The Valentine Legacy: Legacy, Book 3

By: Catherine Coulter

Narrated by: Eleanor Swinden

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

Twenty-year-old Jessie Warfield is branded a disgrace for riding as a jockey on her father's racehorses, wearing men's clothing, exposing her skin to the sun and, in general, not acting like a lady at all.

James Wyndham, eligible widower and owner of a nearby horse farm, is Jessie's rival on the race track. Outwardly competitive to the extreme with James, she is secretly in love with him. James, having known her since she was 14, sees her only as a little sister, and a bratty one at that.

Together, they are the unlikeliest romantic duo among their native Baltimore riding set. When Jessie sets out to protect James from a marriage entrapment, she ends up compromising her own reputation and is pressured into leaving town. She flees to an unlikely haven: the estate of James' British cousins, the Earl and "Duchess" of Chase.

There, she is pampered, dressed, and transformed into a lady. Smitten by the new Jessie, James proposes and they marry.

Their new, shared passion results in hideous nightmares - nightmares that soon reveal themselves to be recovered memories of a long-ago attempted rape and murder. And when connections are made between those events and the pirate Blackbeard's diaries, the hunt is on for his buried treasure.

Listen to more in the Legacy Series.

©2004 Catherine Coulter (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Old secrets, a pirate's legacy, and a cast of wonderful characters are part of this funny, lively, and occasionally mysterious story that provides a satisfactory conclusion to Coulter's 'Legacy' trilogy." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Coulter, while more inclined to adventure than realism, does an excellent job of luring her readers into this unlikely, exuberant adventure." ( Booklist)

Good story and good audio performance

This is a good story though not as good as the first two Legacy books in the trilogy. It should be listened to last. The audio performance is good. A nice twist to Blackbeard's loot. Each of the books in the trilogy has a different audio reader but the perforances are well done and the differences are not distracting. The scenes with the former father-in-law and the herione suffering so multiple head injuries a trifle tiring and so 3 stars.

Three Stars

Not one of Coulter's best, but still entertaining. My problem in givng it more points was the lack of any real danger until almost at the end of the book. I also had a problem with the narrator. I thought she was okay with character voices, but her narraton had a terrible vocal pattern.

Prefer less sexual step by step

It was a great story and narrator but could have had less explicit sexual activity

fun old Regency Romance

I read this book 20 years ago and loved it. Today, it was a fun reread of a book that I listened to as a teen. So what do you get when you put a horse mad girl in britches and she tries to save her racing rival from the clutches of her inappropriate sister? You get a ruined girl who runs off to England and marries the man who ruined her. Then shortly after marriage becomes pregnant. It was still a great read but the sex scenes seem so false now. They are written very well for an innocent meaning quick and just a little descriptive but romantic in its every word. It wasn't debauchery and vulgar words to add heat. The Mothers in this are just harridans. How James and Jessie turned out so sweet I'll never know. James is half English and so Mrs. Coulter brings back the characters from the first book in the series, and I love them just as much.

Eleanor did a great job with the voices. There is a distinction between male, female, and emotions. I've tries to listen to other favorites and the narration was just bad in the sample that i just couldn't purchase them. She's not breathy simpering talking through her nose or anything. It was a great job.

What’s your pleasure?

Usually I completely enjoy Catherine Coulters works; however, I had a very hard time finishing this one. I truly believe if the word PLEASURE had occurred 50% less frequently, this novel would have been at least an hour shorter. Don’t get me wrong, I love long books, but not when the reason for the length is monotonous repetition.

Great book

I can only praise Catherine on her ability to make the story so interesting and so fun, But I must also say the performers are great also. I have read all these books in print and now enjoy listening to the as well because the performers give the kind of feeling when reading that really make it all worth while and make it more enjoyable by the fact that they actually sound like you are listening to a play and you can picture the characters even better with the way the actors add the right type of feelings into the reading of the book. Simply Amazing I love them.