A great retelling that made a familiar story feel fresh and original. Hawkins took a gothic romance and made it a twisty murder mystery that I couldn't put down.

The Wife Upstairs is a fun re-telling of the gothic classic, Jane Eyre. Although I was not aware of this and have not read Jane Eyre, this book did not disappoint (I will be definitely ordering and reading Jane Eyre next).

I listened this and thoroughly enjoyed the narration more than I thought I would, especially because I usually only listen to memoirs and nonfiction. The Wife Upstairs reassures my love of reading about upper-class neighbor drama, plus the addition of it being set in Alabama? Game changer (yes some narration was in a southern accent😌). There were a couple different story lines to keep up with but they are easy to follow and the twists & turns are unreal.

Highly recommend!

Interesting twist on the classic Jane Eyre. While it could be predictable to some it was an enjoyable and attention grabbing book. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to listen to the audiobook a Netgalley. The narrators were great. Perfect read for fans of Jane Eyre and for fans of domestic thrillers.

The Wife Upstairs was a delicious modern twist on the classic, Jane Eyre. The names are familiar, but the Southern charm and social rules are new. Jane the dogwalker is doing every in her power to rise up out of her meager circumstances. After a life straddling the poverty line she will do just about anything to be one of the stay at home dog-moms she works for. Even if that means looking past the red-flag of widower Eddie.
This audiobook is so well done. The accents are southern, but not a parody. Also, have 3 actors play the different POVs really made the story come alive.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Jane who was a dog walker admired the mansions in the area where she works. While standing in 5he street she was hit by a car. Eddie brought her into his house to make sure she was ok. She later developed feelings for Eddie and they got engaged. After that strange events started happening. This book kept me guessing from the start.

Holy mackerel!!! This book grabs you from the beginning...you know there're some secrets and things going on but you don't know what so just keep reading...and then BAM!!! Great ending. I will definitely recommend it to my thriller seeking friends.

The narrator did a great job. I could clearly picture the neighbors by the way they talk...and it was a nice surprise to 'hear' from Eddie as well.

Thanks NetGalley, Rachel Hawkins, and MacMillan Audio.

Excellent thriller with a very different and refreshing style and plot. Loved this and can’t wait to share it with readers!

I found The Wife Upstairs to be a highly-addictive read. Word is that this novel is based on Jane Eyre. However, as I read this intriguing story, I honestly did not think about Jane Eyre. I loved the twists and turns that kept me guessing in this fast-paced story. The Wife Upstairs was a fun and unputdownable mystery read for me.

This book is a twist on the Gothic classic, Jane Eyre.
In this book, Jane is a dog-walker in Thornfield Estates in Birmingham Alabama. She meets Eddie Rochester. Eddie is recently widowed. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, Blanche. Jane and Eddie fall for each other, but Bea haunts Jane. How can Jane measure up to Bea? Can she win Eddie’s heart? Why won't Bea just stay buried?
The story is full of suspense, wit and plot twists. It is a love triangle and everyone has secrets. Listening to the audio made the story more of an enjoyable experience. The ending was a complete surprise that I did not see coming. I loved Rachel's writing style and will seek out her next novel. I would recommend this novel for those who love domestic thrillers. Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian audio for a free copy for an honest review.

I have considered myself an avid reader since 7th grade. I always loved all the books assignments by my teachers growing up, until I read Jane Eyre. I was highly skeptical reading The Wife Upstairs knowing it was a modern version of the same tale, but I was highly surprised. I think an update was just what the book needed. I was enthralled with Jane, Eddie and Bea.

I seldom like a book filled with so many unlikeable characters, but Rachel Hawkins has used their unpleasant characteristics to good advantage in this modern retake on Jane Eyre. You need not have read that classic to be quickly enmeshed in the story of Jane who moves to Birmingham Alabama to restart her life. Taking a job as a dog walker in a wealthy community, she becomes romantically involved with one of her clients and moves in with him as she prepares for their marriage. Her fiancé’s wife and her best friend have been murdered although the body of Eddie’s wife has never been found. From the title, readers will guess correctly that Eddie has hidden Bea in a secure room upstairs. Lots of twists and turns and an unexpected ending make this one a stay up late to find out what happened. The audiobook adds to the suspense with great voice changes for the three narrators make it a very easy book for listening enjoyment.

SOOOOO good!! What a great domestic suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat! If youre a fan on suspense/thrillers this one is fantastic! The audio is also great. A very easy book to listen too, the southern accents are a great touch, listened to it at a 2 speed, 2.5 was a but to fast to keep up with, but im sure it would be enjoyable at a slower speed as well. I loved the back and forth between all the main characters! This ones going to be staying with me for a while & I might even buy a hard copy to own because its that good!

This is the story of Jane. She is a dog walker with a mysterious past. She meets Eddie, one of the rich people she works for. There are several (if not all) characters in this book I did not like. But that is the point I think. But that also made it a little difficult to find a character to root for. It remains to be seen exactly who did what until the very end. I listened to the audio version of this book and like all the narrators. Lots of rich people gossip and drama included.

Thanks to netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the arc

This was a fun, entertaining and fast-paced book that kept me engaged.
The story is about Jane, a young woman with a challenging background who begins dog-walking for an upscale neighborhood in Birmingham, Alabama. She is initially only considered the help to most of the wives and barely even registers on the husbands' radar. Then she meets Eddie Rochester, the handsome neighbor with the missing and presumed dead wife, who almost runs over Jane at their first meeting. They develop a friendship and she begins to work for him as well. The story develops from the first meeting and the mysterious disappearance and presumed death of his wife and her best friend.
This book has all the Southern Gothic vibes and leaves you laughing at the stereotypical wealthy couples described in these pages and also mulling over what happened to the missing women.
The narrators are Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne, and Lauren Fortgang. In researching the narrators, it seems likely that Emily did the Southern accents. I am guessing this because her bio states that she is originally from West Virginia. I liked all the narration for the most part but felt like most of the Southern accents were a bit too contrived and surprisingly did not feel authentic. I think that is the only thing about the narration that could have been more accurate for an authentic feel. This may have been a regional difference rather than a fake accent, I'm not familiar with these narrators enough to guess.
Overall, the book itself was worth the read. I did figure out a major plot twist at about 75% but this did not reduce the enjoyment of the book. There were multiple twists so that made up for it.
I would definitely recommend this to lovers of Southern Gothics and books that have a mixture of genres.
#TheWifeUpstairs #Netgalley #MacMillanAudio

I enjoyed this twisty mystery/thriller. Full of conniving characters and loads of twists, this was a fun read. Several narrators made the audiobook a great way to read this one.

Running from her past, Jane ends up renting a room in Alabama from one of her fellow previous foster children. With no prospects, she finds herself taking a job as a dog walker in the wealthy subdivision of Thornfield Estates. Jealous of her new employers, Jane begins to pilfer a bracelet here, a trinket there, it’s not as if these people are going to miss a single diamond earring when their jewelry boxes are ripe with more.

One rainy day, Jane has a near miss as Eddie Rochester nearly runs her overcomes close to running her over as he backs out of his driveway. To apologize for the near miss, he invites Jane in for coffee and Jane is immediately captivated by Eddie, his house, and the fact that he is a new widower.

Eddie’s Wife Bea and her best friend had a boating accident and in order to save and run his wife’s business empire, “Southern Manners”, Eddie had no choice but to have Bea declared dead.

After a whirlwind relationship, and to assuage her own insecurities, Jane convinces Eddie to propose. But Bea’s influence is everywhere, in the neighborhood groups, in every knickknack in people’s home and even in the home she shared with Eddie.

One unreliable after another lends their voice to this story but the truth turns out to be none of the tales the narrators have been telling us. When the body of Bea’s best friend, Blanche, is finally recovered, the finger points at someone else entirely.

Secrets and lies, greed and a twisted form of love contribute to the tendrils of this story as it grows, enveloping the house and the people inside of it. Secrets from the pasts and enough extra information to have the reader thinking down paths that end up in dead ends.

The ending wrapped up a little too quickly for me and I didn’t find it to be a satisfying resolution but overall a very good read.

The audiobook really highlighted Jane's internal monologue and motivations as well as her fears and insecurities. I would have appreciated less of the forced laughter sounds, there were just several dozen too many, but that is my only criticism with the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the Publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Hawkins has reimagined a modern retelling of Jane Eyre. This novel is a quick fun read that fans of the classic are sure to enjoy.
Recommended

I've not read anything else from this author, but now I feel a need to! I love a good psychological thriller, especially one that I don't figure out all the twists before they're revealed. Normally I want characters I like but in this case, it was completely fine that none are all that likable. They really do all deserve each other! One of the main characters is sarcastic and the narrator voicing Jane's part does a great job. Good narration can make or break an audiobook and Emily Shaffer, Kirby Heyborne and Lauren Fortgang all did a great job with this one! Apparently this was an update to Jane Eyre but I've honestly never read the original so I went in with no preconceived ideas. I was pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns in the story as the truth is slowly revealed. Well worth a read or a listen, whichever you prefer!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I requested both the ebook and audio versions of this so this review will be a combination of both!

The Wife Upstairs is a retelling of the classic, Jane Eyre and for the most part, I enjoyed it. Right from the start, I was invested in Jane and her mysterious background. I did find her to be a little frustrating at times but I did like her. But her relationship with Eddie was even more frustrating. Their relationship progressed so quickly that it didn't feel organic. They knew almost nothing about each other and they were engaged within two seconds. If their relationship was flushed out a bit more, I would have bought it.

But I was more interested in Jane and her background and the mysterious Bea, who is missing before the events of the book take place. The tale unfolding throughout the book had my jaw on the floor. This would have been a solid 4 star read if it was not for that ending. I was taken back when Jane's big secret wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. And on top of that, I would have liked more closure on the other events that took place. It left the ending too open and with too many secrets still on the table.

Still a great read and a really great thriller! I look forward to reading more from this author.

For the audiobook - I had to switch to the ebook version halfway because I could not take the robotic-sounding narrator. I do not blame the narrator, I think it is the audiobook player for Netgalley as it seems to be a common problem. So while I did not get the full audiobook experience, I think I would have liked it more if it was less glitchy.

I had not idea that this an update on Jane Eyre. But reading through, Rachel Hawkins uses almost every name from the original story in this retelling. Once I realized that, I was pretty sure where this was all going. It was just fun to watch it unravel after that. Where Jane Eyre covered Jane's life as she grew from child to adult, this story meets Jane (not her real name) as an adult. The reader flashbacks to the tough childhood she had in foster care and the past she was running from when she ended up in Alabama. She isn't terribly likable. Young and selfish and judgmental.

As soon as Jane gets a chance, she wants to suddenly belong to this group of southern rich women. The backstabbing southern charm is really my favorite part of this book. Have you been to Alabama or anywhere in the south? You will recognize some of these characters in at least some of the women you've met there if you have.

Eddie is written to be mistrusted and you don't get to see the story through his eyes until far in the end. You get Jane's side. You get Bea's side. Eddie is kept a mystery until the end. Jane doesn't know if she can trust him.

Once I noticed them, I loved looking for the connections to the original work. The dog names Adele. The exchange between Jane and Eddie about how he has never been good looking. It was like little Easter eggs for the reader. And the ending was just a bunch of craziness.

I really enjoyed the narrators on this one. There were three in this book. Jane's narrator had to grow on me, but I enjoyed her take on the character as well as her differentiation between Jane's outer and inner voices. Bea's voice was exactly as I heard it in my head when I was reading the digital version. Eddie's voice was a needed change from the two female narrators when it chimed in. Both the digital ARC and the audio version were enjoyable to read. I'd like to thank Rachel Hawkins, Netgalley, and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book. You can see this review as well as my others on my blog at: https://readeotw.wordpress.com