Title: A Deadly Inheritance
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: March 24, 2026
Format: e-ARC
My Rating: 3 stars/5
Synopsis: In the wake of her mother’s death, Liliana Chamberlain’s estranged (and very wealthy) grandparents swoop in. Or their lawyer does. Her grandparents aren’t ready to meet her, but they want her to have the life her mother walked away from, starting with Westwood Academy, the elite boarding school her mother attended. It should be a Cinderella dream come true, but Lili has serious misgivings. Yet she doesn’t have a choice, being under eighteen and dead broke.
Westwood Academy is a school of secrets as well as intriguing classmates, including Hollywood golden boy Theo Dubois and the mysterious Maddox Moreno. As she gets to know them all, Lili realizes there’s more to the school than elite-level networking. Something deadly.
For the new girl at school, investigating the deaths of past students — including Maddox’s own sister — is a very dangerous game. Do those deaths have something to do with why her mother fled Westdale at the cost of her inheritance?
When a fun night out turns bloody, Theo is the prime suspect, and Liliana must race against time to connect the past with the present and discover the truth behind her inheritance.
My thoughts from the Vault
Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this book. I chose to review it and this in no way impacts my opinion of it.
I was very excited to receive an e-ARC of A Deadly Inheritance from Netgalley and immediately I began reading. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m a huge KA fan. I normally love everything she writes and though the couple novels she wrote in the romance genre did fall a bit flat, I found this one to have a few problems for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good boarding school novel, I love a good mystery. But I think somewhere during the writing process it was forgotten that this is a young adult novel. I am not a prude by any means, and I have read some questionable books. However, there are some things that have no place in YA books. I won’t mention what the things are because spoilers, however I have no problem speaking with anyone about my opinions.
I enjoyed the mystery of this novel and found it to be a quick, decent read. The characters were likeable but I felt too much time was spent on the relationships/romance aspect of this story when it should have been spent on the actual mystery.
Overall, it was a decent read for me so 3 stars out of 5. If you enjoy mystery and whodunit’s, you’ll probably enjoy this novel.
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