Ruby Anne McTavish (age 3) disappeared while on a picnic with her wealthy parents. She was found a year later and returned to her family. Her kidnapper was killed while trying to escape from jail. Ruby led an eventful life. She was married four times. All four of her husbands died in strange occurrences. She was childless so she decided to adopt a son Camden. After Ruby’s death, Camden wanted nothing to do with the money he inherited or the dysfunctional family that went with it. Camden’s uncle tried to contact him but was ignored. When Camden’s cousin wrote to say the uncle had died, Camden and Jules, his wife, decided to return to North Carolina to sort things out. From there, numerous twists and turns occur. The ending was a twist I didn’t see coming. The Heiress is worth reading.

Rachel Hawkins has quickly become one of my favorite thriller authors. I really enjoy the way she weaves a twisty tale with memorable characters/settings.

Isolated thrillers are definitely a category that works for me. I also enjoy weird family dynamics. This book had both. I loved how it also contained revolving perspectives as well as letters. I couldn’t get enough and kept turning the pages. I can’t wait for her next release!!

I really enjoyed this book. Well written and keeps the reader wanting to know about the secrets. It starts with Jules and Camden and him not wanting to return home. Home is where the McTavish family resides who happens to be rich. The story goes back and forth between their perspectives and Camden’s mother Ruby’s letters detailing her Past.

Synopsis:

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she leaves everything to her adopted son, Camden.. 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. Cam doesn't want the house, money or a relationship with the surviving McTavishes and lives a normal life as an English teacher, married to Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past. His uncle's death brings him & Jules to Ashby house where they realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

Review:

Ruby sounded like a strong and powerful woman who knew what she wanted and how to get it. This book draws you in with Ruby's story and you want more as you get into the details. The narration switches between the past and present and between Ruby and Jules. I feel like it's so true that the more money you have, the more problems you end up having. There is so much family drama and greed that is involved. There are lots of twists and turns in this story, I did not see them coming. This was an entertaining and suspenseful read.

Wow is all I can say! This book was phenomenal & so different from the other mysteries & thrillers I’ve been reading lately. At first I felt like it was giving a Seven Husbands vibe, but it was nothing of the sort. The characters were captivating & I loved them, I felt like I could picture everything happening like I was watching a show & I couldn’t get enough! I laughed with them, hated other characters with them & cooed over their happiness. I will say that one of the twists I saw coming only because it was talked about frequently, but the others I never expected at all! It was nice to read something unpredictable & with an amazing plot. Definitely a must read!

Fast paced story that keeps you engaged and guessing the whole time. Entertaining read and I can’t read to more of Rachel Hawkins work!

Camden, the adopted son of a rich heiress, wants little to do with the fortune and complications she leaves behind when she dies. Years after her death, Camden and his wife Jules finally decide to venture out to Ashby House to confront the legacy of his aunt Ruby and all she has left behind including a mysterious kidnapping as a child and four dead husbands.
This book will keep you flipping page after page until the end. Alternating points of view give the insight and feel of literary fiction while also providing the twists and turns that one expects from a mystery/thriller. The reader questions who they should trust, and the story keeps you guessing until the final pages.

When the heiress Ruby dies and leaves the fortune and Ashby House to her adopted son Camden, everyone is shocked that he wants nothing to do with it. Camden flees and becomes a teacher and wants to forget everything that is associated to the McTavish Name and Ashby House. But as much as Camden wants to forget his relatives and inheritance, his wife Jules finally convinces him that it is finally time to go home and confront everything. This is a good domestic suspense book as it is all about family and all the complications that families have. There are so many lies secrets and double crosses that you don’t know which voice to trust in this book, as you can tell that they are all holding on to a few secrets along the way. I enjoyed the letter format that Hawkins used for Ruby's part and it just makes sense overall in the context of the book as it allows for 2 timelines of events but have them interact in a seamless way.

Thank you Netgalley for this eARC!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

This book takes you on the twists and turns of old money and your obligations to have a piece of it even if you don’t want it. You have to question how a family can become so dark but somehow bring lightness at the same time. Overall, this was a great story and definitely had a few twists and turns! I recommend this if you’re looking for a quick story with a dark past.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins is a thriller about Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore, who was the victim of a famous kidnapping as a child. When she passes away, her adopted son Camden becomes the owner of her estate. Cam really wants nothing to do with the estate, but his wife Jules encourages him to get everything in order between him and his family. This book was full of twists, and I had no idea who I should trust. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I love everything Rachel Hawkins comes out with & The Heiress was no exception! Definitely a four out of five star for me!!! A little predictable at the end but still a good read.

Cam wants to leave his past in the past. Once his wife Jules finds out that Cam's past life left him rich with an estate, she will do anything that she can to live the luxurious lifestyle! Cam is very happy with their quiet & normal life in Colorado. How far will Jules go to get what she wants?

4.5⭐

If you like messy rich people drama - this is 100% the book to binge. The Heiress centers around the life and death of the famous (or infamous) Ruby McTavish. Between being the victim of kidnapping as a child and outliving all 4 of her husbands, who died under peculiar circumstances, Ruby lived a long, interesting life.

In the aftermath of her death, her adoptive son Camden and his wife Jules, arrive at Ashby House to manage the estate and legacy left to him. Between the remaining estranged McTavish family and Ruby's legacy, Cam and Jules find out more about the family than expected.

This was a fantastic time and honestly I am so mad I put off reading this. The Heiress is a fun, twisty ride that felt like reality TV in the best way possible. I have always liked Rachel Hawkins and this release was no exception. I binged this audio in a day - the multi-cast narration was a treat.
[Narrated by Dan Bittner; Eliza Foss; John Pirhalla; Patti Murin] Truly a great performance and it made every character feel different and have the charm I expected. I listened to this at 1.75x speed and everyone was extremely clear and understandable - a major plus.

Multi POV - Ruby, Camden & Jules
Family Drama & Secrets
Messy Rich People
Unhinged secrets

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin's Press & Macmillan Audio for the ARC & ALC of The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins.

Wow! Excellent gothic thriller. Thoroughly enjoyable novel full of memorable characters, and twists galore. Do not miss it! Thanks #NetGalley for the arc.

An author who I have enjoyed in the past. The Heiress took three quarters of the book for to know who was whom and what the heck was going on. That is almost too long. I think in trying to create twists, the building of the story got lost. The end twist was in the epilogue.

I don't know that I enjoyed this but I didn't DNF it. I didn't bond with any of the characters and again, wasn't really sure what was going on. The twists seemed too intentional and planned.

Not sure if I will recommend it.

**Disclaimer: I received a copy of The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins is an adult mystery novel.  It deals with complicated family situations and family legacy, and lots and lots of money.  I rated it five stars on Goodreads.  It was published on January 9th, 2024.


Here's the summary from Goodreads:

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. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.
But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.
Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.
Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.
But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

Rachel Hawkins has become one of my favourite writers.  I loved all of her YA books I read, and I have loved even more her divergence into writing adult books.  I have also reviewed The Wife Upstairs, Reckless Girls, and The Villa.  I feel like her thrillers have only gotten better as she writes them, and while The Villa is my favourite, The Heiress is probably my second favourite.

I liked that we got dual perspectives of both Camden and Jules in this book.  It was interesting to see the secrets that each of them were hiding and to learn more and more as we saw it through their eyes.  That was incredibly fun.  However, I also liked that she included lots of news articles and things that helped to develop the story from an outsider's perspective.  What did the public know?  Turns out not too much.  The cherry on top of it all was the letters written by Ruby McTavish.  It was very fun to hear the real story about what happened.

I loved how well-plotted this story was.  You could tell that the author put a lot of thought into the story, and that she was doing her best to keep us guessing about what exactly what going to happen next.  I don't think that there was a single twist that I predicted; I was strictly along for the ride and I had an excellent time with it.  She does a really good job at writing characters that are unlikable but likable. 

I liked the family dynamics at work in this novel.  They were complex and it wasn't really clear who liked who and if anyone trusted anyone else in the family.  It had interesting themes about how money can be a corrupting factor in people's lives, and I really liked the way that was shown.

Overall, I highly recommend this book.

3.5
Rachel Hawkins, shows that the most complicated relationship you have is one with your Family:

The McTavish family name has always had money and power in the small town in North Carolina, and when the heiress Ruby dies and leaves the fortune and Ashby House to her adopted son Camden, everyone is shocked that he wants nothing to do with it. Camden flees and becomes a teacher and wants to forget everything that is associated to the McTavish Name and Ashby House. But as much as Camden wants to forget his relatives and house keep calling, and he wife Jules finally convinces him that it is finally time to go home and confront everything. Everyone has their secrets and all of them seem to buried in Ashby house, it's whether they are buried deep enough to keep them safe that matters.

This is a good domestic suspense book as it is all about family and all the complications that families have. This is especially true when the family has money and influence, and the feeling like they are being left out with the money. This is really seen when Jules and Cam return to the house and the ugliness and pettiness that comes out of Cam's cousins and great Aunt is just appalling. I do not think that there is one nice things said to them while they are there, everything is extremely petty, snide or cruel. You can understand why Camden left and never wanted to return.

There are so many lies secrets, double crosses that you don’t know which voice to trust in this book, as you can tell that they are all holding on to a few secrets along the way. There is quite a bit of family meddling that goes on in both timelines and sometimes that meddling is between people that you did not think that it would occur between.

This was a quick and interesting read once you get into it, but I will say that I found the very beginning a bit slow. It wasn’t until we got the first few chapters from Ruby's POV that I really found myself invested in the book. I found that Ruby's POV was the most interesting one, but not the only one with twists. I was able to figure out Jules' twist but only some of Camden's. Really, I think that if Hawkins did Camden's character a disservice, he could have been interesting and I wish that Hawkins would have had more to him. I do find it interesting that although he wanted nothing to do with Ashby House and the money, yet he never actually got rid of either. Maybe it was just a small act to keep going what Ruby wanted, but it is never really explained why he did decide to still hold on to it.

I enjoyed the letter format that Hawkins used for Ruby's part and it just makes sense overall in the context of the book as it allows for 2 timelines of events but have them interact in a seamless way. I also liked that Jules breaks the fourth wall throughout the book, makes it feel like she is talking directly to you as the reader.

This was a good book and once I was able to get into the story I did enjoy it. If you enjoy a book that has a lot of family meddling and secrets, then you will enjoy this one.

Enjoy!!!!

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins is a mystery and family drama novel that I had a hard time putting down. In this novel we are introduced to Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore, the wealthiest woman in North Carolina - but also one of the most notorious! She was kidnapped as a toddler, returned to her family, widowed four times, and adopted a son to ensure that her wealth got passed down to him and not her sister. As the story unfolds, we are treated to letters written before Ruby's death to an unknown recipient - letters that detail the deaths of her husbands among other family secrets. Her adopted son, Camden, who has indeed inherited this wealth, has to come back to Ashby House to settle some issues with the other family living there. He really wants nothing to do with the home, the family, or the inheritance - he lives a quiet life as a teacher in Colorado with his wife Jules. As much as Cam wants nothing to do with North Carolina, Jules is intrigued and very excited to journey back "home" with him. She falls in love with the estate and has hopes to persuade Cam to kick out his cousins and take up permanent residence in Ashby House. But everyone has secrets and bad things happen when these secrets are revealed.

I really enjoyed this book! I liked the alternating viewpoints from Cam and Jules. I liked the letters from Ruby and how you think they're intended for someone specific, BUT then you realize they're not being written to who you thought! This one was a really fast read for me and I read late into the night to finish.

I have found Hawkins books to be a little hit or miss for me personally. I really enjoyed The Wife Upstairs and The Heiress, but felt like The Villa and Reckless Girls were not for me. But don't get me wrong - I will reach for Hawkins again and hopefully soon!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

The Heiress - Rachel Hawkins
After the wealthy Ruby McTavish Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, her son Cam rejects everything left to him, the house, the money, and the family. He strives to live a normal life with his girlfriend Jules, leaving the family history and secrets behind him.
However, it's hard to keep it all in the past when his uncle passes away. After numerous attempts to contact him, Cam gives in. They pack up and make the trip back to Ashby house, to see what work the house may need, how he can be of service, and to keep the secrets of the past where they belong.
I was skeptical going into this book, thinking typical rich kid problems, but I was pleasantly surprised. Ruby gives off the vibes of Evelyn Hugo, with a past that would make your jaw drop. She paved the way for herself and got what she deserved. This book kept you itching for the truth, and it didn't let you down. If you're looking a thriller to devour in a day, this is it. It's fast paced, an easy read, and one that I'll continue to recommend. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Thank you so much Netgalley for the ARC!

Another St Martins Press Title that I've read / listened to and can't share my thoughts on.
It saddens me that they haven't addressed the racist, homophobic and Islamophobic content that their employee posted on social media.