Shades of Jane Eyre and Rebecca!

Jane is walking dogs for a living, wishing for more after escaping a sad life and a mysterious circumstance. When she is almost hit by the car of Eddie Rochester, things look up. Poor Eddie lost his wife and her best friend, both missing and presumed dead, so he is ripe for the picking. You have to look beyond the facade of the perfect neighborhood and the perfect man. Jane starts to see a different side to Eddie. What about his "missing" wife Bea? Was she who everyone thought she was?

I did figure out early on the what and the why. That did not deter from me really enjoying as I read along. It was slow moving. Do not expect a fast paced story. It lingers with you on the page, leading to the final climax. A very enjoyable way to spend the time.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and author Rachel Hawkins for this ARC!

Our heroine - Jane is looking for a change of pace and a make or break lifestyle change when she ends up in Birmingham, Alabama. She starts by dog-walking the wealthy, and maybe taking a little of their possessions for herself. One day on a walk with one of the dogs, she meets Eddie. Eddie has a suspicious past involving a dead wife and lots of unanswered questions. This story left the reader unsure of who they could trust. Let the unraveling begin!

This read had just enough twist and turns to keep you on the edge. Recommend if you are in the market for an easy to read thriller!

Clever suspense take on Jane Eyre. When Jane Bell meets Eddie Rochester, she’s his dog walker and he’s a handsome widower. But who are they really? What are the mysterious sounds coming from upstairs? And who killed his wife and her best friend?

Holy moly talk about dysfunctional people. And they all belong together. You have one woman who weasels her way into a rich man’s life because she wants a part of that. You have he man whom you think might’ve done something to his own wife. Then you find out some interesting facts about that wife. This may be very vague however it kind of needs to be. Because I’m not about to give any of this train wreck away! To read this book so you can get the dirty deeds.

Enjoyed this mystery / thriller. It had some great twists, and I would never have guessed the ending. The book was described as a "reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?", and that fits very well.

The story is set in Birmingham, Alabama. Jane is a dogwalker in a nice neighborhood she can't afford to live in. Jane meets Eddie, whose wife had died in the past year in a boating accident. Eddie has a nice house in the nice neighborhood and Jane wants to marry him as a way to have everything she's always dreamed of. Only something is just not right. Jane begins to have some suspicions.

This book keep me reading to find out what was happening. The twists and turns, though some were predictable, had some surprises. It was a good story and I found the plot interesting. The suspense grew gradually at a a good pace.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy.

I literally kept hearing about this book nonstop in all the book groups and on bookstagram! So I knew I had to read it!! I read it and then I listened to the audiobook and while the book was definitely an experience the audiobook was AMAZING! If you go the audiobook route the characters and the narrarators match the characters and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Jane is down on her luck, she is trying to hide her past and start a new adventure! Jane is new to the area and so when she starts walking dogs in a very wealthy area of town she is doing pretty well. She keeps adding on new clients to walk their dogs and she's managing to thrift a few things to sell so that she can pay her rent to her tool of a roommate.
Now, let's talk about Eddie. Eddie is a man who is mourning because his wife and her best friend died at the lake about six months ago, and one day he meets Jane when he is backing out of his driveway and almost hits Jane.
That started their relationship. In the beginning she was walking his dog too and then he asked her out for dinner and their relationship blossomed from there. Jane is swept away by Eddie the way he stood up for her to her tool of a roommate and the way that he provides for her.
As time progresses Jane and Eddie's relationship becomes more of a serious relationship and she tries to fit into the neighborhood.
Now there is Bea. Bea was Eddie's wife until something happened at Lake. Bea tells her own part of the story in different chapters and she's not the sunshine that everyone makes her out to be but did she die on the lake, was she murdered, or did something more sinister happen to her?
This is one of those thrillers that has you on the edge of your seat and you have to continue in the book because you have to know what the secrets are and what actually happened! There are some easy twists in the story that are kind of predictable but they are so good! If you like thrillers by B.A. Paris and Samantha Downing then this is the book for you! It's a great fast paced read that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

I have to be honest and tell you that I was a bit underwhelmed by this thriller. I went into it with really high exceptions, but the main problem I had with the book is that I didn't like any of the characters at all. Not even Jane. I know now that The Wife Upstairs is a modern-day retelling of Jane Eyre (one of my all-time favorite books). The setting is Birmingham, Alabama and Jane has fled her old life to start over. She's a dog-walker for the rich housewives of Thornfield Estates until she meets Eddie Rochester, a widower who lost his wife, Bea, in a mysterious boating accident.

The Wife Upstairs definitely held my attention and I had a hard time putting it down. The Alabama setting was well-written, but the book just fell flat for me. I liked it and as far as thrillers go, it's good, but not great. I'm still going to recommend this one to fans of thrillers/mysteries even though I wasn't into the Real Housewives of Birmingham vibe myself.

I thought this thriller, which is also a modern retelling of Jane Eyre, was a lot of fun to read! It has been a long time since I read Jane Eyre, so I probably didn't catch all of the nods and parallels to the original. I actually want to go back and read it again now that I have finished The Wife Upstairs.

In The Wife Upstairs, Jane works as a dog walker in a very wealthy neighborhood. She soon catches the interest of the newly widowed Eddie Rochester, and they quickly become involved. But there are a lot of questions surrounding the deaths of Eddie's wife Bea and her best friend Blanche, and everything is not as it seems. Everyone has secrets, including Jane.

None of the characters in this novel are likeable, not even Jane. That didn't affect my enjoyment of the story, as I sometimes enjoy reading about terrible people! This story has all the soapy drama of en episode of Real Housewives, with a side of murder. I thought it was fascinating and just plain entertaining.

The pacing of this story was pretty good, and I flew through it quickly. Most of the story is told from Jane's perspective, but we also get to see a little from Bea and even Eddie. While there are some parallels with the original story, this one also adds some new twists. I enjoyed it!

Birmingham newcomer Jane is happy to get some gigs walking dogs in the McMansion-filled neighborhood of Thornfield Estates. Gawking at the most impressive house, she is nearly run over by Eddie Rochester, who invites her in for coffee. She is immediately intrigued by the handsome, charismatic Eddie who seems genuinely interested in her. So what if his wife recently disappeared under mysterious circumstances?

As Jane infiltrates the world of Thornfield Estates, she is hiding secrets of her own past, while digging deeper into the disappearances of Bea Rochester and her best frenemy, Blanche, months earlier. Accustomed to mistrusting those around her, Jane is relatively unbothered by the undercurrents, until she begins to doubt her now-fiance Eddie.

A modern retelling of JANE EYRE, this gripping suspense novel also offers sly social commentary. A mix of Southern Gothic and traditional Gothic, THE WIFE UPSTAIRS is impossible to put down; even if readers of JANE EYRE knows what happens in the end, the route the story takes is still fascinating. #TheWifeUpstairs #NetGalley

The Wife Upstairs follows the story of Jane, a woman escaping her past and making a new name for herself in Birmingham, Alabama. She becomes a dog walker for families in a very rich neighborhood near the city and eventually meets Eddie, a grieving widow who oversees his construction company as well as his late wife's famous interior design franchise. They quickly settle into a relationship and Jane is head over heels with the new life she has been granted. But we learn throughout the story uncovered secrets that could put Jane's life in jeopardy if she chooses to stay.

This was a fun thriller to wrap the year on. It was one I had been anticipating to read for several months and it did not disappoint! I enjoyed the multiple point of views the author uses as it broke the story up nicely where the plot never felt stale. I fell for all of the misdirections thrown at the reader and never would have guessed the ending, which always leads to a high rating in my book. There did feel like a few loose ends that were left by the wayside and never again addressed, but overall this was a fantastic thriller story!

Thank you Netgalley for this audiobook edition of The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins.

It took me an entire quarter of the way through until I finally realized that I was reading a modern day Bronte novel. But instead of a period Gothic, it's a southern Gothic, with slightly different twists and turns. You would think having a character named Eddie Rochester would be all it took to clue me in, but alas.

Jane is desperate to break into the elite scene of Birmingham Alabama, starting as a dog walker, hoping to move her way up. So when she meets Eddie Rochester, she sees her chance. Eddie is handsome and rich, but has an edge...and a past. Add to that, Eddie is very hesitant to discuss his ex-wife, who died mysteriously, and there have been strange noises in the house...

You see where I'm going with this right? But it was a very fun retelling, and actually tempted me to read Jane Eyre again. It was written well with all of the modern adjustments you could ask for. I kind of like these retellings of old classics.

What a great story! Kept me guessing the entire time. This is a first read from this author for me and I will be looking for more by her!

This was definitely one of the better retellings of Jane Eyre that I have read. It was very modern and had lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed the viewpoints of multiple people and thought the ending was perfect for this story. I would recommend!

This was a book I was really looking forward to reading (ended up listening to audiobook) and I wasn’t disappointed. Just when I thought I had it figured out everything changed. Twists and turns I didn’t see coming and an ending that really caught me off guard. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

This book was SO GOOD! It got me out of my reading slump! I love a good twisty psychological thriller and this one was everything I could have hoped for. Hidden pasts, murder, a wife hidden away in a panic room WOW! Plus, there was a twist at the end that I definitely didn't see coming. I'll be recommending this one to all of my thriller lovers.

I confess, I'm not a huge fan of most classic novels.

Trust me, I've tried. I'm not sure if it's the style of writing, or simply that the time period doesn't usually interest me (I've never been a huge fan of historical fiction either.) Either way, when I learned this was a re-telling of Jane Eyre, it meant very little to me, never having read that book.

What I will say is this...The Wife Upstairs is all kinds of fun. Whether or not this means I would enjoy Jane Eyre, I have no idea...but I definitely enjoyed it's more modern counterpart.

This novel was beautifully written, and I really enjoyed getting to know Jane. In fact, I enjoyed getting to know all the characters. I won't say more than that, as I feel it could cause spoilers, but believe me when I say....this is very well done.

As far as the twists, and they're doozies, one surprised me...the rest did not. I figured out the ending twist very early on, which is why this ultimately isn't a five-star read for me.

Nevertheless, this is a hardcore recommendation from me...and now I must immediately go and follow Rachel Hawkins all over social media.

Available January 5, 2021.

My sincere and happy thanks to NetGalley and St. Marin's Press for my review copy.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins is very well written, with minimal errors (received an ARC) so props for that, for sure.

However, the story as a while felt terribly predictable and overused. It followed your typical domestic thriller storyline, I guess.

If you’re new to this genre, you may absolutely love this book. If these kinds of stories are your jam you may be a little bored.

I enjoyed the book overall, but it wouldn’t be high on my recommendation list, nor would I be likely to read it again.

Wow sooo if you are lookin for a dark twisted tale to prevent you from doing anything else this is the book for you!!! Rachel Hawkins does an amazing job with keeping me guess with all her jaw dropping twists! And let’s talk about these characters omg I never wanted to hurt some so much!!! I really didn’t expect this book to be as dark as it was. But totally in the best way possible!

Jane is a dog walker who grew up in foster care and moves to restart her life. She leaves behind a mysterious past, which the reader will eventually get snippets about. She is running from her past and hopes a new name and the move to Birmingham, Alabama will help her new start. Things seem to be going well for her as she meets the handsome Eddi. Eddi has recently lost his wife and she starts dating him. Eddi is a real catch, he is beautiful and he's fun to be around. Jane moves in with Eddi and starts living the kind of life she always dreamed about. We soon discover that there is a journal that Bea has been keeping and we start to read how the story unfolds from Bea's perspective. . This is a modern day version of Jane Eyre. It was a fun read. It was suspenseful and thrilling. I really enjoy this genre of books. I particularly like this one because it wasn't scary. I find some books a bit too scary to read but this was great.

Oh man, y'all. This book has been at the tip top of my most anticipated list from the moment that I heard that it is modern-gothic-mystery retelling of Jane Eyre. I wanted SO BADLY to love this, but ultimately I kinda feel like it was just okay? It wasn't a terrible book, but throughout the entire story I kept finding myself wishing that it would do more, or go a little bit further and it ultimately just never really hit the notes that I was hoping it would hit. I will say, if you do decide to read this one, I listed to the audiobook and I thought the narration was fantastic, but the story as a whole was just... a little lacking for me and I am big, big sad because I thought this was going to be an all-time favorite for me. Here's hoping that Rachel Hawkin's next adult book will hit a little harder for me!