Romance Book Excerpt: Cassie Alexander's Deadshifted

Author: Cassie Alexander

Series Connection: An Edie Spence Novel

ISBN: 978-1250037947

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Purchase Link: Amazon

Just started reading Cassie Alexander's new Edie Spence novel Deadshifted. The book is just out today. Haven't gotten very far into the new story yet, but the first few paragraphs really draws the reader in, which, as everyone knows in so important in writing any novel. 

Excerpt:

Chapter One

I wake up with a start, gasping for air. I have to tell Asher something.

Everything’s bright and orange, and I can only see through one eye. The other eye’s swollen shut, it burns when I try to open it. Water slaps rubber, over and over, in endless slow applause. I remember the sound from childhood, floating down a lazy river in an innertube, drunk with beer my older brother had snuck me when I was sixteen.

“Edie? Are you okay?” Asher’s leaning over me. His voice is hoarse.

I have to tell him something.

But I can’t. There’s rope in my mouth. And I can’t pull the rope away because my hands are tied. My feet too. I’m hog-tied, and when I move, my shoulder starts to throb.

“Is it still you?” Asher asks me. I don’t know why he’s asking. I don’t know what he means.

I have to tell you something, I try to say around the rope, even though I can’t remember what it was.

“I’m so sorry, Edie. I’m so, so sorry. It is you, right?” he asks, and his voice cracks.

I want to comfort him. To tell him that I’m okay, even though it’s clear that I am not. He looks so afraid right now. I’ve never seen him this afraid before.

“We’re going to be all right. We’re going to get away from here. I’m going to save you,” he says, more to himself than me. He scuttles backwards and brings up what I realize is a paddle, and leans over the side of the orange thing we’re riding on, paddling for all his might.

Inside my mind, things slid into place. My ties, our lifeboat. What I want to say to him.

He’s paddling so hard that salt water is spraying my face.

And I remember.

Everything...

Can't wait to read the rest. I hope it continues to delight.

Description:

Edie Spence just wanted a vacation. A nice, relaxing, stress free, non-adventure away from the craziness that's dominated her life since becoming a nurse for paranormal creatures. But from the start, her trip on the Maraschino, a cruise ship bound for Hawaii, has been anything but stress free, especially when Edie's boyfriend Asher recognizes someone he used to know. Someone from his not-so-nice past. With their lives in the balance, will Edie and Asher be able to save their growing family or will this adventure be their end?