This was so good! I love a twisty, multi narrative novel! Deception and greed but also love are the main tenets of the story, with great, if not,morally grey characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Really enjoyed this one. It was my first book by Rachel Hawkins and I was very pleased! I was able to get through this one pretty quick!

Rachel Hawkins’ best work yet! This is a story heavy in family drama and deception. It sucked me in around 25% and I couldn’t put it down after that! The main characters (Cam, Jules, and Ruby) were untrustworthy and at times unlikeable, yet I found myself rooting for them nonetheless. I highly recommend this read to anyone who enjoys a little suspense and a lot of family dysfunction!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press (via NetGalley) for the ARC of this fantastic read!

This kept me entertained, but in the end it was pretty forgettable. I will say, I didn't see all the twists and turns that this book took, so it certainly kept me turning the pages, but a year from now I probably won't even remember having read it.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Heiress. I have loved the majority of Rachel Hawkins’ books and I thought this one was better than The Villa. It took my a while to get invested in the book but there were so many twists and turns, and I honestly did not see the end coming, so that is a win in my eyes.

A thrilling, page turner that I could not put down. I am a huge fan of Rachel Hawkins and this book only proved that even more.

Would definitely recommend.

Heiress did the long-game reveal better than most thrillers that include it. I was never bored or just reading ahead to see what the twist would be. I wish Jules was a little more flushed out initially, but obivously at the end the reasoning for that was revealed. A good comp here would be The Plot, similar vibes of the twist including someone faking their identity.

📚The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Cam and Jules have been happily married for ten years living a very modest life in California. After the death of his uncle Cam is called home to his family’s estate in North Carolina. He is the sole heir to the McTavish fortune, only his family is full of awful people and he wants nothing to do with them or the money. But Jules does. This book has more insane twists and turns than a daytime soap opera. Most of it was pretty hard to believe, but it was still a fun read on vacation. If you liked Hawkins’ other books, like Restless Girls and The Villa, you’ll like this one too. A great vacation read for sure. Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced copy. It comes out in January!

The protagonist, Jules, is the singularly most repellent character I’ve read in I don’t even know how long. The outrageous sense of entitlement, the complete disregard for her husband’s clear childhood family trauma, and the most boring, trite display of two-dimensional “if I have MONEY everything will be perfect” made for a more-than-tedious story, and about halfway through I just couldn’t take it anymore.

It’s a shame, because the other plot line—the letters the late Ruby McTavish wrote to her adopted son, and Julia’s husband, Cam—were quite compelling. But so much of the story was told from Jules’ POV that it just ruined everything else.

The writing is fine, although I did find it to be somewhat formulaic and, at least from the Jules arc, definitely pedestrian.

The inheritance of Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmoore, famous kidnapping victim and infamous four-time widow, is the center of this southern gothic thriller. Vying for claim to her estate are her adopted son Camden (and his wife Jules), her sister Nelle, nephew Ben and niece Libby. Told from three perspectives, Camden’s, Jules’, and correspondence written by Ruby herself, the story combines familial drama and small town politics while revealing the truth behind every salacious rumor ever spread about Mrs. Ruby Kill-moore during her life and after. At times catty, petty and cunning the actions of Hawkins’ characters are always entertaining.

Ruby, who is North Carolina’s wealthiest woman, dies and the family discovers mysteries, secrets, and lies that have been told. Great writing, great book.

Another fantastic Rachel Hawkins book! The Heiress has it all: rich people doing very bad things, greed, suspicious deaths, a fabulous mansion, a kidnapping and best of all the question at the heart of it: are all good people good or do they have some bad in them as well? What compelling characters and I found myself wanting to learn even more about Ruby.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

ah yes, another installment of Rich People Making Poor Choices. this time, it’s the McTavish family, who are full of old money, secrets, and betrayal.

I’ve read almost all of Rachel Hawkins (aka Erin Sterling!!) adult gothic thrillers and have enjoyed them. This one isn’t my favorite of hers, but I don’t regret reading it. There were so many twists and turns that sometimes I had to stop and digest to really follow the plot. I loved Ruby; her POV is told through letters she wrote. Her dark sense of humor thrilled me.

highlights
- set in a north carolina mansion
- told through the dual POV of main characters (cam and jules), letters from ruby, and media articles.
- unexpected twists along the way (maybe too many?)
- easy read - could finish in one day

If you love rich people behaving badly, this one is for you! I really enjoyed this dark and twisty story about a wealthy family in the Appalachians and the long-held family secrets that could threaten to destroy them. I was rooting for Camden and Jules, but the star of the book for me was Ruby, the already deceased enigmatic matriarch who tells her story in her own words through letters. Though her character could have easily come across as a one-note caricature, the author expertly breathed life into her throughout the book to create a compelling and complex character that I couldn't get enough of.

The Heiress comes out on January 4, 2024. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and Rachel Hawkins for the ARC!

Can a person be only bad or only good? This is the question at the heart of this novel. Camden is the adopted child of North Carolina royalty and the real blood McTavish’s are not impressed. Ten years ago Camden left it all behind to start afresh but your past never stays truly hidden and forgotten and he is drawn back to Asher House and all its secrets.

Jules is Camden’s wife and she has a strange fascination with Asher House and the McTavish family and secrets she hasn’t shared. Will those secrets be revealed and shatter their marriage or make it stronger.

There is a lot of tension and darkness throughout this novel. At the center is Ruby McTavish, the child who went missing on the mountain but was miraculously found a year later. Ruby is known as Mrs Kill-More due to her four husbands perishing in various ways. I really liked Ruby, she was straight talking and definitely owned all her actions. Camden was the moral compass, Ben and Libby, the spoilt, privileged cousins and the living matriarch Nelle, bitter and twisted from never winning against Ruby.

All of them stuck in Asher House, it can only end one way.

I loved the wickedness and the idea that good people do bad things and vice versa. This was a brilliant read.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I’ll admit, this started off great. I read it so fast I didn’t want to stop for real daily life.

There’s a part before the very beginning that has a little description and I think I got my hopes up reading that as for some reason this book went way left.

A husband and his wife travel to the grand estate that’s been in his family for years and years after a death that’s left everyone bitter and unhappy. For all the wrong reasons of course.

Money IS the root of all evil.

Once the book dove into the family history and who’s related to who and who isn’t, it got so intertwined that I honestly didn’t care to connect the dots. Greed is greed and this family is sick with it.

Add to that, a missing child story that happened at the house long before their time and the two stories just didn’t mesh well for me. I’d have liked more of that. You do get the closure in the form of letters throughout the story but again, it’s just a lot.

The plot is fun it just wasn’t twisty and fun for me in the way that it was told.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for granting me access to an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Rachel Hawkins~you are spectacular! I have read all of your books and and liked all your books (well, not “The Villa” so much) and this one is the best yet! Family = Drama, it’s just a fact. These people are something else though. Ruby is seriously crazy, but she owns it so I have to admire that. The story had twists and turns and so much I did not see coming~I could barely put it down but read with “ one eye open” if you will. With all the build up, I was hoping that it didn’t race forward and then fall flat which so many recently released books seem to do. This did not disappoint, do yourself a favor and add it to your book stack, you won’t be sorry.

I’ve read several books by this author and to be honest a couple of them weren’t for me. This one is one of the best she has done. The characters were interesting, the feeling was tense and the twists kept coming. I really enjoyed this.

Another fast-paced read from Rachel Hawkins that tells the story of generational wealth and the secrets (and skeletons) such wealth can hide.

Camden is the adopted son of the infamous “Baby Ruby” who went missing from the woods behind her family’s sprawling home, Ashby House, and turns up years later, hundreds of miles away. Camden’s wife, Jules, convinces him to visit Ashby House a decade after the death of his mother to finally settle her estate and deal with his vengeful extended “family” and their claim on his inheritance.

Alternating between Cam and Jules’ POV, Hawkins includes letters written by Ruby detailing the story (and secrets) of her lifetime. The writing style brings Ashby House to life, once again creating a main character out of the story’s central setting. This book is brilliant, with unexpected twists and supremely fast pacing. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Rachel Hawkins for an ARC of The Heiress. Publication date: January 9, 2024.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
this is rachel hawkins’s best book to date!!! my bed time is 9:00 (9:30 on weekends), and I stayed up until midnight finishing this one.

Old money, a family with everything who hates each other, a grandma with a dark past and even darker secrets. who really is Ruby McTavish- the rich little girl who was once kidnapped? someone with horrible luck? or is she somehow something much worse? multiple POVs with past and present perspectives— think knives out, but more.

This book is full of twists and turns, not knowing who to trust or who to cheer for. I also loved the setting— as someone who has always loved the Biltmore, I loved the descriptions and being able to perfectly picture the Ashby house.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC- I truly loved this book!