I loved this. A family reuniting for a will reading, most of the family are absolutely vile and it was so great to read about these terrible people.
The novel has a fascinating tempo, sometimes slow and sometimes fast which makes it quite a rollercoaster.

Enjoyable and enjoyable until the last page.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher & Rebecca for the ARC.

A fast paced thriller, difficult to tear yourself away from. Well written and expertly crafted.

This book was very interesting and presents to ha a rich family who are brought together to find out who has inherited what from a family estate.
If you are into who done it and if you are into a book regarding family drama and family rivalry then this is for you!

The family gather in the hall for the passing down ceremony, for the inheritance of Roxborough Hall. Each receive a letter, and only one will inherit. Past secrets are revealed, bit by bit, together with reasons each person wishes to inherit. There are tensions and strange things happening while the correct heir is identified.
Great book, excellent twists and enjoyable story telling. Truly original and great for mystery fans!

Thanks to Rebecca and NetGalley for allowing me to read The Will before the publication date.

As the family arrive at Roxborough Hall, they are greeted by Violet who has been in the employ of Cecily Mordaunt, in one capacity or another, since she was a teenager.
The tensions surface as Rihan, a member of the Mordaunt family lawyers, arrives to represent Elspeth, Cecily’s estranged daughter.
Of those present, their attitudes range from being uninterested in taking on the responsibility for Roxborough Hall, to wanting to carry on the family traditions, to desperately needing the inheritance to stave off bankruptcy or even worse, criminal proceedings.

This family have secrets, some of which are hidden in plain sight for those who care to look.
One secret cannot be told, yet must be told, despite the devastating consequences.

Rebecca has effectively used flashbacks to give the reader an insight into each of the characters.
The individual scenarios are interesting. However when they were brought together, the story felt too contrived and implausible.

The Will is the perfect beach read - just the right mix of mysterious twists and building tension, characters you love to hate and a twisty ending you will not see coming.

We follow a group of people who have been invited to learn who will inherit the family estate - each with a hand-written letter from the previous owner explaining why all of them are - except one - unworthy of the legacy. Of course all have their own reasons why they desperately want or need the house; reasons they are sometimes keeping even from those closest to them. And none of them are keen on any of the others learning of their secrets.
Letters vanish, letters are exchanged; people sneak through the dark house with sinister purpose - all desperately trying to find out one thing: who will inherit? And if it's not them, what can they do about it?

This was a gentler mystery in that there is no gory bloodshed, but it was deliciously twisty all the same and left me guessing to the very end. I'd very much recommend to anyone who enjoys Agatha Christie and the other Golden Age Mystery writers, or who likes a psychologically movitated mystery.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House UK for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here expressed are my own.

I enjoyed this book by Rebecca Reid. It started off really well, getting to know the characters and going between different timelines. I found myself getting confused with the timelines though as it wasn’t always made really clear when one was ending and a diffrent one starting. Great plot, hints of mysterious doings and a small twist at the end. My first book by this author and I will definitely seek her out again. Thank you the the publishers and Netgalley for this early proof.

Thanks to Netgalley for this free copy first of all. Secondly, I cannot believe how much I have loved reading this book. The characters are well described, the book is fast paced and the writing style is my favorite kind. Especially when there are two timelines involved. The vibe it gave made me want to live in the Roxborough estate. First time I have read anything by this author but it won’t be my last. Quicky, read this book. You won’t regret it!

Oh my god. This book definitely started off strong. I was so engrossed in the storyline and loved how it began. However, it definitely got messy towards the end and just became so confusing. There where so many different characters with different storylines, that it was hard to read.

A slow read but kept my interest, I liked all the characters, a great storyline with a sneaky twist at the end,

I thoroughly enjoyed this unusual family saga revolving around Roxborough Hall, a coveted inheritance that will be handed down to one member of the Mordaunt family only. As the various family members gather to hear who the heir or heiress might be, tensions build and complex individual back stories are revealed, some more believable than others. The perfect ‘family saga with a twist’ for a long autumn evening – warmly recommended as this is an addictive read! Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for the free ARC I received in exchange for this unbiased book review.

Love a good family saga and this was a page-turning one. The book starts with the death of the matriarch of the family and the aftermath for the family, who all (well nearly all) want to inherit the grand family state. I liked how the author gave us insight into the different characters' perspectives while sharing the story of Cecily and her relationship with each of her family members. A great read.

2.5 stars.

This was an okay book. It had some good parts and it did pique my interest at certain points however I felt like there was so much potential that was wasted.

I also found the inclusion of incest was unnecessary and uncomfortable. I really didn’t like this and it served no purpose in furthering the plot or the character development and therefore felt like it was just there for shock value.

The author also mentioned many tough subjects in this book that could be possible TW for readers however she never actually addressed them and they were treated like a throwaway detail, again only there for shock value.

It also felt like it was leading up to a much more sinister ending with more of a plot twist however nothing about it was shocking or really that interesting.

Overall it was a quick read and I did find myself interested in what was going to happen but it had so much more potential.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I requested this book because of the amount of great reviews it has and I'm so glad I did. This book completely surpassed my expectations in so many ways and I wish I already had the physical copy of it to put on my shelf!

This is a fascinating read. The main thrust of the story is that the owner of the Mordaunt family estate is entitled to bequeath the property to a family member upon their death. Various members of the clan are gathered for the great reveal, each with their own reasons for wanting to inherit. The back stories are interesting, the revelations keep coming and the outcome is surprising. A great story.

As a Will Writer, based in Norfolk, I was super excited to read this book and I'm pleased to say that it didn't disappoint. The book read like an old school murder mystery, but without the murder!

The Will tells the story of Roxborough Hall, a stately home in rural Norfolk, which is passed down through the generations by a somewhat strange tradition. Cecily, the hall's current owner has died and the eight family members in the running for the house arrive at the Hall to discover who will inherit. As the mystery unravels, we learn more about each of the family members and start to discover the secrets of the past.

The setting is perfect for this type of book; a mysterious, old house full of secrets. The characterisation was excellent and I loved learning about each and every one of the family members. The story is mainly told in the present tense, but does have a few 'flashback' chapters that help to fill in some of the missing information.

The only thing I will mention is that, despite the title, it's not really about a Will atall, but the family tradition by which the Hall is passed on.

I couldn't put this one down and raced to finish it; highly recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

Read this whilst on holiday. Captivating story about a family and a house with a lot of history. Who should inherit it next is a great storyline. Very well written.

I really enjoyed this book. I found it full of twists and turns and charcaters that I was able to build a connection with. I look forward to seeing what is next for Reid

I was expecting this to be domestic thriller/mystery, but it wasn’t really, it was more of a family drama. Members of the Mordaunt family gather at Roxborough Hall for a family dinner and reveal of who has inherited the estate. The reader learns about each of the eight family members both in the present and in flashbacks that highlight key events in the family’s history. I enjoyed learning about the various characters and became invested in finding out who would inherit the house, rooting for or against various characters.

Roxborough Hall, with its acres of land, lake and attached income is not handed down from father to eldest son, nor shared out among the direct descendants. It is bequeathed in secret to a sole heir, and there is a ceremony involved in revealing who has been chosen. After the death of the owner all the family must gather together at the house. At the beginning of dinner each member opens a letter revealing whether they are the chosen heir. Cecily Mordant is dead; to whom has she left her house?

‘The Will’ is a family drama about the Mordant family. The assembling of the relatives at the house gathers them together in one place and their family dynamics and relationships with each other can be explored. I would put this book firmly in the ‘general fiction and/or women’s fiction’ categories, rather than the ‘mystery thriller’ one. It is far more concerned with the personal lives of the family members and their relationships than it is about the mystery of the inheritor.

The lives of the family members are further revealed to the reader by jumps backwards in time to a memorable incident in their past and the events and emotions of the moment are then explored. We then carry on in the present-day storyline with a further understanding of their character. Through this technique the reader is better able to judge, by what has happened to them in the past, their present-day reactions and behaviours, and to come to an opinion of what kind of a person they are. The more I knew about the characters the less I cared about them. This not because I’m heartless, they just seemed rather unreal and, in a way, dull. I don’t mean to say the secrets were not interesting. Some of the characters were types: the headmistress is humourless and overachieving, the French girlfriend shrugs. The central characters were more developed and attempts had been made to make them lifelike. They had little quirks like harumphing about where the recycling goes or reminisced about childhood summers spend at Roxborough.
It wasn’t enough to make me care about them, though. Even when the secret was sensational or the back story harrowing, they never felt convincing or their behaviour real. I could not overlook what was unconvincing and I cannot explain fully what was not right without giving away the plot.
I had the feeling Cecily was supposed to be glamorously intriguing, as she 'looked a little like Grace Kelly', and wore a 'black Givenchy cocktail dress, not unlike the one Audrey Hepburn had worn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s'.
The author reveals in the afterward that “lots of the setting in ‘The Will (though not thankfully the awful bits) were lifted from my real-life family, especially my grandmother, who I still miss a great deal”. I think ‘The Will’ is a highly personal novel. For me I wanted the characters to have more presence and behave more believably. I wished to be able to imagine the house more clearly. I think the novel is a great work in the author’s head, but she hasn’t written down the extra embellishments for me to see it as she sees it, or know the characters as she knows them. I don’t think this is a very good novel. However, family dramas are hard to write well and I’m hard to please. Less exigent readers wanting an easy read, and a rambling country house setting will probably enjoy the book.