happy book birthday

The Wife Upstairs-Rachel Hawkins 

Welcome Book Lovers

Thanks for stopping by. Today I'm saying Happy Book Birthday to the book below. I've also included my short spoiler free musings. 

As always drop me a note I'd love to hear from you. 

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?

An e-ARC was provided to me from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. 

Billed as a retelling/reimagining of either Rebecca or Jane Eyre (depending on where you read/look) I admit that I can't compare because I've never read either of those two books. I do have a very basic knowledge of them but not enough to draw and comparisons. 

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. It was fast paced and very well written but for me it was not only a bit BLAH, it was also too kitchen sink.  The lukewarm characters and ending (which wasn't a twist at all, at least for me) didn't help. 

While there wasn't anything wrong with the book per se, I didn't think there was anything extraordinary(other than being well written).