Dark secrets are hidden in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

For several decades the family McTavish home has held onto some dark and devious secrets. Some are even deadly secrets. The story has many points of view, and I must say that I really loved Ruby McTavish story. This was truly a wonderful story that weaved many POVs just right as the story unfolded. Just when you think you figured someone out, plot twist! While I did figure out one twist, it didn't ruin or take away from the story. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The narrators, Dan Bittner, Eliza Foss, John Pirhalla, and Patti Murin did a wonderful job portraying their characters. Their voices were very engaging and kept me enthralled till the very end. They used a variety of tones and inflections that breathed life into the characters.

If you're looking for a domestic thriller, with a dysfunctional family with dark and deadly secrets this one is for you.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
So here's this Southern gothic tale about this North Carolina socialite, Ruby, who made a name for herself (not always in the best way) by getting kidnapped as a kid and later turning into a bit of an unfortunate widow with her four late husbands. She leaves her massive fortune and estate to her adoptive son, Camden. The story kicks off when Camden rolls back home with his wife, and then the crazy wealthy family drama and secrets start unfolding. It's not exactly a rollercoaster of a plot with crazy cliffhangers in every chapter, but it sure kept me going back to it. Def a more slow burn (but not too slow) Family drama thriller with a couple of twists and turns.

I love going in with as little plot details as possible. I love the way it switched multiple POVs and parts of the story were told through letters and newspaper articles. Being a Southerner myself, now living in California, I loved all those Southern vibes and quirky characters.

One of my favorite tropes is stories of rich folks and their not-so-honorable deeds and this was a good mix. I read the book and listened to the audio. The audio was a blast, with different voices for all the characters. Even the accents on the audiobooks were well done. And SHORT CHAPTERS! I can never say it enough how much I love short chapters.

This was my first dive into Rachel Hawkins’ world, and I'm definitely coming back for more.

Rachel Hawkins has always been a hit or a miss for me.. unfortunately this one fell under the miss category for me. It was just alright.

Despite how short this book was, it felt very long and like some things really drug out. The first half was very slow before the twists and turns started to come around 50% into the book. Some twists were good whereas others I thought were a little far fetched. I found most characters unlikeable.. and the characters that I liked at the beginning, I did not like at the end..

This is advertised as a thriller, but I felt like it was focused more on family drama than as a thriller.. Positives is that it was a very quick read!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press & Macmillan Audio for an ARC of this book / audiobook!

Man, I really loved this book! I listened to the audio book and got a little lost in the beginning (but that was probably because I got distracted and missed a few key pieces of information!), but once I was about 30% in I was completely hooked! My favorite Rachel Hawkins book to date. Thank you Net Galley for this advanced audio book that I got to read/listen to!

I loved this book. Ruby is one of my favorite characters I have read all year. Everyone should rush to get their hands on this book.

Rachel Hawkin's latest thriller, The Heiress, is less of a thriller and more of a slow burn unfolding of the truth behind the McTavish family. Jules is married to Camden McTavish and living a quiet, idyllic life in Colorado, when they must go back to North Carolina to deal with Cam's family's fortune. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Jules, Camden and Ruby- through a series of letters- along with some clippings from various magazine and newspaper articles over the years. Thankfully due to the format of the novel, it moved pretty quickly, even though I was not super interested in the story, especially Ruby recounting the details of her four husbands. Jules was the most interesting character, and I did enjoy finding out her motives as we went along. Though this was not my favorite of Hawkins' books, the ending was well done and made the story worth reading! 3.5 stars rounded to 4

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook. I thought this book was done so well. It’s hard to listen to book that are written in two parts the past and the current when it’s not don’t right and this was done really well. I enjoyed it. I was really entertained and thought the narrator was amazing. The story flowed really well and the twists and turns were great.

I always enjoy Rachel Hawkins and this one may actually be my new favorite. I listened to the audiobook for most of this one (until the end and I just couldn’t wait anymore) and I think it greatly added to my enjoyment and probably bumped this from a 4 to 5 star for me so highly recommend listening to the audiobook. The narrators did an amazing job bringing their characters to life and the story was so much more dynamic when they read it. The book really looks at the age old questions is money the root of all evil, and based on the characters we meet here the answer just may be yes. The story is told from the perspective of Camden, adopted son and unwilling heir to his entire adopted family’s fortune, Jules Camden’s wife with a great desire to help him regain his legacy, letters from Ruby Camden’s adopted mother, and newspaper articles. Camden hasn’t looked back since he left Ashby, but when he gets an email from his cousin reminding him of responsibilities he and Jules decide a visit couldn’t hurt. But there is lots of things that hurt hiding in the past. Will the secrets of Ashby house destroy them or set them free?

I usually enjoy books by Hawkins and once again she didn’t disappoint. I LOVED this one. The story is told from the POV of 3 main characters, Cam, Jules, and Ruby. It’s written in dual timeline and we get Ruby’s POV and true inner self through letters that she has written confessing her deepest darkest secrets. There are enough twists to keep you on your toes without being too over the top. The plot is absolutely brilliant and I loved how the characters were all tied together in the end

Rachel Hawkins' books are always a wild ride. I mean, did you read The Villa? She steps outside of the formulaic thriller to write different, cativating books. I don't always love them, but I am usually entertaining and will always continue to read her books. It is an odd story, but Rachel Hawkins makes it work and manages to add surprises at the end of the story. I would recomend it and gave it four Stars on Goodreads.


Spoilers below:

When the book first started, I expected it to be follow a common trope these days of going to a mysterious house, finding connections with estranged relatives, etc. Even just the way the book started with the classic story of a baby being kidnapped made me question what this book was going to be like. However instead, we are told the story of Ruby from her words in letter to what turns out to be her long lost neice who is married to her adopted son. Yes, it is odd. But Rachel Hawkins makes it work and manages to add surprises at the end of the story.

Ruby murdering multiple husbands was perhaps not the most unexpected twist and we learn that early enough on in the story. She also in her own words makes herself a sympathetic character who you like until you slow grow in horror as she continues to murder husbands.

I was not expecting Jules to be connected to Ruby. I also did not expect Camden to know that Jules was placed in his life by Ruby. I found the fact that he stayed with Jules intriguing and unusual. I think as with many genres, authors are trying to branch out and write different stories. It does not always work, but I think in this case it does.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacMillanAudio 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.

The moment I picked The Heiress up to read, I knew it was going to be a page-turner. With the multicast narration, each of the main characters' voices were depicted well and provided a vivid imagery of the storyline and events.

This was very fast paced and I loved how parts of the story was told through Ruby's POV through letters she had written before her death as it made the book more ominous.

I found Ruby, Camden, and Jules to all be unreliable narrators as all of them had secrets that they willingly wanted to keep hidden. I also really enjoyed the ending when all the secrets were revealed and how their lives all shaped out.

This is a book that explores how the rich and privileged can get away with almost anything, even when it's murder. With enough money, they not only can live a life of luxury but also alienate themselves from the outside world to believing they are better off than others. But also how dysfunctional families can be and what money can drive a person to do.

Thank you, MacMillan audio for the gifted audio copy for review.

So smart, so twisty, so addictive, so deadly.

With the death of Ruby McTavish, her son, Cam, is called back to the family home outside of Asheville, NC to face the extended family all bitter towards Cam and his wife Jules and willing to do anything to get ahold of and keep the family money.

This story is so well-layered, with backgrounds slowly developing around the characters. It’s a really great read.

Themes: 🪦💰🏡🔪

My thoughts: 🤫🤔🫡🥸🤓😄

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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.

The narrator did a great job and it was a very quick listen.

The narration of this audiobook and the production of it was unreal. 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.

A great thriller, full of twists and turns, The Heiress will keep you on your toes! I would think it was all wrapped up, and another twist would be thrown at me. I love how Rachel Hawkins tells the story through letters, articles, and various first person narrators. The audiobook narrators were the perfect fit for each part. Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to review this upcoming release.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy of this book.

I love, love, LOVE when books have multiple narrators for different characters! The production of this was absolutely fantastic, and I loved listening along as I read the book. Each of these narrators fit the characters perfectly, and really brought them to life.

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.

If there is one thing you can be sure of, a Rachel Hawkins book is a good time. There have been some I have loved and some that were just ok in terms of plot, but they were ALWAYS a great, exciting read. I LOVED The Heiress!! This book is a wild, twisty, turning romp through the crazy world of horrible rich people and I was THERE for it. I love the format of this book, which utilizes letters from the namesake heiress Ruby, along with multiple points of view. We follow a few generations of a family who owns the entire town they live in, along with the mansion on the hill. Running the range from loved and hated by the townsfolk, the family isn't a warm happy one. By revealing more and more details of their past, along with the not-so-mysterious deaths of the FOUR husbands of Ruby, we try to unravel who should end up with all the wealth, whether they want it or not. This book was fast-paced, really funny, had me laughing and sad, and twisted enough to keep me guessing a bit. I LOVED it!

The audiobook narration was amazing! The multiple voice actors, tones, and vocal emphasis, along with the way the voices changed as we learned more about the characters all added to my overall enjoyment of this book. With so many points of view showcased, I was never confused about who I was hearing from and was able to distinguish each voice the entire time. The voices felt real and owned by the actors. Amazing narration!

This was an ok read but not my favorite by Rachel Hawkins. There was a lot of back and forth and different characters that I had trouble keeping track of. I think this book is easier to follow in print versus the audio version, as there was a lot to keep track of. The plot was original, though, with an intriguing twist.