Customer Reviews

A Daughter's Inheritance (Broadmoor Legacy, Book 1)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Fanny Broadmoor is enjoying life on the Thousand Islands on her grandparents estate. She's living a life of luxury along with her cousins Amanda and Sophie. There's also a hint of a forbidden romance with Michael, the family boat keeper. But all that changes when her grandfather dies and Fanny's inheritance is thrown into chaos due to her uncle's greedy control. Will she able to gain control of what is rightfully hers or will her uncle's lecherous ways leave Fanny with nothing to her name?

The writing duo of Peterson and Miller has turned out another historical fiction series. I really liked their other two series about the Lowell mills so I was looking forward to their latest release. I enjoyed reading about what it was like to be in high class society in the 1800s. It was fun reading about living in a rich resort for vacations, going to balls, wearing fancy dresses, having picnics and not having to worry about the outside world. The three Broadmoor cousins are all very interesting because the girls are all different in how they think and act. Fanny is a character where she's very independent in how she acts but because of propriety and deference to her age she has to do what everyone else wants her to do. I didn't particularly enjoy Jonas' character. He seems to be only in it for the money and does despicable things to get it. He doesn't care about his niece's welfare or even his own daughter. It'll be interesting to see what happens to him in future books. Luckily this is the first book in a series because the ending does leave you hanging quite a bit. I'm looking forward to reading about what happens to Fanny and Michael's relationship as well as the adventures of the other Broadmoor cousins. Another fine effort from Peterson and Miller.

I was apprehensive when I picked up this book. While I have LOVED Tracie Peterson's books, The Lights of Lowell series (also co-authored by Miller) was truly a chore to get through. I didn't enjoy it at all. So I entered this new world of Upstate New York high society as a very skeptical outsider.

My problem with Lights of Lowell series was the depth of the lead characters. I didn't feel like I KNEW them and, what I did know about them I wasn't too impressed with.

This series, though... I adored the new leading lady, Fanny Broadmoor. She is very much a victim of her family. Her mother dies in childbirth, her father takes his own life because he cannot handle his heartache, and her grandparents (who shared in raising her after her mother's death and fully took over 11 yrs later when her father dies) within years of each other just under a year before she turns 18. The authors let you get to know Fanny in a way that made you love her. You knew her feelings, you knew WHY she felt them... she was a great heroine- both strong and weak, both wise and naive- you BELIEVE that a young lady like this truly existed.

As a beloved Grandaughter treated more as a daughter, she is left her father's third of the vast Broadmoor inheritance leaving her eldest uncle, Jonas, furious and scheming. Her other uncle, Quincy, too preoccupied with this charity doesn't bregrudge his niece but fails to see what his brother is up to.

Fanny is in love with one of the family servants, Michael, who lives on the family island (one of the Thousand Islands). Michael leaves to strike his fortune in order to win approval from her guardian, Uncle Jonas, to marry her. Jonas schemes and schemes different ways to take Fanny's portion and I don't want to spoil the book with details...

Throughtout the novel you read of a close bond between the youngest cousins, Fanny, Amanda, and Sophie. You care about all three of them. I am excited to see how the 2nd book is written. With this book not yet concluded, will Fanny remain the lead? Or will her story become a secondary story while Amanda or Sophie become the star?

This book does not contain the excitement and suspense that I feel when reading Peterson's books. Sure, there is some intrigue, definitely good verses evil- but not sense of adventure I feel when embarking on the journey of her other characters in other books. The Broadmoor world has a different kind of intrigue which certainly drew me in.

What a delightful way to begin a spellbinding saga... In a way this book reminds of of Lori Wicks "The Hawk and the Jewell." Not the story itself (and Fanny is certainly more likeable than Sunny) but the way the lead is simply thrust into a sitution beyond her control... Well done, Ladies. You have written a fine book.

I love Tracie Peterson and she writes well, BUT. Let's have an ending. I have read the first 2 books in this series (I only skimmed the second) and still Franny has not had an ending to her story. Perhaps others like for the plot to continue through several books but I like to have a conclusion. I love series where the characters trade the lead in the story but don't force me to buy the next book in order to see how the story ends.

Let me just preface this review with this: I read trashy romance novels and badly written fanfiction all the time. I have low standards and even lower expectations! But based on the reviews of this book, good lord, I thought I'd be reading something that would at least deserve three stars. But this was legitimately TERRIBLE.

Also: SPOILER ALERTS!!!!! (all over the place)

I remember getting 25% into this book and thinking, "In the name of all things shiny and sparkly, WHY HASN'T THE BOOK GONE ANYWHERE?" I'm serious. All you get is the background of the story and then snippets of the characters. Fanny is this weirdly contradictory character. She's all sassy and look-at-me-I'm-rebelling-against-society-because-I-like-fishing!!!!!, and everyone keeps going on and ON about how smart she is, and she has semi-smart moments of, "Hmmm, that's odd..." when something is fishy, but she does nothing. Seriously, it takes her a mention of her boyfriend (let's just get this out of the way: NOTHING HAPPENS BETWEEN THEM, I mean even their kiss is lame. I realize it's religious fiction, but the build up to their romance was so, so, SO slow and the way it was finally realized between the two characters was just incredibly unsatisfactory!)--a mention of her boyfriend and she becomes a world class ditz. Then, oh good LORD, all she talks about is how ugly she is compared to her cousins (there's another topic to discuss!!) and I swear, fifty of the pages is devoted to that give or take throughout the WHOLE STINKIN' BOOK.

Let's just say that to say Fanny completely annoys the shadoodles (see what I did there Amazon? I am cutting out my profanity! all distasteful content!) out of me is an understatement. Her entire existence is WOE IS ME, everyone-I-love-dies!!!!!! and she never shuts up about it, I stg. I really wanted to just reach through the pages and slap her upside the head, Gibbs-style.

Her COUSINS. Oh my giddy aunt. Amanda is your typical bore who has a bizarre spurt of CHARACTER GROWTH!!! out of the blue. She is a petty, whiny, holier-than-thou character that acts as that mother you don't need. In other words, girl is a Mary Sue. No characterization whatsoever, I can't even imagine a whole book about her. Sophie of course has to be the Exact Opposite because that is clearly how character foils work, obviously, and so she is your typical bad girl who oOOooh! sneaks out to go to parties! lets boys take off her shoes! and then of course has a love interest that is basically Amanda in male form for sexual tension!!!!

It is painful to relive this book in my head while thinking about the worst bits to complain about in this review.

I mean, this book is basically the repeat of the first thirty pages, with the additional spice of the most HILARIOUS villain I have ever read. Like, I honestly can't believe he's REAL in a fictional world. He is just... hilarious. He is that villain in TV shows who openly proclaims, "I'M TAKING OVER THE WORLD!" I mean, it is what he does in the book, and everyone around him is too stupid to realize it. The characters are an embarrassment to imaginary human beings. I was expecting some kind of resolution about his idiotic villainous plans, but NOTHING HAPPENS. You're just left going what-the-actual-fiddlesticks-is-this-shrimpfest when the book SUDDENLY ENDS (like in the last ten pages everything FINALLY!!!! comes to head--I'm approximating since this is on the Kindle, but) and NOTHING HAS HAPPENED TO THIS GUY. I mean are you for REAL. IT WAS AWFUL.

It was pretty much the only reason why I kept reading. I was waiting for Fanny to actually BE awesome instead of everyone just saying that she was awesome even though she kept going, nOooo I'm not awesome!!!--and, well, everyone can just be left disappointed because NOTHING HAPPENED and her darling villainous uncle is still cackling away evilly. Seriously, by the end, I'd just given up on finding out if anything does happen to good ol' jolly Uncle Baddy. I really don't want to deal with reading about pansy pants Amanda and bad girl Sophie to find out if even ANYTHING will. IT PROBABLY WON'T, NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK ANYWAY.

IN SUMMARY, IT WAS BAD BECAUSE:
The main characters wanted me to poke sporks up their noses. AND NOTHING HAPPENS!!!!!

I have never read anything by this author before but I was willing to give it a try. I really enjoyed the flow of the book and the characters. I couldn't read it fast enough, and I picked it up to finish it after my kids were in bed. That's when it happened...NOTHING!!! The book just ended and nothing was really resolved!! I was sitting there slack jawed because I wasted my time on this book!! Don't get me wrong, if the author had finished it, it could have been one of my favorites. Just disappointed...

Set in 1897, two masters of Inspirational and American history, Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller, enter the world of elegance, opulence, and bitter family rivalries in Book number one of the Broadmoor Legacy. The story centers around three cousins, Amanda, Sophie, and Fanny Broadmoor who are as close as sisters until their grandfather dies, and the terms of his will causes repercussions and bitter rivalry within the family which could sever their precious bond.

The story while centering around the youngest cousin Fanny gives good insight and background to several other members of the family (not all of them likeable). Fanny who was closest to her grandparents, after being orphaned at the age of ten, was also the most down to earth in spite of living an indulgent life with her grandparents. Spending much of her time on the island at Broadmoor Castle (situated in the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River of upper New York) Fanny was more at home out of doors fishing with her best friend and secret love Michael Atwell, than in the ballrooms mingling with society's rich and famous of that era.

*** The authors, after a short prologue showing Fanny to be the most optimistic and naïve of the three cousins; having returned home from school to find her beloved grandfather dying. After his passing the bulk of the estate was divided in thirds. One third each to his two surviving sons; Fanny's Uncles Jonas and Quincy, and one third going to Fanny, only child of the third son, her father, the deceased Langley Broadmoor. As clearly detailed by the authors, Fanny's inheritance did not sit well with her avariciously and power hungry Uncle Jonas who was unfortunately, as the eldest son, appointed as her guardian.

The naivety and trust Fanny holds is clearly defined as her uncle Jonas begins his manipulations to gain absolute control of Fanny's inheritance. Fanny was pretty much clueless as to the extremes her uncle would go to achieve his own selfish ends, especially in so far as trying to sink Fanny's relationship and future dreams of a life with her best friend and love, Michael Atwell, who was employed as the family's boat keeper. The question arose, would Fanny follow her heart or bow to society dictates while being manipulated by her uncle?

In keeping the adventure high, and knowing he needs money to gain permission to even ask for Fanny's hand in marriage Michael accepts a deal and the funds Uncle Jonas loans him as the grub stake money he needed to go off and search for gold in the Yukon. Uncle Jonas is hoping that with Michael gone, he could easily maneuver Fanny's affections in the right direction; towards a man that Jonas can manipulate while still controlling Fanny's wealth.

As the authors fleshed out the three cousins, the reader sees the three diverse personalities emerge and their bond and apparent love for one another. But now, no longer carefree children, would life's realities interfere with that love, or would family loyalties and jealousy break their bond of friendship?

Book one of the Broadmoor Legacy is a terrific Americana historical set in the 1890's era of the rich and famous. The three Broadmoor cousins' personalities are diverse enough to offer highly anticipated story lines as we anxiously await Fanny and Michael's uncertain future. Although very historical in nature the underlying inspirational theme is beautifully portrayed but in a completely un-preachy way. It's always a treat to read Tracie Peterson and/or Judith Miller, but with this collaboration the reader gets a treat with double the pleasure.

Marilyn Rondeau

I found this book to be extraordinarily shallow. It was not well-written and did not hold my attention. There was so little substance to the story. The book got so many good reviews I ordered 2 more in this series. Because this one was so badly written, I have not even bothered opening the other two -- and won't bother to read them. I like a story that sucks me into the plot so much that I can't put the book down.

I can't help feeling that the plot line of this novel has been done too often. I read several chapters and found that I had no reason to give time to yet another story of the beautiful orphan heiress, who is at the mercy of a greedy guardian, and, of course, she is in love with a handsome man who is, again, of course, "beneath her." I've read it all before and though I liked it the first time, not so much the hundredth. There is no reason to eagerly anticipate the sequels.

I love Tracie Peterson books, and was excited to see this pop up in free downloads. I immediately got right into it.

Boy, was that a mistake.

I figured it would take some time to develop the characters, being that the Broadmoors are such a big family. But even halfway through the book, the characters lack dimension, and the storyline lacks substance. By the time I'd finished the book, I'd already resolved that I wouldn't even open the second in the series, because the first one wasn't worth the time I'd already put into it. The whole book spins in circles, and never really comes to any good plot point.s

I thought this story was really well told. I totally disagree with a previous reviewer who said the story line was immature and lacked depth.

I thought the characters were fleshed out very well. I loved Fanny's personality, and I really liked her cousins too. The authors were even able to make Sophie likeable despite her major personality flaws.

I also thought the villians in this book were well done, they made me cringe.

The setting was like a character itself. I've never been to the Thousand Islands, but reading this book made me feel like I was there.

The one thing I'd like to have seen take center stage is the romance. This story was very light in that area. The protangonist is separated from her love interest for 90-95% of the story. If you like a historical story and not really a mushy romance, this one is definitely for you.

I like a little mush though, and although this story was well told, the romance was a very minor part of the book.