Veena’s review of Inheritance (Lost Brides Trilogy, Book 1) by Nora Roberts
Romantic Suspense published by St. Martin’s Press 21 Nov 23
A modern-day ghost story full of murder and mayhem with a paranormal twist. I am just amazed at the power of the author’s imagination who continues to keep her readers on their toes and involved in her stories from start to finish, feverishly turning pages. I hate that this one ends on a cliffhanger, and now I am gnawing on my nails for the next chapter to come.
Just when she is ready for a change of scene, Sonya finds out that she has inherited a Victorian Mansion on the Maine coast, a legacy from an uncle, her father’s twin whom she never knew existed. With some trepidation, Sonya pulls up roots and moves to a haunted house in a quaint small town, where she meets the handsome lawyer Trey, who is a witness to some of the ghostly sightings Sonya has.
Music plays like an answer to an unasked question, the kitchen is cleaned up if she leaves dishes in the sink, beds are made, and laundry is done and folded and put away. I want me one of those ghosts. As Sonya starts to get to know some of the locals, she finds out about the legacy of the curse and the doomed brides. Did her uncle Colin also have ghostly encounters of his own before he died?
With Trey, a cousin whom she has just met, and her best friend, Sonya starts her ghost-hunting activities. She has a compelling sense that she is being forced into looking into the truth behind the curse and solving the mystery of the doomed brides so that the curse can be broken once and for all.
I read on with bated breath as paintings manifest and brides talk to Sonya in her waking dreams, and yet I was not prepared for that cliffhanger ending. It’s not fair to have to wait a whole year to find out what happens next.
Grade: A
Summary:
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…
No excerpt available.
