The first cut is the deepest....

So I happen to be a huge, HUGE, fan of Julia Templeton. The first story I ever read of hers was a short titled "Border Lord" in the Parlor Games collection. This story was actually so good that some of my younger brothers have actually borrowed the book to read it. (We're a family who are all fond of all things Scottish, thanks to a small dab of Scottish heritage.) They loved it as well. I've read a fair amount of her other works The Bargain, The Conquest, Sinjin, Victor, Rory, and Return To Me. I have absolutely LOVED them all. All of them are in the Erotic Romance genre so I was a bit curious when she announced she would be crossing over to the YA side of writing.

I seriously had my doubts about how this would be working out. She had such a fail proof technique with the erotic storytelling, what happens when you remove most of that? What's left?

Well this week, knowing I'd be doing traveling during Thanksgiving I got my Kindle out and downloaded her debut YA release "The Deepest Cut" written under the pen name J.A. Templeton. This book is the first in the MacKinnon Curse book series.

I started reading it Thanksgiving day in between routes to various branches of the family tree. I'm so happy I did. I'm a huge fan of the "ghostie" stories and it's been awhile since I've read one that grabbed my attention the way this one did. It might've been a genre change, but underneath was still the fabulous writing that has always held my attention and left me wanting more. More of everything in the pages, from the characters, to the story itself. I literally kept hitting the forward button wanting more. I'm glad to see I won't have to wait much longer, as Book 2 in the series is due out in December. Also, Book 3 is due in February.

I will throw this out there though, before I get into a small synopsis. If you're a squeamish reader, you might want to take this story in pieces, or just be forewarned that there is blood, cutting, and one really angry, angry ghost.

The story is about a 16 yr old girl named Riley, who along with her brother and father have just relocated from Portland, OR to Scotland. (Lucky, lucky, LUCKY girl....at least for that bit.) She's been able to see spirits/ghosts since the accident that took her mother's life a year earlier. Although no one believes her, therefore she has to keep it a secret and try to ignore all the spirits whose paths she crosses. Until of course she meets Ian MacKinnon, the nineteen year old spirit who was murdered over 200 years ago. She ignores him at first, but then when he see's her cutting she accidentally acknowledges him and then the cats out of the bag. When he questions about her cutting his reaction isn't as she expects it to be and soon they strike up a friendship. Not long after though, the girl who cursed Ian to roam his family's land soon shows herself to Riley as well and threatens to make Riley pay if she doesn't leave Ian be and refuse to help him end the curse.

I'm going to stop there so as to not give away any of the good parts. If you've ever watched Ghost Whisperer or anything to that effect you'll love this book as much as I did. I cannot wait to read Book 2 to see what's going to happen next with these characters!

Doctor, Doctor, Give me the news...

This isn't a post to whine or complain, by far the opposite. I'm doing well and I'm alive to see another beautiful day therefore I have no right to do either. I just wanted to stop by and explain why I haven't been around much.

If you've ever happened to notice, most of my blogs are published in the wee hours of the night. Most of my visiting and commenting on other's blogs happens to be done on the same timeline. Well about a month or so ago I called my Endocrinologist for a check up because I was concerned about migraines, insomnia (obviously), and my weight going back up.

I happen to be a medical experiment in a 28 yr old body.

My body is always fighting against me in one way or another. My main enemies are a pituitary tumor and an under active thyroid. They happen to work hand in hand. Migraines, insomnia, and the weight issues are all side effects I deal with on a daily basis. Luckily I have the most wonderful doctor ever and I can always tell that he's always listening to what I have to say and we work together to work out a game plan. Which we did during my appointment then and I was put on a new medicine to cut out the migraines and the insomnia. I won't look down my nose at more sleep, but I have found myself lacking the energy and time to do any blogging lately. Adjusting meds is always a fun roller coaster (said SUPER sarcastically, lol). But if it's what helps in the long run I'm all for having some relaxing me time where my only worry is whether it's too hot in the room to be covered or not.

Also, I've had at least two colds and random side effects from the new medicine.

I mentioned I have a giant distaste for roller coasters, right?

So, all in all that's where I've been. I've been reading a little here and there on Heidi Betts'  "The Bite Before Christmas" and am halfway through it. But with everything going on I've just been taking thing a day, a wink, and a nod off to sleep at a time.