Legacy

by Jayne Ann Krentz

Delighted by her "chance" meeting with Conn Landry, a member of the California thoroughbred racing set, Honor Mayfield soon realizes that she is falling for a man out to avenge a dark legacy of betrayal and murder. Reissue.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Fiction, Audiobook, Suspense

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1984

About the author

The author of over 50 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.

She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.

Reviews

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this one from the same source I got Gambler's Woman so I knew to check the actual publication date. Sure enough, this is a mid 80s novel. Unlike Gambler's Woman, however, it didn't completely suck.

Constantine Landry comes across as something of a jerk. He's emotionally distant (broken, even) and very much the autocratical, arrogant, possessive type. We open the book knowing only that he's driven to investigate... something. We're not sure what or in what capacity (is he a cop? P.I.? Vigilante?). All we really know is that he's targeted Honor Mayfield as his most likely source of information—which is odd as she's not exactly the kind of person you'd expect to know anything important about the kind of thing that warrants investigation.

Honor starts the book trying to find a loan shark to pay off a debt of her sister's. Conn intercepts her and we're off to the races—kind of literally as it turns out that Conn owns a thoroughbred named Legacy (Yay! we know where the title comes from!). Yeah, kind of a cheesy premise. The mystery at the heart of this proto-suspense novel is built from a shared past that involves treachery and murder and the worlds least likely gun-runners.

So the plot is a bit weak but at least I liked Honor. And Conn has some depth to his character that we get to explore. While he's dictatorial and possessive, he isn't so much a jerk as he is simply emotionally constipated. That and a sense of buried vulnerability masked by "trust issues" make him tolerable if not exactly swoon-worthy. Although, come to think of it, he places his trust remarkably badly for someone with trust issues. Honor loving him was kind of random and mostly authorial fiat, but not so poorly handled that I held it against her.

The book had a lot of 80s pseudo-psych splashing around in it and it was interesting remembering that women actually took some of that stuff seriously once (the emotionally damaged bad-boy who needs a woman to teach him what love really means—mostly by accepting all his stupid excuses and letting him get away with stuff she probably shouldn't. The kind of thing that Big Trouble in Little China was mocking with Jack Burton). I'm glad that went away (uh, mostly. Kind of. or at least people have to make excuses for it), but didn't find it too off-putting here (which maybe says bad things about me...).

Anyway, it was a quick read and I enjoyed it well enough. Mostly because I liked Honor and she isn't the doormat you might assume from some of the above comments. Once you accept that she fell in love with Conn, the rest is easy enough to get on board with.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another book from Krentz's early career and it reflects the insane notions people held back then of what constituted romance. The hero of this story, Conn, is a first class jerk who is completely incapable of looking at things from anyone else's perspective. He's also psychotically violent.



We begin the story with the heroine, Honor, following a known loan shark in order to pay him back some money her sister owes. It's never explained just why Honor had to do this herself when it's the sister's debt. Even though Honor is lending her the money, the sister should be the one making the payment, but whatever. Conn sees Honor following this bad guy and makes a very cold and calculated decision to waylay her, not to keep her safe, but to forcibly put her in his debt.

See, unbeknownst to Honor, Conn has been literally stalking her for the last month. Their fathers were business partners over a decade ago and they allegedly killed each other in a quarrel over some illegal gun-running. Conn has long believed that his father was innocent of the smuggling and it was Honor's father who was behind it and then killed Conn's father when he found out. Now, more than ten years later, Conn's hatched a scheme to exact revenge on Honor and her family in some vague and undefined way through specifically targeting her. He's laid plans and, in his words, spun a web around Honor that will guarantee she falls into his trap.

When he stops her from following this loan shark he does so by grabbing her arm and dragging her into the stables at a race track. He then deliberately speaks in cryptic half-truths for a while before finally telling her that the loan shark was about to walk into a police sting operation and if Honor had been with him at the time, it would have gone badly for her. Conn then proceeds to inform her that she now "owes" him a seemingly unpayable debt for "saving" her. He also goes behind her back and pays the loan shark the money Honor's sister owed and again insists that Honor now "owes" him another debt. Even though she had the money ready to pay the loan shark and didn't need him to swoop in and do any saving. She gives Conn the money she'd intended to pay the loan shark so that should have squared things but no, not to Conn. He's operating on his own set of twisted logic in which Honor will be indebted to him for the rest of her life....and she seems to agree for reasons that aren't adequately clear.

As he tells us in his ice-cold inner monologue, this is all part of his plan. He wants to be "in control" of their relationship because he's spinning this web around her. He never seems to have much of a plan for what he's going to do once he has her trapped but it's very important to him that he dominate the relationship and she not have any power at all. To that end, he deliberately withholds his true identity from her and initiates phase 2 of his plan; seduction.

Conn more or less bullies Honor into accepting a dinner date with him and when they come back to her apartment they come very close to having sex but when she protests that they barely know each other, he reluctantly stops and leaves. The next day he demands that she have dinner with him again that night but she's nervous about the way he's acting, all possessive and domineering, so she tells him she has other plans. His jealousy circuits are immediately tripped and he starts demanding to know who she's going out with, is it another man? Because he won't stand for that! He even spends 2 hours camped out on her doorstep waiting to see who brings her home and if it had been a man, there would most likely have been violence.

Instead, Honor runs directly into his arms because she's being followed by a sinister-looking pickup truck. Conn is elated that he got to "play the hero" even though he didn't actually do anything and had been behaving like an obsessed stalker all night. And he takes full advantage of Honor's emotional upheaval to get her into bed. When they're finished he tells her emphatically that they're now "bonded" in some unbreakable way and instead of being afraid that a man she's known for two days is trying to stake a claim of ownership on her person, Honor readily agrees that they are indeed bonded. You see, despite knowing almost nothing about Conn and him behaving like a caveman, she's already started to fall in love with him.

The next day, she's on cloud nine for a few hours until an acquaintance of Conn's pays Honor a visit and clues her in to who Conn really is and the fact that he's sworn revenge on her family. She's devastated that he's been lying to her this whole time (all 2 days of it) and she feels like a fool for falling in love with him when he's just been out to play some revenge game. She confronts Conn that night and in standard 1980's "hero" fashion, he's completely and utterly illogical about the whole thing. He acts like the fact that he stalked her for a month for the sole purpose of enacting some kind of revenge plan is no big deal and that she's just being a feminine airhead for being upset about it. He even lets it slip that seducing her was part of the plan but hand-waves that like it's okay because once they'd slept together he realized that they now had that "bond" thing going on so it's irrelevant what his initial motives were.

He never, not one single time, apologizes to her or even entertains the idea that he might be in the wrong. In fact, he gets angrier and angrier with her that she refuses to see that he's "right" about everything, especially the part about her belonging to him now that they're lovers. When she tells him to get out of her apartment he does, but his parting words are more insistence that they're bonded now and a declaration that she still "owes" him. For what I can't possibly guess.

He spends the night drinking himself into a stupor, all the while never admitting that he's behaved despicably. He recognizes that he didn't handle the explanation of the whole "yes I've been stalking you and I'm not who I said I was" thing very well, but feels that's her fault for surprising him with the questions. He'd intended to tell her eventually, when HE deemed the time was right. When he'd had the opportunity to bind her to him in a more permanent fashion so she could never get away. That's when he'd have started feeding her the truth little by little. Still, throughout the whole night of drinking, he never recognizes that what he did was wrong, not to mention illegal. He decides to give her 24 hours to "calm down and think rationally" before he'll go back and demand she submit to being his woman again.

The next morning he's woken up by the same acquaintance who'd outed him to Honor, and the guy insists Conn come down to the stables immediately because something has happened with Conn's horse, Legacy. Once there, the guy shows Conn 2 apples that have pills shoved into them and helpfully describes a woman who fits Honor's exact description as having been seen putting the apples in Legacy's stall. Conn immediately believes the idea that Honor could have tried to kill his horse. After all, her father probably killed Conn's father, right? Must run in the family! Never mind that Honor's never in her life done anything even remotely close to wrong and that she's been a perfectly normal and honest human being throughout their whole relationship while Conn's the one who has behaved like a crazy, violent stalker. Nope, she's tried and convicted in Conn's mind without any further information needed.

He goes storming over to her apartment, completely out of control and ready to do violence, only to find that Honor is gone. She had wisely recognized that Conn wouldn't leave her alone for long and wanted time and space to think about what he'd done and reconcile it with her still-present and inexplicable love for him, so she packed up and headed for her family's beach house. To Conn's way of thinking, the fact that Honor "fled" is damning evidence that she tried to kill his horse. He can't even conceive of the possibility that she'd leave to get away from him and the things he's done. No, it's got to be horse-killing.

Conn goes raging over to Honor's sister's place - which he only has the address for because he's been stalking Honor and has a file on her known associates - and demands to know where Honor is. The airhead sister takes absolutely no notice of the murderous air around Conn and happily lets him listen to her voicemail messages to see if Honor left her one. When they get to the one from Honor, she specifically asked the sister not to tell "anyone" where she's gone, with it heavily implied that by "anyone" she means "Conn". The ditzy sister then says "oops, I guess I shouldn't have let you listen to that, huh?" and then STILL gives Conn the address to the beach house and then doesn't even call Honor to warn her that Conn is on his way!!! Thanks for nothing, sis. With friends like you, who needs enemies?

Conn drives the several hours down to the beach house all the while stoking the fires on his murderous rage. He's even scaring HIMSELF with how violent his thoughts are and all because Honor hurt his feewings. That's apparently a crime worthy of a beating and possibly even death. To his way of thinking what she's done is infinitely worse than him stalking and seducing her for revenge. Never enters his mind of course that she might be innocent of the poisoning.

He ambushes her at the house and she's so terrified of the look on his face that she turns and runs down the beach trying to escape. He chases her down and tackles her to the ground where he narrowly avoids strangling her to death. He accuses her of the poisoning and she of course denies it but he doesn't believe her. She finally tells him to just do whatever he plans to do because obviously his mind is made up and nothing she says will change it. He ends up forcing a violent kiss on her and says over and over that he's going to "get her out of his system". Insisting that she's evil and heartless but that he can't stop desiring her so he's going to have to take her over and over until he stops wanting her. She lays there passively while his pours all his hate and violence into the brutal kiss. Eventually he's dispelled SOME of his initial rage and he lets her get up but manhandles her back into the house. He orders her to take a shower which gives her a perfect opportunity to grab a phone and call the police to rescue her from this violent psychopath but it never even occurs to her to try.

Once showered, she goes back downstairs to sit through more accusations and descriptions of how she's the most horrible person on the planet. Conn pays no attention whatsoever to her protests that she hasn't done anything to his horse and that she's the victim in this whole scenario. At the end of the night, Conn's gotten himself under control enough to let her go to bed by herself, but still insists that she's not allowed to leave the house. They're going to stay there together until he achieves this magical state of having her out of his system. Honor tosses and turns in bed and finally gets up to go offer herself to Conn. I cannot for the life of me fathom why she would do this. The man has clearly demonstrated himself to be a violent, unreasonable psycho. He even warns her to go back to bed when she emerges from her room because he can't guarantee his behavior if she doesn't.

Of course she keeps on coming and Conn makes good on his threat to take her to bed. Naturally, because sex fixes everything in 1980's romance novels, by the time they're done they've both forgiven each other for the most part. Conn finally admits that Honor couldn't have poisoned the horse, allegedly because she gives herself to him so completely during sex that it means she's incapable of horse-poisoning because, you know, that makes sense. Honor still feels a bit disgruntled that Conn stalked and lied to her not to mention accused her of trying to kill the horse but seems to decide that she should count her blessings that he's no longer trying to kill her. Ah, true love...

Once that's sorted out, Conn actually starts using his brain for once and asks Honor who told her who he really was. Lo and behold it's the same person who told Conn she'd poisoned the horse. What a coincidence! How could anyone have unraveled this complex master plan? At the exact moment they realize who is really behind everything, they also notice that the phone lines have been cut. They try to flee the house, only to find that their cars have both been sabotaged. A masked gunman, the driver of the pickup truck that scared Honor earlier, appears out of nowhere and instructs them to start walking towards the pier so he can shoot them and toss their bodies in the ocean. They defeat him without much trouble but get back to the house to find the criminal mastermind there with another gun. Conn's inner monologue is full of self-recriminations for his failure to "protect his woman" and similar things. So let me get this straight, you think it's totally fine to stalk her and seduce her for impure motives and to physically assault her and threaten violent repeated rape....but when a guy shows up out of nowhere with a gun THAT's something you feel bad about and take responsibility for? Dude, your priorities are way out of whack.

It all comes out that this guy is the one who killed both their fathers and had been running the gun smuggling operation all those years ago. They defeat him and turn him over to the cops without much fuss. They're in bed together the next day when Conn announces that they're going to fly to Las Vegas so they can be married as quickly as possible. When Honor balks because Conn hasn't said he loves her, he gets angry again. She's already said it many times and he's said that he "wants" her and will take care of her, that should be enough. When she tries to get him to realize that what he feels for her IS love he starts calling her names and hurling accusations. Saying that she just wants to have power over him in the relationship. That the only reason she wants him to confess love is because by doing so it makes him vulnerable in some way and he will not stand for that! He MUST be the one with all the power in this relationship!!!

He storms out and goes to see his horse where he talks to himself for a while and eventually decides that he must not have fully trusted Honor after all if he'd accuse her of having an ulterior motive for wanting him to love her. About this time Honor shows up and they exchange apologies wherein she tells him that it's fine if he won't say he loves her. That she realizes now that she "shouldn't have pushed him". Right, how dare she try to have an equal partnership with a guy she's supposed to marry? What kind of crazy talk is that? They get married and then basically nothing happens but Conn suddenly says he loves her. There's no real on-screen epiphany leading up to it. He just says it. It was pretty anticlimactic after his big uproar about power and whatnot.

All in all it was pretty standard for an early 80's romance, but that doesn't make it good. The hero was extremely violent and completely unreasonable. Totally convinced that his way was the right way in all things and that doesn't really change by the end so I can't see their relationship really working out in the long term.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uh, don't marry the stalk-y, controlling guy.

This is one of those books that I feel like I can barely count as read because I didn't absorb much. It's somewhat of an Old Skool romance and the plot is not so great.

That's all I've got.

(Oh! This was a "blind date" from the library, so I didn't pick it out for myself. I guess that's some of what kept me reading, plus I . . . uh, I guess I just wasn't motivated to do anything else. There's a ringing endorsement for a book.)

[Bea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not age well. Conn is emotionally abusive and manipulative. Honor is painfully, and unbelievably, naive. They both need therapy. Oh, and the villain was obvious.

[Anna's Herding Cats · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reviewed for herding cats & burning soup.
Amazon: http://amzn.to/23Tll1y

I LOVE Krentz but the audio for this one fell short for me. Or maybe the book would have too. Legacy is one of Krentz's older titles and it definitely shows with a hero/heroine dynamic that verges on rape/forced sex and an insane case of insta-love as some manipulations bring Con into Honor's life in his quest for vengeance over his father's long ago murder.

Okay so these two. Again I don't know if it was partly the narration but Con came off as really needing anger management classes. He pushed way too hard, threatened, didn't give the heroine choice (kind of the we're going to have sex and you need to accept that kind of thing) and really had some serious mood swings from somewhat good guy to holy shit he's nutso. The heroine. Well Honor was okay. A bit of a push around, though, which is so annoying. I really didn't feel much for her at all. When they were acting normal they were fine as a duo. But the rest of the time...yikes. Yeah they probably shouldn't be in a relationship at all. lol

The mystery was fine. It moved along at a decent pace as they tried to figure out who was stalking her and the truth about their father's deaths from years ago. Both think the other's parent was involved in something shady and thus the reason they'd ended up being killed. A couple little surprises along the way with that made it fairly interesting and not totally as I thought it would pan out.

[Cynthia Pratt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that has not aged well. The writing is good as usual but the dynamic between her main characters would meet the definition of sexual harassment and verbal harassment now. Instead of HEA I was looking for an intervention.

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook.

I almost enjoyed this - it was amusing to listen to steamy sex scenes on the train, and the ridiculous plot twists were so bananas that I couldn't help but laught out loud. The narrator was also quite good, selling every word of the atrocious dialogue (all of the male characters sound ridiculous).

But there's just a few too many degrees of insanity here. Not just in narrative structure, because the plot twists are ridiculous, but in names (Honor Mayfield? Are you kidding me?), and in character behavior - mostly that of the main male character. Conn Landry is a complete psychopath. He goes from literally wanting to murder the female protagonist to assuming they will get married within the span of two days, he's borderline abusive, and all in all he's a terrifying, ridiculous figure throughout the presence of the book that just made me want to quit the book in disgust.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

I spent the entire book hoping the hero and heroine would break up. (Spoiler: no such luck.)

Conn was controlling, had serious anger issues, was consistently disrespectful to almost everyone, and was pushy as hell. Not to mention how he threw a temper tantrum every time Honor said no to him. I could have dealt with that if he'd shown any believable emotional growth or maturity over the course of the book, but no.

Honor... I liked her, but I couldn't understand why she stayed with this guy who scared her and made her feel helpless.

The whole thing just made me sad. Add in a near-complete absence of humor to the mix and... I really didn't enjoy this one at all.

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of earlier books, easily recognized by the extremely cheesy language :)
No one has ever talked in such a manner (the oh, darling or the i want you so are her trademark and nails on chalkboard too), and the plot is so thin that a courtesan's negligee has more veiling power.

Can't say I enjoyed myself, but it wasn't spiteful either. 2 stars

[Willow Brook · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early Krentz (mid 80's) best left to her die hard fans (of which I am one).

[Paraphrodite · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's actually not that bad for a somewhat dated story from the mid 1980s. Probably a bit too much "give" from the heroine side to a reticent hero but I think that's the standard of the day.

[Penelope · Rating 2 out of 5]

LEGACY is a standalone Suspense Romance title from 1985 which is showing its age.

MY RATING GUIDE: 2.5 Stars. Give this one a pass (as explained below).
1= dnf/What was that?; 2= NOPE; NOT FOR ME; 3= This was Okay/Cute; 3.5= I enjoyed it; 4= I liked it a lot; 5= I Loved it, it was great! (I seldom give 5 Stars).

LEGACY ~
MMC Conn Landry’s father and his partner were both killed 15 years ago in an unexplained conflict under a blanket of scandal. When Honor, the adult daughter of that former partner, visits the race track where Conn now stables a race horse, Conn is determined to get answers to those old questions. What really happened 15 years ago? Who was at fault?

Comments ~
1) Rather than focusing on the mystery of the past, LEGACY begins with an improbable Insta-Lust/Love relationship between the 2 MCs (a plot device popular in the 1980’s).
2) Therefore the beginning conflict is between the 2 characters (do I trust him/her, or do I not) rather than between the antagonist and the 2 main characters. I much prefer the story’s conflict to stem from outside the couple, otherwise it simply seems like brainless idiots making foolish choices resulting in unnecessary (and preventable) drama. The intrigue/conflict from the past arrived too late for my tastes.
3) The MMC is a possessive alpha “my way or the highway” type. I actually like alpha male characters, as a rule, but Conn is not portrayed in a very likable manner. The portrayal of his character comes off as “dated” to me, as does the way the 2 characters interact together.
4) The narrator, Allyson Ryan, performed admirably but the writing was simply lacking.
5) Krentz is one of my all time favorite “escape with a light adventure” authors. I have read nearly everything she’s written. I believe I originally read LEGACY years ago when it was first released (but had forgotten the storyline). LEGACY was recently re-released to audiobook format and I picked it up on Sale inexpensively. I completed the audio, but I won’t bother to listen again. Krentz has plenty of better novels from her 1980’s-early 2000’s period that have held up much better over time. This isn’t one.

READER CAUTION ~
PROFANITY - Yes. Strong language is used on occasion.
SEXUAL SITUATIONS - Yes. Insta-sex occurs pretty early in the story with a committed relationship developing afterward.
VIOLENCE - PG-13. Stalking and attacks from antagonists. Not particularly graphic in detail.

[Debbie Katauskas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

Wow o Wow that's absolutely a awesomely wonderful read!!😎 It has mystery intrigue suspense romance humor interesting characters and plenty of intriguing plot twists!!!There are horses in this story!!! I loved it!!! I give it five stars because it captivates your interest!!! It's a page turn that you don't want to put down and it's a tear- jerker!!! Enjoy!!!

[C.F. Yankovich · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Kindle has more Krentz novels than books by any other author. For me, this book was a disappointment. The plot was interesting, but I could not stand the domineering hero. I repeatedly found myself urging the heroine to walk away.

If you aren't familiar with Krentz, start with another work. Connecting Rooms, The Ties that Bind, Eclipse Bay, a work from the Arcane series...

[Lena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda disappointed

Jayne Ann Krentz is one of my favorite authors. I was expecting something completely different then what I got. It was one of her earlier works so there is some leeway there.

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for uni.

Really going through a couple of stinkers right now. This sucked, the mystery was half hearted, conn acted like a dad half the time, and a criminal the other half. Overall not a great time

[Marlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was alright. It was quick and easy to read. However, it was very predictable, rather dull at times, and far too mushy. The sex scenes seemed both pornographic and extremely bland. The descriptions were simply too lacklustre, while the discussions ran on seemingly endlessly.

[Andrea Jaeger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly a wee bit boring

Predictable, not as good as the Authors later books. It reminds me of the early Harlequin romances. An overbearing male and an all forgiving female.

[B.C. Deeks]

This has a publication date of 2001 but it’s written in the style of the mid 1980s romance. It’s definitely very dated and no longer aligns with current standards for heros you can admire and fall in love with and strong heroines who’s shoes you want to imagine yourself in.

[donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the story with the horse. The sex dialogue was dated and not necessarily acceptable anymore. I cringed so much it was so cheesy and inappropriate. Hated the main male character as a result.

[Remi Hoerr · Rating 1 out of 5]

Flop flop flop!!!! I thought maybe this book would be for horse girls which would make it fun and silly! Instead it was for stoopid people! What do you mean you want to get married but you don’t want to say I love you because that’s too much???? Are you stupid?

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent plot, awful characters. I could not warm up to Conn at all. Usually it's the female leads I have a problem with for varied reasons but this time it was the male I couldn't stomach. Anyway, good story except for Conn.

[Ann Wells · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am "gifting" this book one star. Don't really think it is good enough for one.

[Samantha Stambaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come soon!

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too old school romance for me

[Aparna Jadghane · Rating 3 out of 5]

audiobook

[Karla Cabcam · Rating 2 out of 5]

El primer libro de JAK que no me convence.

[Robyn Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audible

[Amanda Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the audio version of this while driving.

[Barbara Bland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not her best book! I did not enjoy this one like I usually do her books. But it was ok; mainly because I liked the heroine and I really like JAK. She is one of my favorite authors.