The Inherited (The Inherited Series: Book 1) by Lily Burlington

Title: The Inherited

Author: Lily Burlington

Publisher: Inkitt

Date of publication: September 13th, 2017

Genre: Romance, young adult

Number of pages:

POV: 1st person

Series: The Inherited

The Inherited – Book 1

Where you can find The Inherited: Amazon

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

One second Catherine believes that she is a normal girl, the next she finds herself betrothed to a Prince. Together they are thrust into a world of political intrigue, ancient oaths, & deadly mystery.

All Cat wants is to make it through her final exams and to get into a good university but that is put on hold when two men show up on her doorstep and tell her she is the last descendant of an ancient and forgotten royal bloodline. Not only that, but they offer her the chance of a lifetime trip to spend the summer living it up on castles and yachts off the coast of France. The only hitch is that she has to be a brooding prince’s arm candy.

A summer of parties and beaches changes faster than the tides when old secrets begin to be unearthed and blood binding decrees are called upon. Cat and her prince soon find themselves mixed up in political intrigue, deadly mystery, and history-changing decisions.

Can truth and love survive when the path to the throne and crown is riddled with deception and daggers?

Trigger Warning: None

My Review:

I have said in past reviews that I do not like it when the synopsis does not reflect a book is or when a synopsis gets simple things wrong. With The Inherited, the synopsis is pretty accurate but the heroine’s name is wrong. I thought I was losing it when I logged onto the publisher’s site to set up for this review and saw the name, Catherine. The name in the book is Winifred. I had to go and double-check with the book to make sure that 1) this was the right book and 2) the name I had read was correct (it was).

I liked the plot of The Inherited. It was simple and stayed pretty much to the point. Ordinary girl finds out that she is a princess. Girl goes to France to live in a neighboring country with royalty. Girl falls for a dark, brooding prince with mismatched eyes. It was simple and to the point. I loved it.

Fred cracked me up. At the beginning of the book, she was so not princess material. She was a regular teenager who got thrust into that lifestyle. I know that I would have acted out more than she did if I was forced to become royalty overnight. I did like her. She was funny and man, did she keep Leopold put in his place.

Speaking of Leopold, I wish that the author made him a bit more of a bad boy. While he was a bad boy at the beginning of the book, he settled down with Fred. He became boring to me. I also didn’t believe that he was only 18. The way he was written, I thought that he might be in his early 20’s. Other than him being boring, I liked him. I thought he was a good match for Fred. I also liked that his eyes were two different colors. I thought that was pretty interesting.

While I liked the romance between Fred and Leopold, it stunk of Instalove. Fred and Leopold went from zero to relationship within weeks. That aside, I loved reading about their relationship. They were so cute together and you could tell that Leopold loved her.

There was no sex in this book. There was a lot of kissing and some light petting. I will say that I thought Leopold had amazing restraint when it came to kissing and making out with Fred. She wanted more but he was saying “Let’s wait“. It was refreshing to read.

I do have a few minor issues with the book. The first one being with Rose. She kept warning Fred about Leopold and even had a whole speech that she said to Leopold. But then she faded away. I want to know, what was her beef. Phillipa knew and gave the barest of facts but then the storyline was dropped. My second issue was the ending. It was like the author chose a point in the book and said: “Hey, I’ll end here“. It was abrupt and left me feeling that there should have been more.

The end of the book, besides my complaint, was cute. I called what happened about halfway through the book but it was still cute to read. I am looking forward to reading book 2.

My Summary of The Inherited: 3 stars

I enjoyed reading The Inherited but I felt that there were some major issues that needed to be addressed. The whole wrong name in the blurb was a bad way to start the book. I will admit it colored my opinion of the book from the get-go. Also, I felt that the ending needs to be rewritten so that it is not so abrupt. With dangling plotlines and characters who weren’t as fleshed out as they could be, I couldn’t give The Inherited a 4 or 5-star rating. If the author did any of what I said, this book would be fantastic.

Will I reread: Maybe

Will I recommend to family and friends: Maybe

Age range: Older Teen

Why: Mild language, mild violence, no sexual situations. There are some heavy kissing and light petting but nothing graphic

I would like to thank Lily Burlington and Inkitt for allowing me to read and review The Inherited

All opinions expressed in this review of The Inherited are mine and mine alone

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**