Have you ever read a book and felt like you read it before? That's how I felt reading this. The best parts of the book were told in Ruby's pov, but those chapters are very reminiscent of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The rest of the book was very convoluted and slow.

"I had gotten away with murder, and I was glad for it."

Oh man this book 😮‍💨 I listened to the whole thing in one day while packing/cleaning my apartment and I was obsessed. It follows a man and his wife as he returns home after the death of his incredibly wealthy mother.

Read if you like:
👨‍👩‍👧‍👧family drama
💚THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO
💵wealthy family secrets
😇😈flawed main characters
📝past perspectives from letters
🌀twistsssss

⚠️ PSA: this book isn’t really a thriller in my mind. It’s more of a drama with elements of mystery and twists. I felt this way about Hawkin’s other book THE VILLA as well. Just go into it with this mindset and get ready to be immersed in Ruby McTavish’s world.

I devoured this book!!! The story grabbed me from the start: this rich child disappears while on a picnic, and is found months later in a family in Alabama. Her name is Ruby McTavish and she lives in the Ashby House in Tavistock, North Carolina. Ruby is a mysterious, notorious, and scandalous creature and this book will take for a fun ride full of twists and turns, getting to understand her and discover all her secrets, and witness the ugliness money can bring in a family. The McTavish family is ready to destroy one another in order to get the House.

The story is written in multiple POVs: Camden (Ruby's adopted son), Jules (Cam's wife), and Ruby herself in epistolary format. There is also a narrator here and there, news clippings,.. just overall very intriguing to alternate from one to the other.

The mysteries kept me on.my toes, I could not put this book down, it's insane! I enjoyed what Rachel Hawkins did with the colors red/ruby and green/emerald. At times it gave me The Only One Left vibes, which I read this past summer and also loved.

Great execution overall! This book is going to be a hit, no doubt!

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

3.5 stars
This was a twisty, rich people behaving badly story with some mysterious happenings thrown in too. I enjoy the accessibility of Rachel Hawkins’ writing- she always hooks me in quickly with her books! In “The Heiress”; everyone’s personalities come across clearly. I enjoyed how well orchestrated the plot/character developments were along the way. I don’t want to spoil anything as this is one to jump right into without reading too many advance details.
Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the advance review copy.

I found this book very interesting, but not quite up my alley. It ended up being more average for me at 3 stars .I still really enjoyed most parts of it and most of the twists got me! I’m always excited to see what else Rachel Hawkins comes up with.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Complicated murder mystery thriller set in the mountains of South Carolina. A young man who wants nothing to do with his inherited wealth and ancestral home returns to set things to rest. The adopted child of the four time widowed wealthiest woman of the state, Cam and his wife return to a deceitful and immoral family, but they both have their own deceits.

You won't want to put this book down! Great twists, a great mystery, and lots of secrets. The multiple perspectives helps keep the story plot moving. Expect the unexpected as you read this book.

Thank you so much NetGalley and St.Martin’s for allowing me to give my honest review.

This is the first book that I’ve read by Rachel Hawkins and it certainly did not disappoint! I could not put it down at all!! I loved how full of twists and secrets were involved within the plot, I felt like I was in the middle of a soap opera!!! I don’t know why but reading about wealthy dysfunctional families is such a guilty pleasure for me!! I personally wouldn’t describe this as a thriller but more as a suspense novel !!

I am always a sucker for a fiction novel that is set in opulence and wealth that leads to death and this author has mastered telling a really thrilling story and captivating her audience from beginning to end. Without giving too much away, I will say there are twists that are unexpected, lies that take you by surprise, and an ending I didn’t expect.

I love how this story is told too. I enjoyed the letter and the different timelines. It kept the flow of the story interesting because I didn’t know what was around the corner. This author for sure has another hit on her hands. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC

You might want to take notes on this one! In fact, I was flipping back to be sure I had the characters and connections straight at the end!

In the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina lives the very wealthy McTavish Family. Ruby McTavish is the matriarch with quite the past. She went missing as a small child and was found living with a nearby poor family and returned to her family at the McTavish mansion. She grew up being taunted by her sister Nelle and feeling isolated in her own family. So of course she married young..... four times! She had four husbands who all died. Throughout the book she writes letters to her only son she adopted telling him her true story she has never told to anyone. But her son Cam, happily married and living a simple life in Colorado wants nothing to do with the McTavishes in North Carolina. Until .... Cam and his wife Jules return to the family home.

A wonderful twist at the end of this book that was well-narrated and well-written that kept me pushing to figure out more of what was really going on. Great book to pick up and read, but you won't want to put it down!

My thanks to Net Galley, St. Martin's Press and Macmillian Audio for advanced copies of this e-book and audiobook.

I enjoyed this book! I love thrillers that have to do with rich people drama, plus all of the twists kept me interested the whole time. I did feel that the beginning was a bit slow, but once I got to the parts where Ruby was describing each husband's death, I was hooked. I also didn't see the ending coming with Jules. I originally thought that she was just in it for all of the money, and didn't love Cam. Also, the characters of Nelle, Ben, and Libby were written in a way that made me hate them so much! Overall, I would recommend this one to anyone who loves rich people drama and thrillers.

I was super excited to see a new book by Rachel Hawkins but this one was just ok for me. I was looking for a thriller but this is more of a family drama. There was a fair amount of mystery though with the letters, secrets and lies. The ending was unexpected and caught me off guard. Thanks to NetGalley for the privilege to read and review this book.

Rachel Hawkins is definitely becoming one of my favorite authors! The Heiress is about Ruby McTavish, who was infamous for many reasons - she was from a very wealthy family, she was kidnapped as a child but found soon after, and she had four husbands who all mysteriously died. Now in present day, her adopted son, Cam, and his wife, Jules, have returned back to North Carolina to settle family history.

I really enjoyed this one! It was less twisty and turny/less overall suspenseful than The Villa, but I didn’t mind! The letters from Ruby interspersed throughout gave me Taylor Jenkins Reid vibes in the best way. Hawkins also did a great job layering in clues so that the twists at the end make sense and work. I didn’t want to put it down!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins press for the ARC!

This book will be released in January 9th and in my opinion, a strong way to start 2024 with! I loved the darkness of the heiress. I enjoyed the point of views of the different characters and the letters of the infamous heiress giving Easter eggs to help you figure out the story. I’m a sucker for books about rich people that are so money and power hungry that they would kill for it. Or try to anyways!

This was my first Rachel Hawkins book, and certainly won’t be my last. I literally ate this book up in one sitting, didn’t want to put it down!

Fast paced and twisted… just the kind of book I like. Rachel Hawkins delivers a tale of a very wealthy, dysfunctional family to her readers. Very wealthy and very dysfunctional!
Ashby House has become a powerful symbol for the McTavish family and its inhabitants. There is also the matter of the Will of the notorious Ruby McTavish and who will inherit her millions and Ashby House.
Think you have heard the story before…well not quite. Animosity, hatred, cunning and secrecy are alive on the pages of this unrelenting, suspenseful saga. This one was an enjoyable surprise that I couldn’t stop reading.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an early copy of this thriller. The review and comments are my opinion. 4.5Stars

The Wife Upstairs is one of my all time favorite books! However I could;d not get into this one. It seemed super drug out and hard to get in to. I felt like I kept putting it down and getting distracted. It seemed very predictable as well. Wouldn't recommend this one unfortunately.

Thank you for St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to review an advance copy of this novel.

I enjoyed it. It was a very fast read that kept my interest throughout, and was pretty well written with clear plain language. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives through alternating narrators, combined with letters and news clippings.

I found the story to be much, much lighter than I wanted. I found the "twists" predictable and by the time they were revealed, unsurprising. As a thriller, there wasn't really anything that thrilled me here. No big suspenseful moments.

I liked the letters from Ruby and hearing about her past - I would like to read THAT book, I think, more than the one we got. Had the potential to be a real gothic dark novel but instead it was just kind of tame and boring. That being said, I read until the end and there was nothing bad or unenjoyable about it. Will suit most readers.

This was a whole lot of fun, but the constant twisting-in-knots of everyone's pasts and secrets got exhausting and touch too much by the end. Not everyone needs to have a secret identity; sometimes less is more, and one or two fewer twists/reveals would've made this stronger and less like the season finale of a soap opera.

I love how different, yet equally well written, Rachel Hawkins' books are. The Heiress is a story of family and the lies that can bind us or repel us. Interesting characters, some better developed than others; great setting (considering I'm from western NC) and ending twists that keep you going to the last page. I really enjoyed "The Heiress" and if you liked Rachel Hawkins other books you will definitely want to read this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in advance of publication.

This was a fun read! The story starts off with a little historical data which sets the scene for the book. I loved the multiple POV's and the letters mixed throughout. There was mystery and intrigue, a little suspense and lots of murder. I really enjoyed the whole book, and the ending tied everything together in a nice little package. Definitely recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Hawkins and St. Martin's Press for an ARC!