Amazon Cassandra Barnes Category:  Romance Publisher: Five Star Expressions ISBN-10:  1594144338 Type: Fiction Pages: 243 Copyright: January 3, 2006 ISBN-13: 9781594144332 Her psychic abilities haven’t been of much help to Gaelynn Graham lately. If it hasn’t been one thing, it’s been another. The last thing she needs in her life is a sexy contractor, especially one whose presence places her family and her career in jeopardy. Kyle Cordell is haunted by the death of his kid sister and has what he thinks is good reason to fight his attraction to the beautiful psychic. Then his clairvoyant son runs away and only Gaelynn has the key to his whereabouts. Kyle and Gaelynn struggle to overcome a legacy of fear and hate, risking all that they hold dear, with their love for each other in the balance. Can each make the sacrifices required to forge a new legacy of love? Gaelynn forced herself to breathe slowly. Again, she was aware of a darkness hovering near him. With sudden clarity, she knew that Kyle’s anger came from that, not from his heart. How could she overcome something that powerful? Should she even try? An overwhelming sense of danger filled her. “No, we’re trying to help people understand those individuals who have special abilities. Our goal is to draw families closer together.” “People like you destroyed my family.” Pain filled his voice and twisted it into ugliness. Gaelynn watched as the darkness around Kyle intensified and seemed to pulse with a life of its own. When it stretched malevolent tendrils toward her, she involuntarily stepped back. Regaining her composure, she glared at Kyle. “I’ve destroyed nothing. I’ve pledged to do no harm.” The dark cloud remained in place. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” She fled the room.       Excerpt Suddenly the morning light shimmered, then turned gauzy. Rather than a crowd, the handsome stranger from the hospital stood in front of her, his face distorted by … by what? Anger? Fear? No, grief. This was suffering like none she’d ever before witnessed. Compassion and love welled up in her heart, and she reached out to stroke his face, to comfort, to draw him close, to … The image faded, leaving her standing there, hand outstretched. She shook her head and let her arm fall back to her side. Why did this man keep appearing to her? A sudden chill in the air made her shiver, and again a premonition of catastrophic change flitted at the edge of her consciousness.

Excellent novel
Reviewed by Linda Benninghoff for Reader Views (3/06)

Gaelynn's parents are failing. Her mother can't remember things and her father has had a heart attack. It is everything she can do to keep them out of a nursing home or--less terrifying--an assisted living facility. She's just started a new business lecturing and working as a consultant on psychic phenomena--she has intuitions and a sixth sense, the ability to foretell the future. However, her partner and best friend, Celeste, is planning to leave and take another job.

Gaelynn has always had someone to rely on--her parents, her former husband, Scott, and then Celeste. How will she weather this crisis? Will she keep the independence she seemed to be in the process of attaining--or will she become the victim of adverse circumstances, either because she doesn't trust her intuitions and inner visions or because the people she meets are cruel and thoughtless?

"Jenny's Legacy" tells the story of Gaelynn but also of Kyele, and Jenny his sister who died in a drug bust after she ran away from home to live with Master Kundalini, a sort of cult leader who also was interested in developing Jenny's psychic powers. This seems to have turned Kyle against all psychics. When he meets Gaelynn, although he is attracted to her, he has many barriers to overcome. The possibility that Gaelynn and Kyle will get together despite their differences makes this novel an exciting page-turner.

This is a story about an intelligent woman with two jobs, one being a school psychologist. It will appeal to women with education and careers. As part of Gaelynn's experience working in her lecturing and consulting business, she must fight prejudice. Her sixth sense and her knowledge about psychic phenomena are not explained in full, but what comes across in the novel makes for interesting reading.

In all, "Jenny's Legacy" is a well-plotted novel with excellent characterization and a story that will interest many readers. I particularly liked the series of coincidences which seem to occur naturally--Gaelynn is psychic and knowledgeable about psychic abilities, yet Kyle and Kyle's father feel a strong prejudice against psychics, their differences making it surprising these people even meet. The impossible dream of these prejudices being forgot and overcome makes this novel excellent.


Millwood, Arizona ~ Present Day
Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

Life is rough right now for Gaelynn Graham. Her parents are getting up in age and are not able to properly take care of themselves. Gaelynn is also trying to work as a school counselor on the side while she gets a psychic business up and running. What she doesnt need right now is someone opposed to her ideas to come along and threaten her dreams. Even if he is handsome Kyle Cordell, who just so happens will soon be sharing office space with her in the building she rents.

Kyle is a devoted father to his two sons despite being divorced from their mother. He wants to be there for his boys, unlike his own rigid father. Kyle and his parents have a deep loss from which they're still recovering. His sister Jenny left home at the tender age of eighteen and joined a cult; she was subsequently killed when the rebellious cult defied the government. Kyle's father founded an organization called Family Foundation Against Mind Control to oppose any mind control tactics allegedly employed by individuals or companies. Their latest target is Millwood Mindworks -- owned by Gaelynn and her partner.

Kyle feels the same as his father when it comes to psychics and other paranormal mumble jumble. Yes, hes attracted to Gaelynn, but he cant possibly get involved with a woman who supports supernatural phenomena. Meanwhile, Gaelynn is having several strange visions that appear both sinister and good. Unfortunately, Kyle stars in most of them. What does it mean?

What an unusual story JENNYS LEGACY is. Readers will relate to Gaelynns struggle to keep her parents in their own home, but she finds they are increasingly needing someone there all the time to help them. Her fathers health is increasingly frail, while her mother's mind is going. She's also trying to get her business off the ground and, just when it seems she will, things happen that instead threaten its existence. Meeting Kyle, Gaelynn is attracted, but knows she doesnt have time to get involved. Then she learns he's part of the coalition threatening to run her out of town. In between all her problems she "sees" visions that confuse her as to their meaning.

Kyle and his family have devoted their lives to fighting cults and anything that could control a person's mind. This is their way of carrying on Jennys legacy. His father is bitter and intolerant toward those evil forces and will do anything to drive them out of town. Will he strike out in anger against Gaelynn? What Kyle doesnt realize is that he has become a lot like his father. The parts that he swore he would never be. And when his son needs counseling, hes torn between wanting to help his son and making sure those mind control freaks dont lay a hand on his son. Which will win out?

The paranormal aspects of JENNYS LEGACY are not way out there if you are not a fan of that genre. This is a romance about a couple with problems learning to overcome them, while discovering a few things about themselves. One is that we cannot be everything to everyone. Cassandra Barnes shows a talent for emotional prose and characters who are believable. You will come to care for Gaelynn, Kyle, and everyone else in JENNY'S LEGACY. If there were one book you had to pick up to read in 2006 for a poignant, heart-warming romantic tale, then JENNYS LEGACY is it.



Interesting paranormal family drama
In Millwood General Hospital near Phoenix, contractor Kyle Cordell waits for his preadolescent son Jared to get a cast put on his broken arm; at the same time and place, psychic psychiatrist Gaelynn Graham waits for results on her dad. Divorced Kyle helps her somewhat confused mom stay calm.

The next day Kyle and Gaelynn learn they will share a storefront, but he becomes angry when he finds out she is a psychic. Years ago his teenage sister died due to the antics of a guru so he and his parents detest all forms of New Age mumbo jumbo; his father runs the powerful Family Foundation Against Mind Control. When his other son Jason insists he saw the horror of the nearby school killings in Phoenix before they happened, Kyle tells him it was nothing and move on. An upset Jason talks with Gaelynn, a school counselor, who provides him insight into visions of a clairvoyant. This angers Kyle even as he is desires sleeping with the enemy. However, his black aura comes to a pivotal moment when Jason apparently runs away while his grandfather starts to destroy Gaelynn and mentally abuses Kyle and his mom.

This is an interesting paranormal family drama starring an attractive cast except for his dad who is painted as an abusive fanatic who is quite a contrast to her caring, loving father. The clever story line uses differences caused by being a psychic as a means to showing how crippling any form of human prejudice is to everyone. Though his change of heart seems too easy, fans will appreciate this deep look at JENNY'S LEGACY needed to overcome narrow-minded bigotry.

Harriet Klausner