IS MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL?

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious.

When just a child, she was the victim of a famous kidnapping, and as an adult she has become a widow four times over, earning herself the nickname of “Mrs. Killmore”.

In the aftermath of her death, her estate-the Ashby house, along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish―was passed down to her adopted son, Camden, who wants no part of it.

But his wife, Jules, does….

The story unfolds from the alternating perspectives of Jules, Camden and Ruby (through a series of TELL ALL letters) along with some clippings from various magazine and newspaper articles over the years, after Camden is called home to deal with the estate.

This sounded like it was going to be a lot of fun to read, BUT it was probably my least favorite book by this author, and I wasn’t captivated by the story at all.

But, I must give credit where credit is due.

Many authors can write an entertaining book that is ruined by a terrible ending, but this time, an average story was somewhat redeemed by a CLEVER denouement, which earned it the extra .5 ⭐️

3.5 ⭐️ rounded down

Available January 9, 2024

A buddy read which ended up with two of us giving it a 👍🏻and two of us giving it a 👎🏻

Thank You to St. Martin’s Press for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an eARC of this book via NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating: 5/5 Stars
Publishing: January 9, 2024
Series: NA
Pages: 304

Loved this book! This is a first time read by Rachel Hawkins, new author to this reader. “The Heiress” was a thrilling read filled with mystery, secrets, and southern drama. Ms. Hawkins did a wonderful job of making this a page turner for this reader and completely not what I was anticipating.
Camden McTavish, adopted son to Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore who was known to be notorious and very wealthy, is summoned after ten years to Ashby House, the family estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tavistock due to his uncle’s death. He’s been gone along time as he has not wanted any dealings with his family and the complicated dynamics of his family. Inheritance…something he could care less about. Family…rejecting them even more, but if there is money involved, his family continues to keep themselves ever present in his mind. He is married to Jules, who has her share of secrets too but loves her simple life with Cam. Having to face up to their past, he and Jules takes the long trek to Tavistock. Upon arrival, they uncover plenty of secrets, deception, and murder. For Cam, he questions everything about the infamous heiress, however for Jules, her mind is set on learning all she can about his estranged family and their twisted secrets they hide.

I typically shy away from multiply POVs and dual timelines, however this story is so well-written that all the pieces come together to make is a very dynamic and wonderful read. Ms. Hawkins quality of writing made the story come to life on the pages with its intricate twists and turns, scandals of the past and painful memories that had to be dredged up by the now deceased heiress. Closure…there is none in this thriller as the drama and dirty laundry is pealed layer by layer by the family members points of views and the letters written by Ruby McTavish. Money can bring out the worst in family members and the secrets they hide. It also can cause individuals to be ruthless and more sinister in getting what they want…even killing to obtain it. Again, my first by this author and not my last. Totally recommend you read.

Cam and Jules need to return to Cam's long-abandoned ancestral home to wrap up some loose ends with family following his mother's death. As the story unfolds, though, it's clear there are multiple untruths floating around--and everyone has their own secrets.

This story has a unique tri-POV; we get Ruby's letters, Cam's narration, and Jules's narration. The play back and forth between all of them mixes with flashbacks and present-day story lines to keep up a pretty interesting plot. It's not a heart pounding thriller, but easily moves the reader along.

As an avid mystery-thriller reader, this seems a bit more YA. However, the ending did a great job wrapping everything up with just a few small (yet satisfying) twists tossed in for good measure.

Overall: 4 stars

I'll tell my students about: alcohol, sex, language, murder, child death

**Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins is a family drama centered around the McTavish’s, a wealthy family in North Carolina. Camden, sole heir to his adopted mother Ruby’s family fortune, has distanced himself from the family and has not returned to NC in over ten years until his cousin Ben reaches out after a death in the family. He returns to his family home with his wife, Jules, who has never met Cam’s family.
I really enjoyed this book! Written from both Jules and Cam’s points of view, it is obvious from the start that both have secrets. There are also letters from Ruby and news articles throughout the book, giving backstory to Ruby’s childhood and several failed marriages.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for an advanced copy of The Heiress in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book! I am not often a thriller/mystery reading so this was a nice change of pace. I enjoyed the twists and turns and felt the story was effective. Thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy of this book!

This was my favourite Rachel Hawkins book by far. I read the Villa and wasn’t enthused, but this was a written redemption. The story was intriguing, mysterious and I really loved the multiple POVs and timelines. I’m a sucker for added media/written blurbs so I loved the inclusion of newspapers, interviews etc. - it just helped build the world more for me.
I was really happy that the ending had a solid wrap up to it, rather than an ambiguous end.
Ruby’s depictions of her murders had be engrossed in the way you watch a car crash, acknowledging both the horror of it but also the inability to look away.
I found myself liking Jules despite knowing she had a seedy profile as it was revealed. I felt the line between right and wrong was navigated exceptionally.

4✨ for this one!

Cam McTavish and his wife Jules return to his estranged family’s mansion after ten years. He is heir to the whole family fortune. Family feuds erupt and tensions arise. They all want some of the family fortune. This was a very good read with plenty of twists and turns. I would like to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC that will be released January 9, 2024!

A Test of Wills.

Murder, family rivalries, and a gorgeous but creepy mansion set this story up for some fun twists and an entertaining read.

I loved the juxtaposition between ugliness and beauty in the characters’ actions and thoughts, and their surroundings. While I was slow to latch on to the plot, overall, the direction and finale held my attention and were satisfying.

The only drawback for me was that the tone and voice of the book had a juvenile feel even though it wasn't intended as Young Adult. Others are rating this much higher so maybe it'll be different for you.

That being said, I’d recommend this to other readers.

I read this as buddy read with DeAnn, MaryBeth, and Jayme and egaged in a few lively discussions regarding characters and plot.

Thank you to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for my advance copy due to publish on January 9, 2024.

ARC received, thank you Neutrally, and more of Rachel Hawkins yes please!! I thought this book at first was going to be more of a thriller but to me it seemed more like a family drama. Normally Rachel Hawkins is a great fast pace, page turning book however I was reading this extremely slow and couldn't get that drawn in. The characters were laid out great but, for me it just wasn't it. To each their own there. Thank you still ;)

In this southern Gothic In this southern Gothic thriller we find ourselves in North Carolina. The story centers around a multi generational, morally bankrupt family living in an ominous feeling mansion called Ashby House.

There are 3 POV that alternate with newspaper clippings and letters from Ruby before her death.

.Ruby - NC's richest and most notorious woman known for her four dead husbands.

Camden- Ruby's son, through adoption,
and sole heir to the McTavish fortune (much to the rest of the relative's dismay ).
But Camden has been gone from home for years - disowning the family and fortune..

Jules - Camden's wife of 10 years, has her own secrets...much like her husband and Ruby.. Although, unlike Camden, she wants to fight for the inheritance.

The Heiress proved to be a novel that was hard to put down. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, and I found those letters from Ruby the best parts of the book because they reveal so much of her twisted past.
I've been a fan of Rachel Hawkins since reading The We Upstairs, and this new book is on par with its writing style.

If you love sinister family members, secrets, and mind puzzling mystery... you will love this book.
Hawkins creates such wonderful characters, you find yourself liking and then hating them as well 🤣
Who among them can you trust?
Drama, lies.murder, secrets. You can't go wrong with this book?

Thank you to Netgally and St. Martines Press for the advanced copy.
All opinions are my own.




find ourselves in North Carolina. The story centers around a multi generational, morally bankrupt family living in an ominous feeling mansion called Ashby House.

There are 3 POV that alternate with newspaper clippings and letters from Ruby before her death.

.Ruby - NC's richest and most notorious woman known for her four dead husbands.

Camden- Ruby's son, through adoption,
and sole heir to the McTavish fortune (much to the rest of the relative's dismay ).
But Camden has been gone from home for years - disowning the family and fortune..

Jules - Camden's wife of 10 years, has her own secrets...much like her husband and Ruby.. Although, unlike Camden, she wants to fight for the inheritance.

The Heiress proved to be a novel that was hard to put down. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, and I found those letters from Ruby the best parts of the book because they reveal so much of her twisted past.
I've been a fan of Rachel Hawkins since reading The Wife Upstairs, and this new book is on par with its writing style.

If you love sinister family members, secrets, and mind puzzling mystery... you will love this book.
Hawkins creates such wonderful characters, you find yourself liking and then hating them as well 🤣
Who among them can you trust?
Drama, lies.murder, secrets. You can't go wrong with this book?

Thank you to Netgally and St. Martines Press for the advanced copy.
All opinions are my own.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ 4/5 stars

read if you like:
♡ multiple pov
♡ dual timeline
♡ southern gothic thriller laden with rich people drama

➸ blisteringly quick, the heiress is a tantalising family drama, veined with mysteries, betrayals and pliable truths. periodically framed with newspaper clippings, correspondences, emails and the like, rachel hawkins invites us to do a little sleuthing of our own for a more heightened engagement with the novel.

➸ it’s been years since prodigal son and heir to the exorbitant mctavish family wealth, camden mctavish, cut ties with the rest of the mctavishes and turned away from his inheritance. an inheritance left to him by the matriarch and his adopted mother, ruby mctavish whose name was once and still is, on everyone’s lips in north carolina. so when camden is contacted by his estranged cousin following camden’s uncle’s death, requesting his return and offering him an olive branch - he and his wife jules resolve to return to his childhood estate, ashby manor. finally reunited with his family, secrets which refuse to remain in the deceased matriarch’s grave will bring about a day of reckoning for every last mctavish.

➸ by punctuating the present with these references to the past, wherein each event is related through the lens of whomever is writing it, hawkins viciously wrong-foots the reader every step of the way. therein also lies the heiress’ greatest achievement as a thriller as we are offered this unprecedentedly intimate, voyeuristic look into this rich family’s dirty laundry. besides shards of the pasts glinting through the present storyline, povs flit between the deceased and infamous, ruby, the rags-to-riches tale that is the adopted camden and his loving wife jules - all these dizzying diversions further enshrouding us in confusion as we strain to navigate this cobweb of stories. happily, my attempts to force my way out of the plot’s labyrinthine architecture and predict the ending proved embarrassingly fruitless and i only expelled my held breath when all was said and done.

➸ conclusion :
secrets slink through every page of the heiress in a binge-worthy and unputdownable puzzle, which, if solved, will open doors to this family’s sinister skeletons.

thank you netgalley for the arc !

Ruby McTavish does not suffer fools. The victim of a kidnapping as a toddler, returned later to her family and it is there the story turns. Living with the rumor tag the Ruby of today is not the same child that went missing all those years ago. Ruby gives the reader an full accounting of her life and marriages in clear black and white. Ruby’s death only adds to the mystery of who really deserves all those millions. A family fighting for the money that each believes they deserve. It’s a tight fisted fight to the very last section. What a read!

Wow! This book was not at all what I expected....which actually kept me deeply engrossed to find out what would happen next. It was like an onion with many layers to the story to peel. There were very unexpected surprises and twists that I did not see coming. Great storytelling.

This was so fun!!! I’ve read but haven’t loved a lot of thrillers lately, so this was a refreshing change to that pattern. This was my third Rachel Hawkins book and favorite so far. I didn’t love The Wife Upstairs (2 stars), I enjoyed but wasn’t 100% wild about Reckless Girls (3 stars), and I really liked The Heiress (4 stars). Most of the action happens in the last 25% of the book, but that wasn’t a detractor for me.

Her writing is so solid (especially for a mystery/thriller… sorry, I love them but they don’t always have the best writing). So even though it was a slower burn for most of the book, I didn’t mind and still got through it quickly. It’s told through several people’s perspectives which also kept it interesting. There were some twists I saw coming and some that surprised me. The characters didn’t blow me out of the water, but they weren’t those horribly stereotyped characters in poorly written thrillers. (I’m coming down so hard on thrillers/mysteries, but this is one of my favorite genres!!! Just a lot of bad ones out there.) Will definitely read what Hawkins writes next.

This book was great as I expected! I loved all the twists and turns! Only thing I think it was missing was a years later she finds out that he knew the whole time that she knew who he was! Otherwise I loved it!

This has been the best thriller I have read so far this year! I have enjoyed all of Rachel Hawkins books but I believe this one is her best yet! The quality of the writing, the intricacy and twists and turns of the plot, the suspense, the relationships between husband and wife and family are so deftly written. It was incredible. I couldn't put it down and know that you won't be able to either! TEN STARS!

“The Heiress” is Rachel Hawkins’ newest novel. I’ve read almost all of her other books, and this one continues to be as good as her other works.

Cam is an orphan adopted into the richest family in North Carolina. Despite this, he hasn’t had contact with his family for years due to his past and a complicated relationship with his family. He chooses to settle down as an English teacher, entirely rejecting his inheritance and family. When a relative passes he decides to face up to his past, and travels back home with his wife, Jules. Coming back to the infamous Ashby house dredges up painful memories, along with the scandalous past of everything that has taken place there before.

If you’re a fan of Rachel Hawkins’ previous books, I think you’d definitely enjoy this one. “The Heiress” publishes on January 9th 2024. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this novel.

I've read all of Rachel Hawkins thrillers and this one is just as fun as the others. My favorite is still the Wife Upstairs, but this far surpassed the villa for me, which I didn't care for as much. A quick paced, fun read and I recommend it. The covers of all her books are also stunning, which I love

The Heiress reminded me of a number of books, but is something altogether different. There are secrets, deceptions, murder, family drama, and deceipt. Each character is complex, and many are not who they seem. The book has surprises and twists all the way through and kept me on my toes. I have read Rachel Hawkins previous books and I think this is my new favorite. I highly recommend to lovers of twisted thrillers like Verity.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Kindle ARC. The Heiress is a fast-paced and twisty thriller. I've read one of Rachel Hawkins other books and enjoyed it also. Jules and Camden are a young married couple - happy with a simple life. Camden is the adopted son of Ruby McTavish - the famous baby Ruby that was kidnapped and found in the early 20th Century. Things aren't as clear cut as they initially seem and there is plenty of family drama with one big twist at the end. The Heiress is a very satisfying, hard to put down suspense novel.