This is the second Rachel Hawkins novel I’ve read and found that I can enjoy and appreciate 60% of it while absolutely hating the other 40% (the previous novel would be 2023’s The Villa). It’s the same story when it comes to the plot: While The Villa reminded me greatly of Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, Claire Clairmont, and Dr. John Polidori and their summer at Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva, The Heiress reminds me of a twist on the Lindbergh Kidnapping of 1936. In both instances I greatly enjoyed the idea of Hawkins looking at a culturally significant event and tilting it cattywampus as if to say, “Wouldn’t that make a fantastic story if we just framed it differently?”

Part of the reason I ended up rating The Villa 3.5 was some of what led me to rate The Heiress 3.0: Predictability. So much of this book was easy to guess. It made the reading so boring I wanted to skim. 

The other part I disliked so much, leading me to lower my rating: Jules. I disliked Jules so much I was on the verge of DNF-ing the book several times. 

The saving grace of this book was everything else, namely the MacTavishes, including Camden. I live for rich people with more money than humanity. Camden isn’t about that, but the way he’s caught up in the mouse trap that is Ashby House and the Rube Goldberg Machine that is the legacy of Ruby MacTavish makes me want to wrap him up in bubble wrap and keep his heart golden. 

So I stayed for the corruption and the nastiness, but I wanted to leave because Jules was annoying and the book was predictable. 

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.