Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective by Christine Amsden Series: Cassie Scot #1
Published by Twilight Times Books on May 15th 2013
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Format: ARC
Source: Provided by author for honest review
Goodreads
Cassie Scot is the ungifted daughter of powerful sorcerers, born between worlds but belonging to neither. At 21, all she wants is to find a place for herself, but earning a living as a private investigator in the shadow of her family’s reputation isn’t easy. When she is pulled into a paranormal investigation, and tempted by a powerful and handsome sorcerer, she will have to decide where she truly belongs.
Julie’s Review:
This is one of those don’t judge a book by its cover type of books. The cover screams low budget and usually low budget covers mean low budget editing, and possibly even writing. But this book was very well written, the plot was exciting, and the characters were intriguing. I’m very happy I was given the opportunity to review book 1 in the Cassie Scot series.
The magical world that Cassie lives in is full of secrets and lies, and it doesn’t help matters that Cassie seems to not have been born with any magical gifts. In order to try to prove her worth, she opens up a “normal” detective agency and is asked to assist with a murder investigation. The plot escalates from there when it is obvious the victim was killed by a vampire. The mystery continues to get more complicated as more people get attacked and turned and Cassie tries to figure out the identity of the master vampire. I liked the way the plot was written – it was suspenseful and twisted and I certainly did not predict how it would end.
Cassie is working with a very powerful sorcerer, Evan, and he used to be her best friend before they had a falling out in grades school. She can’t deny her attraction to him, but she also knows he is dangerous and her family and his do not get along. Cassie is also dating Braden, not quite exclusively, and doesn’t know how she really feels about him. In fact, she doesn’t seem to think about him very much in the earlier parts of this book until more about them is revealed to us. She has plenty of thoughts about Evan though, so I’m just gonna go ahead and say it – I’m #TeamEvan on this one. Sure, he’s dangerous and mysterious and powerful, but he’s saved her life several times and he really seems to care about her. Maybe he isn’t going about showing his feelings the right way with the whole magical debt thing, but he is going to fight for her and I hope he gets through to her.
Now let’s talk about Cassie herself. She’s really struggling with being un-magical and she feels like everyone treats her differently. She doesn’t want to be poor helpless girl who can’t protect herself. She wants to be strong and tough and prove to everyone that she can be just as strong and brave as her magical siblings. So when her parents betray her – seriously who does that to their own child! – she becomes even more determined to take care of herself rather than be taken care of by someone who will always be more powerful than her. I like her, she’s a really cool character. I do think there’s more to her than we know and perhaps we’ll find out in future books that she has a gift after all. Here’s hoping anyway.
This is one of those don’t judge a book by its cover type of books. The cover screams low budget and usually low budget covers mean low budget editing, and possibly even writing.– LOLOLOLOL. Hahahahaha. Good lord, must you stress the obvious, Julie? I was ready to ignore the cover but you have to point it out in your first sentence so you can’t blame me if I laughed. xD
Okay,back to topic. I liked that this book has a very interesting premise although it’s not really unique. But I think I would still give this book a consideration given that the plot was solid and well, an unpredictable twist. I mean that’s the real purpose of writing mystery books isn’t it? But sadly, a lot of mystery books nowadays are too predictable. I am glad that this one didn’t join those.
This book sounds awesome! I have seen this book before and thought I should check it out. I didn’t think the cover was so bad. What caught my attention was the crossed out part of Paranormal, a silly kind of humor but it worked.
Great Review Julie and I will check this book out sometime too.
Chene Sterckx recently posted…Topic of Light: Negative Spirals
I think I don’t like how dark the cover is, and how the hand looks cartoony heh. I’m going to read the next book soon.
ha ha yes I see what you mean.
Chene Sterckx recently posted…Topic of Light: Negative Spirals
Thanks so much for your review and for sharing your thoughts with readers. I hope you enjoy Secrets and Lies (book 2) as much! There will be four books total, and all are bubbling their way through the publication queue at Twilight Times Books. Yes, it’s a small press with a bit of a low budget. 🙂
Christine Amsden recently posted…Review of Ender’s Game: The Movie
Thanks for the thoughtful review, Julie!
Mayra