I like to think of myself as an 'expert' in the murder mystery genre...I mean after reading hundreds of these murder mysteries, I'm usually pretty good at picking up different clues and solving the crime before the author reveals the conclusion...however...this one threw me for a loop! I love a good ending, especially when it includes unreliable narrators. I really enjoyed this gothic-fiction style thriller about a woman running from secrets in her past, only to find herself involved in a bigger nightmare than she prepared for.

I am really not sure how I feel about this book. The first half seemed slow and read like a typical fiction book with a small hint of mystery. Then the last half (around 60%) it picked up to more of a mystery. I felt like the ending was rushed a little. Overall, it wasn't bad, but wasn't my favorite.

This is a psychological thriller in the style of "Gone Girl" but the story line is a little shallow and the characters not so interesting. It did keep me reading though, a page turner and good to take your mind of things.

Thrilling and twisty but sometimes hard to follow. Enjoyable beach read. Would recommend to friends.

It's so hard to review a thriller without giving the story away, but I'll try anyway. Going in, I didn't realize this was a retelling of Jane Eyre and since I've never read that classic, I can't speak to how similar they are. That being said, I do know the basic premise of Jane Eyre as well as the "twist" and The Wife Upstairs still managed to surprise me! It's full of unexpected twists with a compelling, unreliable main character, and I loved every minute of it. Highly recommended to any fans of mysteries or thrillers!

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is just how I like my thrillers: twists and turns, characters with secrets, unreliable narrators, and surprises you didn't see coming! Jane is a dog-walker who meets charismatic Eddie several months after his wife, Bea has gone missing--presumably dead in a boating accident. She falls in love quickly and without reservation, even though the women in town are clearly out of her league. But of course there is a dark side to this seemingly sweet story and when Jane begins to hear strange noises coming from upstairs, she isn't sure what to think. Tensions rise and the story slowly unfolds as we aren't even sure until the end who the "bad guy" is!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC of this novel.

This was a very fast-paced novel, and a good storyline. Jane (not her real name) comes from a rough background, and is trying to make a better life for herself. Jane takes a gig walking dogs in a very upscale neighborhood, where she meets widower Eddie. Eddie’s wife and her best friend were killed in a boating accident. Jane and Eddie begin a whirlwind romance, and Jane begins to uncover some secrets about Eddie and his wife’s death. But Jane has some secrets of her own, as well, that she does not want revealed. There were several twists I found in this novel, some of which I thought were a bit predictable. Overall, a quick and intriguing read; perfect for a day at the beach.

Ebook/Thriller: I've decided that I am too gullible. I get fooled every time in mysteries with a unreliable narrator. I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read this book in lieu of an honest review.
Read the description if you want know the plot point. It's pretty simple at first. By the first few pages, you hear from both Jane and Bea, and later you hear from Eddie. The question from the first page is who and why are they in the attic saferoom. My biggest question is why can't anyone hear the water running.
This is a quick read and I do recommend it.

"It is the absolute shittiest day for a walk."

Rain has been pouring down all morning.

But, there are dogs that need to be walked in the wealthy Thornfield Estates subdivision, and Jane has signed on to be the dogwalker to the wealthy wives who will pretend to care that they are sorry that this must be done on this cold and stormy day in mid February...

But as luck will have it, Jane is about to meet Eddie Rochester, recently widowed when his wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, Blanche. He seems quite smitten with her, despite her lack of "pedigree" and goes as far as to adopt, an Irish Setter puppy named Adele, just so he could see her again...

But, can this unlikely romance last, and can Jane really transition from their dogwalker, to "one of the girls" ?

The book description reads : " A delicious twist on a Gothic Classic, Rachel Hawkin's "The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern Charm with atmospheric domestic suspense" and DELICIOUS IT IS!

From the book's title to our protagonist's name of Jane, it is no secret that the Classic referred to is Jane Eyre-this time reimagined for today's times with the setting just outside of Birmingham, Alabama.

If you need a "spoiler free" recap of Jane Eyre...it begins with Jane Eyre, an orphan living with her Aunt, getting in trouble on a rainy day and being sent to Lowood School, to live until she becomes of age. It's a miserable place, and her one friend, Helen Burns, dies shortly after her arrival. Despite her childhood, and plain looks, Jane is smart and witty and obtains a post as a Governess to a young French girl, named Adele, ward of Edward Rochester, owner of Thornfield Hall. Remarkably, Edward falls for Jane but a secret comes to light, which could threaten their happy ending!

Now, if you are a reader that hates when Classics are reimagined, and you are familiar with Jane Eyre-then this book won't be for you.

But, I seem to LOVE when Classics are reimagined!

In 2018, I read" Rebecca"-Daphne du Maurier- for the first time, simultaneously with "The Winters" by Lisa Gabrielle. I think it's entertaining to see how the names from the Classics will be reassigned-the plots freshened for modern times.

I view these books as homages-showing how the original stories stand the test of time.

This was VERY different from the original so despite the references to it's predecessor you can read them in either order, and the endings will NOT be spoiled despite the similarities which remind you of the Classic.

It kept me engaged from that opening sentence I shared-through the epilogue!
And, I loved it!

"Grab the corkscrew, will you?" (you will know what I mean, after you read this...)
Pour a glass of your favorite wine...and indulge!
This is a stand-out this year!

A big THANK YOU, to St. Martin's Press, for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for a candid review!
Available January 5, 2021-pre-order NOW!

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and author Rachel Hawkins for providing me with an ARC of The Wife Upstairs!

I have never read Jane Eyre, but that did not hurt my understanding of this novel at all. This kept getting better and better the more I read of it. Wow! So many twists, turns, and surprises, I was most certainly kept on my toes. These characters were compelling and really gave this story a boost. I couldn't put it down every time I picked it up. A super read (and a super pretty cover)!

Thank you again for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

4 Stars

Thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the complimentary DRC for an honest review.

The Wife Upstairs is all about Jane, the new to town dog walker. And Bea, the missing CEO of Southern Manors. And the man in the middle- Bea's husband and Jane's fiance Eddie. This book follows the latest trends of alternating chapters and viewpoints and it really worked in this case. I wasn't quite sure what had happened until the end.

Perfect beach read.

It's hard to write about this story without giving away anything. What I can say is this book crept up on me and I ended up loving it. I almost didn't finish reading it. I don't read contemporary fiction often. The first bit of the book is slow and it took a little while for me to get really invested. But I'm so glad I trusted the author and kept reading because it blew me away. I've never read Jane Erye so I don't know how similar this re-imagining is. But I do know that this is a must read if you love Gillian Flynn's books or anything similar. One of my favorite things about the book was how unlikeable every single character is. They're all so despicable in their own ways. It was delicious. So glad I gave this novel a chance.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book.

This is the story of Jane, who starts out as a dog walker, in a very elite neighborhood. She meets Eddie Rochester, who lives in the neighborhood, and her life really changes. Lots of twists and turns as Jane tries to figure out what happened to Eddie's previous wife. I enjoyed it-the ending was not quite what I expected.

A battered and country-fried retelling of Jane Eyre set in Alabama? Yes please!

This book has more secrets and surprises than my 21 year old's closet and I was turning pages compulsively the last half of the book. Who killed "the B's" and why? I absolutely had to know and I wasn't disappointed when I got there!

Thank you to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've been following Rachel Hawkins on social media for several years now, so I already enjoy her writing style, but this is the first book of hers that I've ever read. Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review! The Wife Upstairs is a modern day twist on Jane Eyre and it was so fantastic. Lots of twists and turns and compelling characters. Even though I've read Jane Eyre before, this still had me guessing "whodunnit" until almost the very end. It was fast paced and an enjoyable read that I couldn't put down all day (yes, I did tear through this in one afternoon). Highly recommend!

Jane thinks that she has found her perfect match when she meets Eddie. Eddie is a wealthy man who lives in the Birmingham, Al area. His wife recently was lost while boating and presumed dead. Jane steps in as the new girlfriend and befriends the ladies in the area, all while hiding secrets. Little did she know, her secrets are not as horrible as those of the people surrounding her. I enjoyed reading a book set in my state, with familiar settings. This was a good, quick read.

Great quick read! This was a hard to put down book. It’s twisty and full of unlikable characters. Seriously, every single one is flawed. That makes it easier to read because you form no alliances. The title makes one of the ‘twists’ pretty obvious. I would’ve rated this a 5 but the truth about Bea was something I suspected early on.
This book keeps you engaged and the different points of view make it extremely interesting. There were many similarities between Jane and Bea as well. The ending is somewhat open and let’s you decide what you want to believe, while this may bother some readers, I actually think it left things perfectly in case the author decided to write a sequel. Overall an enjoyable read. Definitely add to your list for this year.

Jane is not accustomed to the finer things in life. She lives in a small apartment with a shady roommate, and can barely meet the rent each month. Following a brief stint at a coffee house, she begins a job as a dog walker in the rich southern community of Thornsfield Estates. During one of her dog walks, she runs into one of the community’s eligible bachelors, Eddie, and a love connection is quickly made. Within weeks she has moved in and is rebuilding a new (And richer) life.

Eddie became a bachelor and a widow, when his former wife Bea passed unexpectedly during a girls weekend with her best friend Blanche. Everywhere Jane looks she is reminded of Bea, and it feels that the spirit of Bea is alive and living in her house. They never did find Bea’s body—surely it’s at the bottom of the lake? Some days it doesn’t seem that she will remain buried. Will anyone get a happy ending in this love triangle?

When I read the book’s description I was struck by the combination of “gothic” and “southern” and had to revisit the definition of the gothic genre (it applies here). The Woman Upstairs is southern charm and manners, but with a gothic storyline running underneath, which is a perfect combination. If southern gothic is a genre, after reading this book I want to read more of them!

I'd never read this author's work before, and I have to admit, I actually thought she was a different author altogether when I requested this on Netgalley. My mistake. But I was interested in reading a retelling of Jane Eyre, because that classic, along with Wuthering Heights, are favorites of mine, and they're well-known and well-loved for a reason. Unfortunately, retellings of them almost always fall flat.

I liked this new portrayal of Jane's character as something other than a meek, wide-eyed doe of a girl. She wasn't quite a grifter, but she was an opportunist, always looking for an angle she could use to her advantage. And yet she wasn't without her vulnerabilities. The side characters were also really well-drawn, which helped flesh out the story.

It took me a while to get into this, but once I did, the pages flew by, and I finished it in one day. I was actually reading this as romance for a while, under the assumption that Jane and Eddie will end up together, until I started to realize it was more of a mystery. The first part of the book is all about Jane and Eddie starting a relationship, so that may have colored my outlook. Even when we got to Bea's perspective, I knew everything wasn't what it seemed. I just wasn't sure where the author was going with it all.

While I appreciated how the author handled the ending, it didn't quite work for me. One of the characters I didn't know that well and didn't care much about, based on my wrong reading of this. Then again, I don't see how things could have ended differently.

All in all, this was a refreshing take on a well-loved classic. 3 stars.

Jane Eyre set as a thriller in the South?!? What more could readers want?

Rachel Hawkins pulls off a compulsively readable and original story in The Wife Upstairs. Nothing is as it seems and secrets about in Birmingham where protagonist Jane meets Eddie Rochester. Jane sees in Eddie a chance to escape the poverty and to find a home after a childhood spent in foster homes.

Just read this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.