Four Stars
A new Nora Roberts romantic suspense novel is always a reason to celebrate! If you liked HIDEAWAY, Queen Nora’s romsus release in 2020, you’re going to love this book. I adore the way LEGACY is structured. You follow the heroine, Adrian, through her life. Starting with an event that shaped her life in her formative years, then through elementary, high school, college, and eventually adulthood. The suspense comes through chilling poems Adrian receives through all of those years, always on Valentine’s Day.
This book was structured and paced masterfully. The confident and driven heroine, vibrant secondary characters, and a sense of found family made it easy to sink into. The suspense element built slowly but added the perfect amount of tension to keep the reader flipping pages. Additionally, Ms. Roberts is too good at immersing me in a scene. I would forget where I was while I read her idyllic small town scenes.
The romance doesn’t happen until the later part of the book, but it was worth the wait. I appreciate two mature, adult characters who genuinely like and appreciate each other slowly figuring our their attraction and compatibility, which is exactly what happens in this story. I loved the difficult conversations Adrian and her love interest had, but also the cute, light, everyday moments.
I took off one star because, while I loved this book, it took me a while to get through. There were almost too many divergent plot lines. There were tons of characters, and while that created a well-rounded world, I thought it took away too much page time from Adrian and her love interest that I really wanted to see. I also thought Adrian was a bit too perfect at times. She never, not once, took a misstep and even when the hero was listing her “flaws” (to prove that she’s not perfect) I still wasn’t sold. We’re not always the perfect friend, businesswoman, fitness instructor, family member, etc. I think a few struggle or realistic flaws would have made Adrian seem more human.
Overall, Nora Roberts is a fantastic author. She is one of the best selling authors in the world for a freaking reason and it shows. The writing was fantastic, the characters were engaging, and the action was heart-pounding. This was another fun, genre-bending romantic suspense novel and I highly recommend it.
**I received a free copy of this book in order to provide an honest review**
Romance Reader 