🎧 ALC REVIEW 🎧

Thank you @macmillan.audio for an early listening copy of The Seven Rings by Nora Roberts. I received an advance listening copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Narrator/s: Brittany Pressley
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Release date: November 18th, 2025

Blurb: Nora Roberts wraps up The Lost Bride Trilogy with a suspenseful and eerie finale in The Seven Rings, deepening the mystery while maintaining the intrigue of the earlier books. The trilogy masterfully blends romance, the paranormal, and just the right touch of creepiness. It’s a series so compelling, I know I’ll return to it again and again.

🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑

What. A. Ride. Nora Roberts delivers a thrilling and spine-chilling conclusion to The Lost Bride Trilogy with The Seven Rings. This final installment dives deeper into the lore, unearthing more secrets while still leaving room for hunches and suspense, much like the first two books.

We follow Sonya, a true Poole by blood and the rightful mistress of The Lost Bride manor, as she boldly reclaims the estate by rearranging rooms, restoring life and purpose to each space. Her efforts to make the manor her own stir the rage of Dobbs, a malevolent witch who once laid false claim to the estate and murdered seven brides across generations. The more Sonya asserts her presence, the more Dobbs unravels, her anger intensifying with every act of defiance.

As the ghosts, especially the lost brides, gain strength and begin to manifest more clearly, hope grows. Sonya, Trey, Cleo, and Owen start to believe that they can finally end Dobbs’s reign and break the curse binding the manor’s spirits. The novel beautifully showcases the power of love and unity in the face of evil, with the group’s unwavering friendship at its core.

Though The Seven Rings makes for a fantastic finale, the pacing lagged a bit in the first half, similar to the earlier books, and the ending, while slightly rushed, was still satisfying and emotionally rewarding. I especially loved the slow-burn romance between Sonya and Trey. Trey is the epitome of a green flag, steady, caring, and exactly the kind of grounding presence Sonya needed amidst the chaos. His calm nature and unwavering support made him the perfect partner for her.

Cleo and Owen also deserve praise, they were Sonya’s rocks, always ready to face whatever Dobbs threw their way. And the other manor residents, both living and spectral, were just as endearing, especially Clover, who communicates through music and brings a special charm to the story. The good spirits in the house feel like quiet guardians, adding warmth to an otherwise eerie setting.

I also have to highlight the audiobook experience, Brittany Pressley gave life to Sonya and every other character in such a vivid and engaging way. She’s by far one of my favorite narrators, and her performance made my re-read of this book even more enjoyable than the first time I read the ARC.

The Lost Bride Trilogy is an unforgettable blend of mystery, romance, the paranormal, and just the right amount of creepiness. I’ve already reread the first two books multiple times, and now that I’ve finished the last, I know this is a series I’ll come back to again and again.

Another great conclusion to a fab series!!
Gosh… I’m gonna miss Lost Bride Manor 🤧

We’re back again w/ our favorite Sims 🤍 That’s their vibe to me lmfao. Just creating art, making love, & decorating an old manor… All whilst facing off a bitter old witch who got curved centuries ago.

Cleo & Clover are def my MVP. Cleo’s like— The epitome of a Best Friend & Clover is the world’s greatest DJ lmfaoo. And the way everyone found their love. This just had me gushing fr ‘cause yk what’s coming, literally had me screaming— I was at the edge of my seat.

*Sigh. This was such a fun story. And the way it connected w/ the seasons - months in real life? I just felt all the vibes. I can see why my Mom loves Nora Robert’s books so much now lol!!
*The women in my family all read Nora, so her books just always feel like home 🤍 Esp this one!!
Brittany Pressley absolutely nailed this again. I’m gonna miss her narration even more now lol.

Overall, this series will give you romance, camaraderie between best friends, found family of ghosts, some mystery w/ a bit of thrills, that niche feeling to want to decorate your house w/ antiques, & the power to stand against generational curses!!

I absolutely loved the first two books in “The Lost Bride Trilogy” — both “Inheritance” and “The Mirror” ended with cliffhangers, so I am delighted to catch up with Sonya’s quest to break the curse of the seven tragic brides of the definitely haunted mansion, Lost Bride Manor. You need to read these books all in order — “The Seven Rings” has a rich backstory, and is not the best standalone novel.

Trey, Cleo, Owen are back to support Sonya and they are still taunting the black witch responsible for the curse, Hester Dobbs, who angrily resides in the manor’s “Gold Room.” There’s a magical mirror that allows Poole descendants Sonya and her cousin Owen time travel to the moments that each of the seven brides experience their fatal movements, caused by Hester. The collective thought is that they need to find the seven stolen wedding rings from each bride to banish Dobbs so we still need to “witness” the robbery of two more brides. With every discovery, there’s the revelation of a bridal portrait as well, with their rings sometimes disappearing from the paintings.

Nora Roberts’ extensive playlist (overseen by the 6th ghost bride, Clover), that communicates ghostly thoughts via ringtones or distant music was always a delight (too bad the audiobook couldn’t get the rights to dozens of songs mentioned). In the previous volume, we’ve gotten accustomed to the spectral maid Molly who guides Sonya and Cleo’s fashion choices as well as ghost kid Jack who plays ball with Yoda the dog. This book also continues to develop a close family of friends as the four main characters have ghostly encounters interspersed with multiple meals, moving furniture from room to room, interior design decisions, everyday work projects, and drinking Coke (Coke count: “Inheritance” 18, “The Mirror” 29, and I lost count on The Seven Rings because it was an audiobook!). The action does lag a bit as we wait for the final confrontation between Sonja and Hester over the return of the seven rings.

Brittany Pressley is the perfect narrator for the trilogy. She brings Sonja the optimist to life and performs Cleo with sultry sarcasm. I came to feel that this was a “cozy” mystery of sorts and Pressley’s narration added a lot of the coziness. 5 stars!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): YES Definitely. That’s the entire Poole family plus Pyewacket the cat have green eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO But wait, did I miss the update on Xena, the African violet?

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an advanced audio copy!

I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley as an audiobook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and were not affected by the free copy.

We've seen how they were murdered, now it's time for Sonya to get justice for the lost brides of the manor and end Hester Dobb's regin for good.

This is a solid wrap up to the series. Nora stuck with her cozy vibess, this never really turned into the thriller it could have been. For me, I enjoyed the coziness, but I understand it's not for everyone. There was one bit in particular that really irked me. The group (Sonya, Cleo, Trey, and Owen) were discussing the hauntings and someone said it was like a puzzle they had to solve. Except for the entire series, they never really worked on solving that puzzle! All they did was live their day-to-day lives, experience a memory, talk about the memory, then move on. Occassionally they would look through a room to see if they could find the rings, but then they would find a bunch of cool furniture, and suddenly we are rearranging rooms AGAIN. The actual puzzle solving didn't happen until the last 10% of this book, which was when all of the action happened. The ending felt mildly rushed, which after such a long, slow burn, drawn out plot, let me down a little.

However, I did really enjoy this book, and this series, overall. I might reread it in the future, if I'm craving a low stakes, cute cozy-esque read. Also, if Nora were to publish a cookbook of Cleo and Bree's recipes, I would definitely read it.

The conclusion to The Lost Bride Trilogy.
Skipping a synopsis because this is a trilogy, not a series. You need to read the first two books.

I always enjoy Nora Roberts's books. They have been automatic reads for decades. This was not my favorite. I stand by that The Inheritance was the best of the trilogy. The next two books just felt repetitive. And there is not a lot of mystery- you pretty much knew what was going to happen, you just had to wait for it to actually happen.

Any Nora Roberts fan will enjoy this. Nearly anyone would enjoy it- her writing is always good. But it just won't make it in my favorites column.

Brittany Pressley narrates the entire trilogy.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nora Roberts is one of my favorites. Her latest book, The Seven Rings was a great listen. It’s available later this fall.