Inheritance by Nora Roberts Series: The Lost Bride Trilogy Book 1
Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on November 21, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Suspense, Fiction / Thrillers / Supernatural, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, Fiction / Women
Pages: 432
Format: Hardcover
Source: Bookstore
Inheritance is the first in The Lost Bride Trilogy by #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts—a tale of tragedies, loves found and lost, and a family haunted for generations.
1806: Astrid Poole sits in her bridal clothes, overwhelmed with happiness. But before her marriage can be consummated, she is murdered, and the circle of gold torn from her finger. Her last words are a promise to Collin never to leave him...
Graphic designer Sonya MacTavish is stunned to learn that her late father had a twin he never knew about—and that her newly discovered uncle, Collin Poole, has left her almost everything he owned, including a majestic Victorian house on the Maine coast, which the will stipulates she must live in it for at least three years. Her engagement recently broken, she sets off to find out why the boys were separated at birth—and why it was all kept secret until a genealogy website brought it to light.Trey, the young lawyer who greets her at the sprawling clifftop manor, notes Sonya’s unease—and acknowledges that yes, the place is haunted...but just a little. Sure enough, Sonya finds objects moved and music playing out of nowhere. She sees a painting by her father inexplicably hanging in her deceased uncle’s office, and a portrait of a woman named Astrid, whom the lawyer refers to as “the first lost bride.” It’s becoming clear that Sonya has inherited far more than a house. She has inherited a centuries-old curse, and a puzzle to be solved if there is any hope of breaking it...
My Review
I must confess before I even get started on this book review I need to let it be known that Nora Roberts is an auto buy author for me. I seem to love everything that she writes and well this book was no different. Now that I have gotten that out of the way I received Nora Roberts newest book Inheritance for Christmas this year from my husband and I was beyond excited to dive into a new series by this author. Also can we just talk about how beautiful this cover is and the colors are so my colors. Seriously though what is better than starting a new series by an author that you love?
Enough of the gushing and let me get down to business Reader. I am hopefully going to tell you what this book is about and maybe even see if I can hook you into wanting to read the book as well. Inheritance is book 1 in The Lost Bride Trilogy and it takes place both in present day as well as days gone by. We are first introduced to Astrid Grandville in 1806 on her wedding day to Collin Poole. As the blurb on the inside flap of the book states she is murdered before her wedding night and her wedding ring is stolen. She tells Collin she will never leave him and well she is true to her word. Unfortunately Astrid will not be the only Poole woman to die on their wedding day.
Present day we meet Sonya MacTavish a career woman who is engaged to be married to Brandon who also happens to be her coworker. In fact they met at work years before when she interned and then later started working at By Design. It is a company where she uses her artistic talents to create ads and websites for different companies and clients. Brandon has seniority but they often work together on projects because they happen to both be very good at what they do. Sonya however is much more humble about her work than Brandon who happens to be more self centered and arrogant. I say Sonya is more humble in her work but that does not mean she is not skilled nor talented in fact she is both however she doesn’t flaunt it if that makes sense.
Sonya lives and works in Boston. She grew up there with her mom and had a very happy childhood despite losing her father at a very young age. She did not have any siblings but she did have grandparents an aunt, cousins and of course her mom. She later went to college and met her bestie Cleo (Cleopatra) who also happens to be an artist like herself. They hit it off great and remain friends even after their college days. One day early on in the book you will see Sonya’s life takes an unexpected turn and I do not mean just with Brandon but her entire life is upended when a lawyer from Maine comes to her home. Oliver Doyle presents Sonya with some information about her father that will completely change her life. Her father Andrew MacTavish was adopted which is no new news for her but what is new is that he had a twin brother Collin which he knew nothing about. This twin lived in Maine and has recently passed away leaving his home and well basically everything to Sonya.
The house in Poole’s Bay Maine is nothing to sneeze at it is a big and beautiful gothic mansion set on the water and kept up to date on repairs and modern conveniences. The house has been passed down in the family since the day it was built. It has always been owned by a Poole and Collin happened to be the last to own it until recently. This home however is not all that it seems I mean yes it is beautiful but it has some secrets. Some might call these secrets ghosts or weird occurrences but non the less they are present both the good and the bad or shall I say evil.
Sonya decides the best course of action is to talk with Cleo and her Mum. She needs some advice and she also needs to share the information she has recently found out from the lawyer with her mother and bestie. Eventually the three of them come to the conclusion that Sonya needs to take a trip to Maine and see this place for herself. She needs to decide if it is somewhere she might want to live or if she wants to walk away completely from her Inheritance.
SPOILER Sonya decides that she is going to stay in the home for the required time that was stated in Collin’s will. Lets be real who could really pass up on this beautiful home? I know I couldn’t. Sonya however is not ready for what she is about to discover in this home or the people she will meet. The secrets are irresistible and down right terrifying. The story sucked me right in and I became so invested in what was going to happen that before I knew it I finished the story. Now the wait begins for the next book in the series which is set to come out on November 19, 2024. Honestly November can not get here quick enough because the cliffhanger that Nora Roberts ended this book on is ahhh so stressful. Kudos to her for being such a great story teller. So I hope that this review has intrigued you enough to pick up this gem of a book and if it has please let me know what you think of it. Until next time Reader Happy Reading.