Recommended by: Yours truly

Title: And So Began A Legend

Author: CynderLavigne

Synopsis:

It seemed like Jasmonica Roth and her family could never get a break. From the time she was little, she always remembered the things that haunted her and her brother. The things that sought to use them for evil, to kill their family. Sam Winchester wasn't far behind. Fate seemed to have it out for them.

The day Jasmine really learns what's out there is the day she nearly gets killed. The day she meets Sam Winchester. The day her world seemingly fell apart but was made whole again.

They both have dark secrets, something that could either converge them or diverge them. He could kill her. She could kill him.

The woman who has it out for them has kept quiet, even when her own family was torn apart. But now, she won't stop until she has what she wants. She wants two very unholy and damned souls to herself. There's not much they can do to stop her and her followers.

And there isn't much they can do to save each other before their time is up.

Rating: 3.5

Thoughts:

So, first off, if you're looking for something that follows the show, then this isn't the book you're looking for. Don't let that deter you from checking it out. Sometimes the better books have a lesser following and it's just not their time to fully shine yet.

This book is in the gap between Season 5 and Season 6, aka where Sam has escaped from Hell and presumably has no soul. (Slight drool because Soulless!Sam was incredibly attractive.)

If you haven't gotten to Season 6 yet, my apologies...Spoiler.

Enter Jasmine Roth, played by the beautiful smol bean below

We don't get an info dump background on Jasmine, which is awesome, cause that's one of my pet peeves (even though I feel like I used to do it, once). We learn bits and pieces throughout the story. If you're like me, you enjoy that. (If you're not, then you're gonna have to be patient with this story. I personally think that revealing bits throughout keeps the reader in the book and gives the character an element of mystery, but some just like to have their hands on all the information at once.)

Due to not following the show, the language feels more natural (stupid CW for having some words censored). A lot more uses of 'shit' and 'fuck', which I would think would be the more normal response to hunting in a world full of monsters. [Sorry if you don't like that kind of language and I subjected your eyes to it. Too late, you can't un-see those words.]

On a slight picky note of mine, sometimes (and the author has admitted in a note) that Sam feels OOC (out of character, I think that's what it means?). Sometimes, though, his soullessness kind of makes it make sense. But other times it still feels off.

Fair warning: these chapters are very long, longer than what even I write. If long chappies are your thing, then you'll enjoy this.

So kinda going hand in hand with the above, me personally, I would break up the chapters a bit, since they feel like there's no end for a while. Giving those readers breaks allows you for more parts.

Just my perspective. If you feel that works for you, Cynder, then keep it. 

Plot is completely original (like I mentioned earlier), which I love (don't get me wrong; I love SPN fics within season plots as much as the next reader). I'm a sucker for original plot, because unless your detective skills are on point, you can't possibly guess which direction the author is going to go. 

Dean kinda takes a back seat, being that he's off with Ben and Lisa considering the time-frame this story takes place in. Sorry, Dean-o, the supernatural world never rests, but you do for this.

It's okay, though, Dean; your name does come up a few times (now I only say this because I have not finished the book yet; so there may be some time for you to still make an appearance, my friend).

So if you were hoping for a Dean/OC ship, yeah, you won't find it in this book. (But then again, I'm not at the end, so I could be wrong on this.)

To summarize that long blurb that y'all read through: it's an original plot, time-frame is after the end of Season 5, the chapters are long.

Bottom line: it's worth a read ^.^