Thank you to the publisher, to Net Galley and to the author for the opportunity to review. My review opinions are my own .This is a fabulous engaging story I read from cover to cover. I was so entranced I was unable to put this book down. The author is a favorite writer of mine from Net Galley and all her work is outstanding.

The story is told from three points of view. One historical , two modern day. The premisis is a mysterious gothic mansion and a family fortune from North Carolina. A fortune and mansion to be inherited by a adopted son who wants nothing to do with the family, the mansion or the money. His wife has other ideas and she begins a journey of her own to have control of the estate and all they stand to inherit. A mystery surrounds the family that dates back generations as well as questions unanswered to be discovered. The mystery deepens as the wife investigaes the background of the family and their fortune. A wonderful story . I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment and all works by this wonderful author.

The Heiress 🌿
Thank you @stmartinspress for the gifted copy of Rachel Hawkin's upcoming novel! {partner}

Genre: Mystery
Format: 📖
Pub Date: 1.9.2024
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

"Bloom where you're planted, people like to say, but they ignore the fact that planted is sometimes just a nice way of saying stuck."

I cannot wait for you all to read The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins in 2024!

It is one of those stories that's so easy to get lost in. I can't tell you the last time a book pulled me in as this one did - I could tune out the rest of the world, and when I had to put it down, I found myself continuously thinking about the characters and storyline. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, but I didn't want the book to end. Absolute perfection!

In some ways, I was reminded of a darker version of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as Ruby McTavish had that same type of personality - larger than life, taking no prisoners, and having no regrets until the end (and even then, I'm not sure). While we never hear from Ruby in the present day, we're provided vivid details of her life through letters, which was fascinating and added an extra air of mystery to the story. My one takeaway is that I would not want to cross Ruby McTavish.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the viewpoints of Camden and Jules. I tried to think of the last mystery I read that was told from the perspective of a husband and wife, but I came up empty. Jules also breaks the third wall a few times and speaks directly to the reader, which I loved.

🤓 Dysfunctional family
📖 Short chapters
🗣️ Husband & Wife POV
📝 Past perspective in letters

Overall, The Heiress is just one of those books that cast a complete spell over you while reading. I was in awe of the complex story and can see this being made into a movie.

Throughout this whole book, I kept waiting for a big reveal, or something that made the thriller worth reading. It was a fast read in that the chapters were short and single-page news articles were interspersed throughout, but looking back, there was nothing that kept me on the edge of my seat. If you're looking for a slow burn literary thriller, you can find it here.

It's been years since the Heiress to McTavish House, Ruby McTavish, has passed. Her adopted son Cam, wants nothing to do with the estate, but when his estranged family starts sending emails begging him to return and repair the estate, he must come to terms with long buried secrets.

Atmospheric but Plodding and Anticlimactic, I honestly wasn't in love with this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC!

Do you ever read a book and feel like the author wrote it specifically with you and all your weird obsessions in mind? That was this book for me. Easily my favorite Rachel Hawkins book to date. Although I've enjoyed her previous works, this is the first one that I felt she really nailed the follow-through. A great setting, likeable (and not-so-likeable) characters and a decades-long mystery that I was racing to uncover before it was revealed to me. Plus - a black-widow-type character, which I always find fascinating (don't tell my fiance that). I cannot wait for this book to be released so the masses can enjoy it!

What does Jules have to do to get her husband to enjoy his massive inheritance?

Cam’s adoptive mother was (in)famous - Ruby McTavish was kidnapped as a child & miraculously found months later. You’d think that’d be enough notoriety for a lifetime, but adult Ruby was widowed FOUR times. Now that she’s passed on, Cam is the beneficiary of her sizable estate - but he doesn’t want anything to do with his family. After years of living within the means of an English teacher’s salary & a historical reanactor’s pay, Cam’s wife Jules is ready to see where he grew up & hopefully get him to take advantage of all the benefits associated with being a McTavish.

But going home to Ashby House (where a couple of Cam’s cruelest relatives still reside) isn’t as simple as Jules had hoped - the secrets in a place like that tend to pile up over the years…

Rachel Hawkins has done it again: this story was a complicated knot of family drama with no one really completely a “good” person, but you did end up rooting for certain characters over others. The way it was told with letters & articles & alternating POVs kept it fresh & absorbing. I loved the little reference to The Villa (another amazing Rachel Hawkins read), & the way that several details were attended to in the end was supremely satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

rating: 4.5 stars*
if you’re looking for a mashup of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and The Family Game, look no further than The Heiress! i don’t like to talk too much about plot, but what moves this book forward is figuring out the rich family’s history. after all, it can’t stay buried forever, and everyone has a secret…

all of Rachel Hawkins’ adult thrillers have been no less than 4 stars for me (with the exception of Reckless Girls, which i didn’t like, unfortunately). i’m so glad to say that The Heiress was a hit!

as is the case with Rachel Hawkins’ writing in this genre, she does a great job establishing character personalities and dynamics, then turning everything on its head. i appreciate that she takes her time doing this, making the twists and payoff totally worth it. not to say that the book is slow paced, but it reads a bit more historical, with secrets and reveals picking up the pace in the last quarter or so (i found this to be the case with her last book, The Villa). i just don’t want people going into this book thinking they’re going to get a fast-paced thriller.

i really enjoyed this reading experience overall, and was turning the pages so quickly! those plot twists had my head SPINNING. if you like Hawkins’ other work, i think this will be a hit. this is now one of my favorites from her.

read this book if you like…
🤫family secrets
💰rich people drama
🎞️historical fiction
✉️letters in books

The Heiress comes out on January 9, 2024. thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Rachel Hawkins, & Netgalley for the ARC!

Not my favorite from this author. I lost interest and didn't care much for the characters. I found the language a bit unnecessary. I think, however, many of my patrons will enjoy this read so I will recommend it. My favorite part was reading Ruby's letters throughout.

Out for general publication in January 2024 this is a brilliant mystery book. I loved the style, the mystery is revealed through letters, press cuttings and alternative narratives from Camden and Jules. Small town dramas, backstabbing families and the power of money all get explored in a tale that kept me gripped and guessing till the end.

Thanks @netgalley @stmartinspress @ladyhawkins for the early access.

#theheiress #rachelhawkins #mysterythrillerbooks #canyourecommendagoodbook #bookreview #netgalley

Thanks to Netgalley for the E-ARC. Let me start off by saying that this book was the best one out of the other 2 I have read. Theres not much I can say about it because its just one of those books that you need to go in blind and just go with it you wont be disappointed. The twist and turns were on point Read this you wont be disappointed I cant stress that enough

For fans of :
• Multiple POV
• Dual Timelines

In hopes to re-write her husbands memories and feelings of the Ashby Home, Jules and Cam head to NC. Jules simply cannot fathom having access to a mansion and millions but choosing to avoid them because you have a difficult family.

The McTavish family is southern royalty, in the worst way. Money, greed and power have tarnished them all, well almost all of them. Libby, Ben and Nelle are jaded by being the “spares”, second best, the back-ups. Driven by vanity they will capitalize on anything to get ahead.
—————————
I absolutely tore through this book! So excited to have had been approved for an ARC of “The Heiress”.

The theme of families paying off karmic debts was thrilling! I thoroughly loved having letters and news articles sprinkled throughout to book, carrying the reader back to Ruby’s timeline and catapulting back to Cam/Jules. Typically I find myself underwhelmed by the “big reveal” but in “The Heiress”’s case, I was pleasantly surprised by the connections between the main characters.

I’d been looking forward to this but it’s a bit of a disappointment coming from Rachel Hawkins. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve read it but I’ve already forgotten some of the details. The story follows Cam, whose adoptive mother, Ruby McTavish, died 10 years ago. Now that her son (Cam’s uncle) is dead, Cam has to return home to sort out the inheritance. He is joined by his wife of 10 years, Jules, who knows almost nothing about Cam’s youth at the grand McTavish House. Back in his childhood home, Cam must deal with her uncle’s kids and with Ruby’s sister, who are all against Cam inheriting the McTavish estate and fortune. Weaving alongside this narrative is Ruby’s backstory, told through letters she’s writing.

Parts of the book are fun - I like the relationship btw Cam and his cousins, and really wish we could’ve gotten more of it, both in his youth and in the present. However, Ruby’s backstory felt so been-there-done-that… the poor little rich girl with 4 dead husbands and an enormous fortune to leave to her adopted son, who wants nothing to do with the McTavish estate.

The family drama was fun, but overall the book was slow and long-winded with an unsatisfying ending.

I did something dumb, very dumb, I started this book at 11 pm and told myself that I would just read for a few minutes and then go to bed. Silly me, I know myself better than that. This book has murder, family drama, multiple POVs (a weakness of mine), and suspense. I finished this fantastic book around 3 am and then couldn't believe I was just expected to go to bed after all that.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

I could not put this book down. I spent today reading it and ignoring all of my responsibilities. Hawkins does a great job of creating engaging and interesting characters. I thought for sure the three different point of views would take something away from being able to connect to each of the characters, but it definitely did not. I highly recommend this one.

If you loved The Seven Husband's of Evelyn Hugo, this book is for you! Following the lives and inner workings of a rich and dysfunctional southern family, I could not put this book down. All of the twists and turns of this story had me finishing this book in less than a day!

I’ll be honest, I purchased two books by this author that I have yet to crack open, so this is my first experience with her work. I loved this book and flew through it. I was really invested in the main characters. They are all ruthless in getting what they want and despite their many character flaws (to put it mildly) I found myself rooting for them and cheering on their witty banter. The Ashby House is a whole vibe and I loved it. Overall, it was a super entertaining page-turner with lots of twists, turns and drama. I’ll now be reading her other books sooner rather than later! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you @NetGalley for the ARC of The Heiress. This is my first time reading Rachel Hawkins, and wow what a great read. This book was a page turner and kept me interested the whole way. Looking forward to reading more of Rachel Hawkins.

The latest from author, Rachel Hawkins, and I think this miiight just be my new favorite of hers! If stories about rich families with messed up dynamics particularly when it comes to inheritance and “what is rightfully theirs”, than this may be a book for you.

The eeriness of the story is set early on with the kidnapping and return of three year old, Ruby McTavish, in a small North Carolina town near the Appalachians. Ruby is the heiress to the great McTavish family fortune and lived quite a life until her death. In the present, Camden is summoned back to his childhood home to deal with the family he cut off all relations with and who despise him back. He brings along his wife, Jules, for support and their visit is the catalyst to unveiling long hidden secrets about different individuals and the family as a whole.

One thing I really enjoyed about this book was the different POVs and formats included. Not only do we get dual perspectives from both Camden and Jules, but we also get newspaper articles/ clippings from decades ago as well as more recently, and finally there are letters written by Ruby prior to her death that explain much of her past actions and why she did certain things. All of these different narratives and format did create a cohesive and engaging story that had me continually curious and wanting more. It helped that this also read SUPER quickly and was very easy to binge.

The atmosphere was also done well because the setting of the mansion created a sense of mystery where you just knew something was off. Learning about the different dynamics and drama of the McTavish family was fascinating and I like how the author used certain characters to contrast against each other to show who genuinely had good morals vs. those who did not.

There were many twists and while some were not a huge shock, I did find that others were more well done where it caught me off guard!

Overall, I thought this was a pretty solid thriller and if you love ones that you can read in a single sitting, you will want to check this out when it releases in January 2024!

I love Rachel Hawkins books, but I went into this one a little mixed because of the historical component as told through letters. It took me a bit of the book to get into that storyline, but once I did, I was invested. First of all, I never saw the twists and reveals coming, which is so exciting in a book and seems rarer and rarer. Second, I loved the main plot line about the couple told through alternating POVs. Really a fabulous book, and it has a bit of something for everyone.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins. All opinions are my own.

I've read all but one of Rachel Hawkins books, and this is by far the best in my opinion. The publisher describes this novel as a twisted gothic suspense. Ruby McTavish, a southern heiress, that was kidnapped and returned as a child. The reader follows two timelines, one through letters from Ruby about her life and the other from her adopted son Camden and his wife Jules. To say that this rich family is dysfunctional is to put it mildly. What can money buy? Just about anything evidently. I don't want to give away too much of the synopsis because it is so much fun watching this story unpack as you read along.

I could not put this book down. When each chapter ended, I had to keep going to see what would happen next. The narrative is very engaging and addictive. Plot twists around every corner. Which character should you root for, because all of them have secrets and ulterior motives. I really enjoyed this one. The Heiress will release on January 9, 2024. You might want to go ahead and put a pre order on this one.

Wow, did I love this one! Before Ruby was married four times she was infamous for being the victim of a famous kidnapping. Ruby was from one of the most wealthy families in North Carolina and the country followed the notorious crime that was her kidnapping. When Ruby returns home her story is all over the news but she becomes notorious when she marries four times and each husband ends up dead. Is this merely bad luck or something more sinister?
.
When Ruby, herself dies she leaves her entire estate, plus her house named Ashby House to her adopted son Camden, but he doesn’t want the money. Estranged from his family he wants nothing to do with them but he is pulled back into their orbit.
.
There are a lot of twists and turns that had me guessing and f
Thank you #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.