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The Heiress
By: Rachel Hawkins
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub Date: 1/9/24
Ruby McTavish is a very wealthy woman who comes from a long line of very wealthy people who live in a small town Tavistock, North Carolina. Ruby has grown up with the whole world knowing she was kidnapped at just two years old. She disappeared from a picnic when the nanny thought her mother had her and her mother thought the nanny had her. That has left her with big life questions. Is she really the little girl who was kidnapped? Is she really a McTavish?
She married four times but all her husbands died under suspicious circumstances. Was she killing these men or was she just unlucky in love?
After her 4th and final husband died she knew that her family would end up inheriting her fortune if she didn’t have an heir. Camden was foster child she adopted. The rest of the family hated Camden from the start. They all understood he was going to inherit his mother’s fortune and they would get nothing. By the time he was 18 years old he couldn’t wait to escape. He wanted nothing to do with his inheritance or the mansion that comes with it. Ruby believed it was his duty to stay in North Carolina. When he announced he was going to college in California she cut him off, made sure he lost every job he had. His last visit home before leaving she tragically died in her sleep or did she?
Camden ended up in California where he met Jules, his now wife. Cam teaches at an all boys school. They live a normal life. But Jules wants more. She reaches out to Cam’s cousin to get him to reach out. This time he’s more receptive to his cousin's request and they pack up and head for Travistock. What Cam doesn’t know is Jules has her own agenda, she wants it all. The mansion and then inheritance that came with it. But she has her own secrets too. Will Camden ever know who she really is?

So many twists and turns that will keep you thinking about this one for a long time. 2024 is turning into the year for stellar thrillers!

This was a book full deception, greed and full of family drama. It had some great characters as well as great twists. I highly recommend it!

I really loved the back and forth timelines, the book was just a little too slow moving for me in the middle!

This book was an absolute page turner. Rachel Hawkins continues to be a must read author for me. The Heiress follows a young married couple as they make a trip back to Cam's family home after the passing of his adopted mother. What follows is a story of his adoptive mother's life and family dynamics. What uncovers in this story is a real nail biter and with risk of giving anything away I would suggest you just pick it up.

Ruby McTavish was kidnapped as a young child but was miraculously recovered and returned to her family. When her father died she became the sole heiress of a huge fortune, leaving the rest of the McTavish family out in the cold. Their resentment grew when Ruby decided to leave all of her wealth to her adopted son Camden. Camden decided that having to deal with his hostile family was too difficult, so he fled from his inheritance and eventually married Jules. Now Camden and Jules are forced to return to the McTavish estate to handle problems with the property.

The story is told from the points of view of Camden (a pretty boring man), Jules (who has her eyes on the prize), and Ruby (told in the form of letters). Ruby’s story was really delicious. The way she related the details of her four disastrous marriages was amusing. Each of her husbands came to a bad end, leaving Ruby with the taint of being a black widow. I didn’t like Jules at all. And Camden was so limp that I didn’t care what happened to him. The McTavish relatives were cartoon villains. There were some twists in the story that were entertaining but predictable. The Ruby story is what made the book for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

I always receive and read Rachel Hawkins books and they are usually a miss for me but not this one! I read this in one sitting and could not put it down! I hope she write more like this book specifically!

have been a fan of Hawkins since reading Reckless Girls a few years back. Incidently, I need to go back and read The Wife Upstairs that was one of my first BOTM purchases. The Heriess did not disappoint. Thiis book held plenty of secrets and surprises.

Synopsis:

Ruby McTavish died as North Carolina’s richest and most Notorious woman. She was the victim of a famous kidnapping and a four time widow. Ruby ruled the town of Tavistock in her family’s estate, the Ashby House that rested high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. After Ruby’s death the estate was left to her adoped son, Camden. Camden had want not part of the fortune and the complications of being a McTavish. He was living a simple life in Californai as a teacher and married to Jules. Beckoned by the remaining family to come home, Camden and Jules travel back to the Ashby house to claim what was rightfully Camden’s.

My thoughts:
I liked the way the story unflolded from multlilple POV; Camden, Jules and Ruby. We hear from Ruby from a series of letters she has left Camden. There were plenty of secrets from Ruby about the fate of her four dead husbands, and the shenanigans from the rest of the McTavish family to uncover. Everyone in the book is hiding something! I also really enjoyed the setting because I love that area of NC close to Asheville! I hgily recommend adding this one to your TBR!

I love this author and this book did not disappoint. It kept me interested and intrigued until the very last page. Such strong and descriptive writing from an amazing author. Thank you so very much for the opportunity to read this book early.!!!

This book was completely addicting. It was so twisty and suspenseful. Secrets everywhere. Kept me guessing right to the end. I also loved that the house was almost a character itself. The characters were all flawed, but not so much that I didn’t like them.

The book was so good that I could not put it down!

5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC of this book.

I was grateful to read Hawkin's latest book, though I did not enjoy this one. I felt it was slow and predictable

Kudos to Rachel Hawkins for another great read. With gothic flair, she has successfully given us a tale of mystery and drama that proved to be a page turner I didn't want to put down. I highly recommend.

When the wealthy heiress dies, leaving everything including her estate to her adopted son, Cameron, he is forced to come home and deal with the problematic family members. Although he doesn't want anything to do with the estate, his wife, Jules, pushes him to go home. Is there more to the situation? Why are bizarre things happening? Cam works so hard to get out of town, but not before he takes back control.

Whew! I LOVED this book! Well done Lady Hawkins!!

Wow this book was so good I took me no time to read it. I'm a huge fan of this author and I recommend going into this book knowing as little as possible. I can't wait to read what she comes with next.

This was a good and engaging read. I really enjoyed the story in Colorado and the blue ridge mountains of NC. Expect the unexpected as you dive in and It will keep you on your toes. There were some twists and turns along the way but a good read throughout.

When Camden and Jules arrive at Ashby House, the fun really begins! This was a very dysfunctional family. I loved getting the different POV’s from Camden, Jules, and Ruby.

I would like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital reviewer copy of this brilliant read in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Very fast paced and fun thriller! My favorite character was the titular Heiress; her POV chapters were my favorite (I kind of wish there were more). While she was morally grey, there was something very interesting about her character. Overall, I think this would be a fun beach read where you sit back, turn off your brain and enjoy. The book did contain multiple twists and frankly I was pleasantly surprised there weren't more, as I think most thrillers nowadays like to have at least 10.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book!

Ruby McTavish has always had a storied life. Kidnapped as a child and then returned to her wealthy family, she lived in the newspapers. Then she got married, four times. Along the way, she picked up a wicked nickname after all four husbands eventually met their early demise. Now Camden, her adopted son, is on his way back to her estate, Ashby House, with his wife in tow to settle affairs. But the family is greedy and have always been terrible.

This book was full of twists, just as the Rachel Hawkin's delightful books always are. I enjoyed the journey, and can't recommend this book enough!

'The Heiress' by Rachel Hawkins is everything you could want in a book about rich people behaving badly. It is fun and thrilling and completely engrossing. This is a one sitting read.

Suspense and thriller has become one of my favorite genres as of late! I love Rachel's writing style, and I wanted to give this a go! It was slow for me in the beginning, but once I got to a point were I thought it picked up I enjoyed it. Family wealth drama is something I've never read before, but I would recommend this to others!

Rachel Hawkins has done it again. I will read absolutely anything she writes, she was an auto buy for me after her first book and each book after that has solidified that more and more. If you haven't read anything else by her yet, please do yourself a favor and read them all.

When Ruby McTavish died, she leaves absolutely everything to her adopted son, Camden, including the mansion, the Ashby House, the rest of her family still lives in. However, Camden wants nothing to do with any of it and leaves, starting his life over in Colorado. Ten years later, he is summoned back to the house as his uncle has died. Camden reluctantly agrees to return after his wife, Jules, convinces him they have to go. As he quickly remembers why he left that life behind in the first place, Jules becomes more and more enamored by the lifestyle and starts to press Camden to claim what was left to him.

One of my favorite things about Rachel Hawkins is how she makes the setting of her books a character. It's elegant and creepy, massive and claustrophobic, it's a total juxtaposition and I loved it! The house truly feels like it's alive as it slowly starts to reveal everyone's secrets, specifically Ruby's.

The story is told in three POVs: Camden, Jules, and Ruby. Ruby's POV is told through letters she had written to an unknown recipient. I absolutely .loved the multiple POVs, I thought it added so much to the story, especially when unraveling secrets.

I cannot recommend this and everything else by Rachel Hawkins enough! Do yourself a favor and read this!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ruby McTavish is a socialite and heiress and considered one of the wealthiest woman in North Carolina. As a child Ruby became famous after she was kidnapped and found with another family!. As an adult she became even more famous after she marries several husbands in a row, and each of them die from mysterious circumstances.
After her death, in her will she writes that her fortune and the infamous estate The Ashby House, to her adoptive son Camden. Camden has chosen a different path than his adoptive mother and the others in her family. Camden lives quite modestly with his wife Jules. He has allowed the other family members which includes his aunt and cousins to live in The Ashby Estate and he wants to be left alone. When Camden is called and told he needs to return to Ashby House after his uncle's death to settle the affairs of the house and he’s hopes this will be it once and for all.
When Jules arrives she can’t believe the estate it’s massive and wonders why her husband wanted to leave. Soon the twisted secrets the house has hidden comes to light, what happened when Ruby was kidnapped, did she really have anything to do with the deaths of her husband, as we alternate between letters Ruby has left for Camden to read so he knows the truth, we begin to see the greed that the each family member has Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will.