Legacy: A Novel

By Nora Roberts

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts presents Legacy, a new novel of a mother and a daughter, of ambition and romance, and of a traumatic past reawakened by a terrifying threat…

Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her—before her mother, Lina, stepped in.

Soon after, Adrian was dropped off at her grandparents’ house in Maryland, where she spent a long summer drinking lemonade, playing with dogs, making a new best friend—and developing the stirrings of a crush on her friend’s ten-year-old brother. Lina, meanwhile, traveled the country promoting her fitness brand and turning it into a billion-dollar business. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

A decade later, Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos, following in Lina’s footsteps but intent on maintaining creative control. And she’s just as cool-headed and ambitious as her mother. They aren’t close, but they’re cordial—as long as neither crosses the other.

But while Lina dismisses the death threats that Adrian starts getting as a routine part of her daughter’s growing celebrity, Adrian can’t help but find the vicious rhymes unsettling. Year after year, they keep arriving—the postmarks changing, but the menacing tone the same. They continue after she returns to Maryland and becomes reacquainted with Raylan, her childhood crush, all grown up and as gorgeously green-eyed as ever. Sometimes it even seems like the terrifying messages are indeed routine, like nothing will come of them. Until the murders start, and the escalation begins…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250272942

Nora Roberts

Die preisgekrönte Schriftstellerin sitzt jeden Tag acht Stunden am Schreibtisch. Inzwischen sind mehr als 242 Romane geschrieben, die weltweit regelmäßig auf den Bestsellerlisten landen. Vom New Yorker wurde sie zu »Amerikas Lieblingsautorin« ernannt. Auch in Deutschland erfreut sich Nora Roberts einer großen Fangemeinde. Sie lebt mit ihrem Ehemann in Maryland.

Reviews for Legacy

[marquis784-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This review is my voluntary and unbiased opinion. “power to do good, is the true and lawful end of aspiring.” Sir Francis BaconA tumultuous and disturbing story about unconventional families and struggles to maintain safety and resilience. It might be a trigger for those sensitive to stories involving domestic abuse, serial killers and mass shootings. “Some people leave a legacy of goodness behind them.”In Georgetown, Adrian Rizzo has only known an unconventional family environment moving several times since age 7 with her mother, Lina Rizzo and her friend, Mimi. They have lived in LA, Chicago or Miami where she was homeschooled by Mimi as Lina focused on building her company, Yoga Baby. Everything changed the day Jon Bennett barged into their house, beat Mimi, grabbed Adrian and began beating Lina. Jon had taught English literature at Georgetown University until a reporter exposed his affair with Lina. It was this fatal night as he toppled over the railing that Adrian learned that the angry man was her father.Lina developed a successful career in fitness, yoga, and healthy lifestyle. She was raised in rural Travelers Creek where her parents Sophia and Dom run a restaurant, Rizzo Italian Restaurant. Adrian spent most summers with her grandparents as her mother traveled promoting her business. It was during that time she met 7 year old Maya and her friend Cassie and Maya’s older brother Rylan, 10. Jan Wells worked as a cook for Rizzo's Restaurant after her husband left her to raise Rylan and Maya alone. As the years pass, Adrian seems to follow in the path of her mother developing yoga videos for kids. She moves to NY where she meets friends who help her with her ambitious campaign to be as successful as her mother. Unfortunately, the independent teen soon becomes the target of a stalker after appearing on magazine covers with the success of her business growing. Adrian has legitimate reason to worry as she begins receiving creepy poems and senses her life is in danger. Although there is a backdrop of suspense and danger, several characters exhibit extraordinary strength and courage with their sacrifices and acts of bravery.

[whybehave2002 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ahh...slipping into a Nora Roberts book is like coming home. This story is about family, friendship, and strong, bright women. Driven women. You follow Adrien on a life journey of finding herself. Not what others want for her but what she wants. There is mystery, suspense, and romance. A great combination.

[sanyamakadi · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Meh...can't say I super enjoyed the main character of a workout fanatic who runs her own fitness empire. But the supporting characters were all great.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Honestly the only thing that I found a little ofsetting about the book was the Heroines name, Adrian is a man's name in my mind but I suppose Adrienne/Adriene as a fitness guru, particularly in Yoga is kinda already taken. Adrian Rizzo is a successful online fitness guru, following in her mother's footsteps. She moves back to her grandparents after her grandmother dies in an accident and finds that an old friend has returned to the town after his wife died. Adrian's mother, Lina, had an affair with one of her lecturers, Jon Bennett, and the result was Adrian. The first time Adrian met her father he tried to kill her but through a series of accidents he ended up dead. When Adrian became successful she began to get poems treatening her with death. Those threats are begining to get more frequent and the police and FBI seem to be stalled so she hires a detective. Raylan is dealing with two children who have lost their mother due to a school shooting. Moving away from where it happened and back to his home town becomes something he can work with and also there he will have a support network. He's not thinking about love, but Adrian is too tempting and too determined to make him move out of his rut. She inspires his art and they can create something wonderful out of their shared pain.Interesting characters with a lot going on with several different couples and relationships and life going on around everyone.

[lbswiener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Legacy is a good book but it takes a very long time to get to the end. The characters are believable and the settings are believable. There is a crazed murderer who is killing women who are seemingly unconnected. It is only a wise private detective who can put all of the pieces together to conclude who is murdering the women. Family and friends comes together always to be there for each other. The book receives four stars in this review.

[ftbooklover · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Adrian Rizzo's violent father falls to his death as he attacks her and her mother, Lina. Ten years later, Adrian has followed in her mother's footsteps and established a fitness brand, but threats come with fame in the form of poems that come in the mail each year around Valentine's Day. Adrian mostly ignores the poems for years, but when her grandmother dies, she decides to moves back home to live with her grandfather, and finds herself back in the community she once loved. After Raylan loses his wife, he decides to move back home where he can find the help he needs raising his children and the consolation of his family. His plan to work remotely on his growing graphic novel line works well, and it isn't long before the old spark between Raylan and Adrian catches fire. The poet, however, can't be denied and has started escalating, bringing a new threat to the couple's blossoming relationship.

As in many of Nora Roberts' books, community and found family become the core of the story in Legacy, which is more of a family saga than romantic suspense. Even though there are suspense elements in this book, they really don't take center stage until the very end of the story and unfortunately feel a bit rushed. However, the rest of the book delivers realistic characters that are easy to care about and the tear-jerking tragedies that develop throughout their lives. While being a little bit slow in the beginning, Legacy delivers a story that is easy to enjoy.

[marciablnc · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. It is another well written murder mystery with romance to lighten it up. I actually figured out who would be the killer. Nora is very good and pulls you into the book.

[carolesrandomlife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was very good. I haven’t read a ton of books written by Nora Roberts but I have had good luck with those that I have read so I went into this book rather hopeful. The story does start off with a bang and drew me in immediately and before I knew it I was invested in the characters. I am so glad that I decided to pick up this incredibly entertaining book.We meet Adrian as a 7-year-old child as the father she has never met assaults her family. When the book draws to a close, we see her as a responsible adult. This book doesn’t nicely fit into any single genre since it is part coming of age, part romance, and part suspense. Adrian grows up to follow in her mother’s footsteps by creating her own line of yoga workout videos. Unfortunately, she has captured the attention of a stalker who sends her threatening poetry on a regular basis.I liked Adrian a lot. She was a really well-adjusted individual and I thought that she was genuinely kind to those around her. She was incredibly close to her grandparents and her core group of friends and I really liked what they added to the story. The romance was later in the book than I would have expected but I really liked the way that it developed and I thought that it felt very real. The mystery doesn’t really pick up speed until the later parts of the book but I did appreciate the excitement it brought to the book.January LaVoy did an amazing job with the narration of this book. I thought that she handled a large cast of varied characters with ease and I loved the emotion that she added to the story. I really felt that she brought this story to life and I believe that her performance added to my overall enjoyment of the book.I would recommend this book to others. I thought that the characters in this book were incredibly well done and I enjoyed the time that I spent with them. I will definitely be reading more from this talented author soon.I received a digital review copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.

[jmchshannon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

All hail, Queen Nora! Legacy is a fantastic story of family and strength. As always, she captures complicated family relationships so well. She is even better at portraying friends as family. Adding to that, she layers loss, the idea of blended families, and the importance of roots. I simply love Nora’s mind and the families she creates for us.

[phyllis2779 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good story. A lot of detail but it builds the story and the suspense. Not my favorite by NR but worth reading.

[grandmacootie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you've read any Nora Roberts or J. D. Robb you recognize the cadence, the tone, the word choices, the humor, the irony from the very first page. And of course we all agree the writing is excellent and not much can compare. It feels so warm, so good, so coming home. Sometimes the passion is right there, sometimes just implied, but it’s always sweet, special, honest and true. And there is also often shiver-inducing danger and mystery, fear of the unknown.Legacy is an excellent addition to my Nora Roberts library. Adrian Rizzo has a good life, but it hasn’t always been easy and she has some terrifying memories. She and her mother aren’t what you would call close, but they are in each other’s lives and that seems to be enough. Her grandparents are the most important people in her world, and she is very close to them. Raylan, her childhood friend, was a promise. A promise of what could be, what could wipe away some of those memories. But Raylan is a promise that never got started, because Adrian has a secret and she won’t let herself have a relationship. It’s too dangerous. Adrian’s secret is that she has been receiving death threats every year since she was about seventeen years old.After her beloved grandmother dies Adrian goes home – to her grandfather, the family restaurant, and the only place she ever felt was home. She moves her business there, some of her closest friends move there as well, and then Raylan moves there. There is a sense of small-town community, family, friendships, and tradition. A small part of Adrian’s mind start to whisper to her that maybe she really can have more than she’s allowed herself. Maybe she can let herself go and feel those feelings that want to escape.The death threats aren’t downplayed, but they are in the background so that you almost – almost, mind you, but not really – forget about them as you get caught up in the beauty of Adrian’s day-to-day life. Which means you are shocked all over again each and every time Adrian receives another threat. And even more shocked when she decides she’s had enough and it’s time to meet – and stop – this monster.Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of Legacy for my reading pleasure and honest opinion. It’s another marvelous fast-paced, warm, thrilling, totally satisfying story by Nora Roberts. All opinions are my own.

[lorikboyd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I haven’t read a Nora Roberts book in quite a while. Quite a bit happening in this book...infidelity, jealously, mother/daughter angst, friendship, family, murder, romance. Most characters are likable enough, I found Adrian semi-annoying, forcing her health/fitness routine on others. Mother/daughter relationship progressed at a snails pace, both coming across as cold, the the grandparents made up for it. Loved the dog romance! Enjoyable, quick read perfect for a vacation. Wont disappoint for a quick escape.Thanks to Ms. Roberts, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

[kris_anderson-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When Adrian Rizzo met her father for the first time at age seven, he tried to kill her. He died instead. Her mother is a fitness guru who puts business in front of everything. Luckily, Adrian has her mother's personal assistant Mimi, her mother's business manager Harry, and her loving grandparents to provide emotional support. After being dragged all over the US while her mother Lina builds her business, she rebels at age sixteen and decides to make her own life.Adrian gathers a cohort of great friends at the last school her mother sent her to who help her make her own fitness video. With Harry's support, she begins to build her own fitness empire with the help of her friends. When her grandmother dies in a car accident, Adrian moves her life back to the small town where her grandfather lives because that's what you do when you love someone. At the same time her grandmother dies, her best friend's brother Raylan loses his wife who was a teacher in a school shooting leaving him with a broken heart and two small children to raise. Raylan and Adrian met when her mother left her with her grandparents to get away from the publicity around the death of her biological father. He was ten and she was seven and she was his sister's new best friend. They heard about each other over the years but were both busy building their own lives. He is an artist who works with friends to produce graphic novels about super heroes of their own devising. More time passes with Adrian getting a threatening poem once a year from someone who wants her dead. The first one arrived shortly after the release of her first fitness video when she was seventeen. It was scary and she let the police know but thought it was just some jealous fan. But the letters kept coming. First once a year but the pace kept escalating so that now when she's near 30 she's getting four a year. And the poet has decided it's time for her to die.This story is filled with love. Even Raylan's dog Jasper and Adrian's dog Sadie are in a romantic relationship. There is the love of friendship with her girlfriend and romantic love as their friends find their own life partners. Adrian and Raylan are building their own relationship as a friendship grows into a romantic relationship. This is in stark contrast to the glimpses we get of the poet's isolation and obsession with revenge. The story was both heart-warming and horrifying as the poet gets closer and closer to Adrian. Fans of Nora Roberts will enjoy this one with all her trademarks: smart dialog, strong relationships, cute kids, and even dogs.

[lea.pearl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I see a Nora Roberts title on the shelf at a bookstore, without any hesitation, I know I'll enjoy the book. Legacy was no different.In true Roberts fashion, this story provided a rollercoaster of emotions and really tugged at my heartstrings! Whew.Legacy is divided into three parts. One being Adrian's backstory and her growing up, which moved pretty quickly. Parts two and three provide more depth into Adrian's story as an adult and it felt like the pacing was a bit slower once the story settled into adult Adrian. There's even a look into the eyes of the crazed killer! Definitely some suspense and thrill from this story and just enough romance to keep the warm and fuzzy feelings Roberts is so good at providing!Thank you St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for the e-arc to read and review!