I enjoyed The Villa by Rachel Hawkins, so I was excited to receive an ARC for this book. Big thanks to St. Martin's Press and the author for letting me review this book early.
I thought this story was fine. The story was intriguing, but I felt myself losing interest during several portions of the story. It felt a bit predictable at times and wasn't as thrilling as I hoped it would be. It felt more like a story about rich people being bad and treating those without money like trash. It also felt more like a mystery than a thriller. There was one bit of the story that did grab me back in, but the reveals felt lackluster. I just wanted more in the end.

I absolutely tore through this mystery and had a hard time putting it down! It felt very fitting to make The Heiress one of my first reads of 2024, when The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was the first I read in 2023 — I can’t pit two queens against each other, but there were some parallels.

I’d rate this book 4.5 stars!

I really enjoyed the way the truth was unveiled through Ruby’s letters, interwoven between the perspectives from Jules and Camden. While I was able to anticipate some of the twists, I was still surprised by a couple! I love a mystery that gets my wheels spinning, thinking about it even after I’ve had to put it down.

This was the first book I’ve read by Rachel Hawkins, and I look forward to reading more of her work!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an ARC to read & review.

Rachel Hawkin's newest book The Heiress is a compulsively bingeable, good-for-her thriller. The individual components and tropes are not super unique to many popular thrillers out there right now (the rich behaving badly, an estate with a creepy past, unhinged women etc.), but they are put to together so well and you'll find yourself rooting for questionable characters. There are several twists interwoven right through to the end, and while I could see some of them early on, there were still some surprises and it was just a super fun time. Content wise, I would consider this a lighter/cozy thriller, nothing too scary! Pick this up if you've enjoyed books like The Family Game, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and The Guest List.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martins Press for the advance copy

What a great read....

This book was like reading a diary from someone in the past while people in the current give their own updates with their monologue.

Books like this keep me intrigued and keep reading. I started and finished this book in just a few days.

Did I see that end coming? Heck no!

Such a great great great read!!! Def one to beat in 2024!

The Heiress is a multi-generational twisted tale of a wealthy family in the North Carolina mountains. Tragedy seems to follow Ruby McTavish from the time of her disappearance from the woods surrounding her home at 3 years old until her death many years later. The tale is told through letters from Ruby, newspaper clippings and TV interviews, and from the perspectives of Cam, Ruby's adopted son who inherited everything, and his wife Jules. When Cam and Jules have to travel from their home in California to NC at the behest of his cousin to facilitate the repair of several things in the house things from the past and newer issues in the family begin to come to a head. You think you know what is going to happen, but once again Hawkins has woven a twisty tale where it seems that everyone has something to hide. You won't want to put it down until the end.

The Heiress was about murder, family rivalries and a gorgeous but creepy mansion. This book was not one I loved by this author like I did others but it was still a great book to enjoy. The author does a great job with the twist and turns in this book and has intriguing characters. I would still recommend this to other readers especially if you like a good mystery thriller. Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC read in exchange of my honest review.

¡really love Rachel Hawkins' writing and this book might just be my fav from her!!
this book gave me total Seven Husbands of Evelyn
Hugo vibes but make it thriller!!!
a twisty psychological thriller full with rich people problems, family drama, and of course some mysterious happenings around the estate
didn't want to put this one down & loved how it was told in both present tense & past tense through letters.
if you're looking for a fast paced book with so many interconnecting mysteries, this one is for you! go pick it up Jan 9 when it releases everywhere!

I have loved Hawkins thrillers and this is no exception. I do have to say that the alternating POVs were a bit hard to follow since the voices were similar, but I loved how Hawkins incorporated journals and articles. I also really enjoyed how the book was paced and uncovering the family's secrets. I'll be recommending this one!

This story sucked me into its world from page 1!

Ruby McTavish, the sole heiress to her father's estate, was the victim of a notorious kidnapping as a child and has since grown into a widow 4 times over. In her 40's, she adopts a child and raises him to be the sole heir of her fortune, basically thumbing her nose at the rest of the family. Her plan doesn't work out as she desired when her adopted son, Cam wants nothing to do with his inheritance. Cam's wife, Jules has other plans in regard to the money and they return to Ashby house 10 years after the death of Ruby to finally address the inheritance.

The McTavish family were intriguing. Born into a lives of prestige, no one ever had to face the consequences of their actions, leading to recklessness, cruelty, and even murder.
"I had gotten away with murder, and I was glad for it"

I really enjoyed this novel. It was full of unlikeable characters but the twists and turns kept me guessing and I found myself rooting for some of the people involved.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel Hawkins is one of my favorite authors and her books will forever keep me coming back. Dare i say this is one of my favorites? Her twist and turns and emotional roller coasters truly make for the best kind of thrillers. I love the back and forth between characters throughout the chapters giving you many different point of views. I may be bias, but this book was my favorite and a great way to start 2024.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6133276473

Many thanks to the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I didn’t hate this, but I also didn’t love it.

Honestly, there’s not much to the plot, but at the same time, this book felt all over the place.

The twists were not shocking because of the obvious foreshadowing to what was coming. The characters are extremely unlikable, but most rich characters are so that’s to be expected.

It’s not my new favorite but it was a step up from The Villa. The Heiress was intriguing enough to finish in 24 hours but nothing new or spectacular. If you’re a fan of Hawkins’ books, I do think you should give it a chance.

The Heiress is told from multiple POVs, including letters from deceased Ruby McTavish, her son Camden, and Camden’s wife Jules. Wanting nothing to do with the super wealthy McTavish family or the money he inherited, Camden has stayed away from his relatives. Now that his uncle has passed away, and at the urging of his wife, he decides to return to the house that holds more mysteries than anyone realizes.

There is a ton of family drama to unpack and so many secrets that kept me guessing who, if anyone, could be trusted. I also loved the ending; it made me want more!

Thank you to Rachel Hawkins, St Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange of my honest review.

This was SO MUCH FUN!

I actually went into this one not even reading the synopsis which was kind of great since I didn't really know what to expect. I read The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins and really enjoyed that but this one definitely is my favorite so far - although I do need to get to her other books at some point!

I have seen this one compared to a mix of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo (which I loved) with the revealing letters about the many husbands of the matriarch in this story and Verity (which I have very mixed feelings about) and I definitely agree with that comparison.

I love a rich people behaving badly story so this did not disappoint! Basically everyone in the story was an unreliable character which really upped the "who should I trust factor. Even those that ended up being "good" did bad things but I was still rooting for them to come out of this unscathed. There were definitely twists and turns in this one - I saw them coming unfortunately from a mile away, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this one! It's like I figured it out before some of the characters did but I was still anticipating THEIR reactions once they uncovered those twists as well.

Just a super entertaining, quick, page turning read!

Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin's Press for this advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest opinion!

I loved this book! There were so many twists and turns that kept me guessing; I didn’t want to put my Kindle down.

Hawkins’ choice to divulge important details in Ruby’s letters is genius. It adds a unique dimension to the plot development, and the fact that we don’t know who they were written to makes them all the more mysterious.

Both Camden and Jules are very complex (and I would argue, morally grey) characters, and we see just how much one is willing to do to live life on their own terms. Their actions resemble those of Ruby’s and leaves me wondering, nature or nurture?

I generally enjoy Rachel Hawkins thrillers and I will continue to seek them out, but this one took a while to grab me. It ended up being fun and having a twist I didn't anticipate, which was delightful. Overall, this is a book that is entertaining but not especially thought-provoking, and that kind of book certainly has its purposes but is a solid three star for me.

Rachel Hawkins is such a versatile writer, all of her books have been so different but equally as complex and full of suspense. She is a master of writing flawed female main characters who you root for a happy ending for, despite their questionable actions and unreliable narration. The Heiress was no exception to that, and I really enjoyed it!

Jules and Camden are happy with it being just the two of them on their own in Colorado, scraping by but content and in love. But his past comes calling in the form of Ashby House, a once fabulous estate nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and the home of his remaining dysfunctional family. Cam is the adopted son and only heir of Ruby McTavish, who was notorious not just for her wealth but for a childhood kidnapping and being widowed four times as an adult. The more time they spend at Ashby House, the more mysteries of the past come back to haunt both of them- what happened when Ruby disappeared as a toddler, was the death of her husbands more nefarious than the official reports described, and how do Cam and Jules both factor into the mystery surrounding the house and McTavish legacy?

I loved how the story was driven forward through newspaper articles, letters, and other press clippings. It did made the drama in this book slow to build and kind of hefty and complex to twist, so I would classify this as more of a mystery than a thriller. I felt like there was a lot of detail in the past that ended up not mattering to the overall plot, but more to Ruby’s character development. It was interesting to read about the husbands, but I would have preferred more conflict in the present or backstory on Cam and Jules.

But overall, I really recommend this book. Who doesn’t love reading about rich people and their fabulous houses full of gothic-adjacent drama? It was well-written, and I got totally sucked into the story and the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC!

A round of applause for format, audience. The way this one is set up makes it absolutely impossible to put down. I think this is Rachel Hawkins’ best work yet, and I adored ‘The Villa!’ Thanks to @stmartinspress & @netgalley for the early look at this. It’s out Tuesday!

🌿 This book mixes up dual-pov chapters in the current day with letters, newspaper articles and emails from the past. It makes for short, concise segments that will have you ‘just one more chaptering’ your way through the whole book. I actively picked this ebook up over my physical copy of Crescent City 2!

🌿 The big lesson here: nobody is all good, or all bad, and everyone has their secrets. You’ll have to decide what you think of just about every character in this book— and it’s certainly up for debate.

🌿 I was so intrigued and invested in this book from page one. And I ended up reading it in just about a day. I couldn’t stop. There were no real jaw drop moments or huge twists that changed everything— just a steady unveiling of a story. There’s also a bit of a gothic element to it. So whether you like this one may depend on the style of thrillers you like, but it definitely worked for me. And I saw that ‘Villa’ Easter egg, @ladyhawkins!

🌿 I highly recommend this one. Especially if you’re in a mood to binge something quick, or if you’re ready to sit on the edge of your seat. Once again, it’s out Tuesday! Will you be adding this to your TBR? Also, not that anyone’s counting— but I finished this one with just a few days left in 2023, and since it actually published in 2024 I’m going to include it among my 2024 reads when I look back at the end of the year.

Thank you so much to @netgalley @stmartinspress and @macmillian.audio for the ARC and ALC!

🟪 𝙈𝙮 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 🟪
This thriller is everything you want it to be: suspenseful, engrossing, and a page turner. The story features a rich heiress named Ruby McTavish who has died and left her estate to her son Cam, who wants nothing to do with his inheritance because it comes with strings attached. Cam has stayed away from his hometown for a decade and built a new life with his wife Jules, who has a mysterious background of her own.

Cam finally decides to return to his hometown and the breathtaking Ashby House where he grew up. Certain family members remained there and are holding a grudge. The story unfolds as we hear Cam and Jules POVs, along with Ruby’s through a series of letters she wrote to an unrevealed person.

Ruby became famous as a baby when she was kidnapped for 8 months and then found. She has also made a name for herself as an adult by being a widower 4 times; her husbands all dying mysterious deaths.

Ruby having so many husbands was giving me Evelyn Hugo vibes, except more sinister. Ruby was an intriguing main character that had many secrets. She didn’t want to be a person that just enjoyed her riches and extravagances, although she did plenty of that. This is definitely a thriller you do not want to pass up this year!

🎧 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚:
💚 Suspenseful, Mysterious Mansions
💚 Multiple POVs
💚 Sinister Evelyn Hugo Husband Vibes
💚 Untouchable, Dysfunctional Rich Families

I thought this books a little underwhelming and too short. I think it made me realize I do not like stories that are told in letters, so I am sure others will absolutely love this book more than I did. The characters would talk about certain things that made you think they would play a big role in the plot, but were never really mentioned again. I thought the storyline moved a little too quickly and would have liked it to be a little longer. That being said, the story still delivered on twists and turns I did not see coming and it was still a page turner.
Over all, I think mystery/thriller lovers will really enjoy this book!

I loved the Heiress! I loved the Southern setting, all the twists and turns, and the fast pace of the writing. It was engrossing and kept me on my toes!