I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Murder With a Psychic Touch
by
BT Alive
paranormal romance in a Kindle edition that was published by Villette Press on August 27, 2019 and has 273 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads
First in the Wonder Springs paranormal romance series and revolving around the unethical Summer Sassafras.
My Take
Murder With a Psychic Touch is a whirlwind of psychic powers and family members tearing away at each other, most of them with secrets they keep from each other.
The tale begins with a threat and evolves into a sales pitch with tests to see if you’re worthy.
Jeez, I don’t know where Summer gets her chutzpah — she has no morals. She’s all whiny about losing that promotion, and it turns out she should have lost it. And her job!
We learn all this through Alive’s use of first person protagonist point-of-view from Summer’s perspective, and she strikes me as a somewhat unreliable narrator. I guess she comes by it naturally, since her maternal side of the family is so “particular”. Summer had to pass muster to be accepted.
The cops in Wonder Spring don’t seem to need evidence to arrest someone or to search someone’s room. And, while I can understand Grandma’s suspicion, I’m suspicious of her as well. She also seems hardhearted since she issued the invite.
There are plenty of turnarounds in Murder With a Psychic Touch. Phone-obsessed teens with an unexpected mission. Fiancées who don’t plan on following through. A telepathic parrot who keeps spouting truths — he’s my favorite character. The Pritchetts’ underhandedness.
While Alive presents a cliffhanger at the end, it’s not enticing enough for me to want to read what happens next.
The Story
At just the right moment, as Summer is fleeing for her life from the threatening Cadaver with his burning touch, she receives a letter from family she’d never met.
The “firing”, the maxed-out credit cards, the accusation of murder, the arson; the hits just keep coming, as Summer tries to figure out this family who hadn’t bothered with her for all these years.
The Characters
Summer Sassafras has the Touch, one that has aided her career as a high-class sales professional, allowing her to wipe people’s short-term memories. Mr Charm is her Ragdoll cat.
The Inn at Wonder Springs, Virginia, is . . .
. . . run by Christina Meredith, Summer’s maternal grandmother. Jake is a bloodhound. Tina, an empath, has princess-luck. Helen and Denny are Tina’s parents. The eccentric Uncle Barnaby/Barnabas, a telempath who wears a wizard hat. Trudy is eccentric. Keegan is a telepathic parrot. Hamish is a waiter. Vladik is the chef.
Cade is a healer of people and nature. Una is his boss at the orchard. Sheriff Jake is Cade’s father. Mr Wilson is a handyman. Natisha runs Namaste, a yoga and tea shop. Vivian runs a New Age gift store. Dr Kenise is a knockout.
Philadelphia is . . .
. . . where Summer used to work with Nyle Pritchett, a fellow sales rep who has been Summer’s arch-nemesis.
The Pritchetts are . . .
. . . Nyle’s family having a family reunion in Wonder Springs. The pink-haired Mercedes is Nyle’s fiancée and Lionel’s ex and works with city government. The abusive Lionel is Nyle’s brother; his wife is the very jealous Deanna.
Kitty Carter, Nyle’s cousin, is part of the Pritchett family reunion at The Inn at Wonder Springs. Aunt Delilah, Bryce’s mother, can’t make it. The hipster Bryce knows his tech and is interested in Tina. Taylor and Tyler Pritchett are teens with the messy Fitzgerald Pritchett their father. Nana, Priscilla Pritchett, Fitzgerald’s mother with a telekinetic gift, has the creepy Pritchett Manse and an estate, which is going to Cousin Kitty. Who’s not real family.
The cadaverous Enoch is a disruptor who can kill with a touch. I think his father is Great-uncle Vincent. Malice Alice.
Sheila drinks tea, and her son is a foot model. Tribesy is an addictive app that combines the worse of various social media sites. The Truce has rules.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a graphic with Summer, her long curly red hair streaming over her shoulders and wearing a bluish gray corset-like top and a skirt with a top band of beige and the full-skirted bottom in mustard, stands on the left holding Mr Charm, her white cat in her right arm while her left is bent, her hand releasing a spark of magic. In the background is a muted royal blue sky with a full moon sinking behind a quirky big house with lit windows. Flowering cherry trees are lightly scattered across the landscape with Keegan flying on the right. The background is bordered top and bottom with a wavy black that provides a background for the publisher’s colophon and the series info in mustard and white at the top. At the bottom is the author’s name in beige. The title waves across the night sky in a gradated beige to mustard.
The title is the conflict, Murder With a Psychic Touch.
