A captivating page turner that had me reading late into the evening. Perfectly paced and suspenseful, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!.

*Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

What a page turner! I couldn’t put this down. A great plot that will keep
you interested until the very last.

This book was well paced and had interesting characters.
However I was a little underwhelmed by the storyline and at times I was bored.

This one was ok - it was easy enough to read with an engaging storyline, although I'm not sure the 'exclusive community murder' trope is all that original these days. I enjoyed the outcome at the end for Jane but I thought the events leading up to his it ended was quite frustrating and extremely unrealistic

This is the first time for me reading a retelling of a classic. The Wife Upstairs is a modern take on the classic Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I have to say I really enjoyed the book.

As this story is set in modern times it doesn't have the dark brooding gothic as the original. However if you know Jane Eyre there are a lot of references to original tale including the basis for this book.

This story follows Jane Bell who at a lose end becomes a dog walker for the residents of the Thornfield Estate. Walking a dog she has a run in with Eddie Rochester and the story goes on from there.

If you know Jane Eyre then reading this book there won't be any surprises as it does follow the plot. The story is a modern take so has got a thriller element to it. So if you don't know Jane Eyre you can read this book as a thriller with twists along the way.

That famous line in Jane Eyre " Reader I married him" has a very new take in this book and I did really make me smile. If you know, you know.

An excellent fun retelling of a very excellent classic. Just loved it.

Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the book.

My first book, that I have read by this author, absolutely brilliant! Highly recommended, and I will definitely read others written by this author!

I opted to listen to the audiobook version of this through Borrowbox.

Details
Read by: Lauren Fortgang, Emily Shaffer, Kerby Heyborne
Unabridged

The narrator
The voices of Bee and her friends were super grating.. But Jane and Eddie's were fine and got me more immersed in the story.

The story
What a strange coincidence that this is the third book in a row that our MC has been in the care system. It was interesting to read about people at different points in their lives and that have had this in common.

By chapter 8, I was at a feeling where I could just as easily dnf this as I could carry on. Don't get me wrong, I had an interest in the story and was curious as to what secrets woild be revealed, so I decided to continue on because I felt like it could become quite gripping, and by the time I knew it: I was done!

Our protagonist, Jane was super creepy... why did she feel the need to go about stealing stuff from her dog walking clients and being obsessive for? It was super crazy behavior, but I soon began to believe that she may just be the sanest character in the whole novel... Which was a frightening thought....

About half way through the story, I was definitely struck by how much The Wife Upstairs made me think of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, what with the protagonist comparing herself to the deceased wife, the mystery around her death, the increasingly more strange behaviour of Eddie. At this point I realised this must be intentional and then I had vague remembering of being drawn to it I'm the first place because it was inspired by a gothic classic.
However, it cure my curiosity I did a surface level of research (just to avoid spoilers) and discovered that Rachel Hawkins had written this to be inspired by the story of Jane Eyre... but I think Rebecca is also considered to be a modern version of Jane Eyre too. I also guess that the name Jane could be Jane Doe... Similar to being an unnamed protagonist..
Once I made this (probably very obvious) connection (but hey, I was still chuffed with myself), I felt even more invested in the story and was seeing if I could pull any parallels between the two, especially as I had only just read Rebecca last month. It definitely revealed suspicions a bit. It would be interesting to know if I'd have enjoyed this more or less if I hadn't read Rebecca beforehand, and so recently at that.

The last 20 minutes was so random! I was not happy with the ending because I didn't understand the point of it and seemed a little wild (the whole things is wild, yes, but this made no sense).

I loved all the twists and turns of this story, the gothic thriller inspiration and piecing together the plot, but I'm not sure if it's a story that will stick with me in the long run.

A gripping book that kept me guessing all the way through. I really enjoyed this retelling and would recommend it.

My head is still spinning from this book, months after I read it. I wasn’t expecting exactly that although the title says it all. Twisted, gripping and interesting story overall, a must read indeed

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy

This book started off a bit slow, however it was actually really good. Once it got started it has me hooked. So many twists and turns.
Great book and cannot wait for more from this author.

a cracking read. Couldn't put it down. Twists and turns to keep you guessing and an explosive ending. Can't wait to read more from the author.

This book was very gripping and kept me reading to the early hours of the morning. I read it all in 2 sittings as I was that hooked. It is a fast-paced thriller that would keep any reader on their toes, it is not boring in the slightest and the drama never lets down.

I had a inkling from quite near the beginning who done it however, I don't think it spoiled the story at all - I still enjoyed the thrill of it and watching the characters develop throughout.

Thank you to both Rachel Hawkins and Netgalley for allowing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jane Eyre is one of my most treasured books and so I usually try to avoid retellings. However, after reading another really good retelling of JE, I thought that I would give this book a go and it was not let down. A really fun, pacy story that is the perfect read on a blustery autumn day

Jane is poor and earns money by dog walking (amongst other things) in a rich neighbourhood and before long catches the eye of one of the residents, a recent widower…. Nobody needs to do a version of a classic story, after all it’s never going to be better than the original, so why even bother? Novels ought to stand or fall on their own merit, not “borrow” characters from classics or what happens in those stories but that’s just my take on it! The people in this book were all pretty gruesome. A useful book to read if you don’t want to concentrate too much, so good for a long journey.

I'd like to thank HarperCollins UK for providing this e-arc, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 ⭐ a quick read to get your heart rate going

“There's a trick to spinning lies. You have to embed the truth in there, just a glimmer of it. That's the part that will catch people, and it's what makes the rest of your lies sound like truth, too.”

Jane has left so many secrets behind, so many skeletons in the closet. She's determined to make a new life for herself, this new life starts as she walks the dogs in a rich neighborhood. A dog walker, with a tendency to misplace her employees' valuables.
All that changes when Jane meets Eddie. The rich widow living at the end of Thornfield Estates, his property always made Jane look twice, and his looks sure didn't disappoint.
Eddie's late wife had gone missing, along with her best friend Blanche, in mysterious circumstances near Eddie's lake house. No body, no evidence. Or so they thought.
One of the main reveals is spoiled in the book title so you kind of know it is coming. The who-dun-it keeps you on your toes. Was it Tripp, Blanche's husband, with the money and marriage problems, with the excessive drinking? Was it Eddie, growing suspicious of his wife's "authenticity", being stuck between two women's affection? Was it an accident, just one too many drinks in the boat and a dark night?
Jane thought she made it big, but she has no idea the dangers lurking in her own home.

This was a really quick read, most of the twists were expected and easy to guess, but that did not make it any less enjoyable.

THIS Jane is a dog walker for the wealthy of Birmingham Alabama’s Thornfield Estate as heaven forfend they should walk their own pooches. Eddie Rochester lives in the largest house in the area and it’s an endless source of fascination to Jane as she enviously gawps at it. She gets to meet Eddie by accident or design ... and Eddie buys himself a dog! In Jane happily steps (holding the dog lead) to a mystery as neither Bea Rochester, Eddie’s wife or Blanche Ingraham, her friend and wife of Tripp, have been seen for the last six months. Has Jane played a blinder, timed her entrance to Eddie’s world to perfection as she happily crosses the threshold or stepped into an unknown void?

This is such a clever modern take on Jane Eyre, a different country, a different time and with a good spin on the original which proves highly entertaining. It’s dark, a wild ride, it’s snarkily funny in places and one sentence literally made me burst of laughing as it cleverly parodies and updates an original line! I love the way it’s written with the author seemingly effortlessly drawing you into the storytelling and keeping your attention on the unfolding shenanigans throughout and trust me, there are plenty of shenanigans. The pacing is spot on, I like that it’s principally two points of view, one of which is non linear in format which works extremely well. The major characters are all deliciously flawed, they’re opportunists with depths of immorality, all have pasts and secrets they wish to keep well and truly buried, preferably under several layers of concrete. Jane as one of the narrators is clearly unreliable but she does give excellent insight into Eddie and you sense that still waters run chillingly deep with him which almost certainly means they’re a match made in heaven! As more awareness is gained of the events of the past year, to describe some of the relationships as a toxic, volatile mix is an understatement.

Overall, grab yourself the comfiest seat in your house, put on your slob out clobber, select drinks and snacks of choice and snuggle down because it’s highly unlikely you’ll want to put this down once started.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins, Harper Fiction for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Nothing is as it seems in this book. The handsome and silent widower hides a secret that is only discovered when its too late. The book was well written and I enjoyed it until the end. Recommended for anyone who loves a great entertaining mystery read.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins was a great, easy to read book. I read it in a day, I loved it. The story starts off with Jane, a dog Walker in a rich neighbourhood who meets Eddie and she thinks her luck has changed at last. However, things are not as they seem.....

The Wife Upstairs is a smart, twisty and addictive thriller which I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s going to be a difficult book to review as I don’t want to give anything away.

I love books that are based on Jane Austen’s classics so I was very excited to start this one. I loved that the author manages to keep similarities to Jane Eyre in the story but also keeps it slightly different by adding a modern twist to it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for a copy of “ The Wife Upstairs” for an honest review.

As Jane Eyre is one of my favourite books I was intrigued to read this “ modern retelling” by Rachel Hawkins.
Unfortunately , for me, this didn’t work.
It began well with all the familiar names put into the mix , but from then on I quickly lost interest and it became a normal , run of the mill suspense book , with very unpleasant characters.
Sorry I won’t be recommending this .