4.50 Stars. This was another winner by Greene. I have to be honest that I was never big on Greene’s earlier work, her romances. Since than she has changed it up and her last two books have been paranormal reads. Both were outstanding and it’s like she’s a new author now, one that I can’t wait to read.

This was a little different than her last book Gnarled Hollow. I would put Gnarled Hallow in the horror-paranormal category and I gave it 5 stars for scaring the pants off of me at times. This was more creepy-paranormal. I was never scared like in Gnarled Hallow, but all of the creepy paranormal parts were exciting and entertaining. I actually think this was slightly better written and more of a balanced story than Gnarled was. Gnarled was mostly horror with teeny tiny romance elements. Whereas this book had a better balance of creepy, romance and even some mystery. While my rating is higher on Gnarled for its scare factor, I would not be surprised if more people overall enjoy this book over Gnarled.

The basis of this story is about two cousins, and their friends, who are helping to clean up an old family cabin that was neglected for a few years. The cabin is in Colorado surrounded by state park lands. I’m not going to mention any more because I don’t want to spoiler any of the creepiness. I do want to mention that I really enjoyed the cast of characters. The main character is Jo who is a cousin to Carter. The two of them look like identical twins. Carter has a wife and they also invited some mutual friends with them. And last but not least, we have who I would consider the other main character Andy, who is a Park Ranger. Considering it’s a decent size cast of characters, I was impressed how well done they all were. Everyone had their own uniqueness and I liked all of the characters. I also want to mention that Carter’s wife was deaf. This was the second book this month I have read where the author uses italics to interpret the ASL. What makes me a little mad is I can’t remember, before this month, the last time a book I read had a deaf character. That means way too long! Anyway, it was nice to see in this book and I hope this just becomes more of the norm so I don’t have to even mention it.

One of the things I was talking about above was that I was glad to see that the romance got a decent amount of time in this book. The romance is not insta-love but it was pretty fast moving. I personally am a slow burn kind of girl but I must admit that I had no issues with the faster pace in this book. With all the danger and excitement going on, it was nice to have two people falling for each other. There is talk about sex and few slightly explicit sex scenes, but it was more PG-13 mostly fade to black kind. Again, I thought this felt appropriate for the type of book this was.

I had a lot of fun with this book and was extremely entertained. It wasn’t really scary, but it was plenty creepy and kept me on my toes. I think this would be the perfect book to read around Halloween. Greene is filling a hole writing these scary and creepy paranormal lesfic books that we don’t have much of. I hope she has more hair-raising ideas in that head of hers because I would love to read more.

Now this is my kind of paranormal ghost story!

I knew as soon as I saw the author was Charlotte Greene that I would probably like Legacy. She has already scared me silly (in a good way) with Gnarled Hollow. I figured I would give her another chance to frighten me with this new novel.

The story is set on a mountain in Colorado. The mountain is privately owned by the Lemke family but is surrounded by a national park so there are no neighbors. One of the Lemke ancestors built a cabin near the top of the mountain, and until about two years before the book begins, this cabin was used as a vacation spot for the whole family. After a two year battle over ownership rights, Jo and Carter Lemke, two cousins in the family, along with Carter’s wife and a couple of friends go up to the cabin to clean and make repairs to the place. They find the cabin and surrounding area a shambles. They also find a mysterious presence that seems to have taken over the area, and this presence doesn’t want them there. Jo, our main character, seems to be a special target, though the others are attacked by it as well. Jo will need all the help she can get, including from that gorgeous park ranger, Andy, to figure out what is happening before whatever is haunting the mountain either kills someone or forces them off the mountain for good.

Now, let me briefly describe where we live. We live in a house about fifty kilometers from the nearest city, in what Canadians like to call the “bush”. There is a swamp on one side of us, a tall forested hill behind us, a mostly empty vacation home on the other side of us, and a field with an old farmhouse across from us. Wolves live on that hill behind us, and we sometimes hear them howling at night. We have eagles that nest on Scarface, a cliff that sits behind that farmhouse across the road. The only night lights around here are the moon, the stars, and the fireflies in the summer. And here I am reading Legacy in bed in the middle of the night. Yep, I did that, and yes, I was deliciously frightened.

This is a wonderfully scary paranormal novel. The setting is perfect and well described. The characters are well-drawn and likable. The romance between Jo and Andy is especially charming and fits perfectly into the tale. This is just a wonderful story, and I’m so glad I read it, even in the middle of the night. If you love a good scary story, I believe you will love it too.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

3.75 stars

This is the second book I've read by Charlotte Greene, and I enjoyed it more than the first.

I love me a good ghost story, toss in some suspense, and a budding romance, and I'm a happy camper. No pun intended.

The one thing that stopped me rating this higher was the languid pacing, but then again I'm an impatient reader, so I guess that one's on me.

A cabin in the wood that has been abandoned for the past two years is being cleaned out and renovated by Jo, her cousin Carter and her wife, her friend Meg and Meg's girlfriend. It is not long before Jo starts to notice weird stuff happening and even finds herself in danger from an unknown source.

I am not normally one for stories with a paranormal angle, but the outdoors, a group friend and little bit of romance does appeal to me so I decided to take a chance on this book. I was not disappointed at all! The writer is good in setting the stage of "something" being off in and around the cabin, the descriptions were solid and the skepticism of some of the characters to be expected which made it seem more realistic. You could sense something was wrong and discover with Jo what the story behind the house was.

Throw in a strong and sexy ranger and a sweet romance developing in between the more suspenseful scenes and it's most definitely worth the read! I am not going to say too much about the plot because a lot of the enjoyment comes from finding out how it came to be, but I can tell you this: if this is any indication of the writers other books I am going to have a lot of fun reading them cause I *will* go and search for them right now!

Another book by Greene that I had to read with the light on!

Chilling doesn't begin to describe this page-turner, but it comes close. Spooky, blood-curdling, watch-your-back reading best done in daylight, but oh so well crafted that you can't put it down.
Did that shadow just move?

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Jo and Carter are cousins who could be twins they are the only one in the family who who look like each other but the rest of their family have features of every family members.

When they get permission to restored the family cabin as the families fight over it. Jo goes up there first to look things over when she get there she feels something is off especially in one bedroom where the furniture is display in a scary way.

When Carter and their friends Meg and Rachel come also Carter wife Daniela comes later on Jo shows Carter the room and they both don't know what to make of it and think one of the family members did it. As they start to clean up the cabin Jo starts to hear footsteps and compel her to run in the woods where she get hurt.

We meet Andy when Jo and Carter get stranded and need of help. Jo and Carter can't take their eyes off of Andy. When the rest of the crew meet Andy they can't take their eyes off her either. I would say there an instant connection between Jo and Andy I like their connection it was cute how they would stare at each other when things start to get more scary Jo decide to dig into their family past to find out what happen at this cabin. Oh there is some conflict between Jo and Carter wife Daniela because Jo was dating Daniela best friend Elsa and they broke up and Daniela wasn't talking to her what I didn't like is that Daniela just believe everything Elsa said instead of talking to Jo they finally did talk and repair their friendship.

I won't tell what going on in the cabin why it's haunted but I did like what Andy friend Kevin boyfriend Drew said about why it's amazing that Jo and Carter looks so much alike then the rest of their family's.

I love it!! Had me on the edge of my seat. She writes horror/romance/mystery really well so hope she continue doing it

Once again, it was solely the book cover that lured me to read the story. When a cover is spellbindingly aesthetic and subversively revealing, I avoid the book's blurb because I want to experience the story organically based on my supposition of what the cover and/or the title has revealed to my imagination. THIS cover of Charlotte Greene's latest lesfic horror/supernatural story, "Legacy," with a compelling romance, literally held me captive. It's the well. The. Bloody. Well.  I always had this strange fascination with the well. Perhaps because of what it represents (to me): the abyss of hidden secrets, dark mysteries, lost time, trapped past. So the sight of a well on this cover was like a calling....an ominously eerie calling for my attention. With the cabin looking on from afar like it was scared of the unassumingly imposing well, not to mention, its intimidating title towering over its insidious mouth, my resolve to devour this book was sealed good and proper. I trusted my instincts that its story would give me the kind of satisfaction that I always crave for when reading. In particular, stories in the horror/paranormal/supernatural genre, because of my unusually high expectations and selective pickiness. I don't usually read books solely based on their covers but the few times that I did, they all came up on top, believe it or not. No exception with this one. Yay to intuition!

Needless to say, the cover and the title did its job and then some in personifying the nature and intent of the story. "Legacy" was utterly brilliant! For me, it was one of the most arresting, richly multi-layered, spine-tingling, bone-chilling horror/supernatural stories ever written and I'm proud to place this as one of my favourites in the genre, lesfic or otherwise. The tone, the rhythmic flow and design of Greene's dark, hair-raising nightmare of a tale was reminiscent of Henry James' "The Turn Of The Screw," Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep," mixed with the visual shudder of "The Ring," "Amityville Horror," and "Cabin In The Woods," all of which are on my favourite horror "proverbial" book/blu-ray shelf. But the icing on the cake for me was what "Legacy" had that these aforementioned books/movies didn't.... LESBIANS! To top it off, it also featured a prominent lesbian romance that Greene ever-so nonchalantly weaved into the story amidst all the otherworldly ruckus throughout the entire journey! To say that I was utterly satisfied and satiated after devouring this book is an understatement. Naturally, I shall be revisiting the cabin, the well, the woods, the fascinating cast of characters, particularly the primary MCs and the "shadow" MCs...yeh, you have to read it to gauge who I'm talking about!

The story started off with a bang, no time wasted, when Jo, one of the MCs, arrived on the heels of the long hike up to the cabin in the woods. The cabin that her family had owned since it was built by her great-great grandmother all by herself in the late 1800s. Jo's hike was described with an unsettling sense of foreboding as Greene ever-so sneakily dialled up the unease through cleverly described surroundings including mysterious sounds, changing temperatures that made not only Jo's skin crawl but mine, too! And it wasn't even the end of the 1st chapter! I knew then that I was in for a real, intense supernatural experience when Greene continued with her tale spinning.

Just like a lot of horror movies, there's always a group of friends meeting up in some secluded place and then horror emerges. No different in this story except that the group consisted of women and all of them were lesbians! Yay! Not happening a lot in lesfic these days so it was a welcome change to see a group of lesbian characters weaved into the core story. So cheers, Ms. Greene! And add a couple of cute and adorable gay guys later on in the story....bloody brilliant! So, speaking of the group, there was Jo, her cousin-cum-best mate Carter along with her wife Daniela, and Meg and Rachel who were their close mates all meeting up in the cabin to spend their holiday together only to end up helping Jo and Carter clean out the cabin that hadn't been lived in for at least two years so you can just imagine the state it was in, inside and around the land they owned.

There was one scene which literally made the hair at the back of my head stand erect like nothing else, chills started tingling through my spine when Greene described what Jo discovered in one of the bedrooms. So vivid and visually-induced was Greene's description of the encompassing scene including Jo's reaction, I practically saw it unfold right before my eyes like I was there witnessing the whole bizarre sight alongside Jo! Whoa! By then, I was so thrilled to have this feeling of anticipation that I would be experiencing more and more as Greene slowly unveiled, revealed all the secrets about the cabin, the strange sounds and smell, the temp change, dimensions, Jo's strange affinity to the cabin and her great-great grandmother ever since she was a kid who used to visit the cabin frequently until recently because of reasons, so many other strange things that you simply MUST read the book to find out more! The saying, "Things that go bump in the night?" Well, it started all right. From strange sounds and an awfully pungent smell coming from the woods and around their pitched tents in the night to certain altered states of consciousness. And just so you know, Greene injected a series of chills and frights throughout the story with devilish fervour, so brace yourself when you venture into her evil genius sense of imagination!

One of the approaches that I thought Greene achieved effectively in creating a constant sense of intensity and edginess was how she used human nature - the default reaction to strange and abnormal occurrences, which is, denial, rejection, false ignorance and failure to share information - to heighten the fear factor in the reader. If only you could see me screaming into the pages at Jo, "For Pete's sake, SAY SOMETHING!", when things just went from bad to worse, to say the least! Speaking of sharing, I have to mention the very curious relationship between Jo and Daniela, Carter's wife. Don't know about you but whenever I read a mystery, or horror, I'd start to compile theories in my mind as I explore the story. I was latching on to Daniela and Jo's increasingly worsened conflict because it was strangely misplaced. Speaking of Daniela, I was utterly chuffed that Greene created a deaf character! And it's freaky because I was just reading a book with a deaf character in it and the use of ASL in the dialogues and then, surprise sur-bloody-prise, ASL in this one, too!!!! Bloody hell! Law of attraction, much?! In Greene's story, ASL was constantly use in the characters' conversations because Daniela was a prominent secondary character who appeared all throughout the book. It was such a refreshing reading experience to imagine the ASL dialogues being used between the characters in my mind. I really liked Daniela. Her chemistry with Jo was truly an interesting experience to explore as Greene ever-so delicately weaved it from contentious to tentative to suspicion to realisation to reconciliation. I could sense the organic shifts in their relationship as the story progressed. In fact, Greene portrayed the entire group's interpersonal relationships with such authenticity that I believed they were close mates as their rapport and camaraderie felt genuine even when they were at odds with each other. Just like real-life friends and family.

Back to my theories as I impatiently tried to solve the puzzle, I must say, Greene's ingenuity kept me constantly guessing what was up her sleeves. From the suspicious focus on the unusual heights of a couple of characters including the other MC of the story, Andy, the park ranger and Kevin, Drew (Andy's roomie)'s boyfriend, the curious nature of the close-knit community, i.e. keeping marriages and family creation to amongst locals only (remind you of any story?), Jo and Carter's uncanny "doppelgänger" effect, to Jo and Daniela's worryingly maligned feud as I've mentioned earlier, and the cemetery. Questions were flying for me as the names of the tombstones were revealed. And then the big kahuna. The well. Before this, every time I saw a dilapidated stoned well, my mind would immediately go to "The Ring." I'll just leave it at that. Speaking of the well, can I just say, I was utterly spellbound by how Greene introduced it using Jo as the conduit to epitomise the TRUE nature of everything about this story. From there, Greene cleverly weaved every layer of relativity to the characters, the varied situations and circumstances, certain energy flow, the unspoken connection and curious affinity involving Jo and Andy and the past, before ever-so slyly peeling them off one by one with each reveal, written and depicted with utter aplomb!

Speaking of Andy, I loved her character. Greene's cheeky introduction of her as the "knight in shining armour" (so to speak!) coming to Jo and Carter's rescue was a sight to witness, in the mind's eye! How Greene described her was stuff of fantasy! It did play to the horror genre, though, where a group of people get stranded, in comes a gorgeously looking stranger with agenda unknown, sexual tension ensues...you know what I'm talking about if you're a horror fan, don't ya? Greene nailed it perfectly. I immediately felt the chemistry between Jo and Andy! And before long, their relationship started to grow, albeit relatively slowly but filled with playful teases, mind, before Greene deepened their attraction, physical and emotional attachment to each other at every stage of their relationship. Greene's depiction of their relationship was purposeful and written with such conviction that I could feel their strange affinity, their unflinching connection with each other that defied any logic whilst their chemistry intensified. As Andy's past was slowly revealed I wanted to know more but Greene did a brilliant job personalising her character and her pivotal role in Jo's life and all that came with it. The connectivity between their inner psyches, their souls, was portrayed with genuine intensity and unwavering bond. Needless to say, I was engrossed in the entire journey of their romance and love story which held such resonance and relevance in the end. You'll know what I mean when you read the book. I thought Greene truly succeeded in merging the significance of the past and the present with reverberating effect. I was enthralled.

My favourite moment of the book was surprisingly something that I never expected! It was the flashback. But not like any other flashbacks that I'd encountered before. It read like a historical fiction short chronicling the lives of Aurora, Sarah and Henry during the time shortly before the cabin was built. Greene's depiction of their history was succinctly captivating with rich, full details about not just the affected characters but also the entire look and feel of that era in the late 1890s. The exterior locations and settings of that era were described with visual vividness I was literally transported from the present time to that bygone era with a sense of nostalgia. I was so engrossed in the short but concise story that when it ended, I really wanted to read a full novel about them and their entire journey! Once you read what happened and the legacy they left, I reckon you'd also want to delve deeper into the lives of those who had directly and indirectly touched the lives of Jo, Andy and Carter and the rest of the Lemke clan. I must say, when I was exploring the flashback, I couldn't help but felt the flavour of it was running in the same vein as the flashbacks in Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep" but in a decidedly less harsher execution by Greene, which I simply enjoyed. Speaking of King, I was beside myself when Greene ever-so nonchalantly mentioned the word Stanley and Stephen King in one breath of a page when Kevin was explaining the history of an area of interest to Jo's research! Just when I was still mulling over "Doctor Sleep" which I'd just read recently! Talk about freaky! Coincidence? I think not.

The final confrontation between light and dark in the powerful energy force field of positive and negative was superbly visualised that yet again, I was in that space with the characters, observing and witnessing everything that unfolded right before my eyes. When the plan of the confrontation was being hatched, it carried an aura that was reminiscent of King's "Doctor Sleep." At least it did feel that way to me. Perhaps it was because I'd just recently finished reading King's book and had been mulling over it. The climb in and out of the well was an intensely written, visually affecting scene. What happened in the pitch black, freezing cold well was reminiscent of "The Ring." I won't divulge any further but when you read it, you'll see what I mean. 

There was a moment toward the end after all the dust was settled that truly embodied the crux of Jo's lifelong affinity and soul connectivity toward the cabin and Aurora, her great-great grandmother. Greene deftly described that pivotal scene with Jo and everything around her with such heart that I felt its raw but genuine exaltation filled with spiritual reconciliation in the convergence of the past and present. It was a cathartic moment for Jo and me as the reader who'd also gone through everything with her and her ancestors.

All in all, I absolutely, positively LOVED this book from start to finish. Greene's ingenuity in weaving this whole tapestry of goodness in the area of horror/supernatural with a cleverly constructed and richly layered, spine-chilling, hauntingly sinister horror story that transcended time and space, made this reading experience an utterly gripping, hair-raising, intense, harrowing and one hell of a satisfying ride for me!!! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book! It's a MUST-READ for all fans of the horror/supernatural/paranormal genre, lesfic and genfic, alike! This book is now one of my favourite horror/supernatural stories and it goes right into my list of rereads, that's for sure! The Legacy lives on!! Bloody well done, Ms. Greene!

**I was given, with much thanks and appreciation, an ARC of this book, by BSB via NetGalley, in return for an honest review.