Jane is a dog walker looking to move up in the world and finds her ticket in newly widowed Eddie Rochester. It seemed too easy and she should have known better! The story is told with multiple points of view and multiple timelines. While the transitions were easy to follow, at points it felt like the story dragged. Sections were filler and didn't add to the story's progression. A story which was incredibly twisted and conniving. Characters who are people we all think we know. The end result was a compelling must read where you think you know where the story is going but I wouldn't place any bets on being right!

Leave a lot of time for this one, as you will want to read it in ONE sitting. The twists and turns kept coming in this Southern retelling of Jane Eyre. Jane, the dogwalker, is suddenly in the clutches of the Stepford Wife-type society. This is so much more than a fish out of water story. She becomes part of the world that she was an outsider to when word comes that her new guy's wife is missing. And this is only the BEGINNING of the suspense! This book is so well-written and a great read!

A domestic-thriller modern retelling of Jane Eyre with a focus on what it would mean to a wife in your attic in today’s world. The story is told from three perspectives to give the full story.
Although there were twists, I saw them coming, both because I’ve read domestic thrillers...and because it follows some of the same beats of Jane Eyre.
Well-written and fast-paced, I gulped down this book but was disappointed I didn’t love this Jane nearly as much as classic Jane. But really, if it weren’t for the Jane Eyre comp, it’s a fine thriller.

I wanted to LOVE this book because I recently read Jane Eyre for the first time and loved it, but...it was just ok. I didn't feel like we ever got to really know Jane and therefore I never connected with her or cared for her. I did not like any of the characters and I'm the type of reader who needs to like at least one person in the story.

That being said, I did finish the story as I was interested in how she would retell and modernize the classic. Unfortunately, I just don't think she stuck to the original story enough for me to really enjoy it.

In Rachel Hawkins's new mystery The Wife Upstairs, each of the main players and their histories aren't what they seem.

Jane is new to Birmingham, Alabama. She's seemingly trustworthy and nonthreatening, the perfect dog-walker for upscale Mountain Brook families. And if, while she's taking care of their beloved pets, Jane slips a few small valuables into her pockets to sell for cash or just because she can, none of her privileged clients are likely to ever be the wiser.

But the young woman who has taken on the name of Jane and is desperate to leave her dark past behind her has wormed her way into the idyllic community in the aftermath of a tragedy. Two of the neighborhood's cherished young wives, longtime best friends, died months earlier in a boating accident. When Jane places herself in the path of one of the widowers and he shows interest in her, she can't believe her luck. This could be a better new beginning than even Jane could have manipulated into reality. But is she doing the scheming, or is something more complicated--even sinister--going on?

The reader is required to gloss over certain details in order for the premise to work (I was distracted wondering about hygiene logistics, only vaguely mentioned relatively late in the book, and curious about how intermittent noise did not factor in more heavily). Certain characters' emotional roller coasters and loyalties felt abhorrent in light of what I believed had occurred--but then Hawkins turned my feelings about the protagonists' feelings upside down with a story twist.

Each of the main characters is consumed by wealth, class, and appearances, and hearing about superficial concerns at such length began to be a little tiresome. But each of these characters turned out to be hiding elements of their histories that put into context their obsessions with financial security (and the promise of a level of freedom that is linked to having enough money).

I felt as though Jane was a frequent contradiction--she is said to be young and pretty, but also to be helpfully nondescript. She is said to be cutthroat and clever, but she also seemed incredibly naive. She seemed to be searching for a quick fix for her financial situation, but she rapidly became entrenched in what felt like a long-term commitment. Yet her character is used to desperately scrambling, finding an angle and taking advantage of it, and being what people expect or want to see (or someone others refuse to acknowledge, sometimes to her own benefit), which made the contradictions feel possible.

It seems necessary to the book that there is not a lot of character depth so that the plot surprises can feel plausible, but its twists and turns make The Wife Upstairs a magnetic, fast read to add to your mystery reading this winter.

I received a prepublication copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Wife Upstairs, by Rachel Hawkins

Short Take: “I’m gonna Bronte the [censored] out of this.”

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Welcome to 2021, Duckies!! As one of my favorite singers says, “it’s been a long December, and there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.” I mean, 2020 was exactly the kind of year that makes “May you live in interesting times” a freakin curse, right? And although it feels like we should be more somber in light of the hundreds of thousands (!!!) of people we’ve lost, and will continue to lose over the next few months, it also feels like maybe we should try to find the fun and the good again, and be willing to look to the future with something like hope and joy.

And I don’t know any better way to do so than with a brilliantly clever and hilarious book review. (So if you happen to find one, point me to it, please?)

I just finished reading The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, and dude. DUDE. There are a lot of words already devoted to the fact that this book is a modern adaptation of Jane Eyre, and would it shock anyone reading this to know that when I was a wee teenage nerdling, Jane was one of my favorites? She. Totally. Was. So I was predisposed to either love or hate this one, because adaptations/reboots of a beloved story are a tricky business with very little middle ground - they are either adored or loathed.. But I am happy to report that Ms. Hawkins threaded that needle beautifully.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Bronte classic (seriously, who ARE you people?) Original Jane was an orphan who had a rough life in the early 1800’s. She went to work as a governess for a rich widower, fell in love with him, and eventually discovered his Dark Terrible Secret. No, I’m not going to spoil a 200 year old book.

New Jane follows the same narrative points, but manages to feel like something fresh and different. I loved the callbacks to the original’s most iconic bits (“Reader, I [spoiler]ed him” for example), and a shout-out to Wuthering Heights, lest you think that one Bronte wasn’t enough. But this Jane has an agenda and secrets of her own, this Bertha has her own story that she gets to tell in her own voice, and this Edward - excuse me, EDDIE - also gets to share his side of things. And in the end, Nothing Is What It Seems, of course.

Ms. Hawkins has a great feel for pacing, and a sharp eye for the realities that were likely glossed over in the classic. For example, St. John Rivers, a milquetoast man of the cloth who is devoted to Original Jane, even willing to marry her despite her “used goods” status, is now John Rivers, a church musician who gives Jane a place to live in exchange for a lot of not-really-subtle creeping on her, and it seems immensely plausible that Original John was a whole like like New John, but in those days, women couldn’t really voice their discomfort.

In the end, I think that The Wife Upstairs’ biggest strength is also its only flaw, and that’s the absolute love and devotion to the source material. Despite a few unexpected twists in how we go to the end, and one important change to the end itself, I always knew where I was going, and what it all was leading up to. So although I couldn’t put this book down, I also felt like a bit was missing, and upon reflection, I think it was the element of surprise, or discovery maybe? There were some twists that I didn't see coming, granted, but in the end, even the seemingly-meandering trails were leading to a very familiar place.

I’d still definitely recommend The Wife Upstairs to anyone who either has a soft spot for Jane Eyre, or who likes twisty thrillers, though, and isn’t that pretty much everyone?

The Nerd’s Rating: FOUR HAPPY NEURONS (and a salad, with a side of vodka, because although it’s 2021, I’m still me. Happy New Year!)

4.5 stars!

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙:
🌸 SO twisty!
🌸 A GREAT retelling of Jane Eyre - I didn't expect even the character's names to be the same!
🌸 I loved how Hawkins tied things up at the end - leaving a little mystery!
🌸 Incredibly fast-paced and I finished in one sitting!
🌸 I actually loved that I hated all of the characters.

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝘿𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚:
🌸 Marketed as a thriller but I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that.

𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙄𝙛 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙:
🌸 Jane Eyre; twisty books!

Jane who is trying to overcome her past becomes a dog walker in a plush neighborhood and steals "trinkets" form the owners to pay her rent.
One day she meets Eddie, a handsome owner who has recently lost his wife in a boating accident with her friend, another of the neighbors. His wife's body wasn't found and she is presumed to have drowned. Her neighbor who was thought to have initially drowned is subsequently found to have been murdered.

Jane and Eddie soon become a couple and then become engaged which makes Jane's dreams come true as she'll' be set for life financially and live in a beautiful home..

Eddie's wife Bea didn't drown she is being kept prisoner in the panic room of the house.
Jane hears noises occasionally but Eddie tells her there's nothing to worry about
Bea puts a note in Edie's jacket one day when he comes to bring her food, the note is for Jane who finds it and frees Bea,
Eddie comes home and discovers Bea & Jane in the open panic room a fight ensues and he is locked in
He starts a fire and Bea goes to the panic room, Bea goes to rescue him and Jane escapes.
The house burns down and Eddie is presumed to have died in the fire inside the panic room.

All of the money is left to Jane in Eddie's will but she believes to have seen them in a car one day so ,,,,,,

I don’t know the story of Jane Eyre so I can’t draw any comparisons to the Charlotte Brontë novel, but I did enjoy this fast-paced thriller. It was in the running for four stars but a plot hole really bothered me - Bea gets Tripp to come to the lake house to blame him for Blanche's death and leaves him passed out in the house. Then she was going to tell the cops that she jumped off the boat and swam to shore after Tripp and Blanche started fighting - so shouldn't she have left Tripp passed out on the boat? How was she going to say he was involved when he was at the house and the boat was in the middle of the lake?

The Wife Upstairs is a true tour de force! Rachel Hawkins has taken the names of characters from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, mixed in suggestions of similar locations and events while crafting a suspenseful domestic thriller full of twists and surprises.

Jane, a former foster child has left a mysterious and possibly criminal past behind and reinvented herself as a dog walker in the wealthy gated neighborhood of Thornfield Estates in Birmingham, Alabama. She exists on the neighborhood’s periphery until a chance meeting with the handsome, super rich Eddie Rochester. A tragic boating accident has left two widowers in Thornfield - Eddie and Tripp Ingraham. Tripp’s wife Blanche and Bea Rochester had been friends since their girlhood. Bea was the creator of Southern Manors, an ubiquitous life style brand that had made her a millionaire. Jane is flattered by Eddie and seduced by his lifestyle but she can’t shake the feeling that something is not right…

More things are wrong than you can possibly suspect. The Wife Upstairs is a superbly crafted puzzle. It’s like a kaleidoscope, one twist changes everything and your suspicions are totally rearranged. 5 stars.

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

The Wife Upstairs is a domestic thriller about a rich neighborhood and a woman with a past trying to get into the neighborhood via a recently widowed man. This was a fun and quick thriller, very entertaining.

Thanks to St, Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I jumped on THE WIFE UPSTAIRS by Rachel Hawkins when I saw it was a feminist retelling of Jane Eyre, one of my favourite classic novels.

I must admit I was disappointed at first when I discovered the retelling featured a bunch of rich white people dressed in Lily Pulitzer in Alabama.

After all, the original JANE EYRE novel has been critiqued by feminist scholars for the complete lack of representation and agency given to Rochester’s first half-English half-Creole wife from Jamaica, Bertha Mason, whom he locked away in the attic after she descends into violent madness.

In the original JANE EYRE, Bertha has no voice and no agency and her story is solely told through Mr Rochester.

In THE WIFE UPSTAIRS, Bertha / Bea gets both and also Hawkins’ Jane is in control of her own narrative way more than the original character ever was and it made for a fun take on the original.

Half way through the book, the author served a dish of a plot twist that had me throw back my head with laughter because of how brilliant it was.

I shall call it Bertha’s ultimate revenge for her voice being erased from the original classic 😏

Thank you so much @stmartinspress for my early #gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read past my bedtime to finish this book as I could not wait to see how it ended. The Wife Upstairs is a modern re-imaging of Jane Eyre, which I have shamefully never read, therefore I had no built in spoilers. I've previously read and enjoyed Rachel Hawkins' YA books; this is her adult category debut. I do like her writing style and felt the story flowed nicely and was well-thought out and developed. This is a pretty good thriller, with some twists predictable and others not. I'm left wondering exactly who was the smartest person in the room. I think this book will be huge & I recommend for sure. 4.25 stars.

Wow what a ride! I loved this modern adaption of Jane Eyre. It was different and fresh enough for it not to feel like a story I've already heard. The characters are flawed and more real. The setting is Southern Gothic and you really get a feel for what this community is like. Throughout the book through multiple points of view, The reader gets little drops of nuggets of events that took place over the last year when and after the 'accident' happened. Jane has the longest sections, because she, like us, is trying to figure out just what the hell is going on here. My one criticism is that the ending did not surprise me and if was left waiting for something more.
Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A retelling of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre with modern-day gothic twists that are deliciously thrilling. I couldn't stop reading The Wife Upstairs and devoured it in 24 hours. Full disclosure, I've never read Jane Eyre so I didn't know the storyline. But after reading The Wife Upstairs, I have added it to my TBR. I absolutely loved this gothic story with a modern-day setting. Hawkins does a phenomenal job of retelling a classic. Oftentimes, a retelling is drab and predictable, but there are enough twists in this story to keep the reader engaged and turning the pages. Without giving too much away, we are introduced to a second character early on that makes you believe that you know who did it. But everything you thought changes multiple times and makes you question everything about the book.

Jane is a new dog walker for a wealthy southern neighborhood. She's also a former foster kid running from her upbringing and shady past. One day her luck turns when she meets the good looking, wealthy, and recently widowed Eddie. It doesn't take long before Jane goes from the dog walker to the young, fit fiance, with plenty of time and money on her hands. As it turns out, Eddie is also running from some problems of his own. Throw in a dead wife, with her own secrets, and you have an engrossing domestic thriller with lots of twists and turns.

This is a good read with enough craziness to brighten the most dreary of winter's days. Available Now!

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

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I could not wait to get my greedy little hands on this book when I found out it was a Jane Eyre retelling.
This story is full of unlikeable and shady characters. Everyone had a motive, lied and was very manipulative... yet this turned out to be part of the enjoyment for me. I had a hard time guessing what came next because I couldn't trust any information that was given which kept me intrigued.
This was a fun life read, however I did keep hoping for a little bit more.

Everyone’s hiding something...or someone.

The Wife Upstairs, a suspenseful, twisting retelling of Jane Eyre, seriously puts the gothic in Southern Gothic. It's a solid adaptation, with some fun winks at the original (like Adele the Irish setter; this Jane is a dog-walker rather than a governess) and a strong grasp of the hauntingly claustrophobic when it comes to atmosphere. The Wife Upstairs is well-paced, nailing the twists and revelations, and all told just a real fun read, especially for this lifelong Jane Eyre fan.

Also it includes the line “Reader, I fucked him.” So honestly, half a star increase just for that.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance review copy!

4 1/2 stars...

Yes! What a fun and clever book! The Wife Upstairs is such an enjoyable read. It ticked many of my boxes. There are characters that you dislike one minute and are intrigued by the next. I has a plot line that takes a few fun twists and turns. Truly, it's difficult to truly like any of these characters. There are things to love and hate about them all. The amusing thing is that none of them are "good people" - - but yet no one else realizes it.

I read the book and listened to the audio. Let me just say, the narration was excellent and made the story even more enjoyable. Of course, being from the South myself, I loved the Alabama setting. It was all I could do to not "bless the heart" of each corrupted character in this novel. So much fun!!

The only reason this isn't a solid five star rating for me is that I needed more at the end of the book. It just felt like something was missing at the end. Otherwise, it was a great and enjoyable book.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio for the ARC and audio ARC. I chose to review these items voluntarily. The opinions contained within my review are my own.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins totally lives up to the hype.
There are SO MANY twists and turns this was an incredible ride.
The writing was incredible. The characters were crazy , but in the best possible way.
The plot was well developed and perfectly paced.