Member Review

Legacy by Nora Roberts is a novel involving Lina and Adrian Rizzo. When Adrian is seven years old, she meets her father for the first time when he arrives at their home angry and drunk. He ends up injuring Adrian, Lina, and Lina’s friend, Mimi before his death. This violence jump starts Legacy. I thought Legacy was contained good writing with relatable characters. I liked the mystery portion of the story. While it is easy to identify the guilty party, it gave the story more depth and interest. I did feel that Legacy was more women’s fiction than romantic suspense, mystery, or thriller. The story centers around the relationship between Lina and her daughter, Adrian. Lina is a woman lacking in maternal instinct. She does, though, have great business acumen which propels her to create an empire. Lina’s life and actions shape Adrian’s life (her goals and relationships). There are some great secondary characters. I loved Adrian’s grandparents. They were such sweet, loving people who lived in a charming town. I also liked Adrian’s “nerdy” friends: Hector, Teesha, and Loren. Adrian and her friends developed a special friendship that evolved into so much more. I did feel the story was too long with 435 pages. The story became bogged down in places with too many details. I enjoy descriptive writing, but I felt this went a bit overboard. The story could have easily been edited down. I was turned off by the foul language (there is so much of it). Even a ten year old uses foul language. Nora Roberts, at one time, never used this type of language in her stories. I did feel the story lacked suspense (for a romantic suspense). While Legacy had some good parts, I felt this story missed the mark. This will not, though, keep from reading this author’s books especially since I have been reading them since I was a teenager. I appreciated the ending which nicely wrapped up the story. Legacy is an interesting tale with yoga poses, ominous poems, fine friends, a motivated mother, gracious grandparents, nutritious noshes, and an alarming menace.