The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins | Blog Tour Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
Published by HarperCollins on January 5, 2021
ISBN: 9781250245519
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Women, Gothic
Pages: 304
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
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Goodreads

“Compulsively readable...a gothic thriller laced with arsenic.”––EWNamed an Indie Next Pick and #1 LibraryReads Pick for January 2021One of the "Most Anticipated Books of 2021"––NewsweekOne of the "Best New Books Coming Out in 2021" ––PopSugarOne of the "Most Anticipated Thrillers of 2021" ––She ReadsOne of the "Best and Most Anticipated Thrillers of the Year" ––Mystery and Suspense MagazineOne of the "Most Anticipated Books of 2021" ––CrimeReads
A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, Rachel Hawkins's The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.
Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.
But her luck changes when she meets Eddie Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie––not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.
Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past––or his––catches up to her?
With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, The Wife Upstairs flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried. In this vivid reimagining of one of literature’s most twisted love triangles, which Mrs. Rochester will get her happy ending?

The Wife Upstairs is an absolutely stonker of a Jane Eyre retelling.  Compulsive, enthralling but be prepared with that body armour because you are going to need it!

Tragic and astounding.  The story immediately calls for audience participation.  You want to jump into the book and knock some sense into a lot of people but that is what’s just brilliant about this story.  This story is an escape, it made realise just how boring and dull my everyday life is.  Dependable husband.  Three kids.  Nice house.  Quiet.  Something that the protagonist of the story has dreamed of her entire life. 

The Wife Upstairs had everything that I adore about mystery thrillers.  Every aspect, every component came together albeit at the end of a very twisty maze and delivered with impact and grace.  The read is a quick one and you will find yourself thinking about the tale during random tasks – hoovering, laundry until you can’t ignore its siren call any longer.  I fought with conflicting emotions and found myself more than a little glad that I didn’t need to compete with the shallow minded women of Thornfield Estate.  I’m not really a girly girl and having to keep up that level of pretence would make me miserable. 

Our pasts so often define us and set us upon a path one way or another.  Traumatic childhoods.  Mistakes.  We can all conjure up an idea of a rough childhood, what level of strength would you need to have to make to adulthood, relatively unscathed.  The protagonist, Jane has never wanted anything more than to fit in and have a best friend of her own.  To not struggle every damn day of her life.  If you thought that Jane had more issues than vogue, then you haven’t seen nothing yet.  The residents of Thornfield Estate have suitcases filled! 

To be honest, I didn’t know what I was expecting when I started reading The Wife Upstairs, but this wasn’t it!  It restarted a tired heart, its different moments I felt as though I had been washed out to sea, constantly trying, and failing to keep my head above water.  This was an enthralling read and sure this book is going to be on a lot of readers radars in the months to come.  It’s so exceedingly difficult to sum this book in a way that it deserves but evil genius springs to min.

The Wife Upstairs is about Jane, a girl down on her luck, running from something that happened in Phoenix.  She has managed to bag a dog walking job in the prestigious community of Thornfield Estate.  Her clients are high maintenance IT girls.  High end clothes, exquisite jewellery and they love nothing more than to gossip.  These women have completely underestimated Jane and her kleptomaniac ways.  She spots an opportunity and runs with it…what does she have to lose after all? 

Imagine her luck when she quite literally runs into Eddie…charming, attractive, and attentive widower.  His wife, Bea and her best friend, Blanche died in a boating accident.  They were never found.  Their relationship blooms and Jane hopes that this could be the answer to all her prayers.  There’s only one snag; she feels Bea’s presence everywhere in the house.  A ghost that will never leave and just why does Eddie act so strangely? 

The Wife Upstairs is a tremendous book with a heart and a hand grenade.  It is written with such a poetic beauty.      

ABOUT RACHEL HAWKINS

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2261547.Rachel_Hawkins