Having read and enjoyed other novels by Rachel Hawkins, I was super excited to be granted an early copy of The Heiress, and I must say, this is her best yet!

The Heiress is uniquely written, with a combination of multiple perspectives, news articles, and letters, and several of the narrators are quite unreliable. It kept me guessing, almost until the very end, with hints along the way of what will be revealed and in the end, it would be a great book for a book club, as there would be quite a bit of discussion about which of the main characters is really good or bad. The book has a gothic feel to it, and the tension was palpable from the very beginning. All-in-all, an excellent book!

The only criticism I have is that it was difficult to get the relationships straight between all the characters, and in the end, I still don't think I have them figured out. It did not interfere with my enjoyment, however, and this book will be on my best of list for the year!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC of The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins. The opinions in this review are my own.

Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore lived a notorious life from her kidnapping at the age of three, various high profile marriages resulting in the early deaths of all her husbands and being the richest woman in all of North Carolina. She leaves everything to her adopted son Camden who wants none of it. Then Camden and his wife are called back to Ashby House. Camden just wants to tidy things up and leave. His wife Jules cannot believe he doesn't want the money or to stay at the beautiful estate. Cam has terrible memories of growing up at Ashby house. And a terrible secret that he wants to forget. Jules has some secrets of her own. This story is told through the POV's of Jules and Cam and some letters left by Ruby. I liked this book but didn't care enough about any of the characters to love it. Thank you #NetGalley for my arc.

Ruby McTavish disappeared in the woods surrounding the family’s estate in Tavistock, NC when she was 3 years old. She was found months later living with an Alabama family. The McTavishes are extremely wealthy and rule the kingdom, er, county they call home. They think they’re special and that everyone should treat them accordingly.
Camden McTavish was adopted by Ruby when he was three. When Ruby became too controlling, he left the comfort of the estate and fled west where he married and teaches high school English. He vowed never to return to NC and his horrid family.
Superb story telling. Chock full of deep, dark secrets that are revealed little by little. Ruby has written a series of letters to Cam wherein she tells all. Ruby’s secrets are pretty bad, but the rest of the bunch has their secrets too. This is one of those stories that pulls you in and keeps you turning the pages late into the night. Wickedly good. 4.5 stars

I've read all of Rachel Hawkins' thrillers and I have enjoyed each one. However, this one is my favorite book of hers thus far. Lots of unpredictable secrets revealed; twists and turns that made this book unputdownable.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital ARC.

A masterly crafted thriller that really exemplifies money is the root of all evil.

Thanks Netgalley and Rachel Hawkins for the ability to read this advanced reader copy!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Jan. 9, 2024
When Ruby McTavish was a child, she disappeared while on a family outing, only to reappear out of the blue months later. Now, Ruby is the richest woman in North Carolina, who has been married (and widowed) four times. When she passes, all of her worldly possessions go to her adopted son, Camden, who has spent the last few years of his life avoiding everything the McTavish’s stand for. Due to a stipulation in the will, Cam and his new wife, Jules, must return to the McTavish estate, Ashby House, where old secrets will be revealed, about Ruby, about Cam and about Jules herself.
Rachel Hawkins’ fourth standalone novel, “The Heiress”, is a domestic thriller full of twists and turns. Jules and Cam are the narrators, although letters from Ruby to an unknown recipient (whose identity is revealed at the end of the story) are scattered throughout the novel as well, so Ruby can tell her tale from beyond the grave. Cam is a likable character, Jules less so (and in fact, my opinion of her continues to crumble as the story progresses) but together they somehow work. The secrets of Cam’s adoption, the childhood disappearance of Ruby, and all of the intrigue that comes with having a palatial estate and billions of dollars kept me turning the pages.
As is typical with families of extreme wealth, there are a lot of complicated familial relationships, and the McTavish’s are no different. There are aunts, cousins, spouses (four husbands in Ruby’s case) and the complicated family dynamic of Cam and his adoptive family, which is a lot to keep track of. I definitely had to pay attention to try and connect the dots throughout this plot, but, as always, Hawkins is worth the effort.
I have read all of Hawkins’ stand-alone novels and she shows no signs of slowing down. The twists and turns kept me guessing and I was instantly pulled into a world so far from my own I couldn’t help but fall in love with “The Heiress”!

This book is a twisted new gothic suspense about an infamous heiress and the complicated inheritance she left behind. Ruby McTavish is the victim of a famous kidnapping as a child. She ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family's estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money. He settles into a normal life as an English teacher and marries Jules, a woman eager to escape her past. Was there any truth to the rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to the four husbands who all died under mysterious circumstances? Why did she adopt Cam in the first place? The characters speak right to the reader to tell their story until the very end we are putting the story together. The ending is great as we realize what happened. If you like stories that are unique then you will love this book. Looking forward to my next Rachael Hawkins read.

Rachel Hawkins has done it again! The Heiress was an incredible read, full of twists that left me shocked until the very last page and kept me thinking about them into the night.
I have loved all of Rachel’s books, so I was so excited to see that the Heiress was her latest book to come out.
You will not be disappointed! I highly recommend the Heiress and it is another one to add to my list of favourites!

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins #ninetyninthbookof2023 #arc

CW: death, murder, suicide, domestic violence, kidnapping, alcohol abuse, aliases and fake identities

Heiress Ruby McTavish was the victim of a child kidnapping and a widow of four dead husbands. Now that she’s dead, her adopted son Camden wants nothing to do with his inheritance and extended family, and successfully ignores them for years. But when his uncle dies, he’s forced to head home to deal with the aftermath.

I can easily say that this is my new favorite Rachel Hawkins book. I was eagerly anticipating it since I’ve greatly enjoyed all of her previous books, and this one surpassed the rest. Everyone had a secret, and boy, is this family nuts. What a soap opera! I absolutely loved it.

I enjoyed the epistolary sections of Ruby’s letters, along with the various news and magazine articles that added to the family lore. The book was dark, fast paced, and suspenseful, and it doled out the twists at perfect intervals. I didn’t anticipate a lot of what was revealed at the end.

As always, the covers to Hawkins’ books are perfection. I love the wallpaper pattern on this one.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the advance copy. (Pub date 1/9/24)

#theheiress #inlovewiththecover

I really wanted to love this one. It seemed to have it all there. It was atmospheric, it was weird at times, there was suspense, there was a murder and a mystery, yet somehow at the end, it did not feel like it was ticking all the right boxes for me. While it is definitely very well written, the story is skillfully told and the characters are great, for some unknown to me reason I was expecting more from it. By no means, at no point did the book fall flat for me, it was good, really good. I think it was me, not the book. I was the problem with my weird high expectations.

"There should be some kind of warning when your life is about to change forever."

When Ruby McTavish, the heiress to a massive fortune, dies, she leaves it all to her adopted son Cam. But Ruby's infamous wealth comes with strings attached, ones that Cam would do anything to escape. Cam abandons the fortune, but a summons ten years later brings him and his wife, Jules, right back into the mystery and lies of the McTavish family.

I loved this book! Told in the alternating perspectives of Ruby, Cam, and Jules, this book hooks you very early on. There's so many mysteries--did Ruby really kill her husbands, and if so why? What's the deal with Ashby house? Why did Cam come back? What's up with Jules?--and I just love the way they all unraveled. My only real complaint is that Cam and Jules really blended together, to the point that it was difficult to tell whose perspective I was in.

I haven’t been a huge fan of Rachel in the past but this book changed my opinion of her writing.
I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately, I picked this book up this morning and was unable to put it down.

It gives Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo vibes. I loved the letters from Ruby, the 2 point of views from Jules and Camden. Everyone in that house was holding secrets.

So many murders, secrets, gossip, hate, jealousy. It didn’t have too many twists but it wasn’t even needed in my opinion. The ending was great and tied everything together.

I will continue to read more Rachel Hawkins’s books because of this one!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest opinion!

I’ve read most of the books by this author and they are always fun for a quick and thrilling read - but this is my favorite by far! I love that she always has a twist or two and I never quite know how it will end - thrilling but not too scary that I can’t sleep! Loved it.

I loved Rachel Hawkins's previous books and The Heiress was not the exception.

A brilliant page-turner. I couldn't put it down. I believe this has been the most exhilarating Rachel's book so far.

Love the multiple POVs, always do in a book. Dark, twisted, and captivating. I just wanted to keep reading. I was immersed in the story from beginning to end.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the free advanced copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy of The Heiress in exchange for an honest review!

This is my first time reading a Rachel Hawkins thriller. I have read her romance work published under Erin Starling (I can't believe we didn't get a new installment in 2023!) and one of her YA novels from several years ago. I'm not sure if this is a me issue but when I hear thriller and think of the thriller genre I tend to envision something extremely fast paced, filled with many twists and turns. This is not really what this book is. I would classify this as more of a mystery novel than a thriller novel. For me it brought to mind a mashup of Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Knives Out but only in the loosest sense of those works. Part of the novel is letters written by the now deceased Ruby McTavish detailing her past and how she earned the moniker "Mrs. Kill-more" and part of the novel is her adopted son, Camden, returning to Ruby's estate with his wife, Jules, and attempting to deal with his overly entitled family members. I found the beginning of this quite slow and it did take me a while to get into but I ended up very intrigued by Ruby's story and there's a big twist in the middle that finally got me hooked, desperate to find out what happened next.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I have loved every book by Rachel Hawkins so far and this might be my favorite. I didn’t know anything about it before diving in and I loved how immediately immersive it is.

Ruby is part of a big fancy family up in the Appalachian mountains, except is she? Scandal ensues. Follow Ruby’s life through cryptic letters she’s written, news articles, and present day Camden, her adoptive son, having to return to Ashby House with his wife to take care of some loose strings.

This one wasn’t for me. I got about 30% and decided to DNF. I just found that it wasn’t keeping my attention and the characters didn’t have any pull for me

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for my Gifted copy

This was a fantastic book. This book sucks you in from the first page and holds your attention right to the end. I loved that it’s written in the form of letters, old newspaper articles and chapters in the current time. The twists were many and so unexpected throughout the entire book. I highly recommend this addictive read!

Once this book got going, I couldn’t put it down. I found myself reading “just” one more chapter over and over again. The twists and turns kept me hooked.

I am the first to say that the trope of the ultra-rich family with dark secrets isn’t one I often read. I put this ARC off for months, despite great reviews from my Goodreads friends, and I can see why. I think I asked to review it to give the author another chance after reading a book I found mediocre, and while this is better than mediocre, I think maybe this author just isn’t meant to be one of my favorites.

All of that being said, there were definitely parts of this book that were really good. We have two stories in one, both revolving around a wealthy family, the McTavishes, and the massive estate they own in Tavistock, North Carolina. The Ashby House is almost an institution, and the family has always been the most powerful in the area.

The book starts with the abduction of Baby Ruby McTavish (later to become Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore, if you want to be proper about it) in 1943. The toddler was taken, but later found being raised by a couple of grifters. Ruby was reunited with her family, and later in life had her own children, including her adopted son, Camden.

Cam and his wife Jules have never wanted to own the house, despite everything being left to him in Ruby’s will. Suffice to say, her biological family is not too thrilled about the inheritance being given to an adopted child who isn’t a true McTavish. Camden never wanted it though - not the house, and not the money. He never spent a penny of what his adoptive mother gave him. His wife, however, would love to be living in The Ashby House, and being part of that blue-blooded society.

Half of the book is about what to do with the house and money, but the other half is full of letters that Ruby wrote to Camden before her death. In them, she purges herself of her wrongdoings - specifically killing of her four husbands. The letters are written formally but are shocking in nature; this is a mother coming clean to her son, the son she chose to be the heir.

The writing style in this book wasn’t my favorite. The plot wasn’t my favorite. The slooow burn is not my favorite. The family is an overdone mess. Still, this book was a good cozy mystery, and in the end (which I actually didn’t care for) I enjoyed the story more than I thought I would. If you love cozy mysteries and slow burns, this will be your book. For me, it’s 3.5 stars.

(Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Rachel Hawkins and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on January 9, 2024.)