I really enjoyed this book. The subplots were relevant and well integrated into the main story, the writing was smooth and natural, and the plot moved along at a pretty steady pace. While there are a few well-worn tropes, they were well executed, with plenty of twists to keep them feeling fresh and interesting. Ruby was such an intriguing character considering she spent the entire book dead, and the dynamics in her relationship with Cam are mind boggling. The masterful execution of her plans and manipulations made the final reveal so unbelievably good.

Important things you need to know about the book:

Pace: The pace of The Heiress is fast.

POV: The Heiress is told from two POVs. It is told from 1st person POV through Jules and Camden’s chapters and 2nd person POV through Ruby’s letters to an unknown person. There are also snippets told from newspaper/magazine articles.

Trigger/Content Warning: The Heiress has trigger and content warnings. If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading the book. They are:

Murder
Domestic Abuse
Death
Suicide
Kidnapping
Death of a parent
Classism
Alcoholism
Gun Violence
Physical Abuse
Toxic Relationship
Violence
Injury/Injury Detail
Bullying
Grief
Pregnancy
Child Abuse
Blood
Grief
Fire/Fire Injury
Gaslighting
Abandonment
Alcohol
Adoption
Anxiety & Anxiety Attacks
Boating Accident
Electrocution
Poisoning
Sexual Content: There is mild and implied sexual content in The Heiress.

Language: There is moderate swearing in The Heiress. There is also language that could be triggering to some people and considered offensive.

Setting: The Heiress is set in Tavistock, North Carolina. Some chapters are also in Denver, Colorado, Paris, and South Carolina.

Age Range: I recommend The Heiress to anyone over 21.

Plot Synopsis (as spoiler-free as I can get):

When his adoptive mother died, Camden McTavish became her sole heir, which angered his great-aunt, uncle, and cousins. But, to their surprise, he refused to do anything with the money, the house, or the town where he grew up. That all changes when he finds out that his uncle has died, and his cousin emails him and asks him to come home. With the support of his wife, Jules, Cam goes home. There, he is reminded of exactly why he left ten years earlier.

Jules, Cam’s wife, has her own mysterious and messy past that she must deal with. She is also determined for him to claim the inheritance he rejected. As she gets to know his cousins and great-aunt and uncovers secrets they would rather keep buried, Jules becomes even more determined for Cam to claim the inheritance. But Jules’s secrets and her past threaten her plan and her marriage.

On the other hand, Ruby remains the mysterious woman she was while alive. But her secrets threaten to be exposed by her nephew, great-nephew, and great-niece. What are these secrets, and how do they connect to Cam and Jules? Will Cam keep Ruby’s deepest secret? Will Jules’s past and secrets destroy her marriage? Will Ruby’s relatives get her inheritance?

Main Characters:

The main characters of The Heiress are Ruby, Cam, and Jules. These characters were either battling echoes of their pasts, were deeply flawed, or had secrets they could and would not let come out. They were each well-written and well-fleshed out.

My favorite character in the book was Ruby. The letters she wrote, explaining the situation around her kidnapping, the deaths of her four husbands, and her relationships with her family and Cam, were tabloid-worthy. She was smart, proved by how she made money and other things I can’t mention because of spoilers.

The secondary characters did flush out an already great storyline. I couldn’t stand them, but I could understand where they were coming from. Except for the hatred of Cam. That baffled me because he was the only true innocent (well, up until Ruby’s death) in this book.

My review:

I can’t even express how excited I was to read this book. Rachel Hawkins has been on my radar since I reviewed The Villa. So, when I saw The Heiress start showing up on blogs, I knew I wanted to read it. And when St. Martin’s Press sent me the widget, I was over the freaking moon. Now that I have read The Heiress, Rachel Hawkins has become one of my favorite authors.

There are two storylines in The Heiress. One takes place in the present day and features Cam, Jules, Cam’s family, and why Cam came back. The other storyline is letters Ruby wrote that explain everything from her kidnapping to events right before her death. Those two storylines were intertwined but kept separate (if that makes sense). They came together at the end of the book in a way that I didn’t see coming. It was a huge twist that surprised the heck out of me.

The mystery angle of the book was interesting. The author was upfront with everything that had happened (with Ruby) and what was going on (with Cam, Jules, and the family). It was unconventional, but I liked it. I saw everything with Ruby unfold as Cam dealt with the house and his treacherous relatives. A couple of twists in both storylines took me by surprise. One involved who the letters were to (and no, it is not who you think it is), and the other involved the events at the end of the book and what Cam and Jules did afterward.

I do want to mention Jules’s mystery. The author was sneaky about slipping Jules’s past and secrets into the storyline. I was surprised (but nothing like what I said in the above paragraph). But it did explain why Jules was so gung-ho about restoring the house and staying in North Carolina.

The end of The Heiress was jaw-dropping. The author revealed things that I did not see coming. Events also happened that I did not see coming. It was chaotic, and you know what, it suited the book perfectly. Of course, there was the colossal bombshell dropped about Ruby. I liked how the book ended when the dust settled from everything. The author wrapped everything up nicely.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Rachel Hawkins for allowing me to read and review this ARC of The Heiress. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Thank you NetGalley, Rachel Hawkins, and St. Martin's Press for this ARC of The Heiress for an honest review!!
Description:
Ruby McTavish is the Heiress of the McTavish fortune including the famous Ashby House, but her life hasn't always been easy. She was the victim of a kidnapping when she was a young child and her 4 husbands all died under mysterious circumstances. The Heiress follows Ruby's adopted son, Camden, and his wife, Jules, after Ruby's death. Cam doesn't want anything to do with the McTavish family or the Ashby house, but when his uncle dies, he is forced to reconnect with his family and revisit the Ashby house for the first time in 10 years. But when you reconnect with family and a lot of money is involved, a secret or two or ten end up coming to light.
Review:
I really loved this family drama thriller! The Heiress has 3 different POVs: Camden, Jules, and Ruby (letters). It also featured news articles that I really enjoyed! My favorite POV was definitely Ruby's letters that tell her story through her marriages and her life. I loved how they were written and how you got such a great sense of her personality. I also really loved that there were characters you loved and ones you hated! Overall, this book was really well written and captured my attention right from the start. I kept wanting to pick up this book to find out what new crazy family secret was going to be revealed next. I will say that I did predict all of the twists/secrets. I was hoping for a big one that would catch me off guard, but I didn't get that (I'm sure they will surprise a lot of people though). However, I really loved this book and highly recommend it!! 4.75 stars rounded up to 5.

I adore Rachel Hawkins, and "The Heiress" is another fantastic contribution to her catalogue. Told from 3 different perspectives, the pieces of this story begin a mystery and slowly put themselves together over the course of the book. With her trademark savvy storytelling and unpredictable surprises, Hawkins weaves yet another smart and exciting story.

When Ruby McTavish died she was the richest woman in North Carolina and her estate passed to her adopted son, Camden, but he wants little to do with Ashby House, the family home, or the money. Ten years later Cam and his wife Jules return to Ashby House in the wake of his uncle's death.

The story is told from the points of view of the main characters including letters written by Ruby to an unknown someone before her death. It flips back and forth between past and present and also includes some newspaper clippings from past events surrounding the family. The characters are well developed and there are some amazing twists and revelations in the story and I was totally engrossed in it. This is the third book by Rachel Hawkins that I've read and I think it's safe to say it's my favourite so far.

TW: The f-bomb is dropped quite a bit although not as often as in one of the author's previous books. Personally I didn't find it offensive and in some cases the use of it was quite amusing.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication: January 9, 2024

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC! After loving The Villa (also by Rachel Hawkins) in 2023, which was one of my top books of the year, I was so excited to jump into this. Many of the things I loved about the Villa also showed up in this book, so I would highly recommend this to people who enjoyed that. It bounces between past and present timelines and multiple POVs with short chapters. Rachel Hawkins work is perfect to get out of reading slumps. The only reason that did not reach 5 stars for me was not being able to connect to the characters. I think this may be due to how many characters and family relationships there are to keep track of early on in this book, but this was very strong. I'm excited to read any of Rachel Hawkins releases in the future.

THE HEIRESS
Rachel Hawkins, Author Mystery/Thriller

It has been 10 years since Camden has been home to see his family. Now it is only to settle his mother’s estate. With his wife, Cam makes the trip to his childhood home. Only to find out shocking things about the past.

Rachel Hawkins does not disappoint her fans with her newest book. With enough twist’s and turns to give you whiplash and a shocking ending, you will not be disappointed. I give this book a solid 5 out of 5 stars.

Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmor is a force to be reckoned with! At age 4, she goes missing and then is mysteriously found months later. She is raised in the lap of luxury and becomes one of the wealthiest women. Her story unfolds with letters written detailing shocking secrets about her 4 husbands and family life.

A twisty, crazy family drama that I thoroughly enjoyed. Storyline was fast paced to keep you informed. Some twists were hinted at, others hit you in the face. Characters that you love to hate and hate to love. You just got to love a book about the wealthy behaving worse than their backwood neighbors. I’ve read a few books by this author, and this is by far my favorite.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

This is the first book I have read by this author. It will definitely not be my last. This book - Wow! Wow! Wow!

The heiress is Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore. After the death of her father, she inherits the family wealth and home, Ashby House. The mansion is deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. After Ruby’s death, everything now belongs to her adopted son, Camden. Camden left North Carolina ten years ago after his mother died. He is living in Colorado with his wife, Jules.

Camden has been summoned back to Ashby House to oversee the upkeep of the family home. He returns reluctantly. Jules is eager to become immersed in the family wealth.

The McTavish family is a dysfunctional group of people. Everyone has secrets to hide.

Sprinkled throughout the book are newspaper clippings and letters Ruby wrote explaining the circumstances surrounding her four marriages and the untimely deaths of her four husbands.

The moral of this story - Don’t. Trust. Anyone!

“We’re family, right? We keep each other’s secrets. Until we don’t.”
1 like

I think this is my favorite Rachel Hawkins thriller so far! I swear she gets better with every book she writes, and this one had all the things I love in a thriller:
- questionable narrator
- spooky dilapidating mansion
- the WORST people
- twists and turns

Ruby McTavish is legendary. She was abducted as a child, was the sole heiress to the family fortune, and was married four times...all to men who died mysteriously. Now she's gone and her adopted son and heir is being forced to reckon with the property and money she left him, her horrible sister and grand-niece/nephew, and the whole truth about her past.

The Heiress is told partially in the present - alternating povs between Camden (Ruby's son) and his wife - and through Ruby's letters as well as newspaper clippings from throughout her life. The build to the reveals is perfect and I could not stop my pageturning. I loved that there were surprises and after surprises and am full team Ruby no matter her sins. If you're looking for an almost-Rebecca-esque thriller set in a beautiful mansion filled with the worst kind of people, you'll love the Heiress.

Book Review: The Heiress
by Rachel Hawkins


⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️💫

Last night, I dreamt I went to Ashby House again… Okay, maybe I didn’t dream of Ashby House or Manderly. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Rebecca when I read Rachel Hawkins newest release, The Heiress. A southern gothic starring the now dead but unforgettable Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodard Miller Kenmore. Notorious right from the start, she was renowned as the child who was kidnapped and heiress to a fortune. As the richest woman in North Carolina, Ruby McTavish not only ruled over her Blue Ridge Mountain Estate Ashby House but the entire town of McTavish. Ruby’s four dead husbands stand as proof that being rich was no guarantee of happiness. Not to mention that her son Camden, an adopted orphan, beats it out of town as soon as he is able.

When Ruby died, Camden swore he wanted nothing to do with the McTavish fortune. He was happy to leave Ashby House, and all its memories, to his Aunt Nelle and cousin Ben. Ten years later, when his cousin pleads with him to return stating that the estate is falling apart and only he can bring things back to order, he finally relents. Camden is newly married and his wife Jules has never understood why he would relinquish such lavish wealth and is the main reason he acquiesces. As you can imagine, things get very interesting the moment he steps foot on the grounds of Ashby House. Ruby may be gone, but her legacy remains intact.

The Heiress is everything you want in a southern gothic - long buried family secrets, atmosphere, mystery, a palpable sense of peril, and too many characters not to be trusted. The perfect read for a dark and gloomy winter’s night.

4.5 stars
What a great start for my 2024 reads! I really enjoyed this one.

It was a quick read. It was fast paced and full of suspense, twists, and lots of family drama.

The story follows the McTavish family. Ruby McTavish who was the richest woman in North Carolina and the victim of a famous kidnapping as a child. She adopted her son, Camden, who has now inherited all of the McTavish fortune, though Camden wants nothing to do with the family, money, or estate. Camden returns to Ashby House with his wife Jules who thinks it will be great idea to visit after his uncle passes.

The story is told through multiple POVs of Camden and Jules, and also including in letters written by Ruby herself. The multiple perspectives really added to the suspense of the book, as the secrets were slowly revealed throughout. I love rich family drama, so this was so fun to read.

Overall, I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as being a thriller, but it was definitely suspenseful! I would highly recommend this book if you’re looking for an entertaining and suspenseful read!

Thank you to St. Martins Press for my complimentary eARC and to MacMillan audio for my complimentary audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Heiress was a great listen! It is a very paced thriller with no time to be bored. That family was unbelievable. So entitled, so out of touch. But that’s what made it such a great story ! Rachel Hawkins is becoming one of my favorite thriller mystery writers.

So many twists and turns. I had an inkling about how it was all going to work out. But I was still surprised at the end. My favorite chapters were Ruby’s. Such a fascinating life she lived.

All the narrators did a fantastic job with their characters. So many POV’s but each character had their own narrator. It was easy to follow.

3.5 stars.

Like all of Rachel Hawkins’s thrillers, I enjoyed the story.

The gothic vibes of Ashby House were a great addition to the tense, what’s going to happen with this spoiled, insane family feeling.

The dual narration kept things interesting, too. We know Camden has secrets, we know Jules has secrets but we don’t know when those secrets are going to be shared and what’s going to happen because of that.

I do feel like the most story development is shared in Ruby’s letters and the press clippings. Because the letters were so good, the other POVs weren’t as engaging for me. I definitely wanted to find out what was going to happen, but Camden and Jules weren’t as engaging as Ruby’s character.

Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow Rachel Hawkins really hit it out of the park with this one! The story had great pace, and caught me off guard multiple times. Would not be surprised if this is my favorite book of the year.

Such an addictive read. Picked this up any spare moment I had. One of her best yet with twists and turns all the way up to the last page. I love Hawkins books as they usually start out intriguing and stay consistent through the end. Well paced plot and 100% binge worthy!!

▪️This book has a huge gothic vibe, which I love! A big house with a peculiar (and very rich) occupant who has a strange past? Yes, please!

▪️I was quickly drawn into this fast-paced story. I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on with Ruby McTavish, the current owner of Ashby House. She was a unique character and her POV in the story was told via letters only. Her story alone kept me reading late into the night.

▪️There are two other POVs in the story – Camden (Ruby’s adopted adult son) and Jules (Camden’s wife). Their stories weren’t quite as interesting to me until I got closer to the conclusion when everything came together.

▪️There were plenty of revelations at the end of the book that were wholly unexpected, but they made total sense to the story. There was just a tad bit of ambiguity at the end, too, but it reinforced some of the mystery that was created throughout the rest of the story, so I appreciated it.

▪️This is a fantastic thriller and a unique look at what the definition of family truly is. There are tons of secrets, twists and turns, and revelations that will keep you on your toes!

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for an ARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

A twisty family saga full of murder, lies, and rich people. If you’re looking for a super fast paced, entertaining, highly dramatic story about a wealthy elite family, this is the one for you!

Real Rating: 3.5* of five, rounded up because of the fun I had

This book should have a subtitle: "Schadenfreude Unbound" feels about right. Soapy, sudsy storytelling that plunges nasty, unkind, entitled rich idiots into a decades-long feud à la Succession, fighting over money, fighting dirty, being hateful to each other and everyone around them...the poor bastard who actually inherits the family estate and fortune had my complete sympathy for running away. I'd've done the same.

My introduction to Author Hawkins was her largely unloved-by-fans (most I know gave it about three stars to my four) novel THE VILLA (which review is on my blog). I liked it fine. Like this book, it was escapist suds with a mote of social commentary. This was handled in a way that it could be text or subtext, depending on the reader, and the mood.

The family-secrets trope is evergreen. I can always get behind a good story of how awful families are to each other! The more money is involved...and there is an ocean of money in this one...the more awful behavior there is. Cam, our heir-apparent, is the victim of bullying by his cousin-of-sorts Ben as they are growing up...and yet it is Ben who contacts Cam when the disrepair of Ashby House (modeled on Biltmore, the Vanderbilt mansion outside Asheville, North Carolina) becomes too much for the Southern-Gothic, heavily derivative "family" he's left in possession of it to handle on their own resources...they are far too Refined to earn their own money, do you not see? As he's the heir to all the money, and the property, but won't take them into his possession, no one can do anything without his say-so and he won't say so.

I got a frisson when I thought about how much that email must've hurt babbitty, bullying Ben.

Cam and his wife Jules, who tell the story in alternating chapters, are to all appearances a happy-enough suburban couple. They set out to assess the situation in person. The trip is from Colorado; not a minor jaunt. They arrive, and while Jules had until now had no real idea of the scope of Cam's background's wealth (a thing that set my BS filter into fine-mesh mode...no particles allowed through), she has a crash course now. Her impoverished childhood, and the sheer opulence of Cam's adoptive family's digs, sets off a major lust in Jules to stop being a hardscrabble never-was and settle in to being utterly secure.

Financially, anyway.

The adoption of a nobody by the heiress whose fortune is being fought over is unsurprisingly very unpopular with her family. The third PoV in the novel is letters sent by the dead Ruby to an unknown recipient that go a long way to explain her thinking...there are good reasons for it...and the book uses them effectively as spikes to hang the twists and turns of the plot onto. I do not particularly think that the ending was a natural outgrowth of the set-up. I was not convinced that Jules and Cam were happily married at the beginning, given the amount of uncommunicated stuff in their relationship. That this money exists and is legally her husband's money is bound to give her some Feelings. That his wife is seduced by the trappings of wealth that he saw through and rejected is bound to give Cam some Feelings. They were not ignored, these factors, but they got less oomph than I thought was their due.

I can only get up to three and a half stars because these factors kept me from getting to the ending with the author. A very entertaining book, a good commentary on the fragility of relationships, a brutal take-down of the superrich and their appalling sense of entitlement...all yes, and all positives. The ending being of a piece with the set-up...well, not for this reader.

Go into it with a heart full of malice for rich people, and enjoy the hell out of it on that level.

Camden wants nothing to do with his adopted family. Their wealth is tremendous but so are the secrets and the pure evilness. When he left, he never returned. Good riddance! That is until the death of his uncle. Now Camden and his wife, Jules are back. And it is just as he imagined it would be, except only worse.

This is a book I want to think about a minute before I post my review. But it is also a book I want to share with everyone so you can go BUY IT NOW and we can discuss it!

I was so engulfed in all the secrets, family drama and mystery surrounding this estate. I listened to this book in almost one day. Camden is someone who broke my heart and yet…then there is his wife Jules. GEEZ! I still don’t know what I think about her. As a reader, you pick up on quite a few things where she is concerned. And it all comes together as one big twist at the end! And no one can forget about Ruby! And that is all I am going to say about her!

Advertisement

This cast of narrators, Dan Bittner; Eliza Foss; John Pirhalla; Patti Murin, is amazing! Fabulous job with this crazy family! Greed is a powerful thing!

Need a wonderful family drama with massive secrets….THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.