Rachel Hawkins

Camden is the adopted son of Ruby McTavish, one of the wealthiest women in North Carolina. She was also quite well known as the victim of a kidnapping when she was a child and as a widow 4 times over, with husbands dying under mysterious circumstances. Upon her death, Camden inherited the family home and fortune. For his own reasons, he estranged himself from Ruby years ago, as well as his inheritance and lives a modest existence as a teacher, married to Jules and living in Colorado.

When Camden receives a letter from a family member urging him to return to the family estate, Ashby House, which he owns and to put financial concerns in order, Jules encourages him to make the trip with her. She has researched the home and, unbeknownst to Camden, dreams of living there adjacent to the Blue Ridge mountains. Upon their reaching Ashby House, it is soon apparent why Camden wanted to sever ties with his toxic family.

The story unfolds via two POVs, Camden’s and Jules’, as well as news clippings and a series of letters from Ruby to an undisclosed recipient that recount her life story. Like every family and every good thriller, there are lots of secrets here. This Southern Gothic novel has it all…you name it, it is here. Fast paced, I read it in one sitting as I did not want to put it down.

Thanks to #netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC.… (more)

A fairly breezy read, with predictable plot points and "twists," the apparently-now-mandatory lesbian character, profanity (including the names of God and Christ misused), sexual references and a make-out scene, and - in the audiobook format - truly awful attempts at Southern accents.

There's also a disturbing origin story where God and Satan are presented as equals, more or less, and there's a group of angels that rise above their feud, "refusing to take sides," and they become supernatural creatures like fairies, witches, werewolves, etc. The idea that they know better than God is distinctly heretical.… (more)