I have enjoyed other books by this author, so I was excited for this one. Plus I love anything with a sinister old house.

Unfortunately, for me, this book was only ok. I didn’t feel a bond with any of the characters, and some of them (Libby for one) felt like caricatures. I’m also not a fan of when books break the fourth wall and have characters talking directly to me, the reader.

This book was nothing if not completely engrossing! A dark domestic thriller set in the ominous Ashby House in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The mysterious plotline kept me hooked way past my bedtime and it was worth it. Characterization was fresh and fun, and it was refreshing to not predict the twists and turns. Only small dislike was that the twists were a bit " could that really happen?" Yet, for an ominous thriller...it still worked. Would definitely recommend. One of Hawkin's better reads. #theheiress #rachelhawkins #netgalley #goodreads

I love Rachel Hawkins’ books. The Heiress was addictive and I couldn’t put it down. As a native to North Carolina, I really enjoyed The Heiress and the mystery that surrounded the story of Ruby McTavish. I highly recommend to fans of thrillers and mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC!

Jules and her husband Camden return to his childhood mansion spurring the airing of family secrets, financial drama and maybe even murder? While I found the plot interesting I also found it a bit predictable. Somewhere around the 200s it starts to get a little confusing as Camden is referring to himself as himself sometimes as if there’s an outside narrator.

Witty and Twisted!! I spent an evening with The Heiress that I’ll never forget. This story is sharp!
—Dianna Rostad, USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of You Belong Here Now

Oh big fan of this one!! I couldn't put this down! I didn't see the end coming and for a large thriller reader this is rare. Speedy read that is full of twists and turns. I also decided I wanted to live at Ashby house!

Does money buy you happiness? What if that money controlled everything in your life? Including family.

The McTavish family is a very wealthy one. Ruby McTavish has passed away, leaving her fortune to her adopted son, Camden. Ruby was notoriously known for being kidnapped as a child. Not only that, she has widowed four husbands. Yes, you read that correctly.

Camden and his wife Jules return to the estate he grew up in when news of another relative has passed. In truth, Camden dreads visiting the one place that still haunts him. Once they arrive, things get weird. The rest of the family is introduced and they sure are a nasty bunch. There is lots of drama going on. Who should really inherit the fortune and who is undeserving. About 75% of the story plays out as a drama. Throughout the book there are letters written left by Ruby before her passing. Details are revealed from her marriages that I felt could have been shortened. The ending confused me a bit to be honest. However, it did come together.

I enjoyed her writing style for sure. I would like to thank St. Martin Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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

I could not put this book down! Told from three points of view this book has so many different secrets unravelling and keeps the twists coming! I have read all of Rachel Hawkins' books and like the rest this is another masterpiece!

Highly suggest picking this up when it comes out in January of next year!

5 Stars!

My thanks to St. Martin's Press, Rachel Hawkins and Netgalley.
Short review. I loved and hated it!
While this was my least favorite book from this author, it was still good. I'll confess that the twists and turns just didn't work for me. Also, so much freaking drama. Ugh!
Eagerly awaiting the next book!

The whole mystery and suspense in this book was everything. Along with that eerie background set up. I enjoyed it so much

Talk about a dysfunctional family. Cam, and what I guess would be his cousins, Ben and Libby, have a rivalry that runs deeper than just simple jealousy and greed. There is the constant cloud that hangs over Cam’s head in that he is not connected to the family or its generational wealth by blood and thus does not have a right to the family inheritance that his adoptive mother leaves him and him alone, and this family is ruthless. Murder apparently is always an option on the table. There is a target on Cam’s back that even those in the small community warn him about, but what can anyone do when this family literally owns the town and the local government.

There are three things that I really liked about this story.

#1 - The complexity of the characters. They literally are all carrying secrets and have specific motivations and goals behind everything they say and do - and they are not honorable to say the least. The alternating POVs between Cam and his wife, Jules, creates insights that you wouldn’t have if it was a singular POV. I went through the whole book back and forth in my feelings about all the characters.

#2 - I am always a fan of supplemental and non-traditional structural elements. Ruby chooses to reveal the details of her sordid past through a series of letters that are placed throughout the novel. Hawkins is very clever and thoughtful in how she constructs these letters, it was my favorite aspect of the book. In addition to the letters, I loved the incorporation of various newspaper and magazine articles that were published throughout Ruby’s life.

#3 - The pacing and structure of the storyline creates everything needed to develop an engaging plot with a strong driving conflict that makes for a very quick read. It’s one of those books that you can lose yourself in.

I’m not a thriller connoisseur, so I can’t tell you all the ins and outs of tropes and how it molds to traditional expectations, but as a reader, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed Hawkins last book "The Villa" so I was very excited to get this ARC of "The Heiress" I loved the setting of Ashby House and the family drama was spectacular! Thankfully, Jules stands up for herself and her husband as his horrible relatives attack them. I really didn't know what would happen with Camden and the secrets his mother Ruby left behind. But the story is so enthralling and reeled me in. I didn't want it to end. And the twists were very satisfying and shocked me! Very well written and probably my new favorite from this author! Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this book!! In fact, I can't remember the last time I read a book so fast! I love a book that can keep me turning the pages, and not worry about anything else but the book! This storyline was fast-paced, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough!
This story is about Ruby McTavish, a wealthy little girl who was lost in the woods near her home in North Carolina at only three years old. Ruby was found eight months later in another state and returned home. As Ruby grows up in her mansion known as the Ashby House, she often feels that some things about her aren't quite right.
Ruby writes letters prior to her death at an elderly age, and through these letters we see what transpired during her years growing up and her four marriages. Ruby also had an adopted son named Camden, who is set to inherit all of the McTavish fortune. Camden wants nothing to do with the family money and he has stayed away from his cold and unkind family members for years. However, he gets notified by his cousin that he should come to Ashby House after the passing of his uncle, and Camden's wife Jules thinks it would be a great idea to visit.
When Camden and Jules arrive at Ashby House, the fun really begins! This was a very dysfunctional family. I loved getting the different POV's from Camden, Jules, and Ruby. And while getting all these different viewpoints, we can question what really makes a family?
I highly recommend this book! As I've mentioned before I read for entertainment and enjoyment - and that's what this book gave me! This book also had short chapters (my favorite), which made for a quick read.

4.5 stars. This was such an ideal and fun vacation read that I immensely enjoyed.

The story centers around Ruby McTavish, an heiress, who not only was kidnapped and later returned in her childhood, but also had four marriages end with the suspicious deaths of each husband. We get to know her through the letters she wrote prior to her death ten years ago. Most of the story alternates between the POV of her adopted son, Camden, and his wife, Jules. They have recently been lured back to the McTavish mansion, Ashby house, where a whole slew of long buried family secrets will be revealed in a quite entertaining fashion.

It’s soapy, slightly gothic, and full of twists and turns. Another great read from Hawkins.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, St Martin's Press and author for an ARC copy of this book. I read it in two sittings.

This is a really good book. If you like a bit of gothic, domestic fiction, and family ghosts this read is for you. Twists and turns abound until family is no longer family. Or are they? The main character, Ruby McTavish, has been dead for a decade or more. Her sister, grandniece and grandnephew are still living in the McTavish mansion and financially dependent upon a trust controlled by Ruby’s adopted son Camden who left home ten years prior. The mansion sits atop a mountainside outside Ashville, NC and looks down on the town owned by the family where the grandnephew rides roughshod over the townspeople. Ruby’s adopted son Camden and his wife Jules arrive from Colorado at the request of the family (or was it?) to loosen the purse strings of which he (Camden) has control. Everyone has a secret in this book and the meaning of family is up for debate. Sparks fly, history is revealed and well, sparks fly.

As another reviewer stated, I read for pure enjoyment. I even retired early to read more. The Heiress captivated me from the start, and I never stopped reading it until I fell asleep and woke up to finish the book. I love to read, and I loved this book. This is Rachel Hawkins' best yet. Enjoy!

The McTavish family has been North Carolina royalty in for many decades. Ruby vanished when she was just a toddler but miraculously was found and returned to her privileged life. Ruby's adult life was just as eventful as her childhood - having buried 4 husbands. Now that she has passed on, her adopted son Carmen is the sole heir to the family fortune...much to the chagrin of Ruby's sister and her descendants.

After many years away from the family and the McTavish manor- the once beating Ashby House - Carmen returns, along with his bride, to find Ruby's relatives want what they feel they are owed.

The Heiress is gripping and twisty novel from Rachel Hawkins. I did find it a little predictable but also quite enjoyable. This was a quick read with alternating narrators - which I favor. Overall a solid story - I gave this one 4 stars and would recommend it!

Love love love this book. A twisty story about a family and a mansion full of secrets. I adore how the author used alternating viewpoints along with letters and news clippings to give us the full story bit by bit. Rachel Hawkins is becoming one of my favorite authors!

Initially, I wasn't sure that the story of Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore was really one for me, but I quickly became engrossed in The Heiress and read most of it in an afternoon. Ruby had been kidnapped as a child, but thankfully she is returned to her very wealthy North Carolina family several months later. She and he family live at Ashby House, their large estate in the mountains. Ruby has been married four times and through letters she has written to an unknown recipient, we learn the story of those four marriages, what happened to her four husbands, and why she adopted a child, Camden. As an adult Camden wants nothing to do with the family and their money, but when his uncle dies, Camden and his wife Jules return to Ashby House. Then the convoluted plot really takes off! There are lots of twists, double-crosses, and secrets in this family drama, and it's not over until almost the very last page.

"I know this may sound insane to you, but you have to understand, the sins of my family - my sins included - were too great for reasonable measures."

I could have used a family tree to clarify who was who, and several of the plot points require some suspension of disbelief, but overall, The Heiress was a fun and entertaining read. Three and a half stars rounded up.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. This book will be published on January 9, 2024.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
Wow! What did I just read?!?! The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins is the story of Cam McTavish. Cam returns home after the death of his adoptive mother, the infamous Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore. The story is told
from multiple perspectives and through emails, newspaper, and magazine articles. It was intriguing from the very beginning and it quickly becomes obvious that nothing is what it seems. There were so many twists and turns that my head was spinning! A great, very fast paced thriller!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely love @ladyhawkins books, I’ve read every single one of them. But, this book, this one right here is my all time favorite! It was giving 7 husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but with murder involved.

I loved the telling of Ruby’s love life through letters, honestly, I could read a whole book just based on her past life any day. Not to mention, this entire book takes place in the mountains of North Carolina, right outside of Asheville. The Biltmore House is mentioned, Duke, UNC and Raleigh are all mentioned too. I absolutely love when I book is based in my home state! Also, The twist and turns this book took too, the end I did not see coming. 🤌🏻

The different point of views, and the looks into the past, is perfect for Hist Fic lovers.

The different husbands and the MCs love story is perfect for romance lovers.

And the multiple deaths and twists is perfect for all my mystery/thriller lovers.

Basically what I’m saying, is this book is for EVERYBODY. I loved this book so much and will be buying a physical copy when it is published in January.

🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻/5

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.