*I received a free copy of this book title in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and do not reflect those of the author or publisher.

The Wife Upstairs is a southern gothic twist on the classic Jane Eyre. It follows Jane who starts out the novel walking the dogs of the wealthy families who call Thornfield Estates home. It is on one of these walks that she meets the handsome, and recently widowed, Eddie Rochester. But everything is not as it seems as Jane and Eddie are swept up in a fast moving, passionate romance. While some of the twists and turns may be predictable, I was entertained until the very last page.

Now I have to show my hand and express my bias. As problematic as the source material is, I absolutely adored Jane Eyre when I was in high school. It remains one of my favorite classics. It should not surprised you then that I was utterly enthralled by this retelling. If you are familiar with the classic you will appreciate the many little easter eggs the author plants throughout the story.

The story of Jane Eyre lends itself well to a southern gothic novel with a flair of thriller page-turnability (yes I did just make up that word and you are welcome to steal it). The author does not pull any punches, I hated every single one of these characters at different points in the story for various reasons which were frequently petty. They are terrible and that was part of what made this story so completely addicting and quick to read.

I was given an advanced listening as well as a advanced reading copy thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan audio and I loved the narration of this book. The narrators suited the style and feel of the novel perfectly, were engaging, and really brought the story to life.

This is definitely a “rich people problems” book and the money thrown around so frivolously is arguably disgusting. But I think it created a nice, abnormally cut throat backdrop as the events of the story unfold. While I knew exactly how it would probably end that didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment.

Overall I give it: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I would recommend it to anyone who loves domestic thrillers like the works of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, Sarah Pinborough, or Lisa Jewell.

I really enjoyed listening to this audio book! This is a mystery/thriller set in Birmingham, Alabama. Jane has just moved to the area and has started working as a dog walker in an affluent neighborhood. She meets a man with a troubling past and they soon seemingly fall in love. Eddie, Jane's new love interest, has recently been embroiled in a scandal. His wife and her bestfriend (who also lived in the neighborhood) went missing a few months prior while they at a lake house. They have been presumed dead when the book begins. I don't want to say much more so as to not give anything else away. This book is filled with twists and turns set against a Southern High Society backdrop where nothing is as it seems. I would recommend this to a friend! Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian for this advanced audio!

ah, what a great story. So many psychopaths in one place !
i liked the narrators, and that each character had their own voice.
Jane was a bit annoying but an interesting character.
i had no idea that it would end the way it did. i love a story that leads you to think one thing, but is totally different in the end!

Twenty three year old, “plain” Jane, is working on reinventing herself. After years of living in foster homes, she is out on her own living with John who she met in a group home and had known for two months before rooming with him. She is now spending her days among mansions and women who lunch, as she walks the neighborhood dogs and pockets what she can from their homes. All of this changes one day when she stands in front of Eddie Rochester’s home and he wraps his expensive car around a pole in an effort to not hit her. This unusual beginning starts a whirlwind romance that leads to engagement and what looks to be a happily ever after... but is everything too good to be true? What about his wife, Bea and her best friend, who died at the lake and were never found? Is it too soon to be planning a wedding? How about the noises that Jane keeps hearing from upstairs? Is it just the house settling as Eddie suggests?

This audiobook was completed with narration that makes you hate the characters, even more than the words. From the sickly sweet way the women speak to the gruff and obnoxious voices of the alcoholic male characters, you will be carried away with this psychological thriller. Production was done well, which adds extra character to an already action packed novel.

If you like JP Delaney and Mary Kubica, you’ll love The Wife Upstairs.

Thank you to McMillian Audio, St. Martian’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this title in exchange for my honest review.

I have been anxiously waiting to get my paws on this book! I was so excited when I got it.
But to be honest it wasn't what I had hoped for. I had very high expectations for this LoL
This wasn't a terrible book I just wanted more I guess. I kept waiting for something bigger to happen. And it never did.
Jane she just wasn't a very likeable character to me at all. I did not care for her.
But the story was good it probably could have been better. IMO
I will say this I did listen to this on audio and the narration was amazing. I love audios with a good narrator.
☆☆☆☆/5

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Wife Upstairs was an okay book for me. Yeah, it had some mystery and twists/turns.. but it was somewhat predictable. Maybe it was the audiobook or the narrator for me.. but eh - they were just okay.

In this, you will meet Jane. I'm not going to lie.. I was starting to get 'Rebecca' vibes in the beginning and at some random parts throughout the book. It was pretty obvious that the man she fell in love with had secrets. Especially when they were in the house together. Things just weren't adding up and it was pretty easy to figure out that someone else was in the house. As for where, well.. the title kind of gives that away.

The characters were okay. At one point, I was wondering why people were just standing around or opening a bottle of wine to relax at the worst possible moment to relax.. but then things slide into place for my mind. Everyone was somewhat crazy and Jane ended up getting a great deal of hush money in the end.

Overall, it was a good book to keep my brain awake while working and was pretty easy to follow along.

I saw this reviewed somewhere else as a "country-fried retelling of Jane Eyre" and I CANNOT get over that description. I think it's perfect and it is exactly how I described it to myself and everyone else while I was listening to the audiobook. This was a lot of fun. Jane Eyre has a bit of a special place in my heart because it was the first classic I read all the way through and *really* enjoyed. And when I read it again in college, I enjoyed it just as much--maybe even more because of the conversations I got to have. I typically love retellings as long as they bring a fresh perspective and I think Rachel Hawkins did just that. The characterizations were enough to keep my guessing throughout and by the end, I was really rooting for Jane. This exceeded my expectations, and I think that was in large part to the wonderful cast of narrators: Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, and Lauren Fortgang. Really wonderfully done.

While I really enjoyed this storyline and it's nod to Jane Eyre, I have found that for myself I don't care for the trope of "I think your life is better than mine, so I'm gonna take what I want (steal) anyway because I *deserve* it since I had such a bad life."

Jane makes her moves to move from dog walker to the new Mrs. Rochester. I'm from the South and loved identifying with some of the mentions of some of the universities big into football as well as how some southern women act and what they say. Lots of twists and turns and you are guessing until the end. I had a feeling as to who did "the thing" (no spoilers) about 75% of the way in but I wasn't sure how it was going to pan out. A solid thriller with twists.

The audio was excellent!! I didn't care for the male narrator but highly enjoyed the female narrator conplete with the correct southern accents!

I recommend to any Gone Girl fans. This domestic thriller follows plain Jane who is trying to get away from her past and falls for a wealthy widow. Felt like a modern-day Rebecca.

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. This book is somewhat of a retelling of Jane Eyre and Rebecca and I loved it for its gothic tone. The job is done well. Great retelling, awesome twists, and a dark atmosphere of a gothic novel in the current days. Recommended!

This was the first mystery I have read in a while. The back stories of all the characters were interesting and added so much to the plot. I think the different but similar worlds the women came from make it a different read from most. I also loved how (mostly) all of the characters were likable and had just cause to their behavior. I think it ended at the perfect speed, not rushed and closed up too quickly. The narrators did a good job defining between characters and accents. Thanks Net Galley, for the advanced copy.

Jane, a dog walker, is struggling to make ends meet. She wants nothing more than to start a new life and fit in with the women in the rich neighborhood she works in. When she meets recently widowed Eddie, she sees a chance to put her past behind her.

This book is full of twists and fun to read. I don't feel like. There was one plot point about Jane's past that wasn't fully wrapped up but otherwise I really enjoyed this one. If you like domestic thrillers then this is a great book to pick up. This will be available January 5, 2021!

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press and McMillan Audio for the chance to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my review.

This was a fantastic Jane Eyre re-tell. This book truly twisted the framework of the original story and was able to stand on its own. This is not your timid Jane, she is feisty and shiesty. I actually think this novel gave a more believable Eddie. He seems way more shifty in this novel and totally believable to have a wife in his attic.

I truly enjoyed this slow burning psychological suspense. It was more of a slow burn mystery than a thriller, but that did not take away from the novel's allure and its ability to keep you turning pages. Hawkins was able to capture Southern elite culture at its finest - and nastiest. You will find characters that you love to hate in this elite Alabama town, and you will probably switch your allegiance back and forth between the two leading ladies.

The characters are well developed and I really enjoyed how the story unfolds from the multiple POVs and time lines. Like many psychological suspense novels, it will leave you wondering how well we can ever actually know someone. The "best" sociopaths are talented at deception . . . and you might not ever suspect them . . . at least unless you get in their way. Grab this one and you'll finish it in a weekend! This was a very entertaining read and one of my favorite suspense novels this year.

Creepy and super twisty!!! Both the wife and the eventual fiancé have creepy back stories... told from several points of view over months. Eddie gives hints that he’s not the perfect, handsome widower that we first thought, “Jane” is sneaky but a total underdog, and Bea was the perfect, but dead, wife. I really loved the supporting characters and the narration was wonderful.

3.5/5

The Wife Upstairs was a quick listen for me. There were no real slow spots for me in the plot, and I was curious how the book would play out which kept my attention. The characters were well developed, and there were great backstories to each one to give the characters depth. I have not read Jane Eyre, so I was essentially going into this book with no expectations or previous knowledge of the story.

I saw this book labeled as a thriller, and I wouldn't necessarily call it a thriller. I pretty much knew how it was going to play out from the beginning so it was not particularly suspenseful. While I wanted to hear how the story ended and I was invested in the characters, I wasn't on the edge of my seat trying to guess what would happen next. If the book had a different title some of the suspense wouldn't have been taken away from me right from the beginning, and the "twist" at the end wasn't really a twist in my opinion.

Rating the audiobook, I really enjoyed the two female voices. They were engaging and felt like you were really listening to the character's themselves. The voice of Eddie wasn't great for me. If he was the only voice, I probably wouldn't have continued the book as it felt he was reading the book in front of him instead of acting with emotion.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for granting me a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review!

This was a great read! It was quick too. Thank you Netgalley for a free audiobook.

This book was a Jane Eyre retelling but I have never read it, so I did not know anything about what was coming. The book has its twists and turns, some more obvious than others, all within a southern setting.

I enjoyed wondering what was really going on, and learning more and more about what the characters were really up to.

Thank you NetGalley for the wonderful opportunity to listen to an audiobook ARC of this glorious modern retelling of Jane Erye.

Twists. Turns. Secrets. Dark pasts. Romance. Friendship. Betrayal. Jealousy. This book has it all. To say I was enthralled is an understatement. I listened to this every spare moment I had and will be buying the hard copy to read as soon as it’s released!

The Wife Upstairs is Jane Eyre reimagined as a modern gothic thriller set in Alabama, where Jane meets recently widowed Eddie Rochester. Jane sets her sights on him, but she may be in for more than she'd realize as it becomes clear he's not just mysterious- he's hiding something.
I loved all the twists and how Hawkings pays homage to the Bronte classic throughout the novel while giving readers a new book. It's a suspenseful and twisted book full of surprises, and I think Jane Eyre fans will appreciate it and thriller and domestic suspense readers will love the book as well.
I liked that there were different narrators for the alternating points of view, but felt the choice for Jane didn't bring enough emotion to the role and Bea's narrator seemed a bit of a misfit as well, though I enjoyed her Alabama accent.
Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advance copy
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This was such a great read. Once I started listening, I felt I had to know more. I started listening around the house, in the shower and during naptime.