inheritance story

Review: You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom by Vincent Tirado

~ megs14malloy

You Should Have Been Nicer to My MomYou Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom by Vincent Tirado
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom follows Xiomara as she returns to her Papi Ramon’s house following his death. The entire family is gathering for the reading of Papi’s Will and though Xiomara is somewhat estranged from her family, she’s compelled to be there.

She does have good memories of Papi, and his stories, but for the most part she’s feeling a lot of apprehension about this event. It’s sure to be tense and emotionally-charged.

The wealthy Abreau family gathers at Papi’s estate, but nothing could have prepared them for the following words being read: “One of you is el bacà, the demon that I made a deal with. Get rid of them or you will be damned.”

I mean words like that will stop any family gathering in its tracks; at least for a moment. Xiomara is shocked, but she feels the truth in the statement. The rest of the family is outraged. They demand the attorney return to his office to retrieve the previous version of the Will.

As the attorney departs, a vicious storm breaks out forcing the rest of the family to remain trapped together within the house. Suspicions and tensions run high, and over the course of the night numerous family secrets and scandals are revealed, violence erupts, but who is el bacà?

This was so fun! I recognize this won’t work for every Reader, but luckily for me, it 100% worked. It’s an interesting take on an inheritance story, and I appreciated all the effort Tirado put into the messy family dynamics.

For me, the story felt fast-paced and engaging the whole way through. This is a big family and there’s a lot of shite going on amongst them. I was so here for it, just sitting in the corner, eating my popcorn.

Seriously, this is the type of story where you just feel like a fly on the wall, watching everything unfold. I really enjoyed Xiomara as a main character. I could feel all of her emotions as she was forced into such close proximity with a family she had grown distant from.

In certain ways, this reminded me of Rachel Harrison’s Black Sheep. It’s that sort of play on a toxic family and I enjoyed it in both stories.

This is the 3rd-novel that I’ve read from Vincent Tirado, though the other two were YA. I’ve really enjoyed them all. I feel like Tirado’s writing is just a great fit for my tastes. I appreciate how they take risks with their stories, and they aren’t afraid of examining some dark themes.

I also really enjoy their character work, particularly the main characters. I’ve felt connected with them in each of the novels I’ve read from Tirado. I’m rooting for them and wishing for their safety as, of course, they all find themselves in various sticky situations.

Admittedly, there’s a lot of arguing and battling in the family in this one. It’s constant, and while normally I’m not crazy about stories that feature people fighting all the time, for some reason it worked fine here.

I think maybe because usually when I hate it, it’s a group of friends, and I think to myself, why are these people even friends? Because we choose our friends, right? But we can’t choose the family we’re born into, which is why I think here it just sort of made sense.

The final bits were so satisfying as well. I thought it concluded seamlessly and it left me with a little evil grin on my face that I love. Again though, definitely not going to be for everyone, but I think for the Readers it hits with, it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Thank you to the publisher, William Morrow, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I am looking forward to whatever Tirado writes next!

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Review: Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews

~ megs14malloy

HazelthornHazelthorn by C.G. Drews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Hazelthorn is a YA Gothic Horror story from C.G. Drews. I read from Drews for the first time last year when I read their popular novel, Don’t Let the Forest In.

I was immediately impressed by the style of their prose, the relationships developed within the story and the vivid imagery evoked. I’m happy to report, all of these top-shelf qualities are again on display within the pages of Hazelthorn.

This story follows Evander, who has lived like a ghost within the walls of Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in as a small child by Byron Lennox-Hall, the reclusive billionaire owner of the estate.

Evander has very specific rules that he is made to abide by, such as he can never leave the estate, he isn’t to go into the gardens, and he shouldn’t ever be left alone with Laurie, Byron’s mischievous grandson.

The last rule was actually established for good reason, when 7-years ago, Laurie tried to kill Evander, a situation which he barely survived. In spite of this though, Evander does have a bit of an unhealthy attraction to Laurie. Honestly, he’s hard to resist.

When Byron unexpectedly dies, and it’s announced the entire estate is being left to Evander, he suddenly has threats coming from all sides. As you can imagine, other family members aren’t exactly pleased with this turn of events.

Despite his sudden windfall, Evander’s not happy. He’s suspicious about the way the way Byron died. He believes he was killed, but why? And how can he prove it?

Suddenly, Laurie becomes Evander’s best ally for getting to the bottom of what really happened to Byron, and figuring out the true that lies at the heart of Hazelthorn.

This was great. It’s dark and engaging and I was intrigued by Hazelthorn and everything going on there. Actually the more I think about it, perhaps I underrated this one a bit. It’s probably closer to a full 4-star rating for me.

I just think in comparison to Don’t Let the Forest In, I didn’t find this one as easy to track, and I also didn’t feel as emotionally invested, although there was still so much to love about this story.

In some ways, this story did remind me of a few other things I’ve read before, for example, These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall. What did stand out was the level of botanical horror that Drews included. That I really, really enjoyed.

This did have some interesting twists and some dangerous family drama, which I also thought was a lot of fun. I actually wouldn’t mind reading this again someday, maybe getting a hard copy and annotating could help bring more of the nuances of the story to the forefront for me.

At the end of the day, this is another fantastic story from Drews, delivering on their signature writing style and lush, gothic atmosphere.

Thank you to the publisher, Recorded Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. C.G. Drews is such a talent, and I cannot wait to continue to follow their career. I know we’re going to have a long and beautiful friendship!

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Review: She Didn’t Stand a Chance by Stacie Grey

~ megs14malloy

She Didn't Stand a ChanceShe Didn’t Stand a Chance by Stacie Grey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Gertie gets notification that she’s being summoned to her recently-deceased, estranged father’s luxurious desert property for the reading of his Will, she’s not exactly elated.

She hasn’t seen her four half-siblings since she was just a toddler, and has absolutely nothing in common with them. Nevertheless, she’s curious and decides to go, in spite of how awkward it’s bound to get.

Once at the property, her assumptions are confirmed. Her half-siblings treat her like gutter trash blown in off the streets. They stick her in the cluttered and neglected pool house, with no air con, or any other conveniences.

Gertie receives more warmth from the property’s staff than her own family, made worse when it’s revealed she’s set to inherit a large portion of the estate. A larger portion than anyone would have expected; especially Gertie.

Gertie has so many questions, including how did their father die? The more she asks about that, the clearer it becomes that he might not have died of natural causes.

When a member of the household staff is killed a few days later, Gertie’s confident that something nefarious is going on inside this house of glass. Will she be able to get to the bottom of it, or will she fall prey to the killer in their midst?

She Didn’t Stand a Chance pulled me in very quickly. I love an inheritance story, and this one gets to the nitty-gritty of the inheritance pretty early on.

I also really enjoyed Gertie as a main character. She’s plucky, resourceful and was very active in digging into the events surrounding her father’s death. It would have been very easy for her to just go there, sit quietly, take what was hers and move on, but she didn’t.

Though Gertie’s perspective is the only one we get in the present timeline, Grey did include some very fun mixed media aspects that helped to move the plot along. Additionally, we get little snippets of what was going on within the family just prior to their Dad’s death.

The siblings, Maryann, Brian, Liam and Jennifer, were all absolutely terrible. It was fun watching their ridiculously-petty antics. They were working hard to intimidate Gertie, but she’s made of stronger stuff than that.

There were some interesting side characters as well. My favorites being Mrs. Phan, the long-time property manager, and Eddie, the chef. The staff def had strong feelings about the family and I enjoyed getting their thoughts.

I did feel this dragged out a little towards the end, but overall, I found it to be an intriguing mystery. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out what had happened to the Dad and I definitely had moments where I was scared for our MC.

I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys a tense and dramatic inheritance story. The mystery was engaging and many of the characters were a lot of fun to hate.

I also truly enjoyed the desert setting, which added so much to the general feel of the story.

Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to more from Stacie Grey!

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Review: How to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold

~ megs14malloy

How to Survive a Horror StoryHow to Survive a Horror Story by Mallory Arnold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

How to Survive a Horror Story features a classic Locked-Room set-up, but does actually still manage to bring something new to the trope-filled table.

After the death of legendary Horror author, Mortimer Queen, seven writers are invited to his mysterious manor home for the reading of his last will and testament. It’s believed that each one of them may be bequeathed a part of his estate.

Our characters are Melanie, Crystal, Winnie, Felix (Winnie’s uninvited +1), Scott, Petey, Buck and Chester. In addition, we also have Gia, working on behalf of Mr. Queen’s estate.

This story bounces between the perspectives and follows them over the course of their wild time within the manor.

Kicking off with a very classic Clue-like set-up, our characters individually make their way to the manor full of questions. Each wonders why exactly they’ve been included, and what they can possibly get out of it.

After everyone is settled, they’re told they need to attend dinner together and that’s when the rules of their stay are explained, and yes, it involves a dangerous game.

From here it proceeds into uncharted territory. The way the story was structured, the game itself and all that happened was fairly original. I wasn’t expecting the direction it went in, particularly in regards to the manor house itself.

And while I appreciate the author taking it in a new direction, it also felt like it was trying to do too much. For me, I wanted it to pick a lane. Was it going to be a gruesome, supernatural infused game for survival, or was it going to be a slow burn character driven literary horror story?

Nevertheless, I always love when an author takes risks and reaches to bring something new to their Readers. While the execution of this one wasn’t a perfect fit for me, that doesn’t mean it won’t be for you.

If you love this kind of classic set-up, but want something a little different, I highly recommend you check this one out. You could find a new favorite.

It also features a book-within-a-book aspect, so if that’s something you love, again, give it a shot. For me, it won’t go down in history as a new favorite, but I am definitely planning to pick up future releases from Mallory Arnold.

Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m excited to see what other Readers think of this one. Maybe they’ll change my mind on it…

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Review: Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia

~ megs14malloy

Mystery RoyaleMystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Mystery Royale is a game. More specifically, an inheritance game for the large estate of Xavier Stoutmire, a wealthy and powerful magician without a direct heir.

Of course everyone in the Stoutmire Family had assumed that Xavier would end up leaving his vast fortune and captivating powers to his youngest nephew. However, tricky old Uncle Xavier had something else in mind.

The invitations are sent, but not just to those within the Stoutmire family eligible to receive the inheritance, but also to two outsiders: Mullory Prudence and Mateo Cruz.

These two seem to be completely random strangers. They’re the wild cards of the whole affair.

The goal of the game is simple. To be the first to solve the mystery. What mystery, you may ask? Well, who killed Xavier Stoutmire, of course.

Mystery Royale was definitely a lot of fun. This is like if The Inheritance Games was set around the LeStrange Family from Harry Potter, instead of the boring-ole, non-magical Hawthorne Family.

I enjoyed Cavalancia’s writing. It was fluid and kept my attention, however, I did feel at times it was hard to track whose perspective you were in at any given moment. Nevertheless, I loved the mystery and set-up behind it all.

I think ride-or-die fans of The Inheritance Games may feel this is a bit of a rip off, but for us folks who enjoyed that series, but didn’t necessarily shout from the rooftops about its glory, this can still be an entertaining romp.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys stories involving magical games, with riddles and puzzles aplenty. The setting of this is also fabulous, the private enchanted mansion. What’s not to love about that?

The audiobook had fantastic narration, and although that’s not an option here on Goodreads yet, it’s definitely available, because I listened to it. I would absolutely chose that format if you have access to it.

Thank you to the publisher, Disney Audiobooks, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to more from this author!

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Review: The Rosewood Hunt by Mackenzie Reed

~ megs14malloy

The Rosewood HuntThe Rosewood Hunt by Mackenzie Reed
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Lily Rosewood’s family life is quite complicated, but billions of dollars will do that to you. Oodles of wealth is a tricky thing to navigate for most people.

I know it seems like it would make life grande, but ask any fictional character with an inheritance at stake, and they’ll tell you that’s far from the truth.

Lily dreams of one day running the family company, Rosewood, Inc. Her Gram, the current head of the company, has promised to teach Lily everything she’ll need to know to successfully take over one day.

When Gram dies suddenly though, Lily’s life is turned upside down. Gram wasn’t just the head of the company, she was also the formidable figurehead of their family. It was so unexpected. Lily can hardly believe it’s true.

Then Gram’s Last Will and Testament is read, and Lily definitely can’t believe that’s true…

There’s no mention of the vast family fortune; a purported quarter of a billion dollars. What? Like it’s gone? The money is missing? How could that be?

As everyone is left scratching their heads, one last cryptic letter from Gram sends Lily, along with three other teens, on the treasure hunt of a lifetime. When news of Gram’s missing fortune goes public though, outsiders join the hunt and they’re not messing around.

Soon the teens are dodging dangers left and right, as they try to be the first ones to discover the hiding place of the vast Rosewood fortune. This could change their lives, or end them. Who will win the Rosewood Hunt?

I’ll admit, it did take me a little time to commit to this one. The set-up is rapid fire. You really have no time to get to know Gram, you just learn through Lily’s musings that she was this clever lady, who enjoyed puzzles, invisible ink and things like treasure hunts.

It sort of made me wish someone would have set her up with the elder Hawthorne from The Inheritance Games when they were both alive. It seems like they would’ve really hit it off, like plotting ways to send their basically disinherited loved ones on wild goose chases for cash…

About a quarter of the way in was when I really started to sit up and pay attention. Two other teens, Leo and Quinn, were also pulled into the hunt by Lily’s Gram and I found the dynamic amongst the three teens very fun.

Lily’s best friend, Miles, also becomes part of the action and I enjoyed him as well. Lily’s cousin, Daisy, on the other hand was a total jerk, which I didn’t really understand. Eventually the contention in their relationship was explained, but something about it didn’t feel genuine to me.

Either way, I did vibe with the cast of characters overall and the way they worked together was entertaining. They weren’t really friends going into this, so it gave it a bit of an unlikely allies feel, which I enjoyed.

It gets pretty wild. Once the outsiders swarm into town hunting the treasure the danger level amps up considerably. There are break-ins, car chases, it’s a lot. Lily definitely fears for her life, and I did too!

Through all of it, the teens start showing each other more of their true selves and they really start to bond. I think that was my favorite aspect of the whole story, the Found Family element that Reed ultimately creates. Lily feeling like she finally had friends, it filled my heart.

Most of these characters, their families were pretty crappy, so having each other to rely on meant a lot to them.

The pace hits warp speed towards the end, as a ton of new information is revealed. I enjoyed the way it wrapped up. Overall, a satisfying inheritance story. The Rosewood Hunt was a game I won’t soon forget. That’s for sure.

While it may not go down in history as one of my favorite YA books, it was still hella entertaining, and I would definitely be interested in reading more from Mackenzie Reed.

Thank you to the publisher, Harper Teen, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m so happy I finally made the time for this one. It was worth it!

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