Cover Image: Legacy: a gripping new novel from global bestselling author

Legacy: a gripping new novel from global bestselling author

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Member Reviews

When reading the blurb of this book I expected it to be mainly a suspense novel, what I actually found was basically a romance story with some suspense and thriller aspects added in.

This might not seem that important a distinction but for me, it meant the book was a bit underwhelming. If you enjoy romance then there will be a lot to enjoy here I imagine. For fans of suspense, it will feel cliched and a bit repetitive.

Having said that, the central characters are all well rounded and all serve a function. The writing is creative and the pace doesn’t slouch. Just for me, it wasn’t the book I was expecting to find.

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Legacy is another great story written by Nora Roberts. Well written, with a fantastic description of places and situations. Nora Roberts is an amazing storyteller who makes some parts very emotional and others so entertaining and impressive.
Adrian Rizzo builds her new life very hard, leaving behind a cruel past and an unhappy childhood. Unfortunately, there is someone who is raging with this and is furiously trying to destroy her life. The action starts slowly to create tension and increase curiosity. It is a thrilling romance story with a hint of suspense. In the beginning, the characters are children whose traumatic events have influenced who they have become - an exciting idea to shows the influence of the past. The book also shows how social people are by building relationships throughout our lives - starting with friendship.

Legacy is not the first Nora Robert's book for me, and it will not be the last. I enjoyed the reading and already waiting for her next novel! If you're also a fan of Nora Roberts' writing or are looking for an easy-to-read story, I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher of ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

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I really wanted this to be a page turner and in some parts it was, there seemed to be a lot of filling and describing and it just didn’t need it. I enjoyed the characters and could relate to some of the story line I enjoyed the suspense and the twists but some of it just wasn’t mended and I found myself skim reading.

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Nora Roberts isn’t an author I’ve encountered before, so I don’t know if this is representative of her style or not. This was a curious mix of romance and thriller, that was enjoyable enough but didn’t really hit the high notes for me.
Our story begins with Adrian being attacked as a young girl by her father. He breaks her wrist and ends up dead. Traumatic for anyone, but she is only a child. However, it felt odd that her mother opts to continue working and leave Adrian to spend the summer with her grandparents.
The story then continues with Adrian at seventeen, having just been moved to another school and still very much on her own as her mother works on her booming career. Alone for the first time, Adrian sees this as her opportunity to set up the germs of her fledgling idea for a business...fitness/yoga tutorials on YouTube.
Following Adrian the focus is on her developing relationships, and the reaction she has to unsolicited mail threatening her. Every year a poem arrives, threatening her or someone she loves. Adrian follows advice and copies the poems to the police...but nothing seems to come from this.
Alongside Adrian’s life, we have these weird accounts of killings. We have no idea who’s killing these women, or why...but it eventually becomes apparent that these killings could be linked to Adrian.
For me, the character of Adrian was quite hard to find engaging. It took far too long for the links to become apparent, and for someone who was meant to be so big in the public eye this just didn’t seem to be treated as you might expect it to be.
I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read Legacy in advance of publication, but it hasn’t won me over.

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Fabulously reliable Nora Roberts has the knack of making a very readable thriller, and also a love story you can believe in.

The heroine of this book was so likeable and relatable. Despite some severe childhood trauma and an emotionally absent mother, she is a driven and determined woman with a hugely kind but not overly sentimental streak.

Driven and determined, she has made an enormous success of her life and has built some amazing relationships, support systems and co workers with her fitness business and brand. This is despite receiving threatening poems in the post since she was seventeen, and nearly being killed by her biological father when she was seven.

Raylan was practically my favourite kind of hero, a good guy, with his own comic book company and a family man, complete with soppy dog. When both of them move back to the small town where his mum Jan works in her Grandparents restaurant Rizzo’s because of tragic bereavements - his wife Lorilee, and her grandmother Sophia. The stage is set for a beautiful, very slow burn romance.

The thriller/suspense aspect was also handled well, with just enough detail to ratchet up the tension and make it exciting.

What I really enjoyed was the friendships in this book, and how both of the leads, particularly Adrian had found family in their friends and co workers. The remain friendships, the kids adding and not detracting from the friendships, and the fabulous and diverse partnerships were really nicely done.

The research too, just great. The fitness franchise and the comic books/ gaming settings felt believable and contemporary, so all in all fab. It was satisfying on many levels.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

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You absolutely know what you are getting with a Nora Roberts book. Sheer brilliance and this is no exception. Woman facing danger, check. Hot guy, check. But no matter how much you know how it’s going to work out it doesn’t spoil your enjoyment. Nora is an absolute genius. Nothing more to say.

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Nora Roberts is an author you can always rely on . I love how her books are split into a beginning, middle and end. I feel I’m left with no unanswered questions. To start with we generally get the main characters as children showing what traumas shaped them into the adults they will become. In the middle it’s the hero and heroine coming together, building their relationship leading into the third part where the mystery/suspense element that has been running in the background of the book comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

In Legacy I especially liked that Adrian and Raylan were friends first. In fact for me, the main thread running through this book was the importance of friendship. Adrian meeting Mia, Raylan’s sister at the age of seven. A teenage Adrian going into a new school and finding her “tribe” of Tisha, Loren & Hector. All friendships that have weathered the years and were just as strong now they were adults. Even Lina, Adrian’s mother who didn’t come across as the most sympathetic of characters had her life long friends in Harry and Mimi. All set against a background of small town America where everybody knows each other. I’ve no idea if this is the reality of small town life minus the drama of course. all I know is I’ve enjoyed reading this book enough that I know I will definitely being re-reading it in the future and I’ve just downloaded the audible version to listen to on my work commute.

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I have heard great things about Nora Roberts, but this was my first book written by her, and I listened to the audiobook narrated by January LeVoy.
This was a solid 3 star from me, the main appeal was definitely LeVoy's narration. She was superb, changing her voice brilliantly for the different characters and the maturing voice of Adrian. I loved listening to her.
The plot however, was lacking. I was expecting more of a thriller and ended up with more of a family drama. It was slow paced and very 'wordy' and long winded at times. The characters were likeable and multi-layered.
I would try another Roberts book, especially with this narrator, to see if this is Roberts' writing style.

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When she was younger, Lina Rizzo had an ill-advised affair with a college professor and ended up pregnant. When she confronted him with the news of her pregnancy, Lina was left in no doubt that she would have to raise her baby on her own. Seven years later, Lina has made a life for herself as the founder of a fitness video business which her daughter, Adrian, sometimes stars in. But one day, Adrian’s father appears at the door and angrily attacks Adrian. Lina jumps to her daughter’s defence, and in protecting her daughter, kills the man who tried to hurt her.

As the years go by, Adrian grows into a fiercely independent woman, who aims to take her life into her own hands and craft her own fresh take on fitness videos. With the help of some friends, Adrian manages to kickstart a career that ultimately brings her into the public eye in her own right. The attention Adrian receives is mostly positive, with contracts and deals being offered that build Adrian’s own personal fitness brand. But one day, a poem is delivered to Adrian. A poem that threatens to kill her.

Over the years, the letters continue to arrive. Different postmarks on each one; a new poem written each time. These poems follow Adrian as she moves back to her grandparents’ home to keep an eye over her grandfather, and as she and one of her childhood friends, Raylan, begin to bond over shared grief. Adrian doesn’t pay much heed to these poems, dismissing them as the ramblings of a crazed fan who poses no physical harm. But then the murders start.

I always enjoy Nora Roberts’ standalone suspense novels, and this is no exception. The story in this book flowed well and the same hallmarks of Roberts’ storytelling that I have come to know and love are present. The escalating tension – both romantic and otherwise – throughout the book are intriguing and make you want to keep turning pages. The writing style is easy, and the characters are well fleshed-out, helping you form connections to them and root for them throughout the book.

Roberts has recently started shifting her standalone books to be more expansive in nature, and they tend to start with the main character as a young woman and follow them through their formative years before focusing on the main storyline in adult life. In her previous novel, Hideaway, I found that the focus on the past storyline was maybe too heavy, but that balance came right again in this book. I felt that there was enough backstory given to set the remainder of the book up, without it feeling as if it were dragging the pacing of the book. I also thought that a lot of good character development occurred in this early part of the book, which was really informative in shaping the way the characters reacted and behaved later in the book.

As usual, the main plot arc of the book included a looming threat over the main character, which I think was executed fairly well. I am, however, starting to think that maybe something could spice up the “anonymous threatening letters to a famous person” trope. Roberts’ earlier standalones were more personalized, and I found them more interesting in terms of the overall building of suspense. That being said, I didn’t enjoy the main story any less because of this; I just think that overuse of this trope has made Roberts’ last two books feel a little too close to a game of Mad-Libs where she choose a different occupation, name, and town to fill in the blanks, and then send the book off to the publisher.
Overall, the book was a pleasant experience, and fans of Nora Roberts’ books will enjoy this just as much (if not slightly more) than similar books by her. I thought this was Nora Roberts on top form, and although I have my small niggles with the book, it was an overall enjoyable experience and I will not hesitate to pick up the next Nora Roberts suspense novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group: Piatkus for the ARC in exchange for a review!

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Nora Roberts know how to write gripping and entertaining story that keeps you reading.
This novel is no exception and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Well plotted, good character development and excellent storytelling.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

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I am a big fan of Nora Robert’s books so was happy to receive an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an independent review.
This author always takes her reader on a big journey. With excellent narrative, interesting and developed characters and a well thought out plot, this book was no exception. A thriller at the heart of this, but also about friendship, love and relationships.
A real page turner that kept me hooked. 4.5 stars

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3.5. This is a heartfelt story that celebrates small town living and the beauty of a thriving community and of flourishing lifelong friendships and familial relationships. Adrian Rizzo, raised in New York by her fitness entrepreneur mother returns back to her grandparents rural home in adulthood to support her grandparents. A thriving businesswoman herself, it seems like she will spin her new relocation into a new career angle and make lemonade from life’s lemons. However she has never addressed a traumatic incident that happened in her childhood and when she receives threatening mail from an anonymous sender, she wonders whether her past is coming back to haunt her.

This book has a satisfying romantic subplot and also is a very positive and upbeat story with a compelling thriller plot line. I really enjoyed the interactions between Adrian and her grandfather and the romance between the two neighbouring dogs. A well plotted, sincere novel both compelling and compassionate.

Thanks to Little Brown UK, the author Nora Roberts and NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This is the first book I have read by Nora Roberts. It wasn’t what I expected from the synopsis. I expected it to be a psychological thriller, however, the author has managed to throw in some romance to add another dimension to the story - I haven’t decided if in doing that, it made the story better or worse?
Adrian is our protagonist. We get to find out everything about her over just a few chapters. From childhood to teenage to adulthood in a very short space of time. I felt like I wasn’t given chance to have any feelings about Adrian. There didn’t seem to be any care given to ensure the readers felt like rooting for the lead character.
Unfortunately, learning about Adrians whole life in a few chapters was the only part of the book that was rushed. The rest of the story seemed to take an age for anything significant to happen, and as a result I struggled to stick with it.
This hasn’t put me off considering a Nora Roberts book in the future, but this book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you the author, NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Legacy is the new romantic suspense novel from bestseller Nora Roberts about the traumatic experiences of a mother and daughter brought to the fore by the return of a figure from their past who bombards them with chilling threats affecting their mental health and every part of their lives. Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father, Jonathan Bennett, a university professor with a sickening penchant for engaging in forced sexual activity with his students, for the first time. This was how Lina had become pregnant with Adrian; she had an affair while in college with the married Jonathan but never could she have understood the sinister consequences this could have for the rest of her life. He had taken it upon himself to break into their Georgetown home where young Adrian had resided with her nanny, Mimi, and her mother Lina, a prominent and successful fitness guru with a business known as Yoga Baby of which Adrian was the face. After barging in drunk, he attacked Mimi followed swiftly by Lina and Adrian as he confronted Lina about destroying his marriage. It ends in Lina having no choice but to take action; she kills Jon by pushing him clean over a second-story balcony, and although it is ruled as self-defence, Lina is concerned about the negative publicity and decides to send Adrian to her (maternal) grandparents, Dom and Sophia Rizzo, in Traveler's Creek, Maryland. She enjoys the long hot summer in the rural idyll meanwhile Lina’s business grows ever more profitable and popular.

Around a decade later, Adrian has gone into the same line of work as her mother and created her own line of workout videos and now a teenager she resettles in New York City with Lina. Adrian soon begins to receive creepy and disturbing letters signed ”The Poet” and as they begin to arrive with increasing frequency she becomes concerned that she has a dangerous stalker. But while Lina dismisses the death threats as a routine part of her daughter’s growing celebrity, Adrian can’t help but find the vicious rhymes unsettling. Year after year, they keep arriving―the postmarks changing, but the menacing tone the same. They almost become routine, until the coinciding murders start all over the country, and the escalation begins. This is a compelling and deeply unsettling thriller utilising the same formula Roberts has had success with for decades; I guess if it's not broken why fix it? There's plenty of drama, intensity and unpredictability and a few great twists and turns to keep you on your toes. I appreciated that the romance wasn't overbearing and protagonist Adrian is strong and intelligent but also likeable and complex and the support her friendship group shows through each other’s trials and tribulations is always nice to see. An entertaining and enthralling thriller with a multilayered cast and a breezy, easy narrative. Roberts’ thrillers are always solid, akin to comfort food and often provide some much-needed escapism.

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I was so enthralled with Nora Robert’s latest romantic suspense offering, Legacy, that I read it in one sitting!
 
The book starts off with a traumatic event for our 7-year-old heroine, Adrian, where the first time she meets her father is when he tries to kill her. From the first few pages, I already knew that Adrian was a really highly intelligent, determined and empathetic character and I rooted for her immediately. It was just delightful following her journey as she moved to adulthood and found her tribe, followed her passion and used her savvy to flourish in her business.  I really appreciate how La Nora keeps herself current and also the amount of research she must put into her books. I found the insights into the fitness influencer world so interesting and the details underscored how driven and smart Adrian was. 
 
The relationships in this book was also so good. From Adrian’s childhood caregiver to her amazing grandparents and schoolfriends to her relationship with the hero, Raylan. I loved all their interactions and found their friends-to-lovers relationship just adorable! (He makes her a badass villainess/heroine in his graphic novel!)
 
All the while, there was an building sense of impending doom as the author injected hints of a menacing presence throughout the story that kept me up turning the pages waiting for the axe to drop. The subtle, creeping sense that horror was drawing ever nearer was really effective and I was on the edge of my seat!
 
The characters were all so well-developed and delightful. I loved following Adrian and Raylan as well as the secondary characters as they moved through the story to new endeavours, places and  passions. This made the suspense all the more high stakes and what else can I say? La Nora has done it again!

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Adrian moves back to her home town when her grandmother dies and reconnects with old friends and a long lost love interest. But there is a shadow hanging over her new life in the shape of mysterious menacing poems from a stranger. Who is sending the poems and why?

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To say Nora Roberts has a gift for writing romance would be reductive- Roberts works outstandingly hard and her mastery over her art has been honed over years of work. As such, I often wonder if I’m being fair when I rate her books as I always have extremely high expectations of her work and am so disappointed when one of her books, even if objectively great, doesn’t quite meet her usual standard. This is not one such book.

Legacy is a marvel because it expertly traverses the lives of our protagonists across decades from childhood to adulthood through love, loss and transformation is an entirely believable way, managing to maintain some core element of their characters so as to be recognisable, yet developing and changing them enough to be realistic and interesting. During all of this, Roberts still manages to maintain excellent pacing and the suspense element of the novel works perfectly in sync with the developing romance, making this novel an absolute page-turner.

A particular success in this book is Roberts' portrayal of children which is so full of rich and nuanced characterisation that I can see each child and their distinct personalities as clearly in my mind’s eye as if they were stood in front of me. Similarly, her frank and clearly considered portrayal women and mothers of all kinds is fantastic and each relationship in the novel feels completely real. Reaching the end of this book was genuinely gutting as each character felt like an old friend with whom we had taken a long journey. This is Roberts' gift, and her ability to transport the reader is why her work will always be on auto-buy for me. Legacy is yet another utter triumph for Roberts. 5/5 stars.

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Unfortunately I didn’t finish this book. Got to 45% complete and had to put it down

I would have preferred to have first person narrative showing POV’s of each character rather than just jumping third person, character to character. Didn’t allow the reader to connect to the characters as much.

I felt like the story just kept changing time frames too quickly and it dragged out the story. First we see Adrian as a child, then a teen and now a young adult all within 7 chapters? Complete change of time within chapter 3 showing that summer was over but I personally feel like it would have been better as a new chapter. Furthermore, when describing some of the thoughts from Raylan, the author uses “because, fun” and “because, girl” - I just felt like it was unfinished phrases and didn’t feel like a proper book.

Furthermore, the story felt far too slow burning to get to any form of trauma or conflict and then suddenly chapter 7 was far too much drama. Not only does a loved one die but also a school shooting the same day? So far fetched.

Between chapter 7 and chapter 14, it feels like nothing really happens. We see more from this so called “poet” yet its been kind of dismissed in Adrian’s POV until now.

Honestly, I feel like far too much was going on yet far too much “filler” scenes were there to properly form any proper story. I’m really not impressed with this. I usually love thriller but the author didn’t manage to keep me engaged at all.

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Thanks to Net Galley and Little Brown book Group UK
Wow! Nora Roberts does it again with this different but gripping read! I did not want the book to end.
What a master this author is at developing her characters, even the two dogs are adorable and add to the story.
This. Book is a mix of suspense, who is writing the nasty threatening poems to Adrian, strong friendships, family bonds, loss, hope for new beginnings and love.
I loved Raylan & Adrian, both strong independent characters who have known loss, but ready to tiptoe tentatively towards something new
This is an easy read, lots of great dialogue, I found it hard to put down.
Another bestseller for this extremely talented author.

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This is a bit if a slow burner. The book begins with Adrian’s dad trying to kill her and her mum. From here we follow Adrian trying to build her life and things start to look good for her future.
However, every year she is sent a threatening poem so she knows someone is watching her.
The book has elements of romance with a good dose of suspense which kept me interested.
A good read from Nora Roberts.
Thanks to Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

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