“Truth is something we chose to believe.”

Wow, THE HEIRESS is gripping. Not in the typical thriller way, but in the “What in the world is this family DOING?” kind of way. HAPPY PUB DAY, @ladyhawkins ! Thank you for my early digital and audio copies @macmillan.audio and @stmartinspress .

The storyline is a meshing of perspectives, from Cam, Jules and Ruby- some from the past (Ruby) and some from the present (Cam and Jules). Cam is the heir apparent to the MacTavish fortune (and an elaborate home settled in the mountains of North Carolina), only he is refusing to take part in anything to do with the MacTavish fortune.

I was hooked to Ruby’s stories and why she lost 4 husbands over the course of her life (much like Jackie O’s story), and Ruby’s life is quite interesting: she was abducted from her family’s land while in the woods as a young girl, and found 8 months later in a sleepy little southern town (also sounds much like a cross between the Lindburgh baby and Patty Hearst!).

There were a couple of “surprises” that weren’t surprising to me at all (ugh Ben and Libby), and other things that happened in the storyline that left me shocked!

Loved the Knoxville cameo, btw.

If you like a good, keep you guessing who/what/why/how then you will like this one!

CW: death of family members, murder, adoption

Thrillers are not my go to genre but I'm trying to branch out into new genres. I couldn't stop listening!! The multiple points of view and multiple narrators were so engrossing. This was my first book by Rachel Hawkins and it did not disappoint. I loved that it was a thriller, mystery, and family drama all wrapped up in one book. There were so many unseen twists and turns that I was captivated the whole time. Highly recommend you listen to the audiobook version.

The Heiress!!!!
Wow such a fun read, I loved the twists and drama between family’s I love the truth hidden behind the lies !
And boyyyy is there many fake truths .
I adore the past written in letters and the present between husband the heir and wife,
I wasn’t able to guess a thing about this book which I’m always trying to do in these types of generes . I love Ruby and all her husbands , and adore the heirs wife she’s a real one. I wasn’t expecting this end at all I didn’t see it coming the truth above all the truths! (: a must read if you love Rachel Hawkins and if you love a fictional mystery thriller .
Slow pace in the beginning and picks up toward the end . I adore the setting of the estate and the visuals given though not to many, it really set the scene for me ! Cam and ruby truly had a great bond but Ruby is a master mind .

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cam wants to leave his past in the past. Once his wife Jules finds out that Cam's past life left him rich with an estate, she will do anything that she can to live the luxurious lifestyle! Cam is very happy with their quiet & normal life in Colorado. How far will Jules go to get what she wants?

It's official, Rachel Hawkins is on my 'read everything they write' list. This is my third non-ya novel of hers and I swear they just keep getting better and better.

I had a fairly rough time last year finding thrillers that hit the right spot for me. It's my brain unfortunately. So when I find an author that keeps hitting the proverbial sweet spot, that auto notification for new releases, gets checked.

The Heiress is a psychological gothic thriller that takes the premise of a missing child and an affluent family and twists secrets and familial history into an addictive page turner. I had the ability to listen to the audiobook and loved the setup for this one. The audio is narrated with multiple POVs by the talented Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla and Patti Murin. I love when an audio has a large cast of voices, it brings a distinct flavor of voice to each character.

There are some parts that do move a little slow but Hawkins has a way of keeping me engaged as a reader. A little predictability in some of the overall plot but the drama and mystery made this book for me.

If you love thrillers and haven't tried Hawkins yet, I highly recommend picking one up as soon as possible.

In a world filled with domestic thrillers/mysteries, it can feel like you’re reading ever-so-slight variations of the same book. This story, however, feels completely fresh and I was captivated. The pacing and revelations are perfect and it pulls together really well.

I never write the entire plot out in my reviews because I think if you’re reading reviews, you’ve already read the synopsis, just know that this one has multiple views from interesting, well-formed characters, murder, mystery, and intrigue. If you’re into that, I think you’re going to love this one.

I’m grateful to NetGalley for the ARC.


(Review also left on Goodreads, Instagram, and Amazon)

What would you do with deep, dark family secrets? Could you keep them, benefit from them, even perpetrate them? This book is about a mess of family secrets that begin to surface when a death in the family occurs. Money and infamy are driving factors for the choices that have and will be made. Dark and twisty, I did not predict the connects as they fell into place. Ultimately, does anyone know the whole truth?!

The narrators provided excellent vocal depth to the story. Having a cast helped to keep the various POVs aligned.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press, and author Rachel Hawkins for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Camden McTavish is wealthy. Actually he is beyond wealthy. His adopted mother, Mrs. Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore, has left her entire estate to him. Seeing what wealth has done to the family, he hasn't touched any of his money and is living a simple life teaching in Colorado. But when his uncle dies, he learns his ancestral home needs a lot of work and is forced to go back to North Carolina to deal with it. His wife, Jules, is excited - Ashby House is amazing and its theirs! But it's not that easy. Cam was adopted, and has been tormented by the rest of the family his entire life. Not one person in the house is a decent human being, save the housekeeper/cook. Cam decides, at Jules' behest, to try and get along. But there are many secrets at Ashby House, more than any single occupant of the home knows. Peppered throughout the story are letters showing us Ruby's life - and it was not all good. In fact, some of it is very, very bad.

What happened to Ruby? Was she incredibly unlucky, having been widowed 4 times, or was something else going on? And why did Ruby adopt a sad boy and make him her sole heir?

This family may win the award for the most dysfunctional group I've ever see. Even the current living members - Aunt Nell, with her sour face, who has been jealous of Ruby her entire life; Ben, her grandson, who went so far as to become an estate attorney in the hopes of legally robbing Cam of his inheritance; or Lily, her vapid granddaughter, who has a horrible track record for both marriages and careers - are all living off the family teat because heaven forbid they be adults, move out, and get lives. It's not hard to understand why Cam has moved across the country. But Jules, who claims she loves him, just keeps pushing and pushing him to go back. Honestly, I didn't like her from the start, and it only got worse. This book is the literary equivalent of a train hitting a busload of children, then hopping the tracks and running through a nursing home before coming to a stop in a dog shelter and blowing up hundreds of puppies. And I couldn't look away.

Four solid stars.

5 Stars! This is probably one of the best mystery/thrillers I have read in a while. So many twists and turns and each of the main characters have so many secrets they are keeping from each other. Camden, prodigal son of Ruby McTavish returns home with his wife Jules 10 years after Ruby's death to take care of massive estate he has inherited from his mother Ruby. The reader learns that Ruby led quite an eventful life due to the letters she has written shortly before she died that tells about her many husbands and how she became so rich. In these letters are secrets nobody has ever known and these letters are read throughout the book. Camden and Jules also have secrets that the reader eventually learns about. This story is so twisty and it kept me guessing to the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan for the ebook and audiobook of The Heiress. I had every intention of going between the audiobook and ebook but the audiobook was so good I stayed with it. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and this was well done because there were multiple narrators. Two female narrators and two male narrators. Many times having male narrators for the male characters and female narrators for female characters allows the listener to really get involved with the story instead of only have one narrator for all the characters. I find that sometimes I get a little confused when a female narrator voices the male characters and they all sound the same. So thank you Macmillan for an ensemble cast.

Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for the ARC.

This was fine, I was never super into it but it kept me listening as it was an easy, fast read.

It’s rare for a book with multiple perspectives to be equally compelling from each POV, but this one was really well executed. It reminded me of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but as a thriller. I’ve read several books by this author (including her Halloween ones!) and this was by far the best, will definitely be recommending it.

3.5 stars rounded to 4 on GR.

Entertaining and sharp. I enjoyed the movement between past and present. A fun read that kept me turning the pages.

For fans of family drama, mystery and secrets lives of the wealthy this one if for you. I really enjoyed the audio and found this a great way to read the book.

Thank you netgalley and St Martins press for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ruby McTavish was from one of the wealthiest families in North Carolina and her life was filled with drama. Between getting kidnapped then returned at a young age, then having each of her four husbands suddenly die, there has always been a lot of mystery to her. After her death, her estate and wealth is all passed down to Cam, her adopted son. The other surviving McTavishes are livid he got all the money and Cam wants nothing to do with it or them. Ten years later, after his uncle’s death, Cam returns to Ashby House with his wife Jules. But as they are there so many family secrets come unraveled.

I think this was my favorite of all of Rachel Hawkins’ books by far. It was so twisty and filled with secrets, lies, and deceit. So many of the twists caught me off guard, and I devoured this book far too quickly because I needed to know what other secrets would come up and how this story would play out.

I LOVED the audiobook - with a different narrator for each POV, it was so easy to follow. Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla, Patti Murin all did an amazing job bringing the characters and the story to life.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the advance copies.

Rachel Hawkins pens another beautiful story filled with family secrets and sibling rivalry. The Heiress is similar to The Villa when it comes to complex relationships and hidden pasts. Set in the Blue Ridge mountains, everyone is enthralled with a wealthy family and the drama that surrounds them.

Thank you Net Galley for this ARC.

If Rachel Hawkins isn't on your list of best psychological thriller authors yet, this book is sure to solidify that!

This was a fast paced and engaging story told from multiple points of view; it spans the past and present from the various characters, as well.

Cam is adopted by a very wealthy woman but he chose to walk away from the riches of his childhood and is now a teacher living happily in Colorado with his wife Jules. Their life is interrupted when Cam's uncle passes away and Cam is summoned back to his childhood home. When the couple arrive, they receive a less than happy welcome. While Cam is determined to quickly return to his life in Colorado, Jules has other plans when she sees just how much Cam left behind.

Cam's mother, Ruby, had many secrets that are revealed slowly throughout the novel. They include being kidnapped as a child and the mysterious deaths of all four of her husbands.

Are any of Ruby's secrets directly tied to Cam? Why was Cam so determined to leave his life behind and start again? And why is Jules hell-bent on convincing Cam to stay at the home that seemingly made him so unhappy? Ruby certainly isn't the only character with secrets; and she's not the only one who is willing to stop at nothing to keep them buried.

This book is a 2024 MUST READ! It was released yesterday, on January 9th. Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Hawkins and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for a review. It was a thrilling, engaging, and delightful five out of five star read!

This audio was on point. The cast of narrators truly made this story line so enjoyable to listen to. It’s a slow burn with lots of family drama. Who doesn’t have that, am I right?! The twists that unfolded at the end were SO GOOD!

•Secrets & Lies•

👉🏼What secrets are you keeping?

The Heiress
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Author: Rachel Hawkins

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, St. Martin’s, and Macmillan Audio and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

My thoughts:

Synopsis: 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.

My Thoughts: Happy Belated Publishing Day! This was creepy, captivating, gripping, atmospheric psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of seat. Hawkins outdid herself on this, it was brilliantly written and pulls you in, keeping its grip on you until the very end. It has been awhile since I have read a book so captivating and keeps me invested for the entirety of the book. The claustrophobic Ashby House is the perfect setting to draw you into a mystery that is both atmospheric and claustrophobic. The secrets, betrayal, lies, facade, and of course, the flawed and heartless residents of the house brings the novel to another level. Then of course, we have the lovely Ruby McTavish, who is sarcastic, unreliable, and puts forth a level of intimidation to others that adds to the enrichment of the storyline. Hawkins had me a dedicated reader starting with Wife Upstairs, and I have read each of her novels since, patiently awaiting the new one every year, but this one really stands above Reckless Girls and The Villa. I love how Hawkins piles mystery upon mystery and providing little puzzle pieces for the mystery, until they all tangle together, urging you to read forward to uncover the lies, secrets, and betrayals.

The story is narrated by a few characters, first we have Camden (Cam), the adopted son of Ruby McTavish. He has severed ties with the money and the house, even though both have been left in his care. He has a normal job as an English teacher and is married to Jules. Then he gets a call from Ben, who used to bully him to no end, that his father has passed and Camden needs to come home to deal with some house issues. Our next person is Jules, wife to Cam. Jules has been dying to experience Ashby House in all of its glory and is ecstatic when Cam decides to return. Jules grew up with nothing and has always yearned for wealth and having the lifestyle she so deserves. Lastly, we have Ruby McTavish, through letters she wrote detailing on why she murdered her previous husbands, as well as some other tantalizing secrets.

The estranged Ashby House members is an eclectic group of people, who are selfish, self-centered, and all about how they can put themselves above anyone, and everyone else. Ben, is an estate lawyer that always seems to have a fake smile on. Then his sister Libby, who is unbelievably spoiled and so cunning, that you don’t see it coming. Lastly is Aunt Nell who has always been resentful and jealous of her sister, Ruby. The characters were well developed with depth, mystery, are flawed, most unlikable, and were intriguing. The supporting characters really do elevate the book to the next level. Each character has one or more secrets, is lying to another, or betraying another. The sense of “family” does not stand in this house. The author’s writing style was complex, multifaceted, suspenseful, twisty, and just BRILLIANT. The characters are built up, the plot is delivered into twisty layers, and the ending was an explosion of WOW with twisty happenings!

I had the pleasure of having the digital and audio versions of the book. I mostly listened to the audio. The narrators (Dan Bittner and Eliza Foss) do an amazing job. The pitch and flow is perfect, I was able to listen at 2x with no issues. The voice variation was distinctive. They really brought the characters to life. G O P I C K UP this book NOW! This will be one of the best books for 2024 and it is a must read for all thriller lovers out there.

This book is good! It's twisty and mysterious. I was entertained the entire time. I listened to the audiobook and if you have an opportunity to listen to it, I would recommend you do. The narrators did an awesome job. It felt like if you combined a clue like suspenseful who killed them movie with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo! It had that historical wealthy powerful woman telling her past, vibes! IYKYK! I enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it!
🔪 Fast Paced
🔪 Twisty/Mysterious
🔪 Unputdownable
🔪 Multiple POV
🔪 Surprising moments

Wowsers! If you’re looking for a totally immersive audiobook, look no further! 🤩

Narrated by a full cast of characters - Dan Bittner; Eliza Foss; John Pirhalla; Patti Murin - Each did a marvellous job of capturing each character with near perfect inflection. I was wholly captivated throughout.

Ten years earlier, Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies. She was the heiress to the McTavish fortune, bequeathing Ashby House as well as a considerable monetary fortune to her adoptive son, Camden.

Camden left the small town of Tavistock, his family and the fortune left to him to start a new life where he is happily ensconced in a job that he cares about a wife he loves … until he is summoned back by his cousin. With the support of his wife Jules, they make the trek back to Ashby House, set in the beautiful Appalachian mountains to put all their affairs in order for the final time …Let’s just say, this is where the fireworks begin 🧨🔥

The timeline alternates between past and present. I just loved the narrative, we get a front row seat into Ruby’s flamboyant and scandalous life through her colourful letters - I absolutely adored her sassy character and hilarious wit. The whole family is quite dysfunctional, with some characters being down right devious. I love reading characters you love to hate, and there are a few dubious ones scattered throughout this entertaining and deliciously dark story.

I squealed with delight when I received this audio and dropped everything to read it immediately. It’s an engrossing, dark mystery full of secrets, lies, greed and wickedly clever twists that had me totally gobsmacked! Just brilliant!

Many thanks to the wonderful team @macmillanaudio and @netgalley for an ALC 🙏🎧

"The Heiress" by Rachel Hawkins is a Mystery-Thriller and Family Fiction Story!

"HEIRESS, PHILANTHROPIST, ONETIME KIDNAP VICTIM, RUBY MCTAVISH CALLAHAN WOODWARD MILLER KENMORE DIES AT 73." ~ The Asheville Citizen-Times, April 2, 2013

Ten years ago when Ruby's entire estate, immense fortune, and newsworthy family history, were passed to her adopted son, Camden McTavish, he turned his nose up at his inheritance and the entire McTavish Family.

Until now...

Now the home and family Camden ran from after Ruby's death are calling him back. The fifteen-bedroom mansion, Ashby House, is in serious disrepair and the tangled mess of Ruby's will makes it next to impossible for the family to request funds for maintenance without Camden's help.

Camden and his wife, Jules, decide together to travel from their home in Colorado to Tavistock, North Carolina, to see the condition of their estate for themselves...

"The Heiress" was a twisty ride and the first book I've read by Rachel Hawkins. I fully understood Camden's desire to flee the old homestead ten years ago. The McTavish clan was a despicable, disturbing, and dysfunctional family that resulted in a barrel of nasty fun for this reader.

Without a doubt, the most entertaining part of this tale was Ruby's story told through letters written to an unknown recipient. Jules' folksy point-of-view was interesting and enlightening, too, but poor Camden was a major stress case making his narrative no fun at all.

This was an immersion reading experience through the gifted Digital Reading Copy and Advanced Listening Copy. The audiobook has four narrators: Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla, and Patti Murin. Either format will deliver a great experience but if you have a choice, pick the audiobook. The voices of Ruby and Jules should NOT be missed.

"The Heiress" was a fun read/listen that I recommend to readers who enjoy mystery-suspense stories about complicated, messed-up families!

4.25⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio, and Rachel Hawkins for a DRC and an ALC of this book through NetGalley. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.