Reviews

Texas Legacy by Lorraine Heath

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guiltlesspleasures's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

So this is a 2.5, and I rounded down to two stars, because I have given much better books three stars before.

I’ve said it before: novellas are hard. And this one didn’t cut it for a number of reasons, not least because there was just too much story in too few pages. There would be a problem, and it would be solved almost instantly. In the previous trilogy, which I mostly loved, we heard Rawley’s awful story, and his healing needed to take longer than it got.

Other problems:

I love Lorraine Heath, but writing children is not her forte.

Rawley is not only at least a decade older than Faith; he was also raised as her BROTHER. ick.

And at the end, he decides to finally take Dallas’s name, so he becomes Rawley Leigh - which means Faith (who decides to take his name when they marry) stays Faith Leigh. 🥴

I did not like rape as the thing they have in common and that bonded them together.

The sex scenes felt perfunctory — as did everything, for that matter. Again, she tried to squeeze a novel into a novella.

Side note that I love how Rawley isn’t “massive” like every other romance hero — he’s wiry, which feels appropriate to his profession.

overflowingshelf's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

CW: Rape; sexual assault; gun violence; abuse

It feels fitting that I’m revisiting the Texas Trilogy after many months because that is EXACTLY what Lorraine Heath did as she published this novella nearly 20 years after the publication of Texas Splendor.

Texas Legacy is the perfect novella to wrap up the series as we see the second generation of the Leigh family – particularly Dallas’ kids. This is basically one long Lorraine Heath epilogue, and I LOVE her epilogues as they always make me emotional. And boy, did this novella make me feel ALL the things. It’s truly amazing that Heath managed to cram in so much heartache and emotion in so few pages.

For as long as he can remember, Rawley Cooper has loved Faith Leigh, but he’s always felt undeserving of her, given his childhood trauma. When she comes to him on the night of her nineteenth birthday, they finally give in to temptation. But the searing kiss reaffirms what he’s always known: he can’t have a lifetime of her in his arms. To protect his heart, he packs his things and heads west. Faith has always adored Rawley, but she’s unsure she can forgive him for leaving her life. Now, Rawley returns home six years later, and old feelings are stirred back to life. Both Rawley and Faith must confront secrets from their past or risk losing a legacy of love.

I’m not always a fan of the second chance romance, but this was filled with the perfect amount of yearning and heartache that this really worked for me. And the PINING! If there is one thing Lorraine Heath excels at, it is the PINING. My god, stab me in the heart with all the emotions between Faith and Rawley! I so wanted Rawley to get his happily ever after and feel like he finally belongs somewhere.

Having seen these characters in previous books, I felt an instant connection to them. Rawley has been through so much, and I love how he’s still such an honorable and noble person. He puts others before himself, and I constantly want to hug him. I hate that he feels he’s undeserving of the love from those around him and still sees himself as an outsider to the Leigh family, despite Dallas and Dee loving him as if he was their blood child.

Speaking of Dallas, Faith is so much like her father, especially when we see her in flashbacks walking around, bossing everyone, and doing as she pleases. She’s changed over the six years Rawley has been away, but I liked that she managed not to be cowered by what happened to her and reclaim her destiny.

One of the best things about this novella was seeing my favorite characters from the earlier books all grown up. My heart was breaking a bit as the catalyst for Rawley coming home was Dallas’ health. The man is in his 60s now, and I was excited to see him and the life he’s built with Dee, but sad because he’s older now. It’s also now 1909, and I was so sad that the age of the cowboy was ending. But luckily, the town the Leighs built is thriving and changing with the times – a fitting legacy for Dallas and his family.

Also, Lorraine Heath packs in so much plot and drama in a novella that is just shy of 200 pages! This has all the hallmarks of her full novels and is executed flawlessly. This book delivered on the DRAMA. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster with all its twists and turns. My one minor complaint was that the big dramatic confrontation at the end happened and was resolved quickly, but hey, it is a novella!

If you adored the Texas Trilogy series, I highly recommend this novella. It’s a beautiful and fitting conclusion to the series and the characters you’ve grown to know and love. It’s filled with heartache and pain but also so much love and hope. It made me cry multiple times while reading it as it made me so emotional, but it was a stunning conclusion to a fantastic series. I cannot speak more highly of this series, so pick it up if you haven’t!

Content Warnings

hellodiana's review

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Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

annelives's review against another edition

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3.0

I wish this had been a full length novel. I loved revisiting the Leigh family, but the storyline felt rushed.

nbvanderhyden's review against another edition

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5.0

Loved this ending to the series. I was excited for Rawleys story since we met him.

loverofromance's review against another edition

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4.0

This review was originally posted on Addicted To RomanceI received this book for free from Avon in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Texas Legacy is a story that I have been waiting for YEARS for. Now for those not familiar with Rawley or Faith and that means you are missing out on one of the best trilogies I have ever read in romance. This trilogy was written back in the late 90's but some of the best love stories. I only never knew if Lorraine Heath would write this book but when I saw this on Edelweiss I was SUPER excited especially since its a story I have been waiting on for over ten years for. That is a LONG time to wait on a story. Let me tell you. hehe

Faith is the blood daughter of Dallas and Cordeligh Leigh (who is the couple in Texas Glory) Rawley is a boy they brought into their family who was being abused and sold by his father to men. Cordelia formed a strong attachment to Rawley and they brought him into their home and raised him. Faith and Rawley were childhood friends, always playing together but then as they grew older that friendship turned into something deeper than just puppy love. But Rawley didn't feel worthy of Faith, that he was too dirty for her and so he left the only home he had ever known and left her without saying goodbye. But when his father Dallas, has a heart condition and his mother pleads with him to come home he returns home and to Faith. Faith has never completely forgiven Rawley for leaving without even a goodbye. She has loved him for years, but now they Rawley is back for good, the feelings they have for each other. But both Faith and Rawley have old wounds that need to be healed before they accept what they can have together.

Texas Legacy was such a beautifully written story and even though I was *crossing my fingers* for it to be a full novel, I am still happy that Lorraine Heath actually wrote this book because it filled my core with such happy feels. We do get some fun interactions with the Leigh Family and seeing them with their children mostly grown and how playful they are with each other. We see Dallas and Leigh still so in love and happy although fearful of the future due to Dallas' heart condition. But the focus of the story is Rawley and Faith. Faith understands Rawley's past once she learns more than he realizes that she can because Faith underwent a form of abuse by someone she trusted and she became a single mother. We do get a flashback of Rawley and Faith on the evening before Rawley left the ranch and why he left and you can see how much Rawley and Faith were into each other, they just weren't completely open to it. But when they see each other again six years later we see that they are both more mature and independent and sure of themselves. I really enjoyed seeing them reconnect and learn each other again and become open to the love that has always been between them.

I found Texas Legacy to be a fun heart filled romance to give you the tingles and the good feels. Its a story of redemption, healing and letting love in!!!A TEXAS JEWEL!!

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kimberlycarrington's review against another edition

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4.0

Nuestra reseña en A la cama con... un libro

Un regalazo para los que adoramos la saga 😍

friends2lovers's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

4.0

To be honest I didn’t have high hopes for this novella and only read it so I could mark the series as complete. But, it turned out to be a really touching and beautiful story and I loved revisiting the Leigh family! I teared up at the end when Rawley

finally tells Dallas that he wants to take Leigh as a surname.

If you are a fan of the original trilogy, I highly recommend reading this.

Lastly, I want to note that there is a slight incestuous vibe to this and I could see how some readers would be bothered by it. Rawley and Faith are not blood-related but they were raised as siblings. They both insist they never saw each other as brother or sister, but their childhood reminiscing felt familial to me. I eventually got over it, YMMV.

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