Review: The Gods of Heavenly Punishment by Jennifer Cody Epstein

5 February 2014 by Melissa

About the book, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment

The Gods of Heavenly Punishment

One summer night in prewar Japan, eleven-year-old Billy Reynolds takes snapshots at his parent’s dinner party. That same evening his father Anton–a prominent American architect–begins a torrid affair with the wife of his master carpenter. A world away in New York, Cameron Richards rides a Ferris Wheel with his sweetheart and dreams about flying a plane. Though seemingly disparate moments, they will all draw together to shape the fate of a young girl caught in the midst of one of WWII’s most horrific events–the 1945 firebombing of Tokyo.

Exquisitely-rendered, The Gods of Heavenly Punishment tells the stories of families on both sides of the Pacific: their loves and infidelities, their dreams and losses–and their shared connection to one of the most devastating acts of war in human history.

Buy a copy:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the author, Jennifer Cody Epstein

Jennifer Cody Epstein

Jennifer Cody Epstein is the author of The Gods of Heavenly Punishment and the international bestseller The Painter from Shanghai. She has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, Self, Mademoiselle and NBC, and has worked in Hong Kong, Japan and Bangkok, Thailand.

Jennifer lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, two daughters and especially needy Springer Spaniel.

Connect with Jennifer

Website | Facebook

My Thoughts

While I’m not typically a fan of historical fiction, I make exceptions for recent history. The recent acquisition of a scrapbook my grandfather made when he was stationed in Hawaii in the 1930s had sparked my interest in the period just before and during World War II, and when I was offered The Gods of Heavenly Punishment to read and review, it seemed like a sign, especially since so much of the literature about that period is so Eurocentric.

This book, however, is a refreshing change from the usual, both because of the subject, and because it tells such an earthy, gritty, human story. We meet three boys in different parts of the world, and we revisit them during their lives, as tragedy occurs, finally saying goodbye to the last of them as a grown man.

We meet the girls and women who dance in and out of the boys’ lives, and they are as dimensional, as fully-realized as any lead characters in any work, despite not being on ‘center stage.

Even though we know the bare facts of history, there are thousands of stories, some separate, some interconnected, and Epstein weaves her fiction into the historical context with deftness and grace. From the opening chapters – a boy kissing a girl on a Ferris wheel, another boy snapping pictures with his brand new camera – to the closing ones – a man confronting the truth of his fathers actions toward another, a woman seeing treasured photos of her parents – we are treated to beautiful human moments that pull us away from the brutal atrocities of war.

I won’t pretend that some aspects of The Gods of Heavenly Punishment aren’t difficult. They are, and they should be. War isn’t clean and pretty. War stories shouldn’t be either.

But the book is still hauntingly beautiful and achingly poignant, and I found myself emerging from it with a deeper sense of history.

This review is part of a virtual book tour. For more information, visit the tour page by clicking here.

Review: Ripper by Isabel Allende

4 February 2014 by Melissa

About the book, Ripper

Ripper

The Jackson women, Indiana and Amanda, have always had each other. Though their bond is strong, mother and daughter are as different as night and day. Indiana, a beautiful holistic healer, is a free-spirited bohemian. Long divorced from Amanda’s father, she’s reluctant to settle down with either of the men who want her—Alan, the wealthy scion of one of San Francisco’s elite families, and Ryan, an enigmatic, scarred former Navy SEAL.

While her mom looks for the good in people, Amanda is fascinated by the dark side of human nature—as is her father, the SF PD’s deputy chief of homicide. Brilliant and introverted, the MIT-bound high school senior Amanda is a natural-born sleuth addicted to crime novels and to Ripper, the online mystery game she plays with her beloved grandfather and friends around the world.

When a string of strange murders occurs across the city, Amanda plunges into her own investigation, probing hints and deductions that elude the police department. But the case becomes all too personal when Indiana suddenly vanishes. Could her mother’s disappearance have something to do with the series of deaths? Now, with her mother’s life on the line, Amanda must solve the most complex mystery she’s ever faced before it’s too late.

Purchase a copy:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the author, Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende is the bestselling author of twelve works of fiction, four memoirs, and three young adult novels, which have been translated into more than twenty-seven languages, with more than 57 million copies sold. In 2004, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award in 2012. Born in Peru and raised in Chile, she lives in California.

Connect with Isabel:

Website | Facebook

My Thoughts:

More than twenty years ago, I met my husband online. Specifically, I met him on a MUSH (it stands for “multi-user shared hallucination” and it refers to an online, real-time, text-based role-playing environment), which is a sort of online game. It is this experience, with the way our online and offline lives bleed into each other that made me really, really want to read the latest offering from Isabel Allende: Ripper.

If you’ve ever read Allende’s work, you know that she has this amazing way of using language that is both descriptive and immersive and amazingly lyrical, even when she’s talking about a man who was skewered by a baseball bat (which is a sight we’re treated to in the opening chapters). Ripper is no different than her other work in that respect.

But here’s where it is different: It rides the line between Young Adult/New Adult and Contemporary fiction. It’s a mystery/thriller but it’s also a family drama, a love story, and a coming of age tale. And did I mention there’s role-playing.

Of course, no matter what we’re reading, we read it through the veil of our own experiences. While my history with gaming drew me to the story, what kept me intrigued was the relationship between Amanda and her grandfather, Blake. Why? Because I was the favorite of my own grandfather, and the relationship Allende drew in Ripper resonated with me very strongly.

There are many reasons to pick up this novel. Pick it up because you like free-spirited women who care about their daughters despite having virtually nothing in common with them. Pick it up because you or someone you know has been involved in a computer game – even if it’s one of those tacky first-person shooter MMORPGs that all the kids are playing. Pick it up because you know Allende’s work and want to have the comprehensive Allende experience. You can even pick it up because you’re intrigued by the title over a picture of the Golden Gate bridge. It really doesn’t matter why you read it.

What matters is that you do, because it’s a wonderful story, and you will not be disappointed.

This review is part of a virtual book tour. For the tour page, click here.

Review: What I Had Before I Had You, by Sarah Cornwell

28 January 2014 by Melissa

About the book, What I Had Before I Had You

What I Had Before I Had You

Written in radiant prose and with stunning psychological acuity, award-winning author Sarah Cornwell’s What I Had Before I Had You is a deeply poignant story that captures the joys and sorrows of growing up and learning to let go.

Olivia Reed was fifteen when she left her hometown of Ocean Vista on the Jersey Shore. Two decades later, divorced and unstrung, she returns with her teenage daughter, Carrie, and nine-year-old son, Daniel, recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Distracted by thoughts of the past, Olivia fails to notice when Daniel disappears from her side. Her frantic search for him sparks memories of the summer of 1987, when she exploded out of the cocoon of her mother’s fierce, smothering love and into a sudden, full-throttle adolescence, complete with dangerous new friends, first love, and a rebellion so intense that it utterly recharted the course of her life.

Olivia’s mother, Myla, was a practicing psychic whose powers waxed and waned along with her mercurial moods. Myla raised Olivia to be a guarded child, and also to believe in the ever-present infant ghosts of her twin sisters, whom Myla took care of as if they were alive—diapers, baby food, an empty nursery kept like a shrine. At fifteen, Olivia saw her sisters for the first time, not as ghostly infants but as teenagers on the beach. But when Myla denied her vision, Olivia set out to learn the truth—a journey that led to shattering discoveries about herself and her family.

Sarah Cornwell seamlessly weaves together the past and the present in this riveting debut novel, as she examines the relationships between mothers and daughters, and the powerful forces of loss, family history, and magical thinking.

Buy a Copy:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the author, Sarah Cornwell

Sarah Cornwell

Sarah Cornwell grew up in Narberth, Pennsylvania. Her fiction has appeared in the 2013 Pushcart Prize Anthology, the Missouri Review, Mid-American Review, Gulf Coast, and Hunger Mountain, among others, and her screenwriting has been honored with a Humanitas Prize.

A former James Michener Fellow at UT-Austin, Sarah has worked as an investigator of police misconduct, an MCAT tutor, a psychological research interviewer, and a toy seller. She lives in Los Angeles.

Connect with Sarah:

Facebook

My Thoughts

Like Olivia Reed, I spent the first several years of my life (and many summers thereafter) on the Jersey shore. It was, in fact, that particular setting that drew me to this book. In my mind, Ocean Vista is much more like vintage Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, though my guess is that it’s really based on Seaside Heights.

But the setting, while important, takes a back seat to the story, and wow! Sarah Cornwell weaves a damn good story.

At heart, it’s the story of mothers and daughters: Olivia as daughter, humoring her mother by ‘feeding’ the ghosts of her twin sisters, dealing with hurt and pain when she learns those sisters are not so ethereal as she was rased to believe Olivia as mother, with a bratty teen of her own and a special needs child, riding the edge between patience and frustration, always loving her children but sometimes not liking them very much.

Cornwell tells both halves of the story with grace and ease. She puts in enough detail that we can see the cast-away baby food, smell the greasy boardwalk pizza, hear the crinkle of the plastic on the perfectly used diapers thrown out each week, taste the salt-water taffy.

She leaves enough to the imagination that only a careful reading shows us what is real and what isn’t. She writes real people and real situations but with a magical feel that draws you in and compels you to continue.

Translation: Reading this book is like riding a Ferris Wheel. At times you’re at the bottom of the loop, and at times you’re at the peak, but you’re always along for the ride, and from a good portion of it, the view is incredible.

Goes well with A hotdog, crinkle cut fries, and rootbeer, with cotton candy for dessert.

This review is part of a virtual book tour. For more information, visit the tour page at TLC Book Tours.

Book Blast: Evoked Potentials by Pat Dannenberg

15 January 2014 by Melissa

About the book, Evoked Potentials

Sadie Ackerman doesn’t have to leave home to find adventure. She is on a trip of descent to the shadow world of her own unconscious, a trip of ascent to the mystery of expanded awareness, and a trip in the mid-world of everyday reality where falling in love with a sexy detective rocks the current organization of her psyche.

A convergence of mystery, murder, maternity, marriage and the Mossad swirls around Sadie as she searches for a new direction in the quiet woods and waters of southern New Jersey and the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Purchase your copy:

About the author, Pat Dannenberg

The author and her husband enjoy winecations, road trips and water. They spend their time in New Jersey and Virginia.

Pump Up Your Book & Pat Dannenburg are giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
This giveaway ends January 21.
Winner will be contacted via email.
Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!
ENTER TO WIN!

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Spotlight on The Black Song Inside by Carlyle Clark

13 January 2014 by Melissa

About the book, The Black Song Inside

Atticus Wynn and Rosemary Sanchez, newly engaged private investigators, have seen the dark and violent side of life. Nothing, though, has prepared them for an explosive murder investigation that threatens to tear their relationship apart as they struggle to solve a case that could leave them in prison or dead.

Atticus’s manipulative ex-girlfriend bursts back into their lives wielding a secret about Rosemary’s family that she exploits to force the couple into investigating the execution-style slaying of her lover. The case thrusts Atticus and Rosemary headlong into the world of human trafficking and drug smuggling, while rendering them pawns in Tijuana Cartel captain Armando Villanueva’s bloody bid to take over the cartel.

The Black Song Inside is a vivid crime thriller rife with murder and madness, melded with gallows humor and the heroism of two flawed and compelling protagonists who, if they can save themselves, may learn the nature of redemption and the ability to forgive.

Buy a copy!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Join the conversation!

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About the author, Carlyle Clark

Carlyle Clark

Carlyle Clark was raised in Poway, a city just north of San Diego, but is now a proud Chicagolander working in the field of Corporate Security and writing crime and fantasy fiction. He has flailed ineffectually at performing the writer’s requisite myriad of random jobs: pizza deliverer, curb address painter, sweatshop laborer, day laborer, night laborer, security guard, campus police, Gallup pollster, medical courier, vehicle procurer, and signature-for-petitions-getter.

He is a married man with two cats and a dog. He is also a martial arts enthusiast and a CrossFit endurer who enjoys fishing, sports, movies, TV series with continuing storylines, and of course, reading. Most inconsequentially, he holds the unrecognized distinction of being one of the few people in the world who have been paid to watch concrete dry in the dark. Tragically, that is a true statement.

His latest book is the mystery thriller, The Black Song Inside.

Connect with Carlyle

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Pump Up Your Book & Carlyle Clark are giving away a $100 Amazon Gift Card!

By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive the Accelerate Your Power Grand Prize.
This giveaway begins December 2 and ends February 28.
Winner will be contacted via email on Monday, March 3, 2013.
Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!
ENTER TO WIN!
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Reviewed Elsewhere: Taking What I like, by Linda Bamber

9 January 2014 by Melissa

Taking What I Like

I reviewed Linda Bamber’s short story collection Taking What I Like over at All Things Girl earlier this morning. I loved the book so much that if I were a student at Tufts, where the author teaches, I would camp out over night in order to sign up for her class.

And I’m a person who typically thinks “roughing it” means “staying in a hotel that doesn’t have room service.”

Here’s an excerpt from my review:

At turns hilarious and poignant, bitter and sweet, but always based in a place of truth, Bamber turns familiar works upside down and lets us see well-known characters to a filter of modernity.

The first story in the collection, “Casting Call,” gives us all of the familiar characters from Othello – including a Desdemona who remembers having died – and turns them into the English department faculty in a small university (though it could be worse, Desdemona points out: the characters from Measure for Measure run the political science department at a school in Ontario; at least the Othello crew is in their creator’s field of study.), arguing over hiring diversity and creating new and different romantic liaisons.

Read the rest of the review here.

Guest Post by William Buisch, author of The Ark’s Cargo

30 December 2013 by Melissa

About the book, The Ark’s Cargo

The Ark's Cargo by William Buisch

This memoir describes the challenges a young man faces in achieving his dream of becoming a veterinarian. Even a period of homelessness and limited resources do not interfere with his commitment to achieve success. And this is only the beginning! Soon he is faced with the challenges of working in the jungles of Panama, facing the ravages of a roaming black jaguar and the defenses of a native village against the entrance of man or beast.

Then, how about Haiti, where the Tonton Macoute militias believe in instant justice, rarely valuing life, or Columbia, where the drug lords have absolute rule. As if that isn’t enough, consider working in the African continent, along the tales surrounding the first shipment of Charolais cattle to the United States or the many facets of working with the wild mustangs in Colorado. Each exciting adventure is told with suspense, drama, and humor! Enjoy!

Buy a copy of your own!

The Ark’s Cargo at Trafford Publishing

About the author, William Buisch

Inspired by biblical passages and teachings, the author cherished his work as an international veterinarian. His passion for improving the health and welfare of domesticated and wild animals is most noteworthy. Working within diverse cultures, he observed vast health improvements in animals and, as a result, in people living nearby.

Guest Post from William Buisch

If you like romance, love, excitement, drama, adventure, exotic tales/tails and situational comedy, I have just the right book for you! And then with the ever present animalistic behavior and the discussion of male prowess while being, a bit bullish at times I am sure you will appreciate and love this collection of real life stories. Don’t be sheepish or cackle at the story line! But rather, enjoy the horsing around and the descriptions of unusual harems and the sexuality of a semen collection facility. All of this and more is included in the award winning book entitled, The Ark’s Cargo: For the Love of Animals!

The memoir is about an International Veterinarian who worked in poverty stricken areas of the world including that of working in Haiti, the jungles of Panama, in Colombia in areas under the control of drug lords, in Mali, along the road to Timbuktu and in Kenya where the Maasi believe they own all of the cattle in the world.

The stories include efforts to improve the health and welfare of both wild and domesticated animals in order to improve the well being of the human populations living near by. While the episodes may get a little wild at times, each adventure doesn’t necessarily achieve the success hoped for. Nevertheless, the lessons learned and the relationships developed established long lasting effects of international trust and respect that will last for years to come!

Having worked with the Wild Mustangs in Colorado and Nevada may be the highlight for some. But facing the terror of a black jaguar, or being “attacked” by a Battalion of Troops, or facing a native with a shield and spear aimed at one’s heart; will often attract the attention of others. And then there is the matter of the ever “screwing” Screwworm Fly; the experience of shipping cattle in a school bus; or the experience of being an unseasoned seaman in the North Atlantic. All I can say is; this is only the beginning! And as such, do enjoy!!!

Review: The Howling Heart by April Bostic

17 December 2013 by Melissa

About the book, The Howling Heart

Paige Donovan is an ambitious college graduate who aspires to reach the top of the corporate ladder. She’s climbing fast when she’s given the promotion of a lifetime at a prestigious fashion magazine in New York City. Her bright future comes to an unexpected halt after news of her father’s death. She inherits his old cabin in the Colorado Rockies, and just when she thinks her luck couldn’t get any worse, she has a car accident in the mountains and awakens in the small, remote community of Black River.

Soon, she’s engulfed in the mystical world of Varulv–wolves descended from 13th century Scandinavia and blessed by Norse gods with the ability to appear human. Paige is desperate to return home, but she never expects to fall for her rescuer, Riley Gray, a charming young werewolf from England who offers her an alternate future with his pack.

Now, she must choose between the career she’s always wanted and the love she’s always dreamed.

Buy a copy from

About the author, April Bostic

April Bostic is a New Jersey-based, Adult Romance author who enjoys unleashing her creativity and letting her imagination run wild. Her love of romance books inspired her to become not just a reader, but also a writer. In December 2008, she self-published her first novel, a contemporary romance with a supernatural twist entitled A Rose to the Fallen.

Her first short story, “Right Here, Right Now,” released in January 2012, is an erotic romance with a dash of S&M. The following year, she released two more short stories: a romantic urban fantasy inspired by the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche entitled “Eros, My Love”, and a sexy romantic comedy entitled “Love Addiction.”

After five years, she released her second novel, The Howling Heart in August 2013, a paranormal romance that delves into the mystical world of werewolves and Norse gods. To end her busiest year in publishing, April will release her fourth short story in December 2013, an 18th century paranormal romance entitled “A Dark Scandal.”

Connect with April

Website: AprilBostic.com
Goodreads: April Bostic

My Thoughts

Having spent several of my formative years in small towns in the Colorado Rockies, I had absolutely no trouble accepting that there could be a town that wasn’t easy to find, harboring a community of people who aren’t werewolves, except when they are. Actually, about the only thing that really challenged my willing suspense of disbelief in regard to The Howling Heart was that Paige could be working at Elle and getting a fat promotion so soon after college. (Kudos though, for making it Elle, I love Elle.)

But that’s a small quibble about a book that I otherwise found to be both engaging and enjoyable. As a reader, I might have questioned Paige’s choices, but when you’re young, grieving, and caught up in a combination of attraction and nostalgia, you don’t always make smart choices.

But I’m backing into this review, so let me start over:

April Bostic’s The Howling Heart gives us a new spin on werewolves. These aren’t blood-thirsty creatures out for a quick human-shaped snack, but people who live more in tune with the land, in a culture influenced by Norse mythology and shaped by the modern world. It’s an interesting juxtaposition – as the male lead/love interest Riley Gray points out – they eat spaghetti Bolognese when in human form, and take meals on the hoof when…not.

It’s also an interesting twist on the conventional romance novel tropes. Yes, Paige is young and has a career that doesn’t quite match her age, yes, Riley is hot-hot-hot and super-sensitive, but somehow it all works to create a magical bubble, a sort of wolfy Brigadoon surrounded by aspen and pine trees instead of heather.

The element of mystery – what did Paige’s father know, and when did he know it? – only adds to the story. Romance and mystery have always been compatible, however, so this should not be at all surprising.

Author Bostic write dialogue that doesn’t sound stilted, and puts enough flavor into her foreign-born characters that they don’t sound American but also don’t sound like caricatures. It’s a tough balance for any writer, but she’s nailed it.

Likewise, the supporting characters – Paige’s father, who dies before we really know him, Riley’s sister Quinn, and their father and stepmother – are all given lovely moments to show off their dimensions.

If you enjoy a good romantic romp, with a dash of supernatural spiciness, The Howling Heart is for you.

Goes well with a hearty bowl of venison stew and crusty brown bread, and a glass of hard cider.

This review is part of a blog tour with TLC Book Tours. Click here for the list of tour stops.

Review: Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot book 2) by Christine Amsden

9 December 2013 by Melissa

About the book, Secrets and Lies

Cassie Scot,still stinging from her parents’ betrayal, wants out of the magical world. But it isn’t letting her go. Her family is falling apart and despite everything, it looks like she may be the only one who can save them.

To complicate matters, Cassie owes Evan her life, making it difficult for her to deny him anything he really wants. And he wants her. Sparks fly when they team up to find two girls missing from summer camp, but long-buried secrets may ruin their hopes for happiness. Book 2 in the Cassie Scot Mystery series.

Buy a copy here:

Amazon

About the author, Christine Amsden

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.

Connect with Christine

Website: Into the Dreaming
Facebook: Christine Amsden, Author
Twitter: @ChristineAmsden

My Thoughts:

I want Cassie Scot to be my best friend. She’s funny, feisty and, as the only non-magical person in a family of practitioners, deliciously flawed.

Having just read both book one and book two of this series, back to back, the details are a bit muddled in my head (This, and my tendency to give spoilers, are why I never write summaries. If you want to know the story – read the book yourself), but I know that as much as I respect Cassie’s determination to make it on her own (or at least without the help of her parents), I also wish she was better at confronting them.

That said, I know all too well the way our parents continue to affect our lives, long after we’ve reached adulthood. I’m 43, have been married for almost 19 years, run a business, and own my home, and my mother still has the power to shatter my world.

Still Cassie Scot, as a character, rocks my world.

But I also like Evan Blackwood, who loves her enough to wait for her to love him back. And I thought the his-and-hers cousins were also well-written, as were both Cassie and Evan’s fathers.

As in the first book, author Christine Amsden has given us a rich world full of great characters, both magical and mundane. In some ways her work reminds me of Laurell K. Hamilton’s early Anita Blake novels (you know, before they became mostly monster porn) and that’s due to the world she’s created. There’s enough detail to make it feel real, but not so much that you start picking at the fabric of her fictional town.

Bottom line: No paranormal novel, whether it’s a romance, detective story, or even a musical, is ever going to be considered high art, but that’s okay, because literature doesn’t have to be high art to be entertaining. And the Cassie Scot stories are just that: smart, sexy, and fabulously entertaining. Can’t wait for book three.

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By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one Kindle Fire HD.
This giveaway begins November 11 – February 28.
Winners will be contacted via email on Monday, March 3, 2014.
Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

Enter to Win

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Spotlight on Secrets and Lies by Christine Amsden

6 December 2013 by Melissa

About the book, Secrets and Lies

Buy a copy here:

Amazon

About the author, Christine Amsden

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.

Connect with Christine

Website: Into the Dreaming
Facebook: Christine Amsden, Author
Twitter: @ChristineAmsden

Read an Excerpt from Secrets and Lies

I faced my former father for the first time since he had announced his intention to disown me. He looked just as he always had, with straight dark hair, brown eyes, a long, angular face, and a wide, curving mouth – curving downward into a frown, that is.

If Victor was the last person I had expected to see in the diner that morning, then my former father was the last person I wanted to see. Even now, with Victor explaining my part in his unusual scheme for revenge, I didn’t want my former father nearby. I didn’t want his help. I only hoped Nicolas and Juliana hadn’t broken their promise and told him about the life debt, or I would never hear the end of it.

The air crackled with visible tension. Sparks of shimmering red fire danced around my father’s head. Behind the counter, Mrs. Meyers twisted her hands together anxiously, as if afraid her diner might burn down. Her fears were not unjustified.

I stepped boldly between them, facing my father. “What are you doing here?“

“We need to talk,“ he said.

“I have nothing to say to you. You disowned me, remember?“

The color seemed to drain from his face as he stared past me, at his oldest enemy.

Victor raised his water glass in a mock toast. “I’ve known for some time. If it makes you feel any worse, so does everyone else in town who hasn’t been asleep for a week. Or at least, they guess.“

“I don’t care what you think you know. Stay away from my daughter.“With that, he grabbed my arm with a hand hot enough to leave a reddened imprint on my skin, and dragged me through the kitchen to the employee room at the back. Only then did he release my injured forearm.”