I am delighted to share my review today for The WIll by Rebecca Reid. This is a fabulous story that had me blind-sided a couple of times.

My huge thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for my spot on the Blog Tour and for arranging for my e-copy of this book from the publisher –

The Mordaunts aren’t like most families…

For one, their family home is Roxborough Hall – a magnificent, centuries-old mansion in the Norfolk countryside. For another, the house isn’t passed down from parent to child – but rather to the family member deemed most worthy.

Cecily Mordaunt is dead. On the evening of her funeral, her family will gather for dinner and each will be given a letter, revealing who is the next custodian of Roxborough Hall.

The house is a burden, a millstone, a full-time job…but they all want it. And some are willing do anything to get it.

One family. Eight letters. Who will get what they deserve?

MY REVIEW

The synopsis is short but more than enough to convince me that I wanted to read this book. I mean, a death, a will, a large house and family, that in itself is a pot simmering waiting for the inevitable to happen.

The thought of owning a large house is great, but when you are one of several that want it then tensions arise. I will admit the Mordant family are not backstabbers, they come across as polite and civil, although not all of them are like that. There is some behind-the-scenes sniping and manipulating, but then it is what makes the story so interesting.

The author has set this story up brilliantly, the house is to be left to one of the family, and it is not passed down to the eldest son or anything as archaic as that. Instead, it is down to the wishes of the recently deceased Cecily.

The author swaps back and forth between the present family and Cecily’s life growing up. I enjoyed both of the timelines but the present-day one is the one that takes precedence. Gradually the author lets you know about each of the family members, introducing them as such. They are a mix of siblings and their children.

With a reasonably large family group, it was easy to keep p with who was who. They each want the house, each one has their own plans for what they would like to do with it. The author works some brilliant subplots into this and I was never sure who was going to be the best one to own the house.

This is a mystery wrapped around the family group and it makes for a wonderful story. the characters are likeable on the whole, with the odd exception. This is a mix of contemporary fiction and mystery. It is a wonderful read and one that I would definitely recommend .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Reid is the author of the novels Perfect Liars, Truth Hurts and Two Wrongs, and the nonfiction book The Power of Rude. She is a freelance journalist and columnist for the Telegraph’s women’s section and a regular contributor to Telegraph culture. She is the former digital editor of Grazia magazine and has previously written for Stylist, the Independent, the Guardian, The Times, Marie Claire, the New Statesman and Glamour Magazine. She regularly contributes to Good Morning Britain, Sky News and various BBC radio programmes. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway.

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