The Mirror picks up right where The Inheritance left off, and I was so excited to dive back into this world that Nora Roberts created.

Unfortunately, this book suffered the curse of trilogies. While the plot and characters intrigued me, I couldn't help but be distracted by the pacing. The pacing was unbearably slow. It felt like forever for anything to happen and gave way too many details about things I could care less about.

The premise is so intriguing and has so much potential, but for me, The Mirror just fell flat. I missed the chemistry, creepy vibes, and overall tension. I missed what captivated me and made me fall in love with The Inheritance.

While The Mirror left me unsatisfied, I'm still glad to have given it a chance. I'm invested enough that I'll most likely read the final book in the Lost Bride series. I need answers, resolution, and some steam would be great too.

Just when you think the story can't get any better, Nora Roberts create book 2 in a trilogy that you can't put down. I listened to this audiobook in just a few days, I couldn't stop listening and wondering how they will be able to save all the wives and kept Sonya and the gang safe? I love how Nora creates a sense of community in her stories with characters you care about and want to hear more of their life and history. I can't wait until the final book in this series.

I absolutely loved the first book in “The Lost Bride Trilogy” — “Inheritance” ended with an expected cliffhanger and I am so delighted to catch up with Sonya’s quest to break the curse of the seven tragic brides of the definitely haunted mansion.

“The Mirror” picks up where “Inheritance” left off, so my advice would be to read the first book and then enjoy the extension of the tale in this one. Trey, Cleo, Owen are back to support Sonya and they have named and taunted the black witch responsible for the curse, Hester Dobbs, who angrily resides in the manor’s “Gold Room.” The collective thought is that they need to find the seven stolen wedding rings from each bride, and the mysterious magical mirror assists Poole family members (Sonya and Owen) to pass through time to witness the tragic wedding receptions.

I must admit that Nora Roberts’ extensive playlist (overseen by the 6th ghost bride, Clover), that communicates ghostly thoughts via ringtones was always a delight. We really could use a Poole genealogy chart in these books (although that would probably mean spoilers….). And by this volume, we’re getting used to the ghostly maid Molly who guides Sonya and Cleo’s fashion choices as well as ghost kid Jack who plays ball with Yoda the dog. There’s a mix of delightful vignettes and terrifying encounters, but the story does lag midway — we get to participate in many meals, oil paintings, business presentations, and the building of a spectacular doghouse. It’s a problem common with the middle book of a trilogy, but since there are seven brides, the story is necessarily lengthy in order to witness each victim’s fate.

Nonetheless, I love this book and I cannot wait for the third and final one — which I hope is published in 2025. 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Our main character, Sonya, has green eyes. In fact, the Poole family is recognized by their green eyes. Cleo’s new cat, Pyewacket, also has the Poole green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But, yay! Xena, the African violet, is back and doesn’t mind living and thriving in a haunted house. Cleo and Sonya’s gardening skills are just-so, plus A+ for enthusiasm.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy!

I can't believe I have to wait again! I mistakenly thought that this was the last book, but there is one more and now I have to wait. I am still loving all of the characters and the manor that is just as alive as the characters in the novel and I will now be not so patiently waiting for the third book and finding out how and if they get rid of Dobbs and get the 7 rings back.

In this second book of THE LOST BRIDE trilogy, Sonya McTavish is living in a beautiful mansion she inherited in Maine, along with her friend Cleo and an assortment of ghosts, because the gorgeous home holds a lot of haunted secrets. And not all of the ghosts are friendly. There is one horrible witch who has killed seven brides on their wedding day. Sonya finds an enchanted mirror and is able to travel back to those murders to try and stop her.

The magical realism works very well in this story. Nora Roberts does a great job of making the house come alive with magic and sometimes evil. The backstories of the ghosts and of Sonya herself are intriguing. This wasn't marketed as horror, but does have some horror elements and sometimes gets a little dark for my personal taste, but overall this is a wonderful second book in the series. It ends on a cliffhanger, but the third book of the trilogy is coming.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

The Inheritance was one of my favorite books of 2023 and I was so excited to see The Mirror available to review. The Mirror leaves off right where The Inheritance ended with Sonya and Owen going into the mirror where Sonya sees a glimpse of the past and the murder of a bride on her wedding day. The bride's wedding ring torn from her finger. After returning from the mirror, Sonya is determined to find a way to break the curse of the Lost Bride Manor.

The audiobooks for this series is amazing. Brittany Pressley does a phenomenal job in giving each character their unique presence in these books. Her narration brings another level to this already amazing series. Although The Mirror was slower in pacing than the first book, it gave a lot of background to the previous brides of the manor and the curse. It also did a great job in building the story up for what I am hoping is a fantastic conclusion to this series. I am so excited to see what is next for these characters.

The Mirror is available November 19th.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio for the opportunity to review The Mirror. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*The Mirror* drew me in with its eerie atmosphere and the allure of dark family secrets. The mansion on the Maine coast was the perfect setting, blending the supernatural with a sense of history, making Sonya’s discoveries feel haunting and inevitable. I loved how the tension built with every door slam and ghostly vision, and the cursed mirror added a layer of mystery that kept me hooked.

Despite this, I found myself yearning for a shift in perspective at times. A new or different POV would have injected fresh energy and made the narrative more dynamic. It added a bit more zest, especially when the story lingered on certain details. However, the journey into the past was utterly captivating, and unravelling the curse was chilling and deeply satisfying.

I’m very late in this review. Unfortunately at the same time I was sent this arc, my dad ended up in the hospital. Two brain surgeries (one being emergent), almost lost him and almost 40 days later he was able to come home.

Anyways, I am absolutely in love with this trilogy. It has the perfect magical setting for an October read. The characters are incredible, and I definitely need a Molly in my life!! I’m so excited for what book 3 will bring.

Finally, the second book in this series and it didn’t disappoint! I love the Maine coast setting and Nora Roberts brings the mansion to life with her wonderful descriptions. The evil ghost in the mansion continues to raise a ruckus while the good ghosts make life easier and fun. Cleo and Owen start to become a couple and Sonya and Trey’s love grows stronger. I loved it and can’t wait to read the conclusion.

Absolutely amazing series. I savour this series as I am so sad when I hit the end. These characters are like no other. They are so beautifully brought to life. The story line flows wonderfully. This has a little suspense and mystery, epic supernatural storylines and the most amazing relationships playing out. Where else can you read a heartwarming book about family and friends in a unique atmosphere but also have a serious ghost story and haunting going on. No where! This is one of the best series of all time.
The only critique I have is the second book picks up literally as a continuation of the first and with almost a year between books it took me a bit for everything to come back to memory

Plot: The Mirror picks up where Inheritance left off, with Sonya and Owen through said mirror. And that's all I'm going to say about the plot because I don't want to spoil y'all for anything since this is the second book in the series!

What I Loved: I'm really obsessed with Nora's paranormals. I love the way she crafts characters. This is, however, a book you need to pick up when you're definitely ready for the way Nora Roberts does slow and soft interspersed with intense paranormal moments. There's a party being planned in this book and there is so much party planning, while you're also dealing with Dobbs stuff (ghost). What's killing me about this is that I want to be able to binge the entire trilogy, but as I'm reading them technically before they even come out, that's not really possible. But honestly, such a good time!

Who I Would Recommend The Mirror To: Well, first of all, people who've already read and enjoyed Inheritance, obviously. But more seriously, someone who wants a cozy spooky read. Basically, if you like getting to really see someone's day to day life and you want a realistic feeling slow-building romance, I would definitely recommend this trilogy. I'm honestly so excited to reread this one via audio when it comes out!

A wonderful followup to the first book in the series. Ms Robert's 2nd book is stronger than the first, filling in holes from the initial tome. Multiple characters come into better focus, creating new depth, and the friendship between the two main females feels genuine and warm. The leap from acquaintances to lovers seems a bit abrupt, but perhaps that's because the story occasionally skips past chunks of time in which the relationship could grow. As always, Ms Roberts has another winner.

I loved "Inheritance" the first book in this trilogy, and was really excited for the second book. It has a lot of great parts with a little bit of filler. That said I am invested in the story, and looking forward to the final book.

Very little plot progress occurs.

I am not exaggerating when I say that the overwhelming majority of the book is dedicated to the main characters cooking and eating dinner together, along with a bizarrely specific audit of each time the dogs or cat were let outside to poop. If you were to somehow remove all of the scenes or sentences that were solely devoted to people eating or animals pooping, the book would be 1/4 as long.

4.25 – 4.5 STARS

In this second installment to Nora Roberts’ Lost Brides Trilogy, “The Mirror” picks up right where the first book left readers hanging. Though I am still fully invested in this unique and captivating saga--as well as the characters I’ve come to know and love--I am somewhat disappointed in the story’s slow and often times tedious progression. The repetitiveness and lack of conciseness only serves to further drag things along. Truly, I think this story could have been better told as a duet rather than a trilogy. That said, this suspenseful, supernatural romance has me hopelessly hooked, and I wait with bated breath for the rest of this spellbinding story to finally play out.

Thank you @stmartinspress @netgalley for my gifted digital copy. My thoughts are my own.

This book continues the story of Sonya MacTavish, who inherits a beautiful mansion on the coast of Maine, only to discover that there is a deadly ghost story attached to the house that involves seven brides, murdered over time, and their missing wedding rings.

Sonya falls in love with the mansion and sets about restoring it to its former glory. In the first book, 𝙄𝙣𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, Sonya meets and begins falling in love with Trey, a local lawyer. Her best friend, Cleo, a free-spirited artist moves in with her. Sonya is determined that no ghost will keep her from enjoying her home, and when an antique mirror suddenly appears, Sonya feels led to step through it!

While the first book contains more suspense and ghostly visits, the second book concentrates more on Sonya and Cleo as they focus on making the old mansion a home. I enjoyed the descriptions of the home, and the strong sense of family, friendship, and love that is built into the story. Though there are ghostly visions, no real progress is made toward finding the missing rings. The second book, like the first, ends with a cliffhanger. I recommend that you read the first book, before enjoying the second book.

Narrator Brittany Pressley did a lot of heavy lifting for this book. So many uncommon dialects/accents, and she flowed so seamlessly from one to the next. Hopefully she’ll have more to work with for the third book in the trilogy - the substance in this second book was the epitome of filler, unfortunately. If I had to hear about one more meal prep or movie night… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for the narration, ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for content.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.

This is the 2nd book in the Lost Bride trilogy. The first book 𝙄𝙣𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 was one of my top books of last year so I jumped at the chance to start this one.

Sonya has inherited a mansion in Maine that is haunted with the ghosts of brides who have died in the house on their wedding day. Sonya is trying to break the curse set upon the house in order to free the spirits.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
I have mixed thoughts about this book. I found it to being an engaging read overall and I enjoyed the use of the mirror to get to know more of the past generations of Poole family members and their back stories. I also love the friendship between Sonya and Cleo – both strong women not afraid to speak their minds.

However, this was a slower paced book compared to the first, and I was somewhat disappointed that the main storyline involving the cursed brides and the antagonist, Hester Dobbs did not really move forward. Dobbs is such a polarizing character but she was very repetitive in her behavior and I was looking for more from this character. There was also a lot of detail given about mundane activities such as cooking dinner and what each character was working on. The book could have definitely been paired down to make a more concise read.

Despite this not being the strongest book, I do plan to continue the series as Robert’s is a trusted author for me and I look forward to how it will all come together!

The long awaited sequel to inheritance! This is listed as a trilogy so I knew to not expect full answers going in. I am VERY impatiently awaiting the last book in this series and the answers to it all!

The Mirror picks up exactly where Inheritance left off. There is a ton of character development in Sonja, and Cleo, who is my favorite! There is nothing in this life like a Nora Robert’s Trilogy. I absolutely can not wait a year for the next installment