Book Review: Darkest Legacy, by Allyson Gottlieb

Darkest Legacy
Allyson Gottlieb

Initial Thoughts: A good read

My Rating: 3+ Stars

Summary:
Everyone has secrets they'd prefer stayed buried. But information wants to be free... and so does Tamara Kingsley's ex-lover, incarcerated on the maximum-security prison planet, Alpha.

Tamara has done things she's not proud of, but that was years ago. Now the headmistress of the Silvermist School of Magic for Girls, she has an honest life, one that makes her happy. For the last twenty years she's fought like hell to keep it that way, and she thought she'd succeeded.

She's about to find out just how wrong she was to think her past was dead and gone.

My Thoughts:

Okay, so this is short. I usually don't read short stories or novellas because, to me, I don't have enough time to invest myself in the characters or the story. I usually come away feeling a little unsatisfied...like I left the table before desert. :) I wasn't aware when I picked up this book that it was a novella. Oops. Oh well. I've read it, so therefore I shall review it!

Despite the shortness of the story, the characters were pretty well-developed. I liked Tamara, and I liked how she wasn't perfect in her youth. In fact, she is probably pretty typical as a young lady who is charmed by a sweet, hot charmer...seeing what she wants to see and poo-pooing the advice from friends that "things ain't right in boy-world". And as far as her ex-lover? You don't really get to know him. I wasn't drooling over the bad boy (and I usually do, or at least, I love books where I do!), or hating him, or anything. 

I was invested enough in the story to see how it ended...I was trying to figure out if things would end on a good note or bad note...and it ends pretty much how you think it might (but you never know where these characters will go!)

The biggest problem I had was the flashing from past to present. It was a jolt the first time, and I had to re-read to make sure I knew what I was reading...there's no warning at the first flash-back, and it took me by surprise. Also, Tamara was set up as pretty much a friend-less loner in the beginning of the book, so the introduction half-way through of her "best friend" seemed a little contrived and hey! Another surprise.

Overall, enjoyable with a few glitches.