Inheritance

• Author: Nora Roberts
• Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
• Publication Date: November 21, 2023
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Series: The Lost Bride Trilogy #1

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ALC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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…

This was the first Nora Roberts book that I’ve read, and thank goodness, because it was starting to feel like I was the only person in the bookish community (who reads romance) that hasn’t read one of her books! 

We get a few different perspectives in the story, and it takes place in various time periods. The story begins in 1806, with Astrid Poole on her wedding day. But things go wrong, and the day ends in tragedy. But then it jumps to the present day, when Sonya MacTavish is going through an entire overhaul of her life, and a move to Maine to live in a house she just inherited, with the stipulation that she live there for three years, sounds like a great idea. 

The first thing I noticed in this story was the way that Roberts builds these characters that are so well-developed that they feel like real people. Even the side characters are realistic, and I loved the way they all interacted with each other. The relationship between Sonya and Cleo, her best friend, was so positive and supportive. Sonya and Trey, the lawyer, have great chemistry right from the start, and both of them are such dog lovers, that I couldn’t help but love them both. Even the dogs have personalities and play their parts in the story.

Once I was invested in the characters, the paranormal stuff started appearing. It was worked into the story so well, and I really liked how it was done. It showed both the good and the bad sides of haunted houses, with both benevolent and malevolent spirits inhabiting the house. I liked the way that Roberts utilized humor frequently through the paranormal aspects of the story, giving the spirits plenty of personality of their own. 

Overall, this was a fantastic story. As an audiobook, Brittany Presley is a fantastic narrator, making a great story even more enjoyable. I loved the romance between Sonya and Trey, watching it develop slowly and believably, and it kept me invested in between interludes of figuring out more about the lost brides. There’s plenty of plot twists that I never saw coming, although there’s a lot of action that occurs at the end of the story, leaving me desperate for the next book. Just be prepared for a heck of a cliffhanger ending.