*Karen Chance ~ Cassandra Palmer, Clairvoyant Series (Books 1-3)*

Touch The Dark

Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits-talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk...a lot. The undead are another matter.

Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking Mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection. The undead senators won't help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire-and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay...

Claimed By Shadow

A recent legacy made Cassandra Palmer heir to the title of Pythia, the world's chief clairvoyant. It's a position that usually comes with years of training, but Cassie's circumstances are a little...unusual. Now she's stuck with a whopping amount of power that every vamp, fey, and mage in town wants to either monopolize or eradicate-and that she herself doesn't dare use.

What's more, she's just discovered that a certain arrogant master vampire has a geis on her-a magical claim that warns off any would-be suitors, and might also explain the rather ... intense attraction between them. But Cassie's had it with being jerked around, and anyone who tries it from now on is going to find out that she makes a very bad enemy...

Embrace the Night

Recently named the world’s chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire—the sizzling-hot Mircea—are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own …

The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in the Codex Merlini, an ancient grimoire. The Codex’s location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found—the past.

But Cassie soon realizes the Codex has been lost for a reason. The book is rumored to contain some seriously dangerous spells, and retrieving it may help Cassie to deal with Mircea, but it could also endanger the world…

~ Taken from Karen Chance's Website:

http://www.karenchance.com/author.html ~

~*~My Review~*~

I remember the first time I came across Chance's Cassandra Palmer series; it was a couple of years ago when I was just getting into the romance genre and I was so blown away by every aspect of the first book Touch the Dark...I remembering thinking there was no way the following books could possibly compare - I couldn't have been more wrong. Every book in this series has been superb! The love I felt for the series from the first book only grew and strengthened as I continued the story with the other books.

Chance captivates her audience in every way possible. Her talented writing and innovative storyline, combined with her compelling characters, make her books instant successes. Now add to that her amazing ability to call upon ancient myths, legends, and fairytales to create a very believable and enthralling world of magic and intrigue, you have what I like to call a "shooting star" (a rare but magical thing we all love to experience).

One of the main things I always need in my books is strong relationships between the characters; it is thru the relationships that we as readers truly come to know the characters in the book, thus falling in love/hate with them. What I truly love about Chance's work is how she not only gives her readers a wide world full of interesting characters to relate with, but she gives them a complexity that is unfortunately often-times lacking in fictional stories. Each character is viewed differently by the other characters, they have secrets that, until revealed, leave us falsly believing we have them pegged and then changing our opinions of them entirely as a new piece of the puzzle is set in place. There are so many characters to adore, despise, pity, love, and hate in this series and believe me when I say, this is a series that will call forth strong emotions and not just inklings of feelings.

I would recommend this series to anyone and everyone. Please read these books...I can promise you that (if you are interested in either paranormal and/or romances) you will enjoy these novels very much. They are amazing and I can only pray the next installment comes quickly.

~*~Excerpts~*~

(Touch the Dark)

"I looked into that handsome face, and some part of me detached itself to watch another illusion shatter and die. I thought I'd finally done something good, that I'd actually helped someone, save somebody, instead of always watching every damn thing I did end in pain - either mine or someone else's. I should have known it was too good to be true, that he was too good. Way out of your leage, Cassie, my girl, I thought as my back hit the door. Maybe you should start smaller, adopt a kitten next time - only I knew there was very little chance that there would be a next time."

~~~

" 'Do you know how you taste, my Cassandra?' he asked me softly. 'I have never known anything like it. You go to my head like aged brandy.' He breathed deeply of the skin above my pulse. 'You cannot imagine how intoxicating I find your scent.' His thumb moved slightly on my waist, up and down the center of my rib cage. It wasn't an overly sexual touch, but I caught my breath. 'Or how very good you feel.' ..."

(Claimed by Shadow)

"I glanced at my nonexistant watch. 'Oops, look at the time. Guess I have to be going now. Let's not do this again sometime, okay?'..."

~~~

"Tomas kissed the side of my head, the only thing he could reach, and looked at me somberly. 'You should not have come back for me - it was a terrible risk. You must promise never to do it again.'

'I won't have to,' I said, brushing his hair out of his eyes. It was always so beautiful, long and black and as soft as a child's. I picked a few leaves out of it with a slightly trembling hand. I was so glad to see him alive that I felt giddy. 'We'll find some way to hide you from the Senate.'

Tomas was shaking his head before I even finished speaking. 'Beautiful Cassie,' he murmured. 'It has been a very long time since anyone was willing to risk themselves for me. Very few ever have. I will remember what you tried to do.' ..."

(Embrace the Night)

"Something lunged at me out of the night. 'Donj't shoot!' a man whispered.

He smelled of sweat, metal and dirt, plus a static crackle of nervous energy that was practically his signature. I turned on the flashlight and saw what I'd expected: a shock of pale hair, which as usual was making taunting gestures in the face of gravity, a square jaw, a slightly overlarge nose and furious green eyes. The Circle's most famous renegade and my reluctant partner, John Pritkin.

I breathed a sigh of relief and clicked my gun's safety on. To know Pritkin was to want to kill him, but so far I'd resisted temptation. 'You shouldn't sneak up on me like that!' I whispered.

'Why didn't you shoot me?' he demanded.

'You told me not to.'

'I-that's-' Pritkin seemed momentarily incoherent, so I shoved the gun's barrel lightly against his stomach. At least I'd thought it was his stomach. I'd only intended to show that I wasn't defenseless, but in a flash, I was slammed against the side of a crypt, my gun arm pinned ot the wall, my body stuck between the hard surface and a very angry war mage. I reluctantly admitted that there may have been a fantasy or two that began with this scenario, but I doubted the evening was going to end in the same way."

~~~

"His lips were on mine, his hands cradling my head so he could kiss all the breath out of my body, and he was pushing me down against the bed. And then his lips were everywhere-my collarbone, the side of my neck, the crease between my breasts, my jaw-and it hit me that he wasn't just choosing spots at random. These were places he'd thought about, and that was almost enough to send me over the edge."