RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars
THE INHERITANCE (A Port Henry Novel) by Amy Briggs is a contemporary women’s fiction with a mystery subplot. I do not agree with the romantic comedy description.
Riley Maxwell is a reasonably successful freelance writer and copywriter who does it all from her small New York City apartment. Riley prefers work over people. Her world is her writing and she only ventures out into the neighborhood for food.
She is offered the amazing opportunity to write the biography of the wealthy Jamison Prescott from Port Henry, who requires all of Riley’s time and he pays for the privilege. When she is notified that Jamison has died, she is devastated. They respected each other and were friends. What comes as the ultimate surprise is that Jamison has left everything to Riley in his will. He not only leaves Riley all of his wealth, but also his beach house in ritzy Port Henry and his young Great Dane, Scrappy.
Donovan Hunter has succeeded in moving up the social ladder in Port Henry. He has gone from being the son of the help to the successful veterinarian to the rich and famous in Port Henry. Good looking and single, he especially enjoys the summer crowd and the influx of females looking for a summer fling and nothing more.
When Scrappy gets sick, Riley takes him to Donovan. She is not interested in anyone or anything in Port Henry and cannot wait to leave it behind and return to her apartment in the city, but Donovan suddenly finds he is only interested in the new sassy heir.
Donovan wants Riley to stay and give their relationship a chance at least for the summer. Riley does not know what she wants to do about her all new found inheritance, but there is definitely a mystery involved in why Jamison left everything to her.
This is an O.K. romance read, but I really did not connect with Riley or Donovan. All the elements were there, but I felt like I was just reading about two characters, I did not really fall into the story. The author also left the main characters as boyfriend/girlfriend, not a HEA ending. I did love Scrappy though and he added some funny moments. As I was progressing through the story, I kept waiting to find out about Jamison and his connection to Riley, but you only get a partial answer at the end and then a cliff-hanger on the mystery. I was disappointed because the description had me believing this was a standalone, but it is not. Not what I was hoping for, but others might find it cute and want to continue on for the resolution of the mystery.
