Adrian is seven years old when the story begins. She learns that she was the product of an affair her mother Lina had with her married college professor. Lina is a successful fitness guru who spends more time on her career than parenting. Adrian’s loving grandparents serve as surrogate parents making their small community in the Maryland mountains her true home. Adrian enjoyed going to work with her mother, appearing in her videos and learning enough to model her career after her mother’s. As Adrian’s career starts to take off, she receives death threats written as poems. These haunt her for years.

Legacy is a romantic thriller although the real appeal of this book is the relationships all the characters have with one another. When Adrian settles in Maryland, a large group of people provide love and support. This includes new and old friends, family and an old crush from childhood. They are there for one another during happy and sad times. When the threats to Adrian escalate and murders start to occur, this warm and folksy story revs up a bit to suspense mode. While it’s not too difficult to figure things out, it’s still entertaining.

Nora Robert knows her audience and this book should satisfy them as it did me.

You can never go wrong with a Nora Roberts read and once again she did not disappoint. The characters were well-rounded and engaging, the plot had enough suspense to balance out the family drama and the pacing was on point. The story kept you engage from cover to cover and I devoured it in one lengthy sitting with few interruptions! Like a good meal, it left me fully satiated, wanting to know what else is coming next.

When I received an early copy from Netgalley, I was thrilled. I’ve read Roberts’s books before, one romance series, and enjoyed the characters very much. I really wish I could say this book gave me the same enjoyment, but I cannot. The characters, Adrian and her friends, were wonderful and created a truly fantastic environment of love and acceptance. It was the pace of the story that I felt ruined things for me, a chapter would jump multiple years with just a sentence to explain. There is a suspense element with the serial killer stalking her for over a decade that just didn’t give me the edge-of-my-seat thrill it should have. I mean, there’s a guy stalking her for years and it takes years to a rise out of her? The flow of the story and the details seemed like it was written by an amateur, which she is obviously not, and I’m disappointed. My reviews are usually raving with giddy thoughts but I just wanted to finish it. I figured out the stalker early on but I just kept looking at the percentage left to read.

Legacy by Nora Roberts follows Adrian Rizzo from young girl to young woman. Adrian is a smart, strong character that knows early on what she wants in life and works hard for it. I enjoyed reading about her close ties to her grandparents and her grandparents hometown. I loved how relationships between many characters evolved throughout the story. There were many parts that seemed almost too idealistically perfect... But it was balanced well with mounting suspense and tension, and inevitable loss. I went through ALL of the emotions throughout this book and really enjoyed losing myself in the story.

I knew pretty much from the beginning who the killer was. I enjoyed the book because I like reading Nora Robert’s books but thought it was just another romantic mystery. There wasn’t enough action.

Thank you fpr the oppurtunity to revies this book.

This was my first Nora Roberts book and I read it because a friend told me so :)
I quickly realixed that there was a reason i hadn't done it before. This book was not to my taste bur I can understand and see why so many others love her.

I just finished reading an advanced copy of Legacy, by Nora Roberts thanks to NetGalley. I have been a fan of Nora Roberts for many years and this book lives up to her high standards.

We first meet Adrian and Raylan when they are kids. This is not a love from when they are kids book. They both have different paths that keep them out of each other’s orbit for many years. Their story takes a back seat to the rest of the story for more than half the book, so if you want a heavy romance, this isn’t it (but the romance you do get is very fulfilling.) This book is rich storytelling at its best. I don’t want to say more as I think it will give away the plot. Very enjoyable reading.

When you read a book by beloved author Nora Roberts you're pretty much guaranteed a great story, and this one is no exception. I read her last book The Awakening, and it turned out to be one of my favorite books ever. That was a fantasy romance; this time around we get an intriguing mystery/thriller. More than that, though, it was a lovely story of the love of family and friends.

Adrian Rizzo lived with her single mother Lina, a fitness superstar with popular exercise videos and clothing line. Adrian didn't meet her father until she was 7 years old; unfortunately, he tried to kill her at that time! Lina sent her to Maryland to spend the summer at the home of her beloved Nonna and Popi Rizzo where she could recover from the traumatic event; meanwhile, Lina toured the country building her businesses. A decade later Adrian is having success with her own yoga and fitness videos, doing it on her own without her mother's help; they aren't particularly close. Adrian begins to receive anonymous threatening poems yearly, but her mother thinks they are a side effect of Adrian's popularity. They follow her when she returns to live in Maryland; they are mailed from different places throughout the country, and now come more frequently. Adrian becomes reacquainted with Raylan Wells, on whom she had a childhood crush. Life is good...but then the murders begin.

The mystery/thriller aspect of this story was a lot of fun, but what I loved most was the friendships between those in Adrian's circle and the family relationships. Nonna and Popi, to me, were the glue that held everyone in town together. They owned a restaurant that was the center of their community. Raylan was a comic book author/artist with two adorable kids, and I loved his snark and humor. He had a nice romance with Adrian, though I enjoyed his romance with Lorilee more; it felt more real. Awesome dogs Sadie and Jasper had the sweetest and most fun romance of all. My favorite characters, though, were Adrian's dear friend Teesha, her husband Monroe and their lovable children, Phin and Thad. I'm sad to say my least favorite character was Adrian, our heroine. Maybe it's the couch potato in me, but she greatly irritated me. She was pushy about her friends' eating habits and what she thought their exercise routines should be. After seeing Raylan after years apart, she told him what he should eat and sent exercise videos and weights to his home. Raylan was charming as he was! The story could have been shorter by about 75 pages without losing any storyline, but I love big books and I cannot lie. Parts of the story had me bawling like a baby; that's always a sign of an engaging story! Now, how about the sequel to The Awakening?!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

OMG what a read! I was completely captivated from the beginning and I just couldn't put the book down until I read the last word with characters you want to be their friend, and an emotional and thrilling story about family, friendship and so much more that had me laughing, crying, sighing and on the edge of my seat. Nora Roberts knows best how to weave a compelling story that will keep her readers totally immersed in all that is happening from start to finish and is a master author. If you enjoy smartly written contemporary suspenseful romance, don't miss "Legacy". I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2021/05/21/legacy-by-nora-roberts/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from . This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

<strong>Legacy</strong> is more Life Fiction than Romantic Suspense to me.   It covers childhood to present in the main character's life, Adrian Rizzo.   She had some challenges with a detached single mom but luckily had supportive grandparents.   We get her thoughts as well as some others throughout the years.

Adrian is strong and smart; she knows herself and the life she wants to build.  She pursues it but with the circle of amazing friends and her grandparents.  She is kind, caring and hard-working.  Adrian never really has a serious relationship but she has a support group I envy.

The "suspense" revolves around a stalker who sends Adrian poems.  I could guess right away who this might be.  The details were interesting as they played out.

The romance was also clear to me from the start but life fiction is also about the journey.  All aspects of the story were predictable.  It is a longish book and the pacing felt rather slow at times.  I loved the characters and their connections.  Even the children were well developed characters.  <strong>Legacy</strong> is a heart-warming, comfortable read, not thrilling, which I enjoyed.

It wasn’t easy being Adrian Rizzo the daughter of billionaire exercise guru Lina Rizzo. Adrian spent most of her childhood with grandpa and grandma because Lina was too busy growing her exercise empire. When Adrian becomes an exercise wizard in her own right, she agrees to join her mother’s company as long as she can keep control of her product. Fame comes at a price and Adrian receives death threats almost from the very beginning. Mom and her company tell her to file it with the local police and FBI and then forget about it. Readers will be drawn into Adrian’s life as she falls for her childhood crush and experience her joy as her friends move to upstate New York to work for her and be out of the city. But the death threats keep coming once a year, every year. Finally, Adrian hires Rachel, a private investigator, who unravels the mystery and finds that the bodies are piling up. It turns out Adrian is in real danger. Sizzling with tension and simmering with all kinds of love; it doesn’t get any better than this. One of Nora’s best!!

If you are a reader of Nora Robert’s novels, you know some of her novels are better than others, but her ability to create believable characters never fails to satisfy. This is one of her better novels with a well-written story though a little slow in the suspense build. Legacy is an entertaining and enjoyable read.

Nora Roberts has written another great story with just the right amount of romance, action and mystery. All of the characters in this book were well written. The story has the most precocious children in it-they are adorable. I would love to have a dog like Sadie. I really enjoy a book that can actually make you feel like you are part of it and this one did that. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good book. To me it was a little different writing than she normally does. I would recommend this book.

You just know a book is going to be good when the first line is: The first time Adrian Rizzo met her father, he tried to kill her.
Legacy chronicles the life of Adrian from age 7 to present day. I rooted for her when she teamed up with the "nerds" at her new school to make her first exercise video and all the way through the book. Being famous isn't always as fun as we think it would be. Adrian sees this side of fame when she receives threatening poems every year and when they become fore frequent and dangerous.
A story of family, resilience, friends and community. Once again Nora Roberts does not disappoint.

Thank you to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance readers copy

Let me start out with saying I had a hard time getting into the story. That’s not saying I didn’t enjoy parts of it. It just seemed to lack something.
Adrian is the main character…..she is raised by her mother who definitely is not a lovey dovey type mother. Adrian ends up meeting her dad on the night he tries to kill her. Pretty dramatic right? The rest of the characters in the story are likeable in their own way. It just seems like everything comes way to easy to all of them.
Overall, the book will hold your interest and has many enjoyable aspects to it.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

Nora Roberts is an absolute master of her craft. When I pick up a book written by her I know I'm going to be thoroughly entertained. And this is no exception. I sat down to read a few pages...and continued to read until I was done (who cares if I had other things I needed to do). There's love and loss and danger and romance and how our family can help us or hinder us.
Legacy is pure entertainment. I highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor.

Nora Roberts never ceases to amaze me - or capture my undivided attention when reading one of her books.

Legacy is another gripping novel I found impossible to put down pretty much from the first page. I blasted through this book in a little over a day and still, days later, am thinking about it.

The characters are well done, I found a bit of Eve Dallas beats in Adrian (but in a good way!). I loved the story of everyone - especially Raylan's story and most of all, the Rizzos. LOVED them. Cannot also go without mentioning the epic love story of Jasper and Sadie. MY HEART. Can we have a mini book just about them?

If you're looking for a great book to lose yourself into this summer this is it!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review

Bit of a literary irony in LEGACY by Nora Roberts. We are drawn into a, what appears to be on the surface, lovely family drama of sorts. Kind of parent child competition. Adrian’s childhood had been an unscripted array of events evolving around her very successful mother Lina. Adrian had all the requisite creature comforts minus a nurturing mother. That role was taken on by nanny Mimi and at time Lina’s parents the Rizzos.
Nora Robert completely envelopes the story in a somewhat cozy cloak of family and friends and when you least expect it drama.
You might want to call that the legacy of Nora Roberts – no pun intended – and so the title of her latest hit novel being LEGACY is ironic. Fans of this amazingly prolific author will grin at the unexpected turn the story takes. Ah Nora Roberts at her creative literary best. In short, expect the unexpected, after all this is LEGACY by the one and only Nora Roberts.
Dilemma. Just what should a reviewer include in a review. My practice is less is more so I will not give away very much of the plotline. The characters in LEGACY take on a life of their own. Adrian is smart, creative and somewhat as driven as her mother Lina. The irony is that Lina’s drive had very much to do with their ultimate lifestyle and although there were definite moments when you could feel the pain of being second place it appears as if Adrian has taken a page right out of her mothers’ playbook.
Adrian is extraordinarily intelligent and lovely. Her friendship with the three nerds, their own descriptions of themselves, has developed into something quite amazing. They pool their intellectual and creative talents and create a product that propels them all into a new world.
Success follows but then public scrutiny intrudes. Not all fans are good people. The world is full of dangerous souls that feed on the success and notoriety of those in the public eye.
LEGACY is about becoming the subject of a crazed fan so to speak. And that is when this lovely story takes an abrupt lane change thanks to the genius of Nora Roberts.

As per true Nora Roberts style, "Legacy" did not disappoint. It offered strong characters with lots of development, well-fleshed out and diverse supporting cast, a slow-burn romance, and suspenseful action. I'm always happy to sit down with a Nora Roberts book because I am confident that I will have an enjoyable weekend of satisfied reading.