The Heirloom was an interesting story about trust, loss and secrets. We all have a quirk or two. Shea has a list of MUSTS (or are they Must not's) that need to exist in order for a relationship to work (in her own mind of course). Call them superstitions if you like or call them crutches, which is how I saw them as the story went along. I loved the idea of chasing down the provenance of the ring to the extent that she could put her fear (superstition) at rest. I loved hearing the history of the ring as they went along with their sleuthing. I even enjoyed the final thought behind the ring. Shea, herself, baffled me a bit because I often found her selfish and childish to an extent. At one point, I was thinking that John could do better. In the end, the author brought me a story I could say I liked even if the main character wasn't my favorite.

he Heirloom by Jessie Rosen
This was such a great book. Thank you to @netgalley for the early release. This book was published yesterday.
Shea's boyfriend John proposes to her and it should be a momentous occasion. One big problem is that he knows that she has a fear of heirloom rings, and that is what he has chosen for her ring. Her Italian grandmother instilled a strong superstitious streak in her, and the only way she feels she can accept this ring is to research its owner. This journey takes her to Italy, Spain, Boston, and New York. Along the way, she learns a lot about herself and what she thinks love to be and finds out love really is!
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Shea Anderson was raised with a Nonna who filled her with superstitions. When John proposed to Shea he presented her with an heirloom ring. Unfortunately, she had made it clear to him that heirloom rings were one of her greatest fears because Nonna believed they may hold bad karma if the previous owner was not in a happy relationship. Shea fears that the ring could affect her own relationship and sets off to discover the history of the ring. The previous owner’s daughter can not help her but suggests a trip to Italy, where her aunt may know more. From Italy to Portugal and back to New York, Shea discovers that the ring had three previous owners and discovers each of their stories. She is accompanied by her sister Annie and Graham, a young reporter who hopes to write a story of the search. As they travel together, Shea begins to question her relationship with John and becomes closer to Graham. John’s patience is wearing thin and Shea can not understand why he would give her an heirloom when she had previously expressed her feelings about the superstition.

Shea and Annie were raised by their mother after she finally divorced their alcoholic father. As they search for the ring’s history, Shea considers the engagement ring that her mother continued to wear until her death. When Shea and Annie finally discover the reason, Shea understands the importance of both her mother’s ring and the heirloom, but it may be too late for John to accept her explanation. Jessie Rosen presents a story of self-understanding and growth. There are some memorable characters and humor, but there are also some dark moments. It is a story of love and forgiveness that kept me turning the pages. I would like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for providing this book.

The story was interesting. I thought Shea was a bit flighty but her insistence on learning the history of the heirloom ring provided an intriguing story to unwind. The journey that she then follows is full of interesting characters. Their stories are full of all kinds of emotions. Shea has her demons to overcome from her past and chasing the ring lead her to finding a way forward. I enjoyed the story and thought it was put together well. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I loved the premise. I was hooked from the beginning. I just didn’t understand searching for the ring’s history as a reason as to whether her marriage was going to be successful or not. It was so hard to wrap my mind around someone picking up and going to Italy to understand what the ring meant for someone else and where this person was in their relationship to give up a ring. I will say the description of her travel was beautiful.

I was grateful to receive this arc. You are following a female mc who receives a heirloom that she tries to find the history of it. While she is trying to find the history of this heirloom her friends and family challenge her along her journey. I look forward to reading more by this author.

THE HEIRLOOM by Jessie Rosen is the story of a young woman who says yes to the proposal, "not so sure" about the heirloom ring that comes with it. Relying on her Nonna's warnings about heirloom rings, Shea investigates the history of the ring, uncovering mysteries, surprises, and twists and turns of fate. While parts of the story were slow-going, once I was in, I was totally in, enjoying watching this curious woman refuse to accept anyone's assurances for her, for her life, for what makes for a good life. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.

i liked the way the author described the beautiful places and things Shea was seeing. i liked that it brought my mind to the country to experience another culture. but who in their right mind would go to another country to find the story about their engagement ring. really? dnf around 65%

This book was a secret sleeper hit for me. I was going through a bit of a slump and I thought the premise sounded kind of silly, but I decided to give it a shot and I’m so glad I did. This story is absolutely lovely. The way the main character is portrayed and grows through the story is compelling and wonderful, and I loved her from the first chapter. The plot itself is full of humor and heartwarming moments and self discovery, and I easily got lost in it. I highly recommend checking this out!

Thank you to GP Putnam and Sons and Netgalley for this ARC. The Heirloom is out today!

4.5/5 stars

I mostly liked this book but struggled to relate to the “superstitious” beliefs of the main character. The plot twists in the middle made me rethink if I was still reading because I was enjoying it or just finishing to finish it

What started off as a little slow and difficult for me to connect to turned into a story that I just couldn’t put down. Seriously, once I got into it, I stayed up until the sun came up to finish it. It’s a simultaneously joyful and heartbreaking story of a young woman in a journey of discovery when her fiance proposes with an heirloom ring, one that’s she’s been warned by her grandmother not to accept based on superstition as well as one she doesn’t know the history behind. So she heads off first to NYC from LA with her sister and an unwanted journalistic-researched in tow as she works to get to the bottom of the story about the ring and all the women before her that wore it. Following clues she comes across in NY, she heads to Italy and Portugal to meet these women and get their stories. Along the way, she learns some hard truths about herself and her own past. Her quest for the truth she’s hoping for drives a wedge between her and both her sister and her fiance, while simultaneously drawing her closer to her travel companion. Torn, she begins to question everything - her past and future, and whether she even deserves a happy end after all. I could see how many other readers got frustrated and DNFed all around the same point in the book, but sticking with it when it got a little uncomfortable had a such a huge payoff for me that it was totally worth it.

Though the story is built around a romantic proposal and a stunning engagement ring, The Heirloom isn’t a sweet, predictable romance. It’s challenging and unexpected—a moving story of understanding the past and healing old wounds in order to embrace the future.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.

I’ve been excited for this book for months. The premise sounded like the perfect summer read. I was expecting picturesque ocean villages, and a little dose of self-reflection, sprinkled in with romance and pasta. Maybe a little Mama Mia meets a Carley Fortune book. Unfortunately, once the story gets going, the only thing I enjoyed was the setting. It’s mostly about grief and our MC, Shea never redeemed herself in my opinion. Her behavior goes well beyond superstitious and felt more selfish or even narcissistic. (Also, I felt like she mentioned she’s from California or LA a lot. An unnecessary amount. I didn’t understand if this was a brag or ??? ) I’m really bummed this story went the way it did- it could have been great.
2.5 ⭐️
Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this advanced copy, in exchange for my unbiased review!

This book was a lot of things, part zany romp through the Italy, Portugal, Boston and LA; part rom-com; part self-discovery with a lot of super dark undertones. All in all, I liked the storyline, and the rich settings and interesting side characters were enough to keep things fun. For me, though, the main characters fell somewhat flat and unrelatable. I would like to see this made into a movie!

Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy!

Shea and John had been in a relationship for a couple of years and when John finally proposed to Shea it was with an heirloom ring. Shea’s grandma had superstitions and passed them onto Shea. When she first met John she told him she didn’t ever want an heirloom engagement ring because it could bring bad luck. Unfortunately, she took off to find the previous owner of the ring and took her to Italy and then back to Boston. Graham was a writer and he joined Shea and her sister Anne to look for the previous owner to get a great article. Not only one owner but others and to see what if any did it bring bad luck? But could Shea be falling for Graham? I wanted to keep reading because I wanted to see where Shea went with her life.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am waving this review voluntarily.

I loved the travel in this book, but it did fall a little flat for me. Some of the characters issues just seemed a bit too dramatic for me. Some of the conflict felt a bit unnecessary, with that being said, I did read this pretty quickly. It kept me engaged and turning pages, I just was over the drama at some points. The ending did make everything worth it, it felt like the absolute perfect ending. I love when a book comes full circle like this one!

I was really enjoying this book until about the halfway mark, after that it became kind of repetitive and tedious to read. I blasted through the first half in just a few hours and then struggled to pick up the book and rad more than just a couple pages at a time during the second half. I found myself skimming to get to the finish line. The ending was decent however and that does make up for the second half a bit.

This is an incredible story of a journey of self-discovery. Shea is proposed to, however, it's with an heirloom ring that causes Shea to start a journey through different parts of the world to learn the original story of the ring.

I loved the way this author described the places that Shea was visiting. Everything felt so real and alive. I also love the idea of the story. Something that I found relatable while still feeling like a very new idea.


Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and Jessie Rosen for the advanced copy of The Heirloom!

The Heirloom follows Shea during her proposal and subsequent adventure to find out the history of the ring she received from her fiance John. The story was very captivating, and it kept my interest for the duration of the book. Shea's Italian heritage and resulting superstitions were fun to explore while she went on her adventure.

I didn't really enjoy the ending as much as I would've liked to. I felt like the author tried to wrap everything up into a neat little bow, but it's impossible to do that with the events of the book.

If you are really superstitious, this might be the book for you but I found myself thinking the main character was sabotaging herself and her relationship. I was so frustrated and the ending was not satisfying, for me at least. Hope you have better luck!

The Heirloom comes out tomorrow on March 7, 2024 and you can purchase HERE.

. . . I am superstitious about many things, but most important among them is heirloom jewelry. I don't like it. I don't trust it. So if someone was to propose to me with an heirloom engagement ring, I would say no."
"What's an heirloom engagement ring?" John asked.
"An antique ring you buy at a vintage jewelry store that was previously worn by an unknown woman in an unknown marriage."
"And what is there to be superstitious about?”
"Bad karma. I believe the ring carries the energy of the previous wearers' marriages."
"And then what? Gives it to you?"
"Exactly!" His quick grasp of the concept was reassuring.
"Okay, but why?" John asked.
"I'm not one hundred percent sure. In my mind the energy needs to move and so it sort of jumps-" John laughed. "No, I mean, why do you believe this?"
"Oh. Because of my nonna. She was the queen of superstitions. No shoes on the table, no owls in the house, if you gift someone a knife you have to also gift a penny. But her rules around marriage were legendary."