4.75 ⭐

In the mountains of North Carolina, the wealthy McTavish family has ruled over the town of Tavistock for generations. Four-time widow Ruby McTavish has been heading the family for the last fifty years, but when she dies, she leaves the family's vast fortune including their mountain top estate Ashby House, to her adopted son. Camden has never wanted the McTavish money and the McTavish's have never wanted Camden - at every opportunity his adopted aunt, uncle and cousins have let him know that he's nothing but "Hillbilly trash" ever since the day Ruby brought him home from orphanage. But after his uncle Howell dies, Camden and his wife Jules are reluctantly dragged back to Ashby House and the ghosts still lurking within.

Holy cow - this book! I could not put this story down; the twists and turns Rachel Hawkins takes you on had me turning the pages as fast as I could. I was sucked into The Heiress from the first page and I loved that it's told in both Camden and Jules's perspectives with letters from Ruby and newspaper articles sprinkled throughout, which really helped build the suspense. This is one of those thrillers where all of the characters are a little morally grey and while you can't really trust what you're being told, you're still rooting for them to succeed. I know Ruby was a manipulative, sneaky old woman, but I actually really liked her character. She gave me Evelyn Hugo vibes, but if Evelyn lived in a creepy mansion on the top of a mountain and had more secrets than a wig could hide.

Definitely pick this one up if you're in the mood for a propulsive read that will keep you guessing to the end!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For all that I wouldn't really (or perhaps only barely) consider this a thriller, it managed to be pitch-perfect for whatever it actually is. The ending is a smidge too tidy for me, but that is legitimately my only complaint.

THE HEIRESS by Rachel Hawkins had me hooked from the first page and kept me squirming on the end of the line throughout. What a whopper of a story!
In 1943 Ruby Anne McTavish disappears and is miraculously returned eight months later. Four years later she is blessed (cursed?) with a baby sister, Nell. Ruby Anne grows into a four time widow whose husbands all die suspiciously but her wealth grows with each death. Her adopted son, Camden, a teacher, however, disavows the family, its money and all of its toxicity and is living a peaceful life with his wife Jules in Colorado. When Camden is summoned home after the death of an uncle regarding his inheritance, he grudgingly goes in the hopes of completing his exit from the family. His cousins, Ben and Libby and their mother, Nell have different ideas however.
When Jules sees the house, she begins to fantasize about being the lady of the manor. Everyone has secrets. Although we never actually meet Ruby Anne, we read her letters about her life as an adult and her secrets are explosive. And the ending just blew me away! I did NOT see that coming!
This is my first Rachel Hawkins novel but it will definitely not be my last. I like her writing style and the way she makes all of the pieces so smoothly slide into place to create the big picture. I loved how she gave me whiplash as each different secret was revealed. I had to keep jumping up and walking around to expend some of the building adrenaline. The perfect kind of book!

Jules and Cameron are happily married and living in California. They have established themselves as a married couple, and working and living in the daily grind of life. Cameron finds out that his estranged family needs him immediately in North Carolina for a family emergency. Much to his dismay, they pack up for a few weeks and travel across the country to see what his family needs.

Jules is secretly excited to finally meet her husbands wealthy family. Cameron warns his wife of the family dangers and hints towards dark family secrets. Upon arrival at Ashby, the large family estate, secrets of the McTavish Family begin to unravel. Not only does Cameron hold seccrets to his past, but the reader soons learns the connection of Jules to the McTavish family.

This is a story of family secrets, betrayal, and death. Hawkins has woven a story so intricately that the reader will be surprised of all the twists and turns. This novel is full of plot twists and turns that the reader will not be able to put it down.

A light thriller - it took awhile for The Heiress to really get going. In the last 40% of the book is where the current drama starts to unfold. I personally love a thriller set in an old house, so I was slightly disappointed that the house wasn't more of it's own character, since it's built up to be so mythical.

Overall a quick and easy read, but I was hoping for a little more depth to the story and characters.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a multigenerational story about the lies, secrets, and scandal surrounding the McTavish family of North Carolina. The story is told from multiple perspectives and with letters and newspaper articles detailing the significant events in the family. The plot begins with the kidnapping of the daughter of a prominent lumber magnate in town and the story unfolds from there bringing many more characters to life and their ultimate deaths as greed and betrayal drive everyone in the family to do unspeakable things. The central character in the story is Ruby McTavish who sends a series of letters to a mysterious person telling the story of her life and the redemption she sought after committing heinous crimes. She wants the next generation of her family to be better and she adopts a son who will inherit the entirety of the family’s wealth after she passes away. The story is about how he and his wife return to North Carolina to finally return to a life he walked away from many years before after the death of his mother. Every character in the book has a secret and every secret someone connects. By the end of the novel every missing thread of the story is connected.

This was a great suspense novel. I turned each page anxious to see how the plot would unfold. I both loved and hated Ruby McTavish, but she was the perfect example of what money and greed can turn a person into over a lifetime. The story was well written and easy to follow. Even though the plot alternated between past and present, it was easy to keep up and understand what was going on during each time frame. This is probably one of my favorite novels by this author. It reminded me a lot of “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but it stood out in its own right and will be one that everyone is talking about. Solid 5 star read.

EVERYONE HAS A SECRET TO HIDE! This has been one of my favorite authors since reading "The Girl on the Train" and actually helped cement my love for the thriller genre. In this book, there are a lot of characters, but our main characters are Camden, Jules and Ruby. This book is told in different POVs and Ruby's POV is told in the past timeline. It was so well executed that it wasn't difficult to follow, which sometimes is the case with multiple timelines and multiple POVs.

Camden is trying to get as far away from Ruby's family and legacy, while Jules (his wife) encourages him to go make peace with his past. The supportive wife, or is she? Jules has her own motives for wanting Camden to return to his past. Everyone is hiding something in this family, and there are truly so many good twists and turns. Ruby's POV is told through a series of letters and they were quite honestly the best and most suspenseful part of this book. Very well done!! Can't wait to see what this author releases next!


Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC!

Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC!

Rachel Hawkins just gets better and better! I had the opportunity to read The Villa as an eARC through NetGalley as well and loved it and thought at that point that she could do no wrong. Hawkins has outdone herself with The Heiress. Incredibly atmospheric, set in the misty and sometimes ominous Blue Ridge Mountains, the woven twisty tale pulls the reader in right away. I loved reading Ruby's letters and thought the twist employed through the later letters was pure perfection. But that wasn't the only twist that Hawkins incorporated expertly. The viewpoints of Camden and Jules kept me guessing all the way until the end. I almost completely finished this book in one day due to the rollercoaster the plot had me on. Highly recommend to those who have read Rachel Hawkins before and to those who are new readers to her. So so good!

I’ve read many of Rachel Hawkins books. I’ve come to expect a top notch thriller from her. I figured out the twist in this one fairly quickly. I think the characters are well developed but the story moves really slow. It doesn’t really get exciting till just past the halfway point. Most of the good stuff is contained in the old letters and that really takes from the suspense that I’ve come to expect from Rachel’s books. I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It was an easy vacation read for me. I did get slightly confused by all of the family connections and what actually happened with the kidnapping, so I was glad for the recap at the end and the “investigation” Dora had done to potentially find Grace and Ruby.

This was a darker book than I expected. I was definitely rooting for the main protagonists, and very curious about the other characters.

At one point I thought there was a plot hole, but it was quickly addressed right at about the time I was going to take a note about it.

I did feel it wasn't necessarily believable that Ruby would have pulled off all she did, even given the power and money involved.

I was lucky to receive an ARC from Netgalley! I couldn't believe my luck bc I am a huge Rachel Hawkins fan and this was her best! Easy 5 stars from me! I loved the Wife Upstairs but this is my new favorite from her!

Thank you for the early ebook! I have a feeling this will be her biggest accomplishment to date!

3,5 rounded up to 4 because this was quite a page-turner filled with betrayals and scandalous family secrets and I love a shady Southern matriarch-type who can pull the strings from beyond the grave (not a spoiler). Although it took me a moment to figure out the family dynamics / family tree in the beginning, once I did I was mostly onboard. The storytelling structure with Jules and Cam's POV and a set of letters giving Ruby's outrageous history with men was a nice way to slowly unravel the complex backstory. The twists started coming fast and furiously (especially in the second half) and I was just dying to know how this would end (quite surprising!) Overall a fun and spicy little thriller.

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting from this novel, but it definitely wasn't a family drama. I think I went into it expecting a more fast paced, twisty thriller, and this definitely isn't that.

I did really enjoy Ruby's letter chapters, and felt the other two narratives were just fine - although I did like how Jules constantly broke the fourth wall, I thought it was fun! But overall I think I would say this book was fine - I was never on the edge of my seat, and I think the biggest miss for me was that everything seemed to happen off page.

All in all, I did enjoy the writing and will read more of this authors work!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC copy!

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of The Heiress in exchange for an honest review.

I had been expecting a thriller, but this was more of a family drama and I think that misconception may have set me up for failure. I wanted something fast-paced and twisty; instead, I got a super slow-burn story. I kept waiting for mystery, intrigue, suspense, something, anything- but not much happens in the first 75% of the book.

I did enjoy the last 25%, though. I hadn’t figured out what one character was up to and I was satisfied with their storyline by the end. If you enjoy family drama with characters of questionable morals (and maybe a little revenge), you’ll probably like this story.

The set up for this was better than the ultimate delivery. Ruby’s voice and character was great, but not a whole lot happened here, and I saw the twists coming. However, people who like light thrillers will love this.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the free book.
I have been wanting to enjoy a thriller book by Hawkins because I love her romance, and I'm happy to say this one worked for me. I found this book to be fast-paced and juicy. It was a perfect blend of mystery and rich people behaving badly. I thought the chapter structure to be interesting. Ruby's letters throughout kept me wanting to turn pages because I had to know what she would confess to next. Jules breaking the fourth wall was such a clever way to keep the reader engaged. This is a perfect binge in a day type of book. I had a great time reading this and can't wait to see what she writes next.

On paper Cam McTavish has it all. He has looks and all the money he could imagine as the sole heir of the McTavish fortune. So why is he teaching high school in Colorado while he and his wife, Jules, struggle to make ends meet?

After receiving a letter that thrusts Cam back into the childhood estate he grew up in Cam must face his relatives, his personal demons, and the ghost of his mother, Ruby McTavish. But are things as they seem?

Ruby herself was an enigma. North Carolina royalty that was born exceedingly wealthy. She made headlines when she was kidnapped as a young child and found a year later. However that was not the last of her fame. She was also married four times and all four husbands died mysteriously. Now deceased has Ruby left Cam one last secret?

I loved the intrigue of this book. Set against the Blue Ridge mountains the palatial home is a character in itself. The wealthy family home holds many secrets that have, overtime, infected the people that reside with in. The Heiress was a fun read that kept me entertained until the last page. The southern gothic vibes of this book made for a delicious read.

I had a hard time getting into this book. It felt like I was all over the place and I was confused a lot. I have read lots of books by this author and I did not love this one.

Rachel Hawkins is an auto read author for me and I couldn't wait to get my hands on the newest book. This one did not disappoint and may be my favorite of hers. The Wife Upstairs was really good, Reckless Girls was decent and The Villa was kind of meh for me so wasn't sure what to expect with this, but Hawkins has made a comeback! 5 star read for me!

The pace starts a little slow, but I never found myself bored. There is tons of family drama. I loved the setting in the old estate set in the mountains of North Carolina. There are tons of twists and turns. This one is a great one!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital ARC.