As others have written before me, this is a classic Ali Vali novel. Don’t trust the blurb, it manages to both be misleading and give too much away.
Willow Vernon meets Tucker Delacroix at a work meeting and they end up having dinner then spending the night together. Neither knows their siblings are involved and parenting a child together. Willow knows of her sister’s affair with a rich married man and when she realises Tucker is his sister, she feels played and nips the relationship in the bud. Then all sorts of events happen, both in their personal and professional lives, that bring them together, for better or for worse. I won’t spoil, the author took her time setting the scene and it wouldn’t be fair to jump the gun (though there’s no gun in this book).
The Inheritance is all about family, what makes a family and the sense of duty that goes with it. It’s full of angst and miscommunication and banter. Yet for some reason, in Ali Vali’s books, that’s not enough for me.
I always get the same feeling with Vali’s novels, the story is good but I can’t get myself to care about the characters. I often find them monolithic, and the characters in this book are no exception. The butch hero is strong and loyal, her love interest is femme to some extent, stubborn and sexy. The villains are bad and more often than not stupid. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s just not for me.
Then again I couldn’t stop reading, all the while rolling my eyes at how far-fetched parts of the story were. In her review, Lex mentioned the soap opera feel of this book and she’s totally right. Which makes me think that what doesn’t do it for me in Vali’s books is actually what her fans enjoy.
So if you’re already a Vali fan, you’ll probably like this book a lot. If you’re still on the fence, it might help you decide. And if you haven’t read any of the author’s novels so far, this might be a good place to start.
Jude in the Stars 