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The Legacy
The good news is that you’ve just been given a guest house in a great gay and lesbian resort area. The bad news is that your mother, who gave you away at birth, left it to you in her will.
Noel wants to sell her gift as soon as possible. But when she makes a few trips down to Rehoboth Beach before putting it on the market she’s convinced that she’d get a much better price if she made some repairs.
Enter Toni, handywoman extraordinaire and noted ladykiller. As Noel gets more involved in repairing the house she finds she’s more interested in the renovator than the renovations. Toni is just the kind of woman who gets her motor running.
But there are so many complications: they live in different states, Toni’s is no hurry to settle down, and Noel’s still stinging from her recent breakup. But when she and Toni are alone, they can’t keep their hands off each other.
Noel wishes she could just sell the place and walk away. But when she lies in bed and looks into Toni’s eyes, she realizes just how hard that will be.
Noel wants to sell her gift as soon as possible. But when she makes a few trips down to Rehoboth Beach before putting it on the market she’s convinced that she’d get a much better price if she made some repairs.
Enter Toni, handywoman extraordinaire and noted ladykiller. As Noel gets more involved in repairing the house she finds she’s more interested in the renovator than the renovations. Toni is just the kind of woman who gets her motor running.
But there are so many complications: they live in different states, Toni’s is no hurry to settle down, and Noel’s still stinging from her recent breakup. But when she and Toni are alone, they can’t keep their hands off each other.
Noel wishes she could just sell the place and walk away. But when she lies in bed and looks into Toni’s eyes, she realizes just how hard that will be.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 2009
5 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Susan X. Meagher
59 books373 followersSusan X Meagher was born in southern Illinois and grew up in East St Louis. She attended college in Chicago and started her working career there. She and her partner moved to the Los Angeles area in the late 80's. It was there that she started to write. Her first few books were simply posted on the web and became the I Found My Heart in San Francisco series. In 2002 she moved to New York and divides her time between Manhattan and the Jersey Shore. She has published thirteen books in the series and has gone on to write many individual books as well. She has partnered with other authors on two short story books and has written many stories that have been published in other mainstream anthologies. Susan is active in the lesbian author community and loves to attend Women's week at Provincetown and the GCLS annual conventions. Her stories revolve around the relationships that two women can build when given a chance and how those relationships can strengthen the individual and the partnership. Her genre is lesbian romance/fiction and she believes strongly in the happy ending that we all so deserve. Susan X Meagher was awarded a 2011 Lesbian Fiction Readers’ Choice Award for Favorite Lesbian Fiction Writer. She is the recipient of the 2014 Alice B. Medal for her body of work.
From the author's website: I live in New York with my spouse, Carrie. We've lived in Chicago and Los Angeles for significant periods, but New York fits us very well. I love to discuss my work and fiction in general. My goal in writing is to explore feelings. I want to entertain, but I also want to make people think. I've heard that life is all about finding out who we are. To me, life if about finding out who other people are. I'm interested in the small details of life, that's how a story about two young women in college is slowly becoming a 26 book series. The joke in Seinfield was that it was about nothing. I feel the same about most of my books. They are about the many things that happen when nothing is happening. The small joys and sorrows of everyday life can be fascinating, especially if you care about the people involved. I try to create characters that will make a reader care deeply. I'm always interested in hearing how close I am to that goal. So please drop me a line whenever you have a comment or a question about a story. Writing is a pretty solitary pursuit and it's great to know that I'm not alone.
From the author's website: I live in New York with my spouse, Carrie. We've lived in Chicago and Los Angeles for significant periods, but New York fits us very well. I love to discuss my work and fiction in general. My goal in writing is to explore feelings. I want to entertain, but I also want to make people think. I've heard that life is all about finding out who we are. To me, life if about finding out who other people are. I'm interested in the small details of life, that's how a story about two young women in college is slowly becoming a 26 book series. The joke in Seinfield was that it was about nothing. I feel the same about most of my books. They are about the many things that happen when nothing is happening. The small joys and sorrows of everyday life can be fascinating, especially if you care about the people involved. I try to create characters that will make a reader care deeply. I'm always interested in hearing how close I am to that goal. So please drop me a line whenever you have a comment or a question about a story. Writing is a pretty solitary pursuit and it's great to know that I'm not alone.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 11, 2017
4.4 stars. My third book by this author and I've enjoyed them all immensely. I like how many of the obstacles come from characters themselves, sometimes we are our own worst enemy and Susan captures that beautifully.
There are no pushy exes, accidents and hardly believable coincidences in her books, she is the very anti thesis of a formulaic writer and she doesn't go for overused tropes. I never know what to expect so I'm engaged with the story and I like how she writes her characters, they feel like real people.
I'm not sure why her books are not rated higher. It might be due to lack of drama, emotionally her books are pretty even, there are rarely major ups and downs. Don't get me wrong, the drama is still there but it's toned down, no major break ups or heart breaks usually happen in her books. It's mostly people figuring out what the want from life and their other half and how to achieve it paired with an interesting setting. Her characters actually communicate like real people and fix their issues.
And her characters always have chemistry, not only physically but emotionally. The emotional connection is what many books usually lack but there's no doubt Toni and Noel love each other, same as the two pairs I've read about in her previous books.
A truly good book by a masterful author.
There are no pushy exes, accidents and hardly believable coincidences in her books, she is the very anti thesis of a formulaic writer and she doesn't go for overused tropes. I never know what to expect so I'm engaged with the story and I like how she writes her characters, they feel like real people.
I'm not sure why her books are not rated higher. It might be due to lack of drama, emotionally her books are pretty even, there are rarely major ups and downs. Don't get me wrong, the drama is still there but it's toned down, no major break ups or heart breaks usually happen in her books. It's mostly people figuring out what the want from life and their other half and how to achieve it paired with an interesting setting. Her characters actually communicate like real people and fix their issues.
And her characters always have chemistry, not only physically but emotionally. The emotional connection is what many books usually lack but there's no doubt Toni and Noel love each other, same as the two pairs I've read about in her previous books.
A truly good book by a masterful author.
June 7, 2018
This book for me is a solid 3. However, for some reason I really liked Tony so the extra point goes to this wonderful character :) one can be generous sometimes :)
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April 22, 2023It’s not my favorite SX Meagher novel, but still enjoyable
May 21, 2023
I loved this story. The characters interaction could be pictured in my head.
February 4, 2015
Wow. Just wow. I think this book just made me love Susan X. Meagher. The story was sweet, but not overly so and the characters were original and well-developed. A new favourite.
October 25, 2019
Lot of trust issues here...,written in quite realistic ways albeit by annoying character portrayals that have been enjoyable reading. I guess I can start believing this author deserves to have my trust whenever I intend picking any of her books cos her writing almost never disappoints
July 8, 2019
I am a huge fan of Susan X Meagher and this book didn't disappoint me at all. Beautiful story, beautiful characters with intense moments. Excellent
July 15, 2025
So sweet I can't stop crying
November 18, 2009
Susan X Meagher's novels, her stand-alone novels to be exact, are among the few lesfic novels I pick up without checking what they are about. Seeing she has a new one out makes me smile and that's pretty much all I need to know.
Her latest doesn't disappoint. I had to really exercise self-control to not read through the night last night and instead enjoy the second half on my commute today.
The characters are lovable and 'real', the dialog has a decidedly 'real' feel to it (y'know, no moments of asking yourself 'Who the heck talks like this??'), the story feels, yes, real. There were a couple of teeny instances, one in the beginning, and one in the middle, where I had a hunch of how the story would end/resolve, but that didn't take away any pleasure in getting to the end.
For Meagher, the book is very thin at roughly 270 pages, so I have to admit I was a wee bit disappointed when opening the envelope, but on the other hand, in lesfic world, 270 pages are epic ;) Funnily enough, there is one point in the story where I'm pretty sure most other lesfic authors/publishers would have stopped this story, and I'm so very glad Meagher is not one of them. It's why I like her work so much. She doesn't stop when things get interesting.
The writing felt more tight though, and you can see where she cut pages or left stuff out in the first place. I'm not saying that anything is off in regard to the flow of the story, but rather you notice differences in comparison to her other work. The book is much more focused on the two main characters. Where, for example, in other books you would have met the main characters' families, you just get to know them through the main characters here. I know there are people who complain that her work is too detailed, that there are scenes that don't add to the story, etc. I am, obviously, not one of those but still I can't say that I really missed anything here. I wouldn't have minded those additional scenes, but all in all, this book just works the way it is.
Go buy it and enjoy yourself!
Her latest doesn't disappoint. I had to really exercise self-control to not read through the night last night and instead enjoy the second half on my commute today.
The characters are lovable and 'real', the dialog has a decidedly 'real' feel to it (y'know, no moments of asking yourself 'Who the heck talks like this??'), the story feels, yes, real. There were a couple of teeny instances, one in the beginning, and one in the middle, where I had a hunch of how the story would end/resolve, but that didn't take away any pleasure in getting to the end.
For Meagher, the book is very thin at roughly 270 pages, so I have to admit I was a wee bit disappointed when opening the envelope, but on the other hand, in lesfic world, 270 pages are epic ;) Funnily enough, there is one point in the story where I'm pretty sure most other lesfic authors/publishers would have stopped this story, and I'm so very glad Meagher is not one of them. It's why I like her work so much. She doesn't stop when things get interesting.
The writing felt more tight though, and you can see where she cut pages or left stuff out in the first place. I'm not saying that anything is off in regard to the flow of the story, but rather you notice differences in comparison to her other work. The book is much more focused on the two main characters. Where, for example, in other books you would have met the main characters' families, you just get to know them through the main characters here. I know there are people who complain that her work is too detailed, that there are scenes that don't add to the story, etc. I am, obviously, not one of those but still I can't say that I really missed anything here. I wouldn't have minded those additional scenes, but all in all, this book just works the way it is.
Go buy it and enjoy yourself!
November 3, 2014
It was better than I thought it would be. So why did I buy it if I didn't think it would be that good? Because SX Meagher tells a good story and I was jonesing for a good story. For some reason, the characters just didn't click for me and the story line seemed off. It was still an enjoyable read, but not one that I'd read again. Unlike All That Matters, which I've read several times...
**10/31/14 - Finished listening to All That Matters and wanted another Meagher but not one of the long ones... I've only read this one once and only remembered that I liked it ok but not a whole lot.
I'm enjoying it more this time than I think I did the last time. I like the characters more, this time, maybe. I've not got much longer to go and figure I'd probably give it a 3.5 but I'll leave the rating here at 3.
**10/31/14 - Finished listening to All That Matters and wanted another Meagher but not one of the long ones... I've only read this one once and only remembered that I liked it ok but not a whole lot.
I'm enjoying it more this time than I think I did the last time. I like the characters more, this time, maybe. I've not got much longer to go and figure I'd probably give it a 3.5 but I'll leave the rating here at 3.
January 24, 2016
The Legacy is a nice romance novel. The book is very well written and very descriptive, making it easy to form a mental picture. The main characters are very likeable and easy to want to know. What I found frustrating is the lack of communication between the characters leading to miscommunication and a lot of bad assumptions. The plot is very simple and there is not a lot of mystery or action involved. If you're looking for a nice romantic read, this book succeeds.
September 27, 2015
Just average for me. The author has better books under her belt.
December 15, 2015
Had not read her before. Seemed average but other reviews have said this is not her strongest book.
June 1, 2014
Sweet book! Nice afternoon read. Not my favourite but very enjoyable.
March 7, 2015
Quite slow-paced for my taste but a nice reading overall.
3.4
3.4
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews