This book is first and foremost a very fun time, full of interesting characters with questionable morals and lots (and lots!) of secrets.
That, to me, is always a win.
Add to that short chapters, multiple POVs and some big family drama and you've got yourself a very entertaining read.
Thank you so much to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of The HEIRESS.

I had been trying to find a book that caught my interest. I had tried three books and this dropped into my Kindle. I started reading it and was immediately sucked into the story. This may not be a thriller, but the twists and turns really kept my attention.Ah, the secrets we keep!

I haven't been reading many thrillers lately, but I adore the Gothic twist Rachel Hawkins gives to her novels and The Heiress did not disappoint - I'm a sucker for family secrets and dilapidated manors. The story is told in alternating viewpoints: Camden, Ruby's adopted son and heir, who wants nothing to do with the McTavish's or his inheritance; his wife Jules, who grew up poor and can't help but imagine herself mistress of the manor; and tell-all letters from Ruby. Fast-paced and plot driven, the characters were a bit on the thin side, with only Ruby having a distinguishable voice, but when the story is this good, does it matter?

A quick, suspenseful read. How much can intrigue can one family possess? The secrets run deep and alliances run shallow as the mysteries unfold in a family plagued by deceit and murder. Southern gothic at its best - complete with a house that has a life of its own.

A solid psych thriller with some fun, unexpected twists! Easy to read and hard to put down; I finished it within a day! This is my fave so far by Rachel Hawkins!

Thank you very much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was hooked from the first page.

The book opens with a news article of a kidnapping -- that of three-year old Ruby McTavish. We then cut to present day, where we're introduced to Jules, who introduces us to her husband, Camden, Ruby McTavish's adopted son. Jules isn't our only narrator, however; in fact, one of the things I liked the most about this book was the multiple narrators. We not only hear from Jules and Camden, but also, from the dead Ruby, who recounts her own story (including how she was widowed four times over).

Thought Jules isn't our only narrator, she's unique in two ways: one, she's the only narrator who breaks the fourth wall and two, she starts dropping hints about the story that's about to follow from the very first chapter. And while Jules's persistent breaking of the fourth wall starts is somewhat endearing, her dropping of not-so-subtle hints in every chapter, about everything from her own past to some of the secrets of Ashby house, start becoming less and less subtle as the book goes on. By about halfway through the book, I had guessed most of the answers to the questions posed in the synopsis, which meant that there was very little reason to continue reading the book. If I had loved Jules, I may have felt differently about the book, but I didn't find her (or really, any of the characters) to be particularly likable.

While I may have been hooked from the first page, by the time the book ended, that feeling had all but disappeared.

What did I just read?!! The Heiress has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster! I couldn't put this down and I'll recommend it until I'm blue in the face! I think this is all I can say without giving away all the secrets. 🤫

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy of the book for an honest review. Any quote(s) used in my review have been uncorrected.

This is easily the best book I’ve read this year!! One of my favorite genres is family dynamic dramas with a thriller twist and this did not disappoint. You do not want to wait on this. I was immediately drawn in by the authors writing style and how in addition to the two different points of view there were also letters about the past and articles thrown in written about the characters to add to the story. The Heiress is about the heir to a huge fortune coming back and dealing with the repercussions of who is he. Camden and his wife, Jules are back at Ashby House after ten years and up against the remaining McTavishes who want the house and the money for themselves but deep inside the beautiful gray stone of the mansion are the deep and deadly secrets of the entire family, but like any good thriller they won’t stay secret for long. For some reason I didn’t expect twists but this book had quiet a few and they were all soo good and unexpected. It makes me want to go back and read all of Hawkins novels.

I enjoyed the drama and thrill of this but it still felt flat. The action wasn't as good as I was hoping for, and I wasn't the biggest fan of the dual POV and timelines. I think this could have used some ironing out. They being said, I did enjoy the twists and I think it still made for a decent story.

The Heiress was a very enjoyable family drama/thriller. It was well written and had great characterization. It was a quick read on a Sunday afternoon with a slow burn. The book switches between multiple points of view and timelines from Cam and his wife Julia to letters from Ruby. All characters were morally and ethically unlikable all holding terrible family secrets. Took awhile to get going but overall I enjoyed it.
3.5/5

I am a fan of Hawkins’ books but this one fell flat for me. It was pretty slow, and read as a family drama more than a thriller. There are several twists but no action- it’s just handed to you.

Thanks St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Received a complimentary copy of The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins from St. Martin’s Press /NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

BOOK REPORT
Reading The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins was a pleasant enough way to while away a few hours this afternoon. Probably would’ve enjoyed it more had I been seaside, with a frozen adult beverage in hand. And, of course, if I’d not already read umpty-leven stories like it over lo these many, many years.

So, derivative? Yeah. Whether that’s me or the story, I’m not quite sure at this point.

Not sure what it says about me that I want to be Ruby when I grow up…..

Oh, wait, yes I am.

😎

DESCRIPTION
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.

The Heiress is a Gothic suspense novel that will keep you guessing until the very end. The story follows Camden McTavish, the adopted son of the infamous Ruby McTavish, who inherits her estate after her death. Camden has no interest in the estate or the McTavish family, but he is summoned back to Ashby House after his uncle's death. There, he and his wife, Jules, begin to uncover the dark secrets that the McTavishes have been keeping for generations.

The book is full of twists and turns, and the characters are well-developed and relatable. Hawkins does a great job of creating a sense of suspense and foreboding, and the setting of Ashby House is both atmospheric and creepy. The Heiress is a must-read for fans of Gothic suspense novels, and it is sure to keep you entertained from beginning to end.

Here are some specific things that I enjoyed about the book:

- The characters were well-developed and relatable. I found myself rooting for Camden and Jules, and I was intrigued by the other members of the McTavish family.
- The plot was full of twists and turns. I never knew what was going to happen next, and I was always on the edge of my seat.
- The setting was atmospheric and creepy. I could picture Ashby House in my mind, and I felt a sense of dread whenever the characters went there.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Heiress. It is a well-written, suspenseful, and atmospheric novel that I would highly recommend to fans of Gothic suspense.

Here are some additional thoughts on the book:
- The book is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and Hawkins does a great job of capturing the beauty and isolation of the region.
- The book explores themes of family secrets, revenge, and redemption.
The book is full of foreshadowing, which helps to build suspense.
- The ending is satisfying and unexpected.

If you are looking for a good suspense novel with a Gothic twist, then I highly recommend The Heiress.

This will be the book that everyone will want to read. It’s pure entertainment from the start.

The setting is the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina where a mansion sits with killer views. It’s like the Biltmore but a tad bit smaller.

It was built in 1904 by lumber magnate Alexander McTavish. He called it, "The Highlands." In 1938, Mason McTavish renamed it the "Ashby House" in honor of his beloved wife, Anna Ashby. Life was good until 1943 when their three-year-old daughter, Ruby, disappeared. Mason offered a handsome reward and then eight months later, she miraculously was found by a private detector.

Anna gave birth to another girl, Nelle. She was four years younger. The two sisters weren’t close. Ruby was able to get her father to always favor her. After her father died, Ruby ended up with millions including the estate and other properties. However, the will allowed Nelle and her family to live there forever. They would be one happy family…not.

This is a book that is so exciting, it’s difficult to stop reading. When my eyes were tired, the last sentence of the chapter made me want to read just one more chapter. And then one more. The writing is smooth and all the pieces fit together in time with twists and turns. It was easy to keep track of a handful of characters – all with such good descriptions, I could probably draw a sketch of each one.

I can imagine good discussions from book clubs. Why are we so interested in the bad behavior of people of wealth? I’ve read a few of the author’s previous books. This is my favorite.

My thanks to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with an expected release date of January 9, 2024.

Alternating POVs, w/letters & articles mixed in; a bit of a domestic, gothic thriller; parts of it reminded me of a morbid version of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo; the overall twist was a little predictable but there were SO many other twists thrown in & I enjoyed how they were all revealed; quick & easy read; engaging & suspenseful; my favorite from Rachel Hawkins so far!

Special thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

“The Heiress” is by Rachel Hawkins and, for me, this was more a family drama with a twist opposed to a mystery thriller. This book is told from multiple POV - Ruby (the heiress), Cam (her adopted son), and Jules (Cam’s wife). I found Ruby’s “confession” letters to be the most interesting part of the book, possibly because even she wondered why she had these, for lack of better word, urges. Personally, my favorite of her husbands was Andrew, the artist. Jules had some fantastic lines - must admit, the comment to Ben (Cam’s relation) about being specific when telling ghost story tales cracked me up. This was a quick and easy read and held my attention. It’s a bit of a slow build-up and the action starts really rolling at a fast clip around the 60% mark. A 3.5 star read for me, rounded up to 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins.

Like her other books, this story keeps the reader engaged from the first to the last page. I recommend this book to readers who like Rachel Hawkins.

The Heiress is a sordid tale! Holy cow! You think it’s going to be this beautiful love story between Jules and Camden, a boy adopted by an heiress who wants nothing to do with them. The many twists and turns and slow reveal of the life of Camden’s adoptive mother Ruby is captivating! Definitely a must read!

I give this book more like 4.5 stars than just 4.
It has been a while since I read a thriller, and this one was good I think because it was almost like it was half thriller, half family drama. Additionally, it wasn't full of goofy jump scares, and it felt relatively realistic. There are always twists in a book like this, and this one was no exception, but they were subtle, not super sensationalized, which I appreciated. Some were ones that I was able to guess at ahead of time, and others I hadn't really seen coming. None of which really jumped the shark or took me to a place where I thought, 0% chance this could happen, which is one of my big complaints about this style of book, that they often feel so unbelievable that they almost enter into fantasy.
I also really liked the structure of this book. It alternates between the POV of two characters and includes things like newspaper clippings and things like that in between the chapters, which gives additional context and shows what the world thinks of different events, most of which happened many years in the past.
This was my first time reading a book by this author, but I will be interested in picking up some of her other books now!
tl;dr: very solid thriller/family drama with multiple POVs and subtle twists. 4.5 stars from me.

4.5 stars! Thank you for this ARC. This is my favorite of all the Rachel Hawkins books I have read. I was captivated by the secrets and lies within this family drama. It felt like subtle hints at movies like Knives Out, where the rich family fights for an inheritance. I loved the Easter egg from her other title, The Villa, and there were two moments in the end that gave me actual chills. While I was able to guess some of the twists, I didn’t feel disappointment in those moments and there will still things that came as a surprise to me or made me smirk. I will be recommending this one when it comes out!