The Heiress
Ratings30
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings30
Average rating3.6
When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.
But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.
Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.
Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.
But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will—and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.
Reviews with the most likes.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an arc!
The Heiress is the story of The McTavishes, specifically Camden & Ruby McTavish. Ruby is the McTavish matriarch who is known in the area for having been kidnapped as a child and miraculously returning back home. That wasn't all though as all of her husbands passed away to various accidents and incidents. Camden has not been back to the estate in 10 years - and is called to come home. Camden has to unravel his own history with Ashby House as well as the motivations of her relatives who so desperately want every penny of of the McTavish estate.
We are able to learn about Ruby through letters and learn about Camden and Jules through their point of views. Hawkins did an excellent job of writing a book I didn't want to put down. It was such a good time trying to figure out what would happen next.
This was a hard one to rate. I absolutely LOVED Ruby's chapters following around “Mrs. Killmore” as she met and killed her previous husbands. It was all very fascinating and very Evelyn Hugo. The alternating chapters of Jules and Camden were not nearly as good and I kept waiting for the next Ruby chapter. I found the stolen baby/alternate family plot line confusing and by the end I had no idea what was happening. if the book was all Ruby, it would be a new all time fav, but it wasn't quite there.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
5 stars! Such a fun time! I loved reading it and devoured it in a day!
What happens when you throw character types that could have been taken from a Samantha Downing novel into a Kate Morton-esque story? This book! Subtle dark humour, in a slow and calm story all about dramatic family secrets and the good - or maybe bad - they leave in their wake!
This book is told through the two main POVs of Jules and Cam, in the present day. But the reader also gets to experience the events of the past through letters, with some emails and newspaper articles also sprinkled in.
I adored the writing style in all the different parts, but it stood out especially in the letters written by the book's titular heiress. Ruby McTavish might not be a “good” person, but she's an amazing and most definitely memorable character! I also immediately fell in love with Jules and Cam's relationship and was so intrigued (and worried!) to find out what secrets they might be keeping from each other. Shipping couples in thrillers is exhausting!
Overall, I had the absolute best time with this and was completely invested in the story from the first chapter! But, if you need your thrillers to be fast, full of action, with plenty of twists and turns throughout all of it and featuring protagonists that are actively searching for the truth, then this might not be the book for you! There are plenty of reveals, but this is a slower book, which is at times comparable to the type of dual timeline narrative often found in Historical Fiction.
This is a slow burn mystery more so than a thriller, but still just as enjoyable as her other books.
