The Heiress is a beautifully atmospheric Gothic thriller that weaves together mystery, family intrigue, and Southern charm with a deft hand. From the haunting grandeur of Ashby House in the Blue Ridge Mountains to the lingering secrets embedded within its walls, Rachel Hawkins crafts a multi-perspective story that pulls you in from the very first moment. The alternating viewpoints of Camden, Jules, and the enigmatic Ruby not only illuminate the tangled layers of their relationships but also lend a compelling intimacy to the narrative—as if each character were whispering their truths directly into your ear. The inclusion of letters, newspaper clippings, and multiple timelines adds richness to the storytelling, making the reading experience feel both immersive and cinematic. Twisting revelations come at just the right pace to maintain suspense, and Hawkins’s sharp prose and storytelling flair ensure you remain invested from start to finish. In short, The Heiress is a gorgeously rendered family drama drenched in secrets, betrayal, and Gothic allure—an enthralling read that will satisfy anyone craving suspense with a sophisticated, Southern Gothic flavor.

This book is wonderful ! The suspense and the secrets had me wanting to keep reading so that I could find out what really happened! I loved it! Rachel Hawkins does it again!

Having read The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins and enjoying it so much, I will read anything she writes. The Heiress was filled with so many twists and turns and had me hooked. Easily a 5 star read.

A quick twisting read. A mystery full of family drama. The Heiress will be a book you will not be able to put down.

I usually really love Rachel Hawkins books. But this one was just so so to me. It took me a while to get into it and I just did it feel like the plot was all that exciting. All in all it wasn’t that memorable and wouldn’t be something I would recommend. Thank you Netgalley for my free review copy.

Rachel Hawkins' *The Heiress* presents an intriguing mystery that skillfully intertwines narratives from both the past and present, creating a multi-layered story rich with family secrets and suspense. The novel follows Ruby McTavish, who passed away a decade ago, leaving her substantial estate to her adopted son, Cam. Rather than embracing this inheritance, Cam chooses to distance himself from his complex family history by retreating to California. However, circumstances draw him back to North Carolina, prompting him to confront long-buried family secrets.

Hawkins utilizes multiple perspectives to provide a thorough exploration of each character’s mindset, enhancing the narrative's depth and overall intrigue. This narrative approach effectively connects the past and the present, allowing readers to navigate the unfolding mystery alongside Cam. The use of alternating timelines lends a dynamic quality to the text, successfully maintaining suspense and engagement throughout.

What distinguishes *The Heiress* are its unexpected twists and turns. Just when readers believe they've unearthed the truth, Hawkins introduces further surprises, ensuring continued engagement. These elements strengthen the book within the mystery genre, making it an enjoyable experience from beginning to end.

In summary, *The Heiress* is a noteworthy mystery that is likely to appeal to fans of suspenseful family dramas. With its intricate plot, well-developed characters, and thoughtful narrative structure, it offers a rewarding read for those intrigued by the exploration of dark family secrets.

What a page turner. This book had so many twists & turns. Had me surprised right until the last chapters. What a fun book!

𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

𝙈𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨:

Oooh this was juicy. Rich people, old secrets, creepy estates in the mountains—yes please. Rachel Hawkins takes the classic Southern Gothic and gives it a slick, modern twist in The Heiress, and I was absolutely in for the ride.

Ruby McTavish was an infamous figure: adopted into wealth, kidnapped as a child, married four times (with some very dead husbands), and haunting her family even from the grave. When her adopted son Camden is forced back to the ancestral home after her death, he and his wife Jules start to unravel just how tangled Ruby’s legacy really is.

Told through alternating POVs and snippets of letters and articles, this was a fun structure that kept the pace up and the reveals coming. There’s a strong “old money rot” vibe throughout—the kind of story where the walls have secrets and the past is never really buried. A few moments leaned more melodramatic than I prefer, but honestly? I wasn’t mad about it. This is a book that knows exactly what it is: dark, fast, entertaining, and a little bit wicked.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Rachel Hawkins for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Heiress is available now.

Ok!! A lot of twists and turns in this one. Ruby gave me Evelyn Hugo vibes…just the excessive husband and la-dee-da personality. The ending threw me, never saw it coming. Now it really wasn’t anything that will keep you on the edge of your seat. However, definitely an oh geeze kind of book.

This book has me on the edge of my seat and was a fun ride. I love how fast paced Rachel Hawkins books are and this one hooked me!

Absolutely wonderful read! A multi-POV story told by a husband and wife as they discover things about themselves with wonderful flashbacks in the form of letters from the infamous Ruby. All three of their pasts bind them in ever-twisting ways as more secrets unfold.

I love the cast of McTavishes and learning about their privileged issues and how they impact Jules and Camden's present life. And who could forget The Heiress herself, Ruby McTavish, who has almost as many secrets as she had money. As we learn Ruby's secrets from her letters, and discover she was the smartest McTavish of them all, the reader can't help but be swept up in the "what next" vibe that makes you speed through this book.

The ending was so not what I expected, yet how could it turn out any other way, because Ruby always got her way even in death. This was a wonderful thriller, historical fiction romp into the contemporary world, that kept you in suspense the whole time, And what an ending!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

3.5 rounded up !

It really helped going into this knowing it isn't really a thriller, and more of a mystery/suspense/family drama. I think if I was looking for a thriller, I would have been a bit disappointed.

Hawkins books tend to be good, easy, bingeable books for me, but nothing to rave about. If you need a quick read, especially on audio, I would recommend

I love reading books about rich people and all the crazy shit they do and get away with. I really liked Ruby's pov being in the form of letters, and explaining everything from over the years. I was intrigued the entire way hearing everything she had done, and then watching present day to see how that affected everyone.

im stuck between a 3.5 and 4 on this. The audio was good, but a bit confusing at first not knowing the different letters and papers that were being read from.

4 stars! Not as captivating as other Rachel Hawkins thrillers, but I still really enjoyed it! I would categorize it as more of a domestic family drama with some suspense than a thriller. The ending was enjoyable with a few good twists.

No surprise to this reader - Hawkins has done it again! Man I love her books. Everyone seems better than the last. This time the reader is spirited away to the mountains of North Carolina and the creepy Ashby Manor. This book has it all: recent death of mysterious patriarch, adoptive son, jilted siblings, family secrets (of course) and so much more. If you love gothic mystery tales this one is so for you.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
This book was a twisty good time. The story of a mysterious lady who has outlived all of her husbands and the legacy of her well-known high society family.

If you loved “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” you will love this.

The addition of the multiple narrators in the audiobook definitely help to pull you into the story!

This book was disjointed, uninteresting, and chaotic. There were 3 separate good plot ideas and none of them worked together. I hated the main character so much and she lied to her husband from day 1. I felt it didn’t know how to explain any of its ideas.

I absolutely LOVED Reckless Girls. The Villa was great. The Wife Upstairs was okay, but not quite on par with the other two for me. The same goes for The Heiress; it is just not Hawkins' strongest book, to me. There were some interesting twists but I figured out who Jules was pretty quickly, having read Hawkins' other novels, and many in this genre in general.

To sum it up in one sentence: unlikeable rich people doing unlikeable rich people shit.

Meaning - lots of secrets and lies and backstabbing to get their hands on the family fortune.

Ruby McTavish Woodward Miller Kenmore was the richest woman in North Carolina when she died. Her life was practically out of a movie - kidnapped as a young girl, a widow many times over (to the point the townspeople started calling her Mrs. Killmore), a beautiful family estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and ruling over the tiny, nearby town of Tavistock. With her death, the property and fortune went to her adopted son, Camden, leaving the rest of the family with nothing except the agreement that they can live in the sprawling home.

Cam, however, wants nothing to do with the money or any of his remaining family and we quickly find out why. He's made a life for himself over halfway across the country in Colorado, is married to a woman named Jules, and spends his days as an English teacher.

Unfortunately for Cam, his uncle's death leads to him being summoned back home to Ashby House, the elegant, breathtaking home where he was raised. Jules is enthralled immediately and is determined to make sure Cam claims every last cent of his fortune.

The story is told in three perspectives: Cam, Jules, and Ruby (via letters she wrote before she passed). There is also some mixed media, which I am always on the fence about. Here the author chose to tell parts of the story through magazine and newspaper articles related to the family and I would say it worked for the most part.

Given the set-up, I was hoping for something at least a little gothic-y, only because the family home is so central to the story and Cam being called back to Ashby was the starting point of the story. I love when the atmosphere makes the house almost a character in itself, but that did not happen here. I also don't think it was the author's intention anyway, as it's not gothic-y at all. That's just my personal preference.

As the truth is slowly revealed through Ruby's letters, there seem to be more questions than answers. More questions arise about Ruby's childhood, and the kidnapping that made her so famous. Then, there are the ever-present four dead husbands - surely all four could not have ben accidents or natural causes? Then there is the question of Camden himself. Why did Ruby choose to adopt him, after all was said and done? Ruby's relatives certainly see him as an obstacle. They want that fortune and some would do anything to get it.

As far as this type of mystery/thriller goes, it's not bad. It's just the weakest of all Hawkins' work, I feel like. The story was suspenseful even when I had things sort of worked out, because it's always fun to see how wrong or right you are. I just did not feel nearly as wrapped up in this one as I did Reckless Girls or The Villa.

Even so, I read it in a few hours, because I do like this author's work and will continue to read future her books.

Recommended.

This was exactly what I was hoping for! ALL the drama and the secrets this family was messyyyy! The first half of the book had me hooked with the letters and the second half was even better! The twists kept coming and I truly loved it!

3.75 Stars! Nothing like the death of a rich family member to start unraveling family ties and connections.I enjoyed the twists and the story, but it took me a while to get into the storyline. It reads like a soap opera, but I liked that and it fit for the narrative. The past and present jumps can sometimes be a little much for me, but worked well in The Heiress. Everyone has something to hide, and as the story progresses, I was kept on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next!

This is by far my favorite Rachel Hawkins book I have read by far. Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the others, but The Heiress caught me from the first sentence.
In the Blue Ridge mountains sets a mansion, which holds many secrets. Included in these are a missing child, a found child and back stabbing relatives and murder.
Is she who she says she is, was it suicide or murder. As I used to say in my school book reports, you’ll have to read the book to find out!