The Inheritance: Part 1

by Olivia Mayfield

Debut author Olivia Mayfield presents a thrilling and sexy new serial about seductive money, deadly secrets, and fatal attractions…

The Inheritance, Part I
The Will

Maggie Willings knew that returning home for her estranged grandfather’s funeral would not be easy, but she never expected the reading of his will to be the most difficult part. The four people named in the will—Maggie, her brother Robert, her ex-boyfriend Andrew, and her grandfather’s far-too-young girlfriend Bethany—are given a challenge: find out the truth about what happened to Maggie’s younger sister Cassandra, who vanished over eight years ago, and win the entirety of the estate.

Maggie is thrown by the strange request, reluctant to drag up painful memories of her sister’s disappearance, and bothered by her lingering attraction to Andrew, who wants to team up to solve the mystery. But there are ten million dollars on the line and Maggie has no idea where to start—or who she’ll be able to trust.

60 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2013

About the author

Olivia Mayfield has been an unabashed fan of romance since she was a young teen, secretly devouring her mom’s Harlequins. She has a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing, as well as a Master’s degree in English, and lives with her family in Ohio. In her free time, she loves reading, shopping, wearing absurdly high-heeled boots, cheesecake, singing karaoke, and harassing her friends. Visit her website at http://www.oliviamayfield.com.

Reviews

[Liz at Fictional Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So earlier today I posted an interview with the author of this serial, Olivia Mayfield. At the time of the interview I hadn’t begun reading The Inheritance. Of course, that’s changed now. I’ve only had a chance to get to part one so far, but I think if the rest of the series goes like this, then I am in for an awesome story.

The Inheritance begins with Maggie attending the reading of her grandfather’s will. She’s expecting more people, but there are only her and three others: her brother, her ex best friend, and his (ex?) best friend. Each of them get a letter from Maggie’s grandfather. And basically it tells them that whomever solves the mystery of what happened to her younger sister, Cassandra, will inherit his entire multi-million dollar estate. Definitely an interesting twist there!!

As for the characters, I instantly like Maggie. She seems like an intelligent woman. She has a new life now, and she is independent of the chaos and drama that filled the void after Cassandra was gone. But even though you pretend you move on, that’s not always the case.

So far I haven’t really gotten a chance to really get to know the other characters. From what I’ve seen of her brother, Robert, he’s a jerk. Robert’s teenage friend – and Maggie’s ex-boyfriend, Andrew, is also a jerk. Bethany, Maggie’s ex-best friend and seemingly a gold digger since she was Maggie’s grandfather’s girlfriend, is a dumb bitch. I think. We will see how it all shakes out, right?

So drama? Check. Mystery? Oh heck yeah, there is a ton of it. Like seriously – what did happen to Cassandra? In a small town that feels packed with lies, I’m betting this series is going to be one hell of a ride. I already have the next few installments on hand, so thankfully I will be able to read them soon. I definitely want to see what some of the secondary characters who have been introduced are up to. Like perhaps David, the current cop who went to school with the four of them…

Yep! Definitely sounds like a good mystery!

[Elizabeth H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie thinks she is at the lawyer’s office with several family members to hear the reading of her grandfather’s will. Three other people join her and as the lawyer delivers her grandfather’s last wishes, Maggie’s plans of a quick return home are shattered in an instant.

Her grandfather has put a stipulation on his considerably large estate. Each person received a personalized letter pinned by her grandfather. The premise of the letter is for each of them to reopen the case of the disappearance of Maggie’s younger sister, Cassandra. Whoever solves the case, will inherit her grandfather’s multimillion dollar estate.

Maggie and the rest of the “competitors” are floored at the revelation. How can they find out what happened to Cassandra when the police, private investigators and all the money at her grandfather’s disposal couldn’t do it? Well, ten million dollars is one hell of a motivator.

Maggie is competing against her older brother, her ex-boyfriend, and her gold-digging ex-best friend. This has disaster written all over it; with this much money at stake, who can be trusted? Can Cassandra’s disappearance be solved, or will greed destroy everyone in the process?

Of the four people trying to solve the case, Maggie seems the most sincere. She was close with her younger sister and the letter from her grandfather has completely wrecked her. Eight years ago her sister vanished from a high school party without a trace. Maggie asks her brother to team up with her and he dodges the question, then he says, he thinks they should work separately. That has my hackles up from the get go. You’d think her brother would help her so they can find out what happened to their younger sister. It seems money is her brother’s sole motivation.

Next is the ex-best friend, Bethany, from Maggie’s high school days. She hooked up with Maggie and Robert’s grandfather and was his arm candy up until his death. Yes, she’s a trifflin’ bitch indeed. Her fake tears and her fancy clothes can’t disguise her shallow disposition. Maggie and Robert are determined to keep Bethany from their grandfather’s money. However, Bethany is used to getting what she wants by using her feminine wiles and should not be discounted as a competitor.

The final participant is Maggie’s ex-boyfriend from high school, Andrew. He broke up with Maggie the day of the party. Maggie opted to stay home nursing her broken heart instead of going to the party with Cassandra on that fateful night; a mistake in which Maggie deeply regrets. She should have been there. Andrew has grown up and looking great. After eight years, Andrew still gives her butterflies; but Maggie still can’t forget the pain the breakup caused. Will there be a rekindling of this love or is deceit at work here?

This is an excellent start to the serial! I was captivated right from the beginning. The plot is substantially written and will have you hooked in seconds! Currently, I am trying to rush through this rather lengthy review so I can jump into the second book! Warning: there is a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of this book so it would be in your best interest to have Part II at the ready. You are going to want to dive back into the story and find out what happened!

I love mysteries and I love trying to figure them out as I’m reading. I thought I had an idea of who's behind the disappearance, but as other players are introduced on the scene, my mind keeps changing! If you love mysteries, you will definitely enjoy this serial.

***I received an ebook copy from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. All conclusions reached are my own***

[Dark Faerie Tales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Very intriguing start to this mysterious sexy story.

Opening Sentence: Maggie pressed a clenched fist to her stomach and drew in a deep breath.

The Review:

Maggie Williams has finally returned home for her crazy yet beloved grandfather’s funeral. She knew that it was going to be difficult to say goodbye to some she cared about, but she never imagined that when his Will was read more pain and suffering would emerge. The reason Maggie left home and never came back was because of the memories and guilt of how her younger sister Cassandra disappeared 8 years ago. The case went cold and her sister was never found.

In his Will, Maggie’s grandfather states that he never felt right about not knowing what happened to Cassandra so he has offered his entire estate (which is worth millions) to whoever solves the case. There are four people included in the challenge: Maggie, her older brother Robert, her ex-boyfriend Andrew, and her ex-best friend Bethany (who was also her grandfathers’ very young girlfriend). Maggie wants more than anything to find out what happened to Cassandra, but going down that road could just end with pain and disappointment.

Because this was only 60 pages long — I barely got to know the characters, but so far, I am intrigued by them. Maggie has a good voice and I think that she will be someone that I can sympathize with easily. Her older brother Andrew seems to have secrets and it will be interesting to see what his character ends up being like. I already like Andrew, he sounds dreamy and I hope there will be some good sexy times for him and Maggie deeper in the story. But I have to say the most mysterious character so far is Bethany. I have a feeling that she has been completely misunderstood by everyone.

The Inheritance is a book that has been broken up into 6 parts and I have to admit that these first few pages have me interested in seeing what happens next. Mayfield set up a mysterious premises and a plot that has a lot of potential. I don’t know why the publisher broke the book up into 6 separate installments instead of just making it one book, because all the books came out within weeks of each other, but I guess it’s different. I would like to see where the story goes next. I would recommend giving this a try if you are in the mood for a sexy mystery.

Notable Scene:

Right on his heels came her grandfather’s probate attorney. Mr. Webber himself, bearing a thick manila envelope and a regretful look on his face. “So sorry for all the delays,” he said, his voice thin and reedy as he shuffled his portly body to the end of the room. He sat, and Robert took the empty seat on his right. “First, let me say I’m truly sorry about your grandfather. He was a good man, and we’re going to miss him.” His eyes showed earnest emotion, underscored by deep worry lines on his face. “I’m going to get right to the point. Your grandfather never let go of hope for a solution to Cassandra’s case, and his will addresses that.”

Maggie’s jaw dropped, her heart slamming madly against her rib cage. A swell of pain washed over her, fresh as ever, mixed with a healthy does of confusion. “What does she have to do with any of this?”

FTC Advisory: Berkley InterMix/Penguin provided me with a copy of The Inheritance, Part 1. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This will be a short review because this is a very short story! Book one of The Inheritance, "The Will" is the first entry in a mystery/romance serial release, so it's really more of a novella or short story right now. (Amazon says it's about 60 pages long, so you have an idea.)

After Maggie's wealthy grandfather dies, she's called together with her good-for-nothing brother, her ex-boyfriend, and the grandfather's girlfriend (who's the same age as Maggie), for the will reading. Maggie just wants to get it over with, but there's no easy resolution. Turns out, her grandfather turned his will into a hunt: whoever finds out the truth about the disappearance of Maggie's sister gets all the money.

Maggie is our main POV character, and from her we learn about her family's tragic backstory. Just enough mystery is set up in this first installment to already have you questioning who's on what side. Debut author Olivia Mayfield does a great job of setting the scene and introducing you to the major players in the story. Right now, all of the characters are kind of broadly painted -- the gold digger, the good cop, the parents with secrets -- but I hope they will all get more fleshed out as the story continues.

Even though this only gives a quick glimpse at the framework of the story, I found myself already wanting to read the next one, and the next one, and ... you get the picture. Mayfield set up an engrossing intro to a longer story, and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for future installments. It looks like there will be six installments, released on a weekly basis, so don't miss out!

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour in exchange for a fair and honest review. I rated it 4 out of 5 Stars.

The first installment in a six part serial, The Inheritance Part 1, introduces us to the four main characters engaged in a race to win a multimillion dollar inheritance. The introductory installment is mostly world building, character introduction and is centered on Maggie Willings and what she first encounters when she returns for the funeral and reading of her grandfathers will.

Tasked with a challenge, to discover what happened to Cassandra Willings, Maggie’s younger sister and granddaughter of the man who left millions behind, Maggie, Robert, her older brother, Bethany, Maggie’s former best friend and her grandfather’s last girlfriend (yeah he went there), and Andrew, the man who broke Maggie’s heart, can either work together or work separately to uncover the truth about a girl missing for over ten years.

Without giving spoilers, I will just say that if you plan to read this serial, the parts need to be read in order and you need to start with part 1 to understand the emotional dynamics of the challenge the characters will all undertake. I especially liked how Ms. Mayfield developed Maggie’s character in this first installment and gave us hints as to the demons all of the characters will have to face.

I enjoyed reading this installment and can’t wait to what happens next.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This is one of the first serials I've read. I'm impatient, and I don't like waiting for parts of the story, since I lose interest quickly. However, this sounded like such a good book, I couldn't resist.

I was pleasantly surprised by part 1 of this story. The clever plot moved along quickly, and I was drawn into the intrigue and mystery. The characters were interesting, and all the hinted at drama and mystery definitely caught my attention. Now, I don't want to give away any spoilers, so you'll have to read yourself to find out about all the intrigue.

The only downside was that again, it's only part 1. It ends in a cliffhanger, which leaves me to sit here full of questions with no answers. I looked, and other parts are available, which makes me wonder why the author didn't just wait and publish it as one book. Plus, at times the plot seemed to get a bit over the top and way too complicated, so I have no idea how it's all going to work out in the end.

All in all though, this was an interesting read, and I will be continuing on to part 2.

[Ashley - Book Labyrinth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a fact that I’m not generally a fan of serial stories, simply because I hate waiting for more of a book. But the plot of this one sounded too delicious to pass up, and while I am now stuck waiting even longer for more installments, I’m glad I decided to begin reading this one.

Right from the beginning this story had me at the edge of my seat. The whole idea of having a huge inheritance on the line was a big part of that, but it was also just reading about Maggie’s intense emotions as she begins to look into the 8-year-old disappearance of her sister.

There’s something exciting about stories where you don't know who to trust, and so far pretty much every character has something sketchy enough about them that they can’t be fully trusted. Between present behaviour and allusions to the past, it’s difficult to see who Maggie can safely turn to for help.

Olivia Mayfield has woven a great beginning to a mystery novel with The Inheritance (Part 1), and I am excited to see where the story goes next.

[Tera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of mysteries in general, so I was pleasantly surprised to find myself intrigued by Maggie and wanting to know more. Despite knowing it when i started, I'm reminded that i don't necessarily care for books that are divided into several parts as i hate having to wait to continue the story. Overall good book and I'll be on the look for the next part.

ARC from Netgalley

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this first installment. What fun! Good writing, great mystery elements. Looking forward to getting my weekly installments.