Great book. Highly recommend and will most defiantly read more by this author and suggest to others!

Eleanor Russell has come a long way since she was a 6-year-old named Ruby, abandoned by her father in a suffocatingly dark cave. Now a soap opera star launching a new phase in her career in sunny LA, Eleanor and her new husband—a whirlwind romance—are working to build a life together while growing to know each other along the way. Eleanor is starring in a remake of the gothic tale of Rebecca, and soon her real life starts to imitate the story.

As a huge fan of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, I undoubtably had high expectations for a modern inspired retelling of the classic tale. But overall, this book wasn't for me. The characters were underdeveloped, and the uncertainty/questions felt as a reader had less to do with the suspenseful writing and more to do with a poorly-connected plot.

The novel starts out strong. However, we soon find that Ruby is an unreliable narrator. Thus, I struggled with the novel. It became disturbing. The ending was very disappointing and silly. The only think I liked about this novel was The Rebecca homages.

A modern gothic thriller that keeps the reader questioning thought out. I was intrigued thought out this book form page one regarding the story of Ruby after her farther disappears. Deborah Goodrich Royce takes us though a journey of learning more about the disappearance that has the customer questioning up until the very end.
Ruby as a character was complex and compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The book title Ruby Falls caught my attention right away because I have visited Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, Tennessee twice. The first time I was a child so the thought of being left behind in the cave sounds terrifying to me! And that's exactly what happens to Ruby when she was 6, Now almost 20 years later Ruby, who is now known as Eleanor, is a successful actress who has just lost her job. She meets and marries Orlando very quickly. Does she really know who this man is? Why do thoughts of her past keep coming back to haunt her? What really happened to her father? A very intriguing read!

I loved the cover.
Evocative and draws you in.
Didn't quite live up to the hope. But enjoyable in its own way.

A brilliantly haunting tale of a woman's mission to uncover secrets. The prose is tight and beautifully evocative, and I felt immediately lost in her world. Eleanor's trauma was powerfully depicted, and I loved it. The suspense was maintained throughout, and there was definitely an element of the supernatural interwoven. Will be loved by anyone who adores a good thriller!

Thank you Netgalley for the e-book of Ruby Falls by Deborah Goodrich Royce.



Ruby Falls is a nail-biting psychological thriller of a story! Ruby was abandoned by her father when she was six-years old. She harbors secrets from that time that only she and her father know. Ruby becomes an actress under the name Eleanor. She get’s written off the soap opera she starred in and ends up in a whirlwin relationship with Orlando, getting married after just six weeks. But does she even really know her husband? What kinds of things is Orlando hiding from his new bride?

Ruby Falls definitely kept me guessing. It was full of twists and mystery with a gothic feel.

A modern gothic tale with an immersive atmosphere, this psychological thriller took me by surprise with its unreliable narrator, its tension and its twists. Disorienting at first, the story picked up in the second half of the book and became more suspenseful.

A twisty tale that is equal parts an homage to my favourite gothic tale of all time, Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca' and a glamorous, Hollywood thriller in its own right. I loved everything from the movie sets, to the ingenue protagonist and the subtle and decadent double entendres.

This book was really interesting in terms of pacing, where the first part felt a little slow at times, but then everything just *happens*. Usually, this would be off-putting, but I feel like it worked for this plot. The character of Eleanor was interesting, and Royce managed to capture the anxiety well. It was a really wonderful read.

I liked the premise of this one but ultimately it fell flat for me unfortunately. I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing, I found it a bit hard to follow and boring at times due to its slower pace.

Sadly, whilst intrigued by Ruby/Eleanor's background story, I just could not get on with this book and for me, it was a lot of stops and starts. Perhaps I was in the wrong frame of mind to read this.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC.

I was first drawn to his book by the mention of Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, Tennessee having been there twice, once as a young child and another time as a teen. It is a popular tourist attraction that is an exceedingly long trek in the cold darkness of an underground cave until you finally reach the conclusion, a massive waterfall.

The book itself is a modern-day gothic tale of a young New York actress, Eleanor, recently fired from a soap opera and ends up married to Orlando, someone she barely knows. When Eleanor was six years old her father took her to Ruby Falls and deserted her there in the dark and it has transformed her life. Eleanor and Orlando relocate to Los Angeles where she has a part in the remake of Rebecca. Once in LA, strange things begin to occur, and she begins to question herself and her husband.

I can’t divulge more without giving too much away, and although the ending took me by surprise, I was not wowed by the story. The plot was original but could have been better developed. Don’t let that scare you away, however, there is no doubt that this author has talent. The book was engrossing, and creepy and gothic fans will enjoy. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Post Hill Press, for the chance to read it for my honest opinion. I gave it three stars.

WOW! What a wild ride. Unreliable narrator finally becomes very clear to me in this one. Ruby as a child becomes Eleanor as an adult. Whirlwind marriage to Orlando and an acting career she's looking to revive, Ellie befriends a neighbor, Dottie who seems to fill in many missing pieces of her life.

I'm perplexed on how to review this book. During the first half of the book, I admit to being a bit exasperated with Ellie/Ruby and literally rolling my eyes and practically shouting at her not to be so stupid to believe Orlando! Joke was on me.

The second half of the book, the story sped up and what was real suddenly wasn't - and the true facts started coming out as the book drew to its conclusion. Quite a roller coaster ride!
That ending sold me!

Eleanor Russell was abandoned by her father when she was 6 years old. Now she’s a grown up who is massively vibing the Du Maurier novel: Rebecca. She quickly marries a man she recently met, they have a whirlwind romance but when they get back home and start to live their new married life, the cracks start to show. Sound familiar?

Set in California, this book has some excellent Hollywood nostalgia, drama and eccentric characters. We follow Eleanor as she tried to navigate this new life that she’s created for herself whilst all the time in the background thinking about her father, and the secrets that lie between them.

Throughout the whole book I was feeling Eleanor’s heart-racing paranoia, anxiety and frustration. She had so many unanswered questions and it was heart breaking but haunting and beautiful to read.

One of the things that I loved most about this book was that the final reveal had me fooled throughout the entire novel. I was not prepared for it at all.

This is a solid 4 stars for me. I had to re-read a few chapters at the end of the book to fully understand what had happened! Perhaps I was racing too fast to find out what happened and missed important information, I don’t know. I was a little confused. But regardless, a gorgeous story about love, mania and family.

I’d recommend giving this a read if you enjoyed Rebecca or Jane Eyre, or something more contemporary like Blood Orange or Kim Jiyoung Born 1982.

Thanks to Netgalley for the proof! Look out for this book once it’s released on June 24th.

2.5- This book had such promise and the cover art is excellently done, which is what initially drew me into the book. However, I was let down when the story became monotonous and confusing. It reveals itself at the end as to why it seemed so flighty but had I been a reader who DNF’s ! I wouldn’t have gotten that far. Interesting premise and questionable actions by the character but it needed to be formatted in a way that kept this reader’s interest instead of being all over the place.

Ruby Falls started out good with an intriguing story of a little girl, named Ruby, left in the cave at Ruby Falls by her father. Ruby then becomes Eleanor and is an actress fired from her current role on a soap opera. She continues to wonder what happened to her father that day. She marries Orlando, an Englishman she meets on a plane, and moves to Hollywood to find work. By the end it is a messy, chaotic story and does not finish well. I don't mind an unreliable narrator but I am tired of the "crazy" female character. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an arc for an honest review.

I found the first part about the cave to be quite interesting, however the grown up character was just completely neurotic and unfocused and not in a good way. I could tell that she had issues with reality as I started to see some of the crazy things she does. I guess for me this book came down to plausibility and just overall finesse. i think the tie in with Rebecca was completely not necessary, ill fitting, and actually seemed to detract from the book. This book just ended up being ok for me. I think the plot points were not as tight as they should have been and do not care for enablers like the ones in this book. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley,