Publisher: Macmillan Audio / St. Martin’s Press
Published: May 25, 2021
Source: Audio: ALC via Macmillan Audio / Print: ARC Paperback via St. Martin’s Press
Summary:
Number one New York Times best-selling author Nora Roberts presents Legacy, a new novel of a mother and a daughter, of ambition and romance, and of a traumatic past reawakened by a terrifying threat….
Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her – before her mother, Lina, stepped in.
Soon after, Adrian was dropped off at her grandparents’ house in Maryland, where she spent a long summer drinking lemonade, playing with dogs, making a new best friend – and developing the stirrings of a crush on her friend’s 10-year-old brother. Lina, meanwhile, traveled the country promoting her fitness brand and turning it into a billion-dollar business. There was no point in dwelling on the past.
A decade later, Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos, following in Lina’s footsteps but intent on maintaining creative control. And she’s just as cool-headed and ambitious as her mother. They aren’t close, but they’re cordial – as long as neither crosses the other.
But while Lina dismisses the death threats that Adrian starts getting 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 continue after she returns to Maryland and becomes reacquainted with Raylan, her childhood crush, all grown up and as gorgeously green-eyed as ever. Sometimes it even seems like the terrifying messages are indeed routine, like nothing will come of them. Until the murders start, and the escalation begins….
My thoughts:
When it comes to romantic suspense, I can always count on Nora Roberts to deliver and this latest one is no exception. While I have enjoyed her earlier series and trilogies, it is her stand-alone romantic suspense novels that I keep coming back to year after year.
One thing that I love about Nora Roberts is how timely her books tend to be. This latest one tackles so many topics that are hot button topics and yet it all blends together into such a compulsive read. We have a fitness element and with everything we have gone through in this past year with gyms being closed and our focus turning to ourselves a bit, I found this to be so interesting. Then there is the grief element that is quite strong, as well as the stalker element, and of course you can’t forget the romantic angle.
I love the characters that Nora Roberts creates. Adrian and Raylan are both fantastic characters that you can’t help but root for, and if you’ve read any romance book at all, you probably can figure out where things will end up with them, but for me, it’s not so much about the ending as it is the journey. Then there is the supporting cast, which is made up of adorable children, great friends and family, and some cute pets that tend to steal any scene they are in.
The suspense part of the book really kept me engaged and while I did figure out parts of it, I wasn’t exactly sure of the entire picture, so there were still some surprises that kept me on edge. And of course, as things are finally about to come to the conclusion, the pace picks up drastically.
I definitely think this is a great book to add to your summer reading list. It’s an addicting read that provides a nice escape for a little while.
Audio thoughts:
As soon as I saw that January LaVoy was narrating this one, I knew I had to listen to it…she is one of my favorite narrators and has narrated quite a few of Nora Roberts’ books. She really gets the nuances of her characters and did a fantastic job bringing this book to life, giving each character their own unique voice and personality, especially the children. Her pacing and intonation was spot on and she infused just the right amount of tension and emotion into her voice as needed. This was a great book to listen to and I really enjoyed it!
