Dark Legacy

by Anna DeStefano

Book Overview

Maddie Temple finds her life spiraling out of control as the mental link she shares with her twin sister pushes her closer and closer toward madness and her only hope for redemption lies with a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0505528193
• ISBN13: 9780505528193
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Love Spell
• Length: 307 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Dark Legacy by Anna de Stefano

Very fast paced. It was a good story, but it went almost too fast for me. I wish there would have been time for more character back story- especially about the romantic connection between heroine and leading man. I also think there wasn't enough chemistry between them. Other than that, it was an entertaining read and a very unique premise. Psychic powers, Government conspiracies, and an old family curse... you can't go wrong with that!

Dark Legacy

Although Dark Legacy's spine lists this as a paranormal romance, I think that including Gothic wouldn't be amiss. There is a certain tenseness to the novel, not quite anticipation, but close to it, as Maddie fights to fit the pieces of a centuries old puzzle together to have a future. As Maddie draws closer to the answer as to why (or what) caused her twin, Sarah, to slowly go mad and cast a dark shadow over the family, the plot only seemed to get more twisted. And twisted this story becomes as Maddie's reality is slowly leeched away in the wake of her sister's overwhelming madness. There are times when Maddie isn't certain if what she's thinking, feeling or doing are because she wants to or because Sarah has taken control of her. Sarah who's so warped from twenty plus years of having to deal with feeling everything everyone feels, of trying to take drugs to dead out the world enough so that she can be herself and not some random stranger on the street, feeling guilt over the night her father died. I felt the worst for Sarah, even though she's really hard to get along with. Her rage towards Maddie is almost understandable. Maddie also had powers, but she seemed so normal. She didn't have to worry about invading someone's mind and being that person. She wasn't going mad. The relationship between Maddie and Sarah is hard to describe. Maddie grew up wanting to protect Sarah as much as she could, but also hating her for the madness that she was being driven towards. She could feel that same madness want to leak into her own mind and was terrified of ending up like Sarah. Sarah wanted to latch onto Maddie in order to stay sane, but at the same time wanted to push her away so that she didn't infect her, resenting both the need and the feelings of protection. The romance between Maddie and Jarred is fraught with problems. Not just that Maddie is anxious over what she feels is her own madness, but also Sarah who doesn't want Jarred to be in Maddie's life (tainted by her own experiences and feelings). The novel itself moves at a quick pace, not dwelling too long before the urgent current beneath the storyline pulls it off once again. I never felt lost, or as if the story was moving too quickly and leaving things behind however. The surrounding cast of characters--Jarred, Metting, Phyllis (their mother)--represent a rather interesting triangle. Phyllis--who wants to forget and keep secret what the twins do, Jarred--who wants it all over and done with so that Maddie is safe and Metting--who, more or less, started this whole issue and wants it to play out to see the results (at first at least). Their different wants and needs created havoc for the sisters as they struggled to protect, to forgive, to trust. I'm in hope that because the ending hinted at future possibilities there will be more to tell about the Temple Sisters and more to see as they face a future together.

great twisting thriller

Twin sisters Maddie and Sarah Temple inherited something paranormal that neither understood and their mom hid behind a facade of denial. The siblings had each other though they were opposites as Maddie was light and Sarah was dark. However, a horrific accident shatters the family as their dad dies and Sarah becomes comatose. Maddie and her mom move on. However after a decade of not hearing Sarah's voice in her head, Maddie begins to hear her twin. Her mom lied to her re Sarah and now Maddie knows her sister has been part of a government experiment to deploy psychic skills as a weapon. Their effort has released the dark side of Sarah without Maddie's light to mute the evil. Maddie vows to save her sibling and overcome the DARK LEGACY curse that passed through generations of her ancestors including her mother; her boyfriend, Jarrod Keith vows to save both twins. This is a great twisting thriller starring twins who are yin and yang to one another and a hero willing to die to keep his beloved safe while helping her find her sibling, who is more in the shadows that mute the dark. The story line is fast-paced from the onset especially once Maddie knows the truth about her DARK LEGACY compounded by her mother's betrayal and desertion. She and Harrod make a strong team, but their fight against those who have experimented with Sarah seems like climbing Mt. Everest in high heels (even if we have come a long way). Harriet Klausner

Review by The Reading Reviewer, Mary Gramlich

Every family has it legends, lore and pieces of history to pass from one generation to another. But what if the legacy you are passing onto your children was evil and sinister and could cause harm. Would you ignore the truth of what has happened in the past to have children for the future - yes if you truly did not believe that evil is an inherited trait. Maddie and Sarah Temple were twins who had inherited a gift that they never understood and a mother who denied that it existed. Questions were never answered and doors never opened even when things happened that could not be explained or even understood. They were twins in every way but one contrast was very apparent Maddie was light to Sarah's darkness and they fed off of each other's personalities and lived in one another's head. But after a horrific accident that kills their father and puts Sarah into a comatose state Maddie and her mother begin life again, or so Maddie thinks. After ten years of living without the voice of her sister in her head Sarah is back and the nightmare of their life together begins again. Sarah has been a lab experiment on sleep research for the government trying to use her psychic ability to manipulate its enemies. But what they have done is stir the evil that lives within Sarah that is now creeping into Maddie's life and driving her slowly insane. The one saving grace in Maddie's life is Dr. Jarred Keith who is trying desperately to save her from the nightmares and get her to realize the dream of them together. But with Sarah completely free of her coma, stronger than ever and drawing Maddie into the web of destruction that she has created is any kind of normal life possible for either Sarah or Maddie. Maddie is able to stay in control with Jarred beside her but will he really want to stay when the complete picture of how horrible her family legacy is revealed. Sarah's darkness is coming and with Maddie and Jarred running will everything explode before the real truth is revealed? Will the legacy become a curse or a salvation for the sisters? With all the twists and turns in this book every time you think you have it figured out Ms. DeStefano takes another spin around the block. You have to pay attention to get all the details and follow who the specific characters are but the time you take to work it out is worth it since this book is not only entertaining it is downright scary in parts!

Dark, dangerous, suspenseful paranormal romance

Finally free from her twin after a tragic accident, Maddie Temple thought the dark psychic link between them had been severed by Sarah's coma and that she was finally free from Sarah's dark influence. Unfortunately, the nightmare has only just begun. In dreams, Maddie is drawn back to the scene of that tragic past moment. The voice she hears is that of her twin and the revelation about the accident haunts her, compels her with a force stronger than that of dreams. As the compulsions enter her daily life, is Maddie losing a grip on reality, falling into the darkness that surrounded her twin? Hints of a 100 year old dark legacy linger. Will she fulfill the dark legacy that shadows her family's future? Her sexy psychiatrist Dr. Jarred Keith tries to bring her back from the brink of madness, but will she be able to trust him? With only love, can he protect her from the dark mysterious organization that seeks to control the power of the twins and use their psychic powers for their own nefarious aims? In a confrontation that will challenge everything Maddie has ever known, will love have the power to save her from the brink of destruction. Anna DeStefano's paranormal romance DARK LEGACY is a spine-tingling blend of dark suspense and a paranormal romance that explores the deep powers of the human mind and heart. DARK LEGACY combines fast-paced action with haunting imagery to create a world that draws a reader into the haunting visions of a dream world turned on its head. In DARK LEGACY, dreams really do have the power to kill and the force that seeks to harness the power of dreams is as twisted as can be. Against this horrific scenario, love emerges and stands its ground against an evil so insidious --- an evil which could change the very world as we know it. Anna DeStefano keeps a reader poised on the very edge until the last page as danger upon danger arises, as image upon image builds to the final confrontation and shocking revelation ...and then anxiously awaiting the sequel! DARK LEGACY is a romance where the happily-ever-after is truly earned and what a journey there! Dark, dangerous and suspenseful, DARK LEGACY is a romance for readers who love heart-stopping suspense and the powerful, expansive imagination of the paranormal world. Awesome! COURTESY OF BOOK ILLUMINATIONS