I definitely enjoyed this one. It was a story of old money and what you would do to keep that fortune in the family. Of being rich and what you would do if you could get away with it. I loved how this one was written considering you knew very early on what Ruby did and the story is really just the aftermath of that. I also loved the kidnapping aspect and the twisted family bonds throughout. I really liked both Cam and Jules. Their relationship was cute and you knew there were secrets being kept from each other. As those secrets unfolded, I couldn’t help but continually turning pages. I had an idea of one of the twists around 50% in, as for the other twists… I didn’t see most of those coming.

I loved this as a quick, bingeable first read of the year!

4 stars!

Lies, secrets, tension, and family drama: who can you trust? This is definitely a mystery and not so much a thriller!

What I enjoyed:
• multiple POVs
• entertaining and puzzle like
• unreliable narrators
• cozy gothic atmosphere

What could have been better?
• I think the first 1/3 of the book was quite slow and didn’t match the rest of the book. I wouldn’t characterize this as fast paced but it was entertaining enough to move through it.

I’d recommend!

Thank You to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for an early copy of The Heiress to give my honest feedback.

This was truly such a fantastic read. I'm not always a thriller reader, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. It had just the right amount of intrigue and deception, plus a great plot with good storylines and characters! I really enjoyed the multiple POV and the narrators for each character were really great! I was so engrossed in this story and I truly couldn't put it down. This was a really fun early read to kick off my 2024 reading year!

Rachel Hawkins has become an auto-pick author for me. I loved this southern gothic novel and its explorations of family and the secrets we all keep. I totally binged this book in a day - I felt that it was paced well and I just couldn't put it down! I love how each page revealed how complicated each character was, and left you empathetic towards each of them at the same time as well. I so hope we start to see Hawkins' novels translated to screen - this one felt like watching a movie unfold.

Also, loved the small nod to The Villa - always fun to see easter eggs from authors :)

Rachel Hawkins does it again! Another amazing twisty novel to devour!

Camden was adopted by the imfamous Ruby McTavish. Now with her death he must return home to repair Ashby House. But none of the remaining family members want anything to do with him. They just want the fortune and house she left to him. As the story unfolds, we realize every person has a secret or two or several....will they all come tumbling out or some remain hidden?

I devoured this book in one night. Hawkins leaves no stone unturned. She delivers this masterpiece by releasing a little bit at a time so your turning the pages so fast to get to the truth. Best thriller I have read in a while!!

As a big fan of The Wife Upstairs (top book of the year that year) and let down by Reckless Girls I was very unsure how this would go. I'd say the formula is back for sure. Once I started reading it, I had a hard time putting it down and found myself trying to figure out the relationships and the connections and the story whenever I wasn't reading it. While the layers were in some ways predictable (I've read a few thrillers in my day), I was never disappointed by them, and in fact was happy the story went the way it did. It never got into outlandish or goofy territory (the land of disbelief) which I so so so so personally appreciate. The multiple perspectives, and the multimedia throughout made this an absolute gem and an absolute banger to start my year on!

Wow, what a page turner… At the age of 3, Ruby McTavish disappears in the woods behind her family home, Ashby House, in North Carolina. From a wealthy, well known family, she is later found in another state and returned to her family. That’s just the beginning of the puzzle.

Fast forward,.. Ruby is a tabloid dream. After several questionable marriages, she is labeled Lady Kill-More. Is Ruby a cold blooded killer or just unlucky in love?
With no children resulting from those marriages, Ruby decides to adopt a son, Camden, an heir to the McTavish fortune. Add another piece to the puzzle.

As an adult, Camden makes the choice to leave Ashby House and all the wealth, clipping ties with the McTavish family. He is happily married, living in another state with his wife Jules. Camden receives word, he needs return to Ashby House to take care of business after his uncles death. With hesitation, he is persuaded by his wife to return to North Carolina. With the remaining McTavish family that remains at Ashby House, let the puzzle begin to take shape.

This book will take you through twist and turns that have you wondering, what was the motive in having Camden return to Ashby House? Who can you trust and who knows the truth?

With Ruby’s letters, written before her death, but whom is she writing these too? And the story told from Cam and Jules points of view, you will not want to put this book down.

A BIG thank you to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for this ARC copy to read. It was thrilling, and hard to put down.

I always do wind up liking Rachel Hawkins’ thrillers. They’re such page turners and super dark and twisty. I do love all of the secrets in this book which I think made it such a quick read for me. I really like the tone she writes with it hooks me in.

Parts of the details around families involved were a lot to keep track of but I managed. And while I feel like none of the twists made my jaw absolutely drop it was still plenty engaging and twisty.

I also loved the themes of nature vs nurture - will definitely continue to read more of her thrillers.

Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore is an heiress, but is she a murderer? When she passes away as North Carolina’s richest woman, the truth about her four dead husbands go with her… or do they? Ruby has lived a charmed life in her family’s estate in the NC mountains, Ashby House, and after her death, she lives her fortune and home to her adopted son, Camden. Camden appears to want nothing to do with the money, the house, or the remaining McTavishes, but why? Camden is pulled back to Ashby House after a request from his cousin, Ben, to help settle things with the property. Camden’s wife, Jules, is incredibly excited to see the stunning mansion where Camden grew up, but also seems to have an ulterior motive for bringing Camden back to his childhood home.

This book is hard to put down and I loved the alternating narration between Camden, Jules and letters written by Ruby. I will say I thought I figured the whole thing out at around 80% through, but I’ll give the author, Rachel Hawkins, credit for providing a twist up until the last chapter. The Heiress will grab your attention and will pull you further and further in with each chapter. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

The Heiress is the third book I've read by Rachel Hawkins, and I really just think I'm not her ideal reader. I haven't liked any of her books. The characters are aggravating, annoying, and the voices juvenile. I think this one might be the worst. It's not a bad story; I liked Ruby's letters woven in, but even she was obnoxious. I'm not looking for "likeable" characters, especially in thrillers, but they have to not be so annoying *I* want to come after them.

Tangled web of deceit, murder and lies, amazing! First of all, this very loosely reminded me about The Only One Left by Riley Sager, with an older, wealthy woman and the gothic, creepy vibes. I really enjoyed the gothic feel and I am amazed at Hawkins ability to write so brilliantly and differently from her previous books.

The Heiress, Ruby McTavish is actually dead, but her story lives on, her life was intense, she was kidnapped as toddler, had several husbands, who all mysteriously died and of course the wealth. Ruby did not have any children, but as the richest woman in North Carolina, when she died, she left everything to her adopted son Cam. However, he wants no part in the McTavish fortune or family and hasn’t touched the money, he has stayed from Ashby House but he has to return as they all do eventually.

This was really clever and there were several surprises in here that really kept me captivated, I could not put this down. The McTavish family is really messed up and money ruined all their lives, they used it to get what they wanted and to get out of trouble. It all caught up to them eventually…

I loved the setting (where I live!) and the plot aspect of a kidnapped baby in the 1940s. I enjoyed Ruby's letters the most in the book. It was written well in that I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened. There were a few twists at the end!

Ok, wow. I normally do not read mystery/thriller novels, they just aren't my thing (usually). But I got the chance to read an advanced copy of The Heiress, and my preferences might need to be updated. Dysfunctional family drama, scandals, lies, and secrets. This gothic style mystery was gripping. This was my first Rachel Hawkins novel, and I'm definitely going to check out some of her other books in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4/5 stars

I loved this book! I am a new Rachel Hawkins reader and LOVED The Villa - so i was so excited to pick up the Heiress. And what twists and turns. Surprise after surprise. I am excited for more people to read this one! Its a quick read and fun!

THE HEIRESS review

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5

🖼️The year just started and I’m ready to dive head first into 2024 releases. 👏 I read THE HEIRESS in just over a day and found it to be a quick, family drama. I didn’t love Hawkins’s 2023 release (THE VILLA) but this one was better imo!

🖼️Here’s a summary of the plot:👇
A notorious North Carolina heiress passes away and leaves behind her fortune and a looooot of family secrets for her only child. Surviving a kidnapping and having multiple spouses die of mysterious circumstances are only scratching the surface of the secrets this heiress has left behind. But secrets aren’t only for the dead and her surviving family have plenty of secrets of their own…

🖼️I went into this one expecting a thriller but it was definitely a family drama. Not necessarily a bad thing, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. I saw a couple of the twists coming but several of them took me by surprise. I loooooove this cover! Rachel Hawkins always has some of the best thriller covers and this one might just be my favorite. Especially after reading the book and truly understanding the significance of the cover. 👀 Overall, I enjoyed this one and would recommend checking it out if you enjoy family dramas!

🖼️Thanks @macmillan.audio and @stmartinspress for the advanced digital copies! THE HEIRESS publishes January 9th!

This was a very interesting read! Jules and Cam seem to be a typical couple who don't talk about their pasts. They met in their early 20s in CA, where they had both moved from their respective homes. We find out that Cam is the heir to a large fortune and house in North Carolina. He was the adopted son of the town's founding heiress, who lost all of her husbands in mysterious ways. The story goes between Ruby (the Heiress), Cam and Jules' point of view and you slowly find out all of the back story and what led to the situation of Cam running away. There are many twists and turns and the ending leaves you feeling unsure if all turns out well in the end. A great read!

This was FUN. Rachel Hawkins does not miss and The Heiress will have you staying up way too late to finish it. At times, it felt there were a few too many sub plots, but overall, I loved this.

The Heiress follows letters from Ruby McTavish and her adoptive son's POV with his wife Jules. He goes back to the house after his cousin asks for his help on the estate.

This is my second book by Rachel Hawkins, and I like this one more than Reckless Girls. It had me guessing till about 75% way in and then I saw how this book was going to go. The ending was a *bit* of a surprise but there was some that was left unresolved.

3 stars due to the predictability of it at the end and the unresolved parts between Camden and Jules.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me the ARC of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and did not put it down until the final conclusion. Everyone had secrets and it was a fun ride. I gave it 4.5 stars (rounded to 5) and would recommend to people who like their mystery with a side of gray characters.

4.5 stars rounded up

This twisted family drama was fun and fast paced, with multiple POVs from present day and through letters from the past, where you are not sure who, if anyone, you can trust. It was definitely my favorite book from Rachel Hawkins so far.

Camden McTavish is the adopted son and sole heir to Ruby McTavish, a North Carolina socialite, equally famous for getting lost in the woods and kidnapped as a toddler as she is for being widowed four times. Upon her death, he is finally free to escape his life and the extended family who resent him and move to California for school, where he meets his future wife, Jules. After the death of one of his cousins, 10 years later, he is summoned back to Ashby House for one final fight over his inheritance. Camden is willing to let his bitter aunt and vapid cousins have it all, just to finally be rid of them, but Jules isn't so willing to give up the estate and role of Lady of the Manor. As more of Ruby's letters are revealed, the pieces fall into place that she was not writing a confession to her son, but to someone else entirely. Unfortunately I had my suspicions where this was going, and wish I was wrong and would have been more shocked by the plot twist than I was. That being said, it didn't impact my ability to enjoy the story, but kept it from being a full 5 star read for me. This was an intricately woven tale that makes you reflect on whether it is nature or nurture that makes a person, and that in the end, science comes for us all.