This is a character driven story with a mysterious aspect that keeps one wondering. This is not my type of book, but other readers might find it intriguing. The dog walking protagonist who had the Inclination to do wrong...enjoy

I highly enjoyed this adaptation of Jane Eyre. I enjoyed the different versions of the characters and how well Rachel Hawkins updated them to fit into the 21st century.

This book I could not put down, this story will grab you in the first few pages and not let you go. What a great story and totally did not expect the ending. It will make you realize what is really important in the world, and money does not buy happiness, ever. And it seems that secrets have a way of coming out, no matter how hard you try to keep them close to yourself. Is the biggest compliment really flattery???? Great story!! Will be recommending this to lots of other people.

This is the first Rachel Hawkins book I have read and I was captivated from the first page. So suspenseful - it had me guessing right up until the very end. I loved the characters and the setting and finished the book in two days! I cannot wait to start recommending this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This re-imagining of Jane Eyre was so much fun to read! Everyone has secrets - Jane, the dog walker who meets rich widower, Eddie. And there's Eddie's wife, Bea, who is assumed to have drowned along with her best friend in a tragic boating accident. But Bea's body has never been found, and it turns out that everything is not as it seems in the rich neighborhood of Thornton Estates in Birmingham.

This was an enjoyable mystery!

I am a sucker for a good Gothic novel, so a re-imagining of Jane Eyre was right up my alley. Overall, I liked it and enjoyed that Hawkins was able to deal with some of the aspects of the original novel that haven't really aged well.

Jane is a dog walker in Thornton Estates in Birmingham, Alabama. She walks the dogs of the wealthy and preppy and one day, is nearly hit by a car driven by Eddie Rochester. Eddie and Jane hit it off immediately, and he gets a dog (named Adele, natch) so he can see her regularly. As they start dating, Jane (who has secrets of her own) learns that Eddie's wife Bea died in a boat accident with her friend Blanche. But was it an accident? Or was Blanche's husband Tripp responsible? Or...was it Eddie?

As any reader of Jane Eyre knows, Bea is upstairs locked away (spoilers don't count for a book based on a book published in 1847). She narrates parts of the book to help the reader understand what's going on from her POV. It's a nice twist on a great book. The Wife Upstairs ends with an ending impossible in the 1840s, and good for Hawkins for recognizing the ickiness of the original conclusion.

I gave the book 3 stars because I really struggled with the chemistry between Eddie and Jane, I couldn't quite figure out if Jane was in love with Eddie or just trying to scam him, and I wasn't really connected to any of the characters. The book is a quick and easy read with a familiar storyline and a decent mystery, and I'm delighted I was able to receive an advanced reader copy from netgalley. If you like Gothic novels and recognize the need for an updated Jane Eyre, go and get this one when it comes out.