3.5/5 stars

The Heiress is a mystery thriller. It’s my third thriller by this author.

The book has 3 POVs. Camden and Jules (husband and wife) and letters from his adopted mom Ruby.

Camden’s adopted mom is the infamous heiress, Ruby McTavish. She was kidnapped as a child. And has four dead husbands.

The book is full of family drama, secrets and lies. This is a very quick read. And I was very curious about all of the secrets. The characters definitely all had major flaws. And some family members were quite cruel. But the relationships propelled this story.

Overall this was an enjoyable read. However it definitely got more interesting to me towards the end. I was invested in the story. And it did keep my attention. I am a person who loves lots of reveals. This book had a bunch that I did not see coming. But I did prefer the last third as it had more happening.

Is this a thriller? Partly, yes. Are there secret bad guys and gals? Most definitely, yes. Are there loads of family drama? Straight up crazy drama-car wreck, can't look away drama? The story is told from several POV's, including letters written by the matriarch (I guess that's what you'd call Ruby) and random articles from local publications to help drive certain parts home. Lots of twists and turns, some foreseeable, others surprising. This is my first read by this author, but she is definitely making her way to my must read list.

What an excellent thriller to kick off 2024! Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins was one of my favorite thrillers of 2022, so what a treat to get an advanced copy of her latest! I absolutely DEVOURED it, and it is out NOW!

Ruby McTavish was known for many things - but threeof them followed her in life and in death: 1) She was abducted as a child, but after a year was returned to her family 2) She was insanely wealthy and 3) She was married four times, and every husband wound up dead.

Ruby's adopted son Camden has distanced himself from all things McTavish. Even though he was her only heir, he lives across the country and has not accessed any of his inheritance. He is married to Jules, whom he met at a bar when they were both young lost souls trying to make a go of it in California.

Cam's uncle recently died, and while he has ignored all communications from his estranged family, an email from his cousin Ben finally pulls him back. So he and Jules make their way to the family's estate, Ashby House, and learn that everyone associated with the McTavish family has some truly twisted secrets.

The story is told through both Cam and Jules' perspectives, with letters from Ruby sprinkled in. This was very twisty, and while I thought I knew where it was going, there were plenty of surprises. I stayed up wayyyyy too late because I couldn't put it down, but zero regrets!! Highly recoommend it, especially for those of you thriller lovers.

Will post on goodreads, retail sites and my bookstagram @scottonreads

5 Stars!
I had this as an ARC and an audiobook and my intention was to go back and forth between the ebook and the audiobook but the audiobook was so wonderful and the story so enjoyable I never got around to reading the print version. Great story-very twisty and has you guessing up to the end. A mystery/thriller a step above many of the others I have read.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
Genre: suspense
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)
Format: ebook

When I received an eARC of this title, I was super stoked! I love Rachel Hawkins’s writing style and think she’s excellent at creating twisty and dark atmospheric books. The Heiress is no exception!!

Another reviewer said that this book gave Evelyn Hugo vibes, and I agree! I’d call it Evelyn Hugo but make it dark and twisty.

I flew through this book because I had to know what happened! Plus, I love reading about flawed rich people (is that a trope? 🤣). I enjoyed Ruby’s letters throughout the book and the dual POVs of Jules and Cam. However, I did have to flip back a page sometimes because I was in disbelief or didn’t quite understand haha! That’s what I get for reading too fast (but I couldn’t help it with this one, okay?!).

This book was really entertaining. My only critique is that I think one too many twists was thrown in towards the end. I understand that pacing in suspenseful books can get tricky since it tends to pick up in speed as the book goes on but sometimes too many twists are thrown in (especially at the end) of these type of books.

All that being said, I’m so happy I read this book - it may be my new favorite Rachel Hawkins book!

Read this if you like…
🖼️Dual POV suspense books
🖼️Revealing letters
🖼️Old money
🖼️Family secrets
🖼️Dark and twisty reads

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my eARC!

Ruby McTavish, the richest woman in North Carolina, had a very interesting past full of mystery. Ten years ago, she passed away, leaving everything to her adopted son, Cam. Cam rejects the fortune and Ashby House and moves to Colorado with his wife, Jules, forging his own path as an English teacher. The beginning of this book begins with the passing of his uncle…. And Cam is summoned back to Ashby House.

The plot is devious! There was absolutely no way I could tell the direction of this book, with all of the twists and turns. It was fast paced and i had trouble putting it down! Thank you so much to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

I recently read The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins. I've read and reviewed three other books by this author: Reckless Girls, The Villa, and The Wife Upstairs. I have enjoyed them all. Hawkins latest offering, The Heiress is by far my favorite. This time the story focuses on a prominent wealthy family and their lavish mansion (Ashby), in the hills of North Carolina. They have suffered many tragedies, the worst when toddler Ruby McTavish is lost in the woods and later found to be kidnapped. Although little Ruby is recovered, she is plagued by the doubts of others that she is the real missing McTavish. Now, decades later, following the death of his uncle, Ruby's estranged adopted son, Camden decides it is time to return. Having lost his mother and now his uncle, Camden and his wife travel cross country to what is left of his dysfunctional family. As the couple's experiences unfold, we learn about the life of the recently passed matriarch, The truth has been elusive for this family filled with secrets.

I loved the character development in this book. I was rooting for some members of the McTavish family and was disgusted by others, only to remember they all have secrets. The plot moves quickly with twists coming often making this a very addictive read. Absolutely mesmerizing, my new favorite. Cannot wait for the next!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy. I am very grateful.

4.5 stars

What away to start off the new year! I could not get enough of this book! Every free minute I had was spent reading this book. It started out very intriguing, but it just kept getting better the more I read. The plot turns, the characters, and the writing. Ms. Hawkins knows how to reel in a reader with her writing. I cannot say enough good things about The Heiress, I highly recommend it!

***Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC copy in return for an honest review***

What an absolute page turner!!!!! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this beautifully written book in exchange for my honest review.
Rachel Hawkins hit the ball way out of the park with this one! In the crowded genres of thrillers and mystery, sometimes it feels that a books theme is repetitive or that you simply have read the storyline before but under a different title and by a different author.
This gripping gothic thriller felt so original and fresh - it was a pleasure to read. It went by super quick and I surely did not want to stop. The pacing was wonderful with little sprinkles of tidbits along the way that make you say "oh boy, this is gonna get good." I would be shocked if this isn't on the top 10 list for its GoodReads Category at the end of the year.
Set in the mountains of North Carolina is the stately home of the infamous McTavish family. The estate is not the only thing in disrepair but so is the whole dysfunctional family. The story is told from three perspectives and they all intertwine seamlessly. You have Camden, the adopted son of the heiress, the heiress herself and Camden's wife Jules. This family is as twisted as the story lines - how far would you go for family and money?

Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for the ARC.

This was fine, I was never super into it but it kept me reading as it was an easy, fast read.

"Succession" in a small southern town. A haunted house story without the ghosts. Terrific characters, great twists, so much fun!

The Heiress was my last book of 2023 and it was a fun one to go out on. It was my fourth book by Rachel Hawkins and I have ended up giving each one 4 stars. Each one is so different from the others, but equally engaging and fun. I loved the sort-of gothic theme of this one, being set in a crumbling mansion in North Carolina. It was an unexpected setting for a gothic novel, but I loved it. The characters were a bit eccentric, but each one fit the narrative well-enough. The husband and wife leads were good protagonists that had me wondering when the shoe was going to drop and reveal something horrible. The aunt was too much, but the cousins were just enough. Of course, my favorite character was Ruby, the heiress, herself. What a colorful story that while maybe a stretch of belief was required, just made sense in the context of her story. So fun and I will continue to wait anxiously for Rachel Hawkins next book as I have every year since I read The Wife Upstairs!

I stayed up way too late to finish this book last night.
I loved the setting: a gothic estate in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. You know it’s gonna be toxic when money, a palatial estate, and bitter family members are involved, especially when the Heiress’s heir is adopted.
The story moves along really fast. It’s told through the POV of Jules and Camden with some mixed media thrown in of letters and newspaper articles; however, I did drop it down in stars because I thought there wasn’t a great separating in character voice.
It didn’t really feel like much of a mystery, it kind of tells you what’s going to happen along the way so you’re not really left to guess anything. There is a bit of a bigger reveal but I already kind of suspected something like that so I wasn’t really shocked when it was revealed.
Despite that, the book is still really entertaining and I love that it’s got a little teaser from The Villa in there too. If you loved Rachel Hawkins’ other books, you’re going to love this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the copy of this eARC.

One of my favorites of the year already! Rachel Hawkins, aka Erin Sterling, has done it again. This mystery deals with a lot of family drama (and I love some good gossip about wealthy, dysfunctional families), everyone has something to gain, and they all have something to lie about. There’s so many twists and this story is definitely a fun thriller.

The Heiress is a page-turner, and I found myself binge-reading to uncover the hidden truths and shocking revelations. I enjoyed Hawkins's writing style that incorporates a mix of past and present narratives, newspaper clippings, letters, and multiple points of view. This technique adds a layer of complexity to the storytelling, keeping me engaged and guessing at every turn. This was a great fast-paced mystery!

I haven't read a book by Rachel Hawkins that I haven't just absolutely loved. They have all been edge-of-my-seat thrillers that I have devoured. The Heiress is now up there as one of my favorite books by this author.

The Heiress is filled with secrets, deceit, backstabbing, and redemption for past behaviors. And then more secrets. Just when you think you know what's going on and who is doing what to whom, the story flips and things are not what and who they appeared to be.

Some of the things that some of these characters did were unbelievable. Not unbelievable like no one can do that but more like, how can someone be so twisted that they could do that, and think it's okay. Wow! But you know what, that is exactly what kept me so invested in this story. I couldn't wait to see how it, and they, all turned out.

Rachel Hawkins is already on my list of must-read authors. The Heiress makes me even more excited to see what she has planned next. I highly recommend it!

“𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭.”

The past three years, I have started my new year reading with Rachel Harkins’ latest book, and I continued the tradition again with, what I think, is her best book yet.

Dysfunctional family? Check. Gothic manor house? Check. Characters with shady pasts uncovering secrets? Check. Hawkins has crafted an addicting tale, filled with characters you love to hate (Ruby is both intriguing and unnerving, with each member of the McTavish family both abhorrent and charming) and Ashby House as a distinct crumbling mansion that reflects the generations of wealth in this family but also the problems that this can cause. I loved the narrative structure with both Jules' and Cam's confessional points of view, alongside articles and Ruby's letters. Not only was it a fun way to tell the story, but they really make Ashby House and its inhabitants come alive. I immediately liked Jules and Cam, both individually and as a couple and routed for them the whole way through. Hawkins' story reminded me a lot of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo with murder, and I loved how she, like Taylor Jenkins Reid, showed that this story takes place in the same world as at least one of her other books (Lara Larchmont's Aestas album from The Villa).

The Heiress is a story of power, revealing secrets, the complication of family, capability, and money. It is a fun atmospheric read that has me excited for Hawkins' 2025 release. Thank you to Minotaur Books for and NetGalley for the ARC!

This was my first by this author and it was a fun read. Is enjoyed the movement between past and present. I enjoyed getting to know the MC. But I really liked the perspective of the daughter in law most.

For fans of mystery, family drama and secrets. This book kept me intrigued from start to finish and overall I really enjoyed.

3.5 stars rounded to 4 on GR.

Thank you netgalley and St Martins for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book!

First off, the setting was fantastic, I love books set in the Blue Ridge Mountains and especially Asheville. I have family there and have been visiting there on a regular basis since childhood. It’s beautiful and I’ve read several great books set there in recent years.

This one had some twists and surprises and some awful characters and some murderous characters and it was just a fun ride. These types of books you just have to set aside your expectations of reality and just go with it. I love "rich people behaving badly" stories and this one had the crazy turned up for sure.

This book, although slow at first, turns out to be excellent, with a twist I never saw coming!

The McTavish’s, a wealthy family southern family, suffered an unspeakable tragedy when their young daughter went missing.
One year after, they found little Ruby again, kidnapped by a poor couple. Baby Ruby was home again!

Written as multiple letters from Ruby, we learn all the details of her life; her three marriages, her adopted son Cameron, and her ruthless family. Ruby is the sole heir to the entire estate.
Following Ruby’s death, her son Cameron, and his wife Jules are now the heirs.
Knowing that Cam was adopted, and not a true blood McTavish, the other family members are outraged,jealous and revengeful.
How far will they go to get hold of the inheritance?

From the halfway point of this book, I was hooked.
It was exciting , with a twist I never expected!!
Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC, in return for my honest review.
5 stars