I've been lucky enough to read each of the books in the now 3 book long series, Cassie Scot, by Christine Amsden and I have to say, this one is my favorite by far. It kept me entertained from the first paragraph to the last sentence and when it was over, I knew it wasn't really over! I'm hoping to be one of the first reviewers Christine Amsden contacts when she puts out book 4! -- L. Avery Brown.
About the Book...
At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that effects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams.
Please note: The transcript of this review will be available in about 2 weeks and will be posted on various sites like Amazon, Goodreads, etc.
Interested in purchasing the book(s)? Please visit the hyperlinks below and you'll be redirected!
YES, that's right - this is the really cool thing I was talking about! If you're a fan of the Cassie Scot series, you're going to really be sucked in to this one! And for you newbies - you might just find a hint of a spark with Elena and her story!
About the Book...
Beware your heart and soul…
Evan broke Cassie’s heart two months ago, and she still doesn’t know why. She throws herself into family, friends and her new job at the sheriff’s department, but nothing helps. The only thing that finally allows her heal and move on is the love of a new man, mind mage Matthew Blair. Cassie finds him…irresistible.
Matthew may also be the only one who can help keep the non-magical residents of Eagle Rock from going crazy over the murder of a beloved pastor’s wife. It looks like a sorcerer is to blame, but while Cassie tries to figure out who, others take matters into their own hands. With tensions running so hot, a single spark might set Eagle Rock ablaze. Book 3 in the Cassie Scot series.
To read the 1st chapter please click here to visit Christine's site.
To read the 1st chapter please click here to visit Christine's site.
(Warning: Contains series spoilers. New readers to the series would be better off checking out the preview of book one below.)
About the Author...
Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.
At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that effects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams.
In addition to writing, Christine teaches workshops on writing at Savvy Authors. She also does some freelance editing work.
Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They have two beautiful children, Drake and Celeste.
Christine has now been at The MBR 3 times - so we've pretty much run out of interview questions! Which is why she's agreed to do something special. And it's really cool. But you have to watch the review ... then you can have the dessert of coolness!
And Now for the Review...
Please note: The transcript of this review will be available in about 2 weeks and will be posted on various sites like Amazon, Goodreads, etc.
Interested in purchasing the book(s)? Please visit the hyperlinks below and you'll be redirected!
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Mind Games - BONUS SCENE -
Could this be the beginning of a new series?
Could this be the beginning of a new series?
YES, that's right - this is the really cool thing I was talking about! If you're a fan of the Cassie Scot series, you're going to really be sucked in to this one! And for you newbies - you might just find a hint of a spark with Elena and her story!
It was finally time. After years of waiting and working, Harriet Scot could leave this purgatory between the worlds of the living and the dead, knowing her granddaughter would be okay – eventually. If this goodbye didn't kill her.
Nine-year-old Elena lay on her bed, looking around for the spirit friends who usually kept her company in the privacy of her room. They wouldn't come. Not anymore. It had cost Harriet nine years and her own life to protect this child of her heart from the ghosts who haunted her, but she'd done it. The dead would stay away, finally allowing Elena to live.
“Grandma?” Elena asked. Her voice sounded thin and weak – ethereal, like the rest of her.
Wispy didn't begin to describe the child who only remembered to eat when Harriet reminded her. And Harriet was dead. Eating wasn't her top priority.
“Grandma? Grandpa?” Elena asked. “Where has everyone gone?”
“Grandpa has already gone,” Harriet said. She wished he hadn't had to go, but once she'd finally tuned the vortex properly none of the other ghosts had been able to hold on to this reality. Harriet wouldn't last long. She felt the vortex pulling even now. She didn't have long, but she needed to say goodbye. She needed Elena to understand. Only the force of that desperate need kept some part of her here.
“I can't see you,” Elena said. “Where are you?”
“I have to go. We all have to go. We can't talk to you anymore.”
Elena sat straight up, the terror written all over her face disrupting her usual ethereal calm. “What? No!”
“You can't live your life with the dead,” Harriet said, wondering if a nine-year-old could possibly understand. Elena had always struck her as being more mature than most, but she remained a child. “You need to spend more time with the living.”
“I don't like the living! They're mean to me and I can't make them go away when I want to!” Elena's lower lip began to tremble. “Please. They tease me at school all the time. You're all I have. You can't go.”
Harriet felt a stabbing pain strong enough to make her forget she no longer had a beating heart. The vortex tugged, demanding her soul.
“I love you, Elena,” Harriet said. What else was there to say? She hadn't prepared Elena for this moment; hadn't known when it would come until that very afternoon when years of effort and sacrifice had finally paid off.
“I love you, Grandma.” Elena's voice shook. “Stay. I need you.”
“You have a big family to love you.”
“They don't see me.”
Harriet wanted to deny the truth of that, but she'd seen it herself almost from the start. Maybe because Harriet was the middle child in a large family too, she understood how Elena felt. It didn't help that the girl's next-youngest brother had the gift of charisma and could tie hie parents around his little finger. Harriet knew that her son and his wife loved Elena, but with seven children it was easy to let one fade into the background.
“Make them see you,” Harriet said, finally.
“How?”
Elena looked so forlorn that for the first time, Harriet wondered if she had made the right decision all those years ago when she'd started down this path. They said a gift was tied to the soul. But this gift was killing Elena, even if she could walk and talk.
Harriet started to say something else, but the tug from the vortex was suddenly too much. “Live!” Harriet cried. “Go and live!”
Her last glimpse of Elena, before the vortex sucked her away, was of a girl whose face had gone white as death and whose eyes shown with fear and betrayal.
