A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd

A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd
(Website, Blog, Twitter, Goodreads)Published by Harper Collins on January 27th 2015
Genres: Europe, Historical, Horror & Ghost Stories, Love & Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: ARC

With inspiration from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman's Daughter trilogy—perfect for fans of Libba Bray—explores the things we'll sacrifice to save those we love . . . even our own humanity.After killing the men who tried to steal her father's research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet's secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor's own walls. Then she uncovers the truth about the manor's long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—which forces her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. Juliet must decide if she'll follow her father's dark footsteps or her mother's tragic ones—or make her own.

A Cold Legacy is book 3 in The Madman’s Daughter series and the final book of this series. If you haven’t started this series yet, definitely consider it. Each book ties back to another classical book and this one is inspired by Frankenstein.

We dive right back into Juliette’s life which now has her on the run with Montgomery, Lucy, and Balthazar. The group heads for safety to the Scottish Moors to stay in Elizabeth von Stein’s house and find a house full of mysteries. As Juliette digs into what is going on, she finds out that Elizabeth has been keeping a big secret. Not only that, Elizabeth wants to share the secret with Juliette and pass on the family science to ensure she keeps it safe.

Juliette continues to struggle with whether she is evil and her father’s daughter or not and as she finds out more about who he really was, she also finds out more about who she really is. Regardless of who her father is, Juliette realizes she needs to be true to who she is no matter who her family is or what others might think about her. I will say, the continual back and forth in Juliette’s head about is she or is she not evil because of her father, wore on me a bit. I know it was a critical thing for her to resolve but it got to be somewhat repetitive.

The relationship between Juliette and Montgomery definitely progresses and I loved seeing the change in how these two related to each other. Montgomery continues to push Juliette to realize she is more than who her father made her but he also tries to push her away from the science she loves and that is where Juliette feels she needs to hide things. I get why he was doing it but don’t know that it was the right thing. It obviously created some tension between them as did the murders of the men who tried to steal her father’s research.

I have to admit, Lucy annoyed me in this book. She was always focused on what she wanted and what she thought should be happening for Edward. And speaking of Edward…I wanted Juliette to admit that she had more than a friendship with him. I mean, I wasn’t happy about it but I also thought it was fairly glossed over.

So there isn’t much I can say about the story without giving anything away so just know that if you enjoyed the first two books of this series you will definitely want to read this one to see how things end up for these characters. I am happy I was able to see how things ended up for them all and I can’t wait to read more from Megan Shepherd.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.

About Megan Shepherd

I’ve been many things, like a bookseller, park ranger in Montana, nanny in Switzerland, and GAME OF THRONES enthusiast, but what I am now is a writer.

I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, raised behind the counter of my parents’ independent bookstore, Highland Books in Brevard. Despite being surrounded by books, I never thought being an author could be a real career. My passion was always travel and cultures, so I studied International Studies and foreign languages (and still muddle by in a few of them). Then I joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Senegal, living in a mud hut with no electricity or running water, teaching wildlife education to school children.

It wasn't until a particular project in Senegal–collecting traditional oral folktales and transcribing them into an illustrated volume to distribute to village schools–that something clicked and I realized how powerful storytelling could be. My husband encouraged me to write my own stories, and I fell head-over-heels in love with writing, and children's literature in particular. I started out writing articles, which have appeared in Faces, Appleseeds, and Calliope magazines, and stories for younger children. I soon realized I wasn’t sweet enough to write fiction for that age and found myself writing young adult literature instead, which doesn’t require nearly as many tender moments and includes a lot more cursing.

When I'm not writing, I can usually be found horseback riding, day dreaming at coffee shops, or gardening at my farm in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

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