Read As A Stand Alone: Yes but not recommended
Publisher: Bookouture
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Feb. 15th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
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Blurb from Amazon:
Lexy Culhane follows in stunned silence as her father bundles her younger brothers onto the train in a midnight flight away from the only life they have ever known. It seems impossible to her that her gentle, loving mother could have shot a man.
Despite the shock, Lexy soon grows to love her new home at Wild Swan, the grand horse farm in Maryland run by her formidable grandmother, Alexandria Falconer. It is from Alex that Lexy has inherited her fiery and rebellious spirit, and which eventually leads her headlong into a career as a crusading reporter during the final days of the frontier wars.
When Lexy meets enigmatic fellow reporter Hawk MacKenna, she feels she has finally found her soulmate. But Hawk’s life is shadowed by a mistake from his youth, and still haunted by her mother’s actions, Lexy struggles to trust him. When her relentless curiosity about his hidden past comes between them, Hawk leaves for the battlefields in the West and Lexy accepts an invitation from distant relations in England. But when she is offered a chance to stay, she faces a test—can she choose between building a new life in this foreign land, or returning to face the pain, and the love, that she left behind?
A stunning, dramatic and heartfelt story by beloved storyteller Celeste De Blasis, set against the backdrop of the most turbulent age of American history. Perfect for readers who love Poldark, Outlander and Daphne du Maurier.
A Wild Legacy was originally published as A Season of Swans.
My Thoughts:
"A Wild Legacy" continues the story of Alex and Rane Falconer and their family. The bulk of the book, and it's a long one at approximately 900 pages, focuses on Alex and Rane's great-granddaughter Lexy. Like her great-grandmother Alex, Lexy is stubborn, passionate, intelligent, and independent. We see her grow from a girl into a woman. She knows as a youngster that she wants to be a reporter and she achieves that goal. Lexy is both journalist and crusader, reporting on worker woes and strikes, women's rights, and conditions at a mental hospital, to name a few topics she covers. She struggles with juggling being a full-time journalist, a wife, and potentially a mother. Her husband is also a journalist and they both travel extensively. Most of the Carrington Falconer women are working women, whether at home or out of the home. They run their homes, a business, fight for social justice, and their families, and just like modern women struggle to balance it all. They are eminently relatable if at times overwhelming with all they do and are.
The book also spotlights Lexy's parents, Gincie and Travis, her brothers Tay and Kace, and various other family members. It meanders, and takes side roads, introduces characters, focuses on them for a bit then forgets about them for hundreds of pages. It lacked focus and could have been shorter and tighter. Are sagas like this even still published? One advantage to sagas, including this one, is how close you become with the characters. I felt like I was spending time with friends and the little side trips helped me catch up with everyone and their families. One of the things I love about Lexy's family is how open they are to new members. So many members are found family, casually or formally adopted, and loved as much as if they were blood. The Carringotn Falconers make no distinction between blood family, adopted, or in-laws; family is family and I loved that so much. The story was dramatic and emotional and I was brought to tears several times.
"A Wild Legacy" left me wanting to know more about Lexy and Hawk's life and the next generation of Carrington Falconers. Sadly, there will be no more books as the author is dead. I am glad I had the chance to re-read these books and can read them again.
Have you read this one or the previous books in the trilogy? What did you think?
My review of book one, A Wild Hope
My review of book two, A Wild Heart
About the author ~
Millions of readers have fallen under the spell of the lush, enthralling and bestselling novels by Celeste De Blasis. Tales of adventure and romance set against the sweep of history—all are storytelling at its finest. After graduating from Pomona College, Celeste devoted her life to impeccable research and spellbinding writing. A native Californian, Celeste grew up on the historic Kemper Campbell Ranch in the Mojave Desert, where she lived until her death in 2001.
Oh that is sad, but I am glad you enjoyed the series.
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