Legacy of Lies by Jillian David

Garrison Taggart doesn’t have time to deal with touchy-feely junk like “trust issues” or “feelings.” His dad’s health is waning and the family’s Wyoming ranch is being sabotaged. Too bad his supernatural ability to tell when someone is lying has been exactly zero help in ferreting out the betrayer so far. So, when sweet schoolteacher Sara Lopez raises concerns about his son being bullied, who can blame a guy for getting a little testy?

The last thing Sara needs is any more attention or gossip after her recent breakup with big-shot rancher Hank Brand. So her attraction to surly but sexy Garrison, Hank’s rival, is entirely unwanted. When she uncovers an insane plot to kidnap the Taggart boy and throws herself in harm’s way to protect him, Garrison must risk his deepest secret and his own life to save the people he cares for the most. But will his heroics cost him everything?

I was asked to review this by the author, and it's not my usual thing so I was going to turn it down. But, after reading about it, I thought it would be like Wynonna Earp, a TV show that I've recently discovered and love, and it kind of was: small town gossip, traditional Western romance, bit of paranormal thrown in. However there were just a few too many questions for me to properly understand it but I did overall like it.

Sara is working in her home town, which she hates and for some reason everyone hates her, to work off her student debt. She just has a couple more years to deal with then this town is in the dust. But meeting Garrison changes all of that. Despite the hot and manly descriptions of Garrison, I didn't really believe the romance until over half way through. And I really didn't understand Sara sometimes; many of her actions seemed inconsistent, like sleeping with Garrison then running away and shutting down her heart - why has the fact that you are leaving in a few years just become an issue? It's always been there! Humph, anyway. 

Sara's ex Hank was a completely unknown element in this. I spent most of his screen time, as it were, wishing he would jump off a cliff. I'm pretty sure that was the point of his character but some of his insults were sloppy, painfully misogynist and sexist for no real good reason that I was just getting annoyed with him. Also was there a reason behind his fixation on Garrison other than insecurity? Because blackmailing his wife and kidnapping his son is a bit far for simple jealousy. 

As for the paranormal element, it was really cool but there didn't seem to be any need for it. There was no explanation for Garrison and his family's abilities, it's just a thing that is there. All of his siblings have slightly different mental abilities, like being able to find a specific person or sense danger, but apparently their father just ignores these things. How do all of the kids have powers but the father not, nor know anything about them? This fact annoys me more than it should. 


Let's end on a proper positive. It was a good start to a series, but lots of things left unanswered, which I suppose is the point. It is a spin-off series which explains why I didn't get all the references. It was full of really good writing and a pretty good story line, just a strange mix of western romance and paranormal that didn't do it for me, unfortunately. 

Published 14th November 2016 by Crimson Romance. Thank you to the author for my copy in exchange for an honest review.