet either brutalized her, wanted a trophy or wanted her money. Yet Ruby somehow still wanted something of her own. That's when she adopted a son named Camden. She then thought she would mold Camden into a true McTavish, even thought the rest of the family considered him trash.

As Camden grows up he realizes he wants nothing to do with the McTavish lifestyle or Ashby House. Hew wants to be far away from his mother and the life she wants for him. Enter Jules the women who would change Camden for the better. The women who loves him for who he is and not his bank account. Or does she. Letters between Jules and Ruby show that something is up. What could it be? Jules wanting the life every young girl wants and also wanting Camden too. How does Ruby play into this. Going back to Ashby House to clear up some family issues brings into light all the dark secrets that Ruby was hiding.

What does this mean for Camden and Jules, for Aunt Nell cousins Ben and Libby? This is a must read for anyone who loves the story of a dysfunctional family and what lengths they would go through to keep their precious money and name. I was not expecting the story to take a hard left as I was reading. I couldn't stop reading it I needed closure from this crazy family. Many of the secrets that were hidden all those years and finally surfaced I was not expecting. These characters felt so real. Their greed showing their true colors coming true made me want to know more.

Great story Ms. Hawkins her best so far. Loved everything about it. Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC. Highly recommend it to everyone.

I love Rachel Hawkins books!! The Heiress is my favorite yet! The back and forth time lines kept up the suspense and kept me guessing. Camden and Jules felt so real to me, they were great characters!! I couldn't put this book down and can't wait for Hawkins next book! Thank you Netgalley, the publisher, and Rachel Hawkins for an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review!

The last book I read from Rachel Hawkins was Reckless Girls, and while I thought that book was OK, this one blew my socks off. I. COULD. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN. It's fast-paced and kept me on my toes the entire time. I loved reading about Ruby's love life, it gave me Evelyn Hugo vibes! The layering of the plot was also well done. I loved the atmosphere and the setting of Ashbhy House being creepy and wonderous at the same time. And the family? OMG these are some screwed up people, I love it. 5 Stars

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

There are multiple plot twists in this family drama. I love the characters and the unapologetic story of Ruby's past.

Normally I read these kinds of thrillers-such as the many others from this author-fairly fast, like a day ir two. But this one I had to slow my roll a bit because the family history and lore is told from several points of view, including the news articles and stories.
Great story telling about the dirty secrets of having old money. And then how even if you run away, it can suck you back in.
Take a journey from a simple life in Colorado to "why is this family so messed up" IN the Carolinas???? Do you think you'll get the answers that you, Cam , and Jules want?
P.S. you know you come from Old money when your mother has six names.

"The Heiress" is giving "Knives Out" vibes as you follow Cam, an heir to a major fortune and house (that he doesn't want) and his wife Jules who are summoned back to the house for by Cam's estranged family. Once there, you see the turmoil between the families since Cam was adopted by Ruby (the heiress) and was given the fortune even though he's not a blood relative. There were some decent twists at the end of the book — but what made me really want to keep reading were Ruby's letters between the chapters with Cam and Jules. Because, of course, Cam and Jules are keeping secrets from one another — but it all ties back to these letters in a way that you might not expect. I wouldn't classify this book as a thriller, I might not even say it's a mystery, but it is a good read from Rachel Hawkins.