This is my first book by author Rachel Hawkins, but it will not be my last. This mysterious, suspenseful story was a winner for me. I read it in a couple of days because I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. I liked the dual timeline and the use of newspaper clippings to tell the story. This was a very engrossing mystery with lots of twists and turns. Loved it!
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book.

The Heiress was a must request after reading Rachel Hawkin’s The Villa last year and I can easily say I was not disappointed. I’m talking back to back to back plot twist all the way to the very end of this one and my brain was still turning this story around long after I read the epilogue. The multi perspective chapters were beneficial in keeping this twisted tale plot on track. The tale of a rich family with dark secrets that seem to never end. Much of the storyline talks of Ruby and her upbringing in a rich family after a tragic accident. After recounting Ruby’s history, Camden, Ruby’s adopted son and his wife Jules return to Ruby’s family home, Ashby House. In the house lies more secrets that were unaccounted for. An overall great and quick read with lots of problem solving.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Infamous heiress Ruby McTavish was the owner of Ashby House in North Carolina. When she died, she left it all to Camden, her adopted son. Ruby had survived all of her four husbands, each dying mysteriously. Yet the most intriguing part of Ruby's life was that she survived a kidnapping as a child. Ten years after Ruby's death, Camden is happily married to Jules and has stayed away from Ashby House. He has not spent any of his inheritance on himself. But Ashby House, where his aunt and cousins live, is in need of repair and Cam is asked to come home to review Ruby's will and help address the house's condition. Jules, who is privately pretty excited that they are owners of a grand estate, encourages a visit to Ashby House. She is hopeful that they might end up living there. But she's in for a bit of an awakening. Between dealing with the deteriorating house and Cam's dreadful relatives, Ruby's true story starts to emerge.

In The Heiress, Rachel Hawkins has created the ideal gothic setting for her latest mystery thriller. The story is told from Cam and Jules' points of view and through a series of amusing letters written by Ruby, which provide details on her life, including her multiple marriages. It's a clever and twisty tale where the surprises keep coming. A fast-paced, satisfying read to kick off the new year.

I really enjoyed The Heiress. The characters were well developed, the story had a few twists, and the ending left the reader satisfied. I couldn't tell if I liked Ruby or felt sorry for her, but I did like her adopted son Camden and his wife Jules. It's hard to review this book without giving away any spoilers but buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for the ARC #TheHeiress by #RachelHawkins. This book is amazing from start to finish. I love all the drama and the amazing plot twist. So many things I didn’t see coming and the dofferent relationships. Highly recommend.

I support women's rights. But more importantly, I support women's wrongs. Like Rachel Hawkins' other books, there are plenty of those to choose from and a handful of trash men get their comeuppance.

The McTavishs have lorded over the small town of Tavistock for decades, haunting their ancestral home, Ashby House, from above the hamlet. Having made their money generations ago, they, like many old money families of literature, spend their time being petty and cruel to all of those around them, whether they be family or not.

Camden McTavish thinks he's escaped the swirling malaise of his family. The adopted son of Ruby McTavish, the potentially murderous heiress the book is named for, he fled to California and then Colorado. Along with his wife, Jules, he's carved out a quiet life without the McTavish fortune or misfortune.

But when a series of emails calls him back to Ashby House, he has to untangle what haunts his past while grappling with the remaining family.

While I've chosen to focus on Cam in my recap, the story is alternately told by Jules, Ruby, and newspaper/magazine clips that trace the sordid family history. The book very much borrows from characteristics of Southern Gothic literature. No one is good in this book, though there are varying levels of depravity on display. There's no one you can ultimately root for, though throughout the book you'll shift your allegiances. The setting and the house feel oppressive, and you wonder if it is truly supernatural or simply the darkness of excessive wealth matched with excessive time that leads the family to spiral.

Ultimately, I flew through this once I got started, though I think the plot spikes earlier in the third act than ideal, with the end of the book feeling rushed and slightly unsatisfying. Sometimes that's great, it creates a sort of frantic panic for the reader. In this case, however, it felt like those threads were being tied up too conveniently and too quickly.

I ultimately read an ARC, so it wasn't in its final format. However, I would have loved to have a family tree to look back at in the earlier parts of the book, because the deep web of the McTavish family isn't easy to grasp unless you are really paying attention.

* Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. *

If you have a taste for modern gothic horror and have ever fantasized about living at Biltmore, this is the book for you. It hits all the right beats for the genre, with secrets twisting upon secrets. I found myself asking in fascination - how terrible are these people going to get?

Wellllllllll shit! This was the perfect read to wrap up my 2023 list. After reading "The Villa" earlier this year, and becoming engrossed in the 1970s story of Mari and Lara, I mentally bookmarked Rachel Hawkins as an author to pay attention to. I love a gothic setting and this book was a perfect escape into my own little world. While I physically dodged zombie Christmas mall shoppers, mentally I was sitting beside Jules, sipping a cup of coffee from an Adirondack chair overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Things I Loved:

1. The pacing + the details. I love how the story unfolded as the chapters flipped between present day with Cam + Jules along with the rest of the horrific McTavish clan, the letters by Ruby, where she reveals her past and the newspaper articles about Ruby's kidnapping and life events. The story is unraveled in such a delicious way with enough foreshadowing (if one pays attentions to the smallest details) to clue you in to what's to come. And yet...those details! Heart eyes! You might think you can guess what's happening here. I know I did. And yes, some of my guesses came true. But I did not expect 75% of what occurred. And reading enough thrillers, finding one that surprises me is always a treat.

2. The exploration of meaning of family, heritage, and inheritance. The psychology of people is endlessly fascinating to me that, in another life, I'd have done quite well to be able to watch people react to any number of situations. (Lol, I do that now,) Families are particularly interesting to me because of the closeness, we often know our family members better than ourselves. Certainly well enough to know which buttons to press, causing both meltdowns + system malfunctions. For the McTavish clan of Tavistock, NC, the heritage of their name is everything. When an estate and a nine-figure fortune is in question, who is entitled to the legacy? What, exactly, makes a family? Is it blood alone or can it be found + built? Is nature more important than nurture or is it vice versa? Hawkins' manages to build layers upon layers with the McTavish family in a compact amount of time and soon enough, the years of regrets + frustrations, jealousies + competitions come to a hideous pustulating boil.

3. The ending. Much like The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi, this one left me positively gobsmacked and I had to rewind several times to make sure I heard it correctly.

Absolutely recommend! Many, many thanks to Net Galley for an ALC!

This is by far my favorite of this authors work so far. Filled with family drama, sinister twists and enough suspense to keep me engrossed until the last page.

This is now the fourth book that I have read by this author. I would say that it is probably my favorite. The story follows the life of a husband and wife who live out in Colorado. With the recent passing of a family member, the husband can no longer push off going home to deal with family matters that he would have liked to avoid forever. Now he must face the past and everything that has led to this moment.

This story is told through a few different viewpoints, and I felt like that really helped keep me engaged. Especially when it was the letters that we were reading. This book had some twists and turns that I hadn't expected, but found to really enjoy. If you have liked any of the author's other books, I think you would enjoy this one too. It was a very quick read.

Rachel has done it again. I wasn’t sure how I’d like this book given the premise of it but as the story continued and the plot got more sinister I wasn’t sure how there would be a “good ending” to it at all. The family drama, the drama that unfolded from Ruby stories. It was unreal how quickly I got engulfed in the book and I couldn’t wait to hear the next secret that Ruby decided to unearth.

The Heiress, by Rachel Hawkins, is my favorite of her novels, to date. Told from various perspectives, including letters and published articles, each a distinctive voice, the reader is drawn in from the first page and not released until the final paragraph.

Ruby McTavish, the daughter of a very rich family, disappeared from the family estate in the mountains of North Carolina, when she was three. Miraculously, she was returned eight months later and went on to lead quite a wild life. Eventually she adopts her son Camden, who leaves the McTavish mansion in his early 20’s, soon after marrying Jules.

I really enjoyed how the story unfolded through the different perspectives, each one moving this fast-paced novel forward and with a good twist.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

The Heiress is a bingeable popcorn thriller set in the glided world of dark family secrets and heavy burdens. When the notoriously rich heiress of the McTavish family dies, the remaining family members grumble when they realize the fortune is left only to her adoptive son, Camden, who wants nothing to do with the family or the money. A decade after her death, Cam is called back to the family estate following the death of his uncle only this time he’s not alone, he brings his wife Jules and together they take on the remaining family members. What ensues upon their arrival is hardly a welcoming committee but anger and a vindictive plan to see him removed from the family once and for all.

I had a feeling what was going to happen and what the twists were from the beginning but it didn’t stop me from being invested in the story and reading it. I got major Evelyn Hugo vibes from Ruby with the number of husbands she had and the air she carried herself with. Cam is just a regular guy trying to distance himself from his past and you totally get it when you met his estranged family. I liked Jules and I knew she was hiding something but honestly not that surprised when you realize the connection between her and Cam.

I really enjoyed this read so if you are looking for a quick reading thriller definitely pick up this book.


Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback

I haven’t been hooked on a book like this in a while! I kept finding myself wanting to pick it up again because the plot really intrigued me!

I enjoyed the way the story was told through two characters, plus letters and news stories. It made the reading interesting and fast-paced.

The secrets each character had is really what kept me going. I found myself second-guessing my initial suspicions throughout the story. I knew *something* was there, but like a dream, I couldn’t grasp it fully.

I thought this was a really fun read, though it had very dark points, it also had its share of witty banter and rich, high-profile drama. A great mix of all the things I love!

I didn’t love the ending… it wrapped up a little too neatly for me, but that’s only because I don’t typically like happy endings in books like this (I’m weird, I know). 😂

Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore (that’s a mouthful!) is North Carolina’s richest and most notorious woman. The famous victim of a kidnapping, “baby Ruby” goes on to marry not one, but four men - all of whom die under mysterious circumstances. When she dies, her inheritance (including her famous Asbury mansion) all goes to her adopted son Camden, who wants nothing to do with it. He renounces not only the inheritance but his remaining family and marries a woman named Jules. When his uncle passes away, he is drawn back to the McTavish house, but it only solidifies his feelings of wanting nothing to do with it. Jules, however, has other ideas. As Camden and Jules spend more time in Asbury House, they are drawn into the mystery of it all, including the complex McTavish secrets.

Simply put - this book was amazing! Told from multiple perspectives, this story is interspersed with letters from Ruby explaining her background, how she came to be and what happened with all of her husbands. It’s definitely more of a slow burn mystery, which I initially had some trouble getting into. But it is SO worth sticking with, because the mystery that unravels is brilliant. Deeply atmospheric, Asbury House is practically a character itself, filled with dark secrets and isolated in the woods. The twists in this story kept me on my toes, and I was fulled immersed in this story til the very end. Somehow, every book Rachel Hawkins writes is better than her last!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC! “The Inheritance” releases January

Thank you to St. Martin's press for an advanced copy of this book.

Ruby McTavish is heir to her family's fortune, but she has secrets. She passes away, leaving everything to her adopted son, Cam, and the rest of the family doesn't care for that.

Cam really wants nothing to do with the money or the family, but his uncle's death pulls him back home.

The book is told from Cam, Jules and Ruby's perspective. Jules has some secrets of her own. And Ruby's story is told through letters she left behind.

At first, I couldn't make sense of it. Ruby's letters detail her backstory. She was kidnapped as a child, but found and returned, leaving her name infamous aside from the family fortune. They go on to detail how she murdered each of her husbands. It felt like two separate stories, and I wasn't sure how it connected with everything happening in the present until it all came together.

The format reminded me a lot of Hawkins last book, The Villa, where there were two time periods and stories happening at once, but I enjoyed this book much more.

Overall, it is a clever and reliable popcorn thriller that I would recommend.

I look forward to Rachel Hawkins’ releases every year. I think she does so well at packing a fully formed thriller into the perfect sized package. There is no fluff or filler, every page is important to the story!!

For this particular story, we follow Jules and Cam as they travel back to Ashby house, Cam’s childhood home and now his property. We meet his family and learn about his adoptive mother through letters written by her to an unknown recipient. The letters may have been my favorite part, they added such a rich layer to the story.

Uncovering the web that is this family lineage and their lies and misdeeds was so much fun, I didn’t want to put this one down!

Another addictive read from Hawkins. This time it is centered around a wealthy, dysfunctional family in North Carolina who keep secrets from each other. There were no characters that I really liked or was rooting for but the storyline and setting were great.

I binged this author’s backlist earlier in 2023 and this author rocketed to the top of my auto-buy list. ​

I loved the setting of this story, the author really paints a vivid picture of the house and the town. ​

This book is filled with unreliable narrators from Ruby’s letters to Jules and Camden themselves. Usually when a book goes between timelines or has letters detailing the past I find myself invested in one timeline more than the other but I was equally engrossed in both which I think is a testament to this author’s writing. ​

I loved the twists this book took, even though one of them I was starting to suspect in the last few chapters but it was still a delicious twist! ​

Overall, I loved this book and look forward to reading more by this author!

I’ve caught up with Rachel Hawkin’s writing, and I have to say I love all of her books. I have finished them all in the span of 24 hours, and The Heiress is no exception. This one might be my favorite of all.
This story was intense and intertwined. I felt like it was a thriller version of Evelyn Hugo, and it made me so happy. Hawkins is so good at creating complicated relationships and deep complex characters.
Ruby was stolen as a toddler, and luckily brought back to her family. The twists and turns from there are page burning, and you will love how it all ends tied up in a dysfunctional bow.
I will be recommending this book to everyone.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.