The Heirs about an uppercut Manhattan family's hidden lives after the father's death and the sudden appearance of two more sons. Many of the brothers' as well as parents' secrets are revealed in this interesting entertaining novel.

Note: clearing old books from before 2019

Did not have time to read this book - still on my TBR. Thank you for the opportunity and my apologies for not getting to it.

The Heirs ‐ 2.75⭐

This contemporary fiction novel focused on WASP-y family drama about paternity and a wealthy family in NYC. No one was likeable and I was having a hard time getting invested in what happened to the characters, who were fairly flat and mostly all selfish. The matriarch of the family, Eleanor, never answers a question and always poses it back to whoever is asking-- this got tiresome rather quickly.

At around the 75% mark we learn more about the sexual history of the patriarch of the family and other characters. While this made the book a bit more juicy, it confirmed their selfishness, and I found it a bit difficult to even care because I wasn't sure who or what I was rooting for.

Overall, I didn't necessarily dislike this book, but at the same time there really wasn't anything that that I particularly liked.

The Heirs by Susan Rieger is a very interesting novel exploring what happens to a family after the father dies. During the course of the novel the lives of the five adult sons along with the widow are explored. There are also some very deep secrets that are brought to light after the father's death. This is a complex novel that explores humanity, family dynamics, greed, and secrecy. The Heirs is a definite must read.

Susan Rieger's exceptional writing style is the best thing about "The Heirs", a complex story of a rich Manhattan family and the network of relationships that surround them. However, there's not much of a plot and I found it difficult to keep track of all the characters or care very much as new ones were introduced. I could see this story forming the basis for an excellent TV show.

This really isn't a book review. I give a book fifty pages before I call it quits, and that was about all I could stomach of this book. It sounded interesting, but the writing didn't capture my attention, so I finally gave up.

Disclaimer: I received the book compliments of the Blogging for Books program through Multnomah/Waterbrook Publishing. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Rupert Falkes grew up in an English orphanage after being left in front of a church as a baby during the Great Depression. Due to a combination of luck and his own determination, Rupert moved to America, graduated from Yale Law School, married a woman from a wealthy family, became a successful lawyer, and had 5 sons with his wife. Shortly after Rupert dies, his wife receives a letter from another woman, claiming that Rupert was also the father of her two sons and that they deserve a share of the inheritance. The Falkes family is thrown into turmoil, not knowing what to believe and if part of their family life had been a lie.

This book jumped around so much between times and characters that it felt more like a collection of connected short stories rather than a novel. I often like novels that give a more complete story because of showing multiple points of view, but this one was just too disjointed. We saw the events as characters lived them but did not see much of what the characters thought and felt. The story line held potential, but for me, the novel itself did not live up to expectations.

This is one of those rare books which I wanted to re-read the moment I finished it. I wanted to dive back into Susan Rieger's exceptional storytelling and immerse myself once again into the Falkes family. 

Orphaned and left with the village vicar in England, Rupert lived the American dream. He created a life for himself out of whole cloth, having been christened with a new name, his surname now that of the reverend who rescued him. Rupert got himself into Cambridge and, using his financial bequest, took himself to America. He attended Yale law school and became a respected, ambitious attorney with a high-powered Manhattan firm. As the first heir in this story, Rupert took Father Falkes's legacy and turned it into his own. 

As the daughter of high society parents, Eleanor Phipps experienced none of the struggles that Rupert did. Hers were far more psychological and emotional, with her cold, judgmental mother and largely absent father. The heir to her mother's disinterested parenting and her father's prescient investment in McDonald's, Eleanor took what she learned and became the sort of wife and mother she wanted to see and have as a child. 

When Rupert passes away, he leaves his widow Eleanor and their five sons. His heirs want for nothing. The boys enjoyed top notch educations, with all five of them matriculating from Princeton. Thanks to their mother's McDonald's investment, they are financially secure. Perhaps the most important legacy their father gave them was the encouragement to pursue their hearts' desires: "Rupert believed in his sons, and his belief in them was the greatest thing he gave them."

Six months after his death, potential new heirs appear when Eleanor receives a letter from a woman who claims to have had a relationship with Rupert "for some years" through which she and Rupert had two sons.

The five Falkes brothers are outraged. Who is this woman, claiming such nonsense? Who is this man who was their father? Was he some sort of bigamist? Does the possibility of an affair and additional progeny negate everything they knew about him? 

Only Eleanor seems to be unaffected. She is not ruffled by a possible mistress. She is not disturbed by the prospect of Rupert having had two children with another woman. 

Moving back and forth from Rupert's and Eleanor's childhoods, Susan Rieger details a marriage and its legacies with hypnotic writing. She shows you how two people can marry for practical contentment with a healthy dose of lust. Using perspectives of the people in Eleanor's and Rupert's lives, she draws fully realized characters, people who make you care about them, and she invests you fully in her book. She takes the central mystery - is Rupert the father of these boys - and uses it as roots of sorts, allowing it to sprout a trunk, arms, and leaves. 

Rupert's last words to Eleanor are a prophetic, "Settle my just debts." Susan Rieger asks what a man's just debts are? What do we still owe when we die? To whom do we owe it? 

Prepare to be mesmerized. Prepare to be utterly captivated. Prepare to not want to let go of Rupert and Eleanor Falkes and Susan Rieger's writing.

I rarely DNF a book - but I DNF this, it relies heavily on drama without characterization to back it

The Heirs seemed like just my kind of book. An upper class NYC family with secrets! From reading the description I was so excited to receive an egalley from Netgalley to read and review.

This story opens with the death of a beloved father and husband. Each chapter is told by a different family member or close family friend, and secrets about his life are unraveled, showing that the perfect upper-class New York family weren't all that they seemed to be.

I had some pretty high expectations going into this read. I was quickly disappointed. Reading was very detailed and made for slow reading. There were so many characters to learn about and remember that I got confused and lost in the shuffle of a new character each chapter. Instead of revealing twists and turns I seemed to just read a typical soap opera about a privileged family.

What struck me was that although each chapter was dedicated to a specific character, I not once actually connected with a single one. While each character's layer made the overall story intriguing, it was very predictable.

I am somewhat torn on how to rate this. Though it was a predictable plot and pretty unrelatable on all levels, I did find some instances enjoyable. I would say this is a 3.5 to 4 star read for me. I did get this read in a span of a couple days also, so that has to count for something.

Susan Rieger's "The Heirs" is available now for purchase in ebook, hardcover, and paperback format. If you need a quick summer read that takes you away from reality, this is a great book to add to your stack!

Once again, I would like to thank Netgalley and Crown Publishing for providing me a copy to read and give my honest review.

It is very rare when I come across a book that I find myself feeling like I have to work my way through it.
While this book had some good qualities to it, the writing was good and the plot came together well. I found that I didn't love any of the characters and that made it tough to care about any of what was happening.
I could relate to them or sympathize with them, the plot circled around people and problems I've never known. To be clear, this is a fine piece of writing and it's more my fault that I didn't enjoy it.
If say if you're looking for a slower read full of interesting family dynamics, this book is for you.

The Divorce Papers is one of my favorite books. When I see Rieger has written another book, I did not hesitant and requested it. The Heirs did not disappoint. The Falkes family is like about a modern day dysfunctional royalty. This book can turn into a 3 or 5 seasons TV series easily. Eleanor and Rupert have five children, and each one of them has their own family. The book also covers their family friends or love interests as well. It is a slow pacing as the readers get to learn more about each characters. The only draw back to the book is the moving back and forth writing style, which can be annoying.

4 out of 5 stars
Received a free copy from NetGalley, LibraryThing and Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review.

No review will be posted on my blog at this time because I was unable to finish it.

Yuck. Just yuck.

I was under the false impression that the publishers I've been getting free books from only printed Christian books. The premise of this one sounded interesting, the couple of reviews I read said it was riveting and un-put-down-able. So I started it without a second thought.

At first, it was just boring. I realized soon enough, thanks to the language and content that it was not a Christian book, but it wasn't terrible. I just didn't enjoy the writing style (back and forth in time and characters). The characters were all un-likeable. I kept reading, hoping there was going to be some dramatic twist or major plot turn. There wasn't. It just plodded along, bouncing from one character to another. The dialogue was stilted. The action was boring. There was very little plot. And then came the chapter on Vera. When I realized where it was going, I skimmed much of it, but I wish I had skipped the whole chapter. It was disgusting, even for secular fiction.

And then, it just ended. Because there wasn't much of a plot, there weren't many loose ends to tie up. So I guess the author just stopped writing when she got sick of her un-likeable characters. Haha.

I will say that the whole book was too intellectual for me. There were tons of literary and film references that went over my head. There were countless references to New York high society (if it was still called such a thing in the 80s) and people I was apparently supposed to know. I just didn't enjoy any of it, but maybe someone more well-versed in such themes would appreciate it.

I received this book from Net Galley for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The author is one of my favorites. This is a good read and it forces you to pay attention to details. I hated to see it end.

The Heirs by Susan Reiger
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:

For the Falkes family, loyalty is a part of their very fabric. From the day each of the five Falkes boys came into the world, his family has had his back, guided his choices, and been there through both the successes and the failures. With their parents’ unconditional love and support and a picture-perfect marriage as their role model, each of the boys is supremely confident and successful. In fact, down to a man, each credits his success to his tight-knit family. When Rupert, the Faulkes’ family patriarch dies, the family does as they always have, they come together, support one another, and help each other through the grief. Just as their lives were getting back to normal, the lawsuit which will damn-near tear their family apart, is filed.

According to the lawsuit, there are actually seven Falkes boys and the mother of those two extra boys is looking for a payout, or what she believes her sons are due. When the original five Falkes boys are made aware of the lawsuit, each is justifiably shaken. They learned their sense of loyalty, of faithfulness, from their father so to be confronted by living, breathing proof of his betrayal is more than most of them can reasonably cope with. The only one of the remaining family seemingly unaffected by the lawsuit is Eleanor, their mother. In fact, Eleanor is surprisingly calm about the whole affair and is the one who helps set her boys (and their respective partners) back to rights.

The response to their father’s apparent betrayal is different for each of the Falkes boys and sets into motion events which have life altering consequences. There are affairs (ironically!), the separation of long-time couples, and trips down memory lane that are both happy and bittersweet. The boys turn to and turn on one another as they attempt to make sense of their parent’s life together. What they all thought they knew turns out to be patently incorrect and absolutely accurate as we see when Eleanor takes her own trips down memory lane.

The Bottom Line: I’m not sure anything I type here will adequately convey the breadth and the depth of this book. This isn’t a simple read, but a saga, a retelling of a family’s history following the death of their patriarch. Though each of the boys are grown, the secrets that come to light following their beloved father’s death rock them all to their very core. Each Falkes son must make sense of a lifetime of new information, process it, and make it a part of his new reality. In doing so, each son stumbles, makes stupid mistakes, says very hurtful things, and must ultimately make amends once acceptance and understanding have set in. The Heirs isn’t at all about the inheritance of money, but the inheritance of lies and betrayal, of a once close-knit family dealing with the fallout of that betrayal and finding their way back to one another. This book captivated me and though I had to make a list of the boys in order to keep them all straight, I found the read to be engrossing. Eleanor is perhaps the best of the bunch and it is her recollections and musings that help her boys through the worst of the pain and anger. It is her strong will, strength of character, and love that carries everyone through the darkest moments and helps them to see, though everything has changed, nothing has really changed.

What happens when a loved one dies and you discover he wasn't exactly who you thought he was? Do you jump down the rabbit hole of discovery, destroying everything you have ever known? Do you ignore new developments, focusing on embracing the things you had? Can you find a balance between the two - one that lets you sleep at night? These are the questions one family faces in this poignant and powerful novel. Told from the perspective of friends and family members, this novel will keep you turning pages and identifying with each character's unique perspective.

This story of a family shaken by its dead patriarch's possible affair was too boring and contrived to finish.

This book opens with the death of the patriarch Rupert, leaving behind a very wealthy, upper class family consisting of his wife Eleanor and his five sons who have all been raised to fit into their own niche-one a doctor, one a music prodigy, one a prosecutor, another a law professor and the last a Hollywood agent. Not long after Rupert's death Eleanor is informed that the estate is being sued by a woman claiming to have two sons fathered by Rupert. While all five sons are thrown into turmoil questioning the veracity of this Eleanor is decidedly unfazed and seemingly unconcerned. Did she know if Rupert fathered these children or is this just a ruse? The book continues with each chapter told from a different person's perspective, which along with their significant others, becomes quite confusing trying to remember who goes with who. It is a very well written, although somewhat slow paced book more along the lines of a soap opera.