Legacy

2.5 rounded up bc it's Nora. I found this boring unfortunately and never felt the connection between the couple. They felt like friends

3.5. This is a heartfelt story that celebrates small town living and the beauty of a thriving community and of flourishing lifelong friendships and familial relationships. Adrian Rizzo, raised in New York by her fitness entrepreneur mother returns back to her grandparents rural home in adulthood to support her grandparents. A thriving businesswoman herself, it seems like she will spin her new relocation into a new career angle and make lemonade from life's lemons. However she has never addressed a traumatic incident that happened in her childhood and when she receives threatening mail from an anonymous sender, she wonders whether her past is coming back to haunt her.

This book has a satisfying romantic subplot and also is a very positive and upbeat story with a compelling thriller plot line. I really enjoyed the interactions between Adrian and her grandfather and the romance between the two neighbouring dogs. A well plotted, sincere novel both compelling and compassionate.

Thanks to Little Brown UK, the author Nora Roberts and NetGalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The romance and suspense were not integrated well; the crime was basically solved by a PI and a bunch of cops who appeared near the end of the book, although the final show down between the Big Bad and the heroine took place as expected. I enjoyed learning about the hero's profession (superhero graphic novel artist) but it felt unrealistic that both he and the heroine climbed their respective ladders of success without any challenges or setbacks.

Oh well, it's Nora Roberts, you know what you're getting. The dogs were cute, and the house porn was not unbearable (YMMV if you are an HGTV fan, but sometimes Nora's obvious love of houses and decorating bores me to tears).