Finally a retelling of Jane Eyre. I loved the Wife Upstairs. It is a psychological thriller told by alternating perspectives between present time (Jane) and past (Bea). If you're looking for a good thriller, I definitely suggest adding this one to your shelf. The Wife Upstairs is Rachel Hawkins first adult novel and I am so hoping for more!

An interesting and suspenseful domestic suspense novel told in three different points of view. The ending is too far-fetched and, frankly, not realistic at all. Nevertheless, good writing and good narration.

Interesting book.  Had some twists and turns.  Didn’t see a few things coming.  Lots of mind games in this one!

I really wanted to like this book because I'm a big audio book listener, but I didn't like the narrator. I couldn't get through the first 20 minutes of the audio book. So sorry because it seemed like my genre, but I never went back after listening to chapter one. Maybe I''ll read the book instead of listening to it.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a copy of “The Wife Upstairs” by Rachel Hawkins. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

I don’t read a lot of thrillers but I have read Jane Eyre which is what appealed to me about this book. I think after reading this that maybe I’m not a fan of Jane Eyre retellings. While it was interesting to see which characters would pop and where, I just didn’t care for the way the Jane Eyre story elements were made into a thriller story. I couldn’t root for this Jane the way I could the original. She was just so spiteful and seemed to hate everyone. There were so many f-bombs it got annoying really fast. 

I also read way too much into Jane’s actions. I thought she had some secret motivation for pursuing Eddie. Was she some sort of hired investigator trying to find out what happened to Bea? Not so much and I thought that would have been more interesting than the reveals that we did get. 

The ending is ambiguous but it didn’t really bother me as I was just ready to be done with the story at that point. There wasn’t really anyone to root for and the character’s motivations were so shallow to the point where I was disappointed none of my theories came to pass. 

The narrators did a great job.

3/5 stars

The voice of Jane felt like she was trying a little too hard. None of the character voices sounded authentic, which was distracting.
Without much ado, we’re immediately in the headspace of a dogwalker working in a very affluent neighborhood. Jane is in discussion with one of her dog-owning employers and is clearly annoyed with her  happy-go-lucky personality that she can’t believe is sincere. Jane doesn’t believe any of these women care about her like which they pretend. Jane knows she hates them, and yet she wants to be one of them.

Needless to say, Jane is not an honest, true-of-heart person. I didn’t particularly care for her, nor was I hoping she’d succeed in joining the wives club of the neighborhood. She’s what I’d call an opportunist. She saw opportunities to make side money by taking “lost” jewelry of her employers to pawn shops. On a miserable rainy day, she was presented with an opportunity to upgrade her whole life when she crossed paths with an attractive widower named Eddie.

Can a marriage of two liars have a happy ending?
Jane may seem like a cold and ruthless woman looking for money and comfort, but Eddie doesn’t appear to be much better. He was suspiciously quick to mourn his dead wife and move along. He removed all of his wife’s photos and clothes soon after she disappeared. This didn’t trouble Jane much because it meant her path to wife-life would be at an accelerated amount of time. Any reader that has experienced a healthy relationship can see the flaws in their relationship. Jane and Eddie both have big secrets and ulterior motives to being together. Yet, despite how they came to find each other, it’s eventually clear that they genuinely care about each other.

Nothing, and no one, are what they seem to be.
I think the biggest surprises through out this story were the realization of people’s true natures. Some of the people in the story that seemed the most kind and caring were total leeches behind closed doors. One woman who seemed to be wronged by her friends was actually an evil doer herself. This really speaks to our perception of people around us.

Ultimately, what makes this story suspenseful is the ticking time bomb of truth. We know that eventually everyone’s truth will come out. It’s not knowing when/how that keeps you hooked. Very early in the series we learn Eddie’s biggest secret surrounding his wife’s death, but we don’t get the full story until the same moment that Jane does. By then, Jane’s not safe, and we’re in too deep with her.

I recommend this book as a read rather than listening to the audiobook. 
Book: 4
Narration: 3.5

I LOVED how all the characters in this book were extremely flawed and untrustworthy. The author did a fantastic job of keeping me on toes all the way until the very end and desperately trying to figure out what the truth was. Just when I thought I had it figured out there was another layer added to the story making the twists and turns even more wild. The reason I had to bump my star rating down was because the ending was extremely frustrating to me and kind of ruined the whole story I had spent so much time enjoying.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a short read but good. The characters were well developed. The story flowed well. There were a few turns that surprised me. Overall, I liked it.

3.5

At the time I listened to The Wife Upstairs, I did not know it was a retelling of Jane Eyre. Not that it would have made much of a difference, as I never read Jane Eyre. 

I had an interesting time with this twisty and diabolical tale. The deeper I went into the story, I thought I knew how it would all play out. It turned out I was way off mark. 

The story introduces Jane, (not her actual name) a broke dog walker, with an affinity for taking things which don’t belong to her. She recently moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where she walks dogs in the affluent Thornton Estates. One day while carrying out her job she met Eddie, a charming and of course rich widower. This made him the perfect candidate to aid in uplifting her social status. Eddie’s wife Bea along with her best friend died in a boating accident a year ago and their bodies have yet to be found. However, Eddie is ready to move on and Jane provided the perfect opportunity.

Jane proved to be a calculating and rather captivating character. I had an interesting time being in her head. Her actions and thoughts never ceased to amaze me. Personally, I had a hard time buying into the relationship between Eddie and Jane. First off, I didn’t trust him. He gave off some real negative vibes. 

As the story progressed, the events surrounding the fatal boat accident came to light. The revelations proved quite shocking. Even paced and compelling, the story made it difficult to set my listening device aside. I would definitely read more from this author.

I enjoyed the narration, which involved the use of three narrators. Namely Lauren Fortgang, Kirby Hayborne, and Emily Shaffer. This was my first time listening to all three, and I thought they did an excellent job in bringing the story to life. 

Overall, The Wife Upstairs was an engaging listen and one I would recommend readers/listeners looking for a twisty ride.

Jane is a survivor and I feel for her. She's smart and sneaky but in a way that's sorta cool because she scored the big prize. There's POV between Jane and the deceased wife, Bea. I enjoy reading different POV between characters. It's always good to have get inside their perspective and you definitely learn a lot. Jane seems to be capable to survive and know what to say and act. Bea makes herself out to be this fragile woman who is nice and delicate, that's what I perceived. I likes Jane more. She's more honest, well in her thoughts lol. But you can easily see that they both have some things in common. The beginning of the chapters are pretty boring in my opinions but it starts to get better and I started to get hooked on the storyline of Bea's POV is introduced. The story's plot increases by each chapter of Bea's POV. I was like, "I got to know!" But of course there was a plot twist.. I will not say much for the ending because it wasn't all that grand or anything. It more like a downer because I needed some questions to be answered. Did I like this book overall? yes I did. I give it a five star rating because the narration was great and it got me hooked! I would much prefer to recommend you all to listen to it. I like the voices and it's more satisfactory in my opinion.

This book was so FUN!! What a twisted ride. The audio book narrator was phenomenal. I couldn't stop listening to this one to the point where I annoyed my whole family for ignoring them in order to keep listening. Ha! I highly recommend this book.

This thriller is fantastic and intriguing. I have recommended it to many of my friends. The audio was so satisfyingly spooky.

At first I didn't think I would like this book but you get interested and have to see where it takes you. Overall this book was a good read especially if you like dogs and  I recommend it for romance lovers. I was shocked that she took stuff from the dog's owners, how in the world? I would be missing my stuff! Try it out and see what you think. I do think our patrons would enjoy it.  I think they lean towards more suspense but you never know.

Another audio book I couldn't get on with unfortunately, k would definitely enjoy this as a book thoigh

I’ve never been a big Jane Eyre fan so I wasn’t sure about a retelling but I heard good things and decided to give it a try. This was fully of unlikeable characters which won’t be for everyone but it was intriguing and the twists kept me interested til the end.

When it builds to this reveal that is really just a farce! I loved it! It was entertaining from beginning to end and I loved the twisty directions it went. This was a book I listened to but slowed down to speed to make sure I soaked up every word. It had so many possibilities and was building all these angles the story could have led us down so I wanted to make sure I was prepared for each and was trying to make that educated guess before the reveal that I ended up getting utterly wrong.

I received a free audio edition of this modern novel from Netgalley, Rachel Hawkins, and MacMillan Audio along with narrators Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, and Lauren Fortgang. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. This was an interesting look at Southern Charm, and redefines our concept of 'smart women'.

Set in the busy Alabama city of Birmingham and featuring men and women of the upper echelon of the social set, the book held my interest but I found the concept of someone living downstairs of an entrapped woman for many months while those living below have not a clue a bit too much to swallow. Still, an interesting look into Birmingham society. This was my first audiobook experience and I must say that frequent use of the f-word in a written text is much less jarring than that delivered orally.

This modern retelling of Jane Eyre was okay. I wasn't crazy about it and if I'm being honest I feel like it leaned pretty heavily on someone knowing the story of Jane Eyre already so that it didn't have to do as much background and character development. That being said I don't have a major complaint with it either. The writing was clear and concise and it had good pacing.

The Wife Upstairs was a quick suspenseful read. The book was mentioned to be a twist on the classic Jane Eyre, which I did see the similarities but didn't find it as good. The author left the ending at quite a cliffhanger which made me think back to my younger days or you choose the ending. I would definitely recommend.

My review will be broken into 2 pieces.  I received this book in audio form to review.
Story review:  This is a very interesting story that kept me guessing until the end.  It certainly didn't turn out the way I thought it would.  I was a little confused in a couple places but it was eventually explained and actually just added to the intrigue.  I would definitely recommend this book.

Audio review:  This was my first experience with an audio book and I find I do not like this medium.  I listened while using my exercycle and while sewing.  On the exercycle it did hold my attention but while sewing I found that my mind drifted off to other things.  The reader used different voices for the different characters but it was hard for me to follow them.  I also thought it took much longer to get through the book.  I can read myself much faster than listening to someone else read aloud.  And I prefer to assign my own voices in my head to the different characters.  I found the audio book so annoying that by chapter 14 I borrowed the e-book from the library and finished it in one day.