Rain of Shadows and Endings

The Legacy Series, Book 1

By: Melissa Roehrich

Narrated by: Laura Horowitz, Christian Leatherman

A world the gods forgot.

Of all the worlds and life they created, the gods favored their children the most. But with that favor came the fear that their Legacy would one day become too powerful and overthrow them. Devram was created. A realm hidden amongst the stars. The gods gave their Legacy the best of all the worlds, and then they left, a sworn agreement to never return and to never interfere.

A historical event.

Forced to a life of servitude, the Fae are required to provide for the Legacy in more ways than one. Every five years, the eligible Fae are gathered for the Selection and assigned to serve in one of the six Kingdoms. To be chosen as the personal Source for a Kingdom Heir is the greatest honor, and for the first time in a millennia, all six Kingdoms have heirs choosing a Source. But their selections could tip the power balance a little too far.

A chosen that was never meant to be.Tessalyn Asura was as forgotten as the realm. But when she finds herself the personal Source to the Heir of Endings, she winds up serving in the darkest Kingdom of them all. The secrets within the Arius Kingdom are meant to be learned and kept, but this was never the life she wanted. Fighting not only the fate thrust upon her, but the temptation to lose herself to desire, Tessa will do anything to escape her new destiny. Until she starts to realize maybe their world wasn’t as forgotten as they thought, and maybe she’s the reason why.

Rain of Shadows and Endings is book one in The Legacy Series and ends on a cliffhanger. This is new adult dark fantasy romance series and includes elements that may be triggering to some listeners.

©2023 Melissa K Roehrich (P)2023 Melissa K Roehrich

I need book 2 on Audible asap!! LOVED it!

This book was dark and delightful. Ive never read dark fantasy that makes me truly hate the MMC like this, yet somehow I still love this story. I can’t wait for book 2 to come out!! I’ve never read this authors work but am now going to go read her other series. This book totally got me out of a reading slump & I needed it. I finished it in 2 days and couldn’t sleep, I was up till 4am reading!!

I inky had 2 things I dislike but even then I feel like they serve a purpose to build anger in the reader. Those things being 1 gaslighting if the FMC by all the “nice guys” in the story who claim it’s for her greater good & 2 the repetition of that- you see the same argument 20 times at least. So they have the same argument/ crossing of her boundaries constantly, but even with that, I never felt bored. I’m excited for book 2 and I mainly love how you’re not sure who she will end up with or even if it’s someone in the book. You’re scratching your head thinking I’d like her with any of these 3 people but also maybe that mystery man or maybe even a new rescuer being introduced in the next book would be better. What kind of person can pull this off with their writing?! I don’t even have a favorite male character in this book and am torn, the characters all have pros and cons and no one’s a straight shot. It’s incredible!! Overall good book for fans of ACOTAR and Fourth Wing but with the caveat/trigger warning that it’s darker, the FMC has no autonomy or free will in this book which is hard to read because you just want to scream at everyone around her that things they’re treating her well “if that was you, you’d never allow it!” This book makes you feel something, and if you’ve ever felt trapped in life or mentally or that others aren’t seeing you for everything you have to offer and considering what you’ve been through, then you will resonate with the main female character. I love Tessalynn. This book is amazing. I can’t wait for the rest of the series and hope she kills everyone but the fact that she could end up loving one of the characters and being end-game is what amazes me. I could see it going ANY way, which is exciting as a reader. One of my 2024 favorites for sure! I hope this book goes viral so I have people to talk about it with. 10/10 recommend

Dark fantasy do not expect an easy read or happy ending

This is a hard read. I highly recommend reading the trigger warnings before starting this book. This book is in no way for everyone. It is dark, depressing, and heartbreaking throughout all of the book. I found myself having to go back and forth between this book and another much more lighthearted book when this one got too heavy.

The MFC is constantly told that everything she does isn’t enough, that she is too uncontrolled, she is disobedient, that her only value lies in what she can give others and that she needs to submit and learn her place. And when she finally opens up about anything it is used against her. She is told everything that is done to her is to protect her and that if she just opened her eyes she would realize that she is one of them. But she is treated by every one of them as if she is beneath them because she is Fae and they are Legacy. She ask questions to try to help her better understand but she is told it is not her place to question her only place is to submit and obey.

I kept hoping Tessa would find herself and emerge to completely f*** everyone up. The MMC was in need of being throat punched from the moment he appeared and sadly it never happened. I’m hoping Tessa puts him in his place come the second book.

I’m sure the MMC has all sorts of trauma causing him to act this way but it’s honestly hard to feel sorry for him in any way with the way he treats Tessa. As soon as you think he’s starting to gain some redeeming qualities and Tessa is getting her head above water he pushers her back under and breaks her even more.

I feel like all the Legacy have abused their power and only want control. The Fae are bred and treated like dogs. None of their needs matter, they are things created only to be used and if they think anything otherwise they are punished.

I know this book is considered a dark fantasy romance but in my opinion it is really just dark fantasy. There is minimal amount of romance displayed and by the time it happens the MMC doesn’t deserve it in the slightest. There are insinuations of rape and that the MFC should be happy about her punishments because at least she wasn’t being forced to her knees and having a c*ck shoved down her throat.

As far as world building I feel that reading the Lady of Darkness series helped understand the world of ROSAE better even though there is no requirement to do so. It allows for more background on the Gods, the Legacy, and the Fae.

I love MKRs writing and will continue to read this series despite all the trauma and heartbreak. I can only hope that Tessa finds herself and takes what is hers.

Let chaos rain

Another incredible book from the author and perfect narration by the voice actors. Laura is so talented and can change voices from character to character. Christian also does great at creating variation in all the male roles. As for the story, I need more. Tessa's feelings about herself really resonated with me and my therapist loves when that happens. Theon is also damaged and it comes out in the worst ways, no cinnamon roll here. The lore and worldbuiliding the author created in her first series continues to evolve in this one. Let's not forget the cliffhanger ending of course. Other tropes include true (imo) enemies to lovers, shadow daddy, he falls first, forced proximity, kingdom politics, and touch her and be unalived by the OTT possessive MMC. Book two is out soon but need it now.

Blind read! By far the best book! I can’t wait for more

This book was so good I couldn’t put it down. I ended up getting the next one right away and reading it and I finished it in two days.!

Exceptional

Greatly enjoyed both actors reading this fantastic book! Been so excited for book 2 to arrive!

Excellent book! Original and well written

Characters are unique keeps you guessing what will come next. Ready to read book to was unable to lay the book down!

The most frustrating MCs ever

I had to speed up the audio because these two main characters are both incredibly frustrating. I would have liked to see this book edited by half. That being said, I'm interested in where the story is going and will move on to the next book. Excellent female voice actor even if her English accent could use some work.

Great world and character building!

Okay, I’m hooked! Couldn’t stop listening to this book. I was fully vested in the characters and loved the banter. Can’t wait until the next…

Complex PTSD in fairyland

Skip it — the writer repeats the same scene for 200 pages - by the end it’s difficult to care about any of them. Not romantic at all.

Main character stayed ignorant and controlled for way too long….

I am a fan of dark fantasy romance, but this book was not that. I WILL say that it seems like the second book is set up to be much better than the first because things will begin moving. The writing and world building was good, however here is my complaint—*spoilers* —this book should have been half the length if the story was only going to progress as far as it did. There was no story or character arc. All the main characters stayed exactly the same the whole way through. The entire book (aside from LITERALLY the last chapter) the FMC who was secretly the most powerful person in the entire realm stayed completely ignorant to it. Instead she was forced to be a “source” to a complete asshole. She was literally branded, forced to sit at the dudes feet at dinner and the list goes on. And the level of degradation to the fae race by the so called “descendants of the gods” who in reality have no power if not for taking it from the fae was non stop through the whole book with no change, improvement or progress. The FMC just kept cowering down and letting the MMC walk all over her. He legit controlled what she ate and what clothes she wore. **please note—I live for morally gray characters and get my smiles from a good book scene where the male dominates BUT this was not that. The MMC had NO tender moments or a realization that he loved her and changed his ways. This book was too dark even for me and I hate that the very ending set me up for wanting to read the next book if it is just more of the same I will be putting it down right away. All that said, the author still has incredible writing skill, it was just the story itself that was a problem for me.