Touch the Dark: Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 1

Overview

Can you ever really trust a vampire?

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....


"Cassie, look at me."

I fought him, knowing from childhood that looking a vampire directly in the eyes made it easier for him to control you, but everyone ignored us, I guess under the assumption that I was just a lousy dancer.

Unlike the legends, his body felt warm against mine and as smooth as muscled satin, but he may as well have been carved of steel for all the hope I had of breaking his hold. My pulse sped up and I thought I would faint when he bent his head and I felt lips trailing over my neck. I think my heart actually stopped as he delicately kissed the skin as if tasting the pulse under the surface. I felt like my blood could sense him; that it moved slower and thicker in my veins, waiting for him to set it free. I broke into a sweat that had nothing to do with the heat of so many bodies crowded into a small place. Was he going to kill me right there, in front of a couple of hundred witnesses?

I should have known something like this was going to happen. Every time I trusted someone they betrayed me; every time I loved someone, they died. Since he was already dead, I guessed the pattern held true.


"A wonderfully entertaining romp with an engaging heroine. Here's hoping there's a sequel in the works!"--Kelley Armstrong, USA Today Bestselling Author of Haunted

"A tough, smart heroine and sexy-scary vampires....I loved it."--National Bestselling Author Patricia Briggs

"Karen Chance will enthrall you with her world of vampires, mages, and a fair maiden tough enough to kick their butts."--USA Today Bestselling Author Rebecca York

"A grab-you-by-the-throat-and-suck-you-in sort of book."--Patricia Briggs, National Bestselling Author of Moon Called

Editorial Reviews

Cassandra Palmer has been in hiding for three years since she escaped Antonio, the master vampire who raised her after he had her parents killed when she was only four. A gifted clairvoyant, Cassandra was Antonio's useful tool until she discovered his complicity in her parents' deaths and fled his estate. Tony has finally caught up with her, but he isn't the only one. The vampire senate is after her, too, and they've sent sexy vampire Tomas, who insinuated himself into her life by pretending to be an abused runaway, to watch over her. After Cassie and Tomas are attacked, he brings her to the senate. There she learns that the mages are gunning for her, too, as is the powerful vampire Rasputin, who is gearing up to challenge the senate. Cassie is in a race against time to save her own life and find out why so many want her dead. Exciting and inventive, with definite series potential. Kristine Huntley
Copyright (c) American Library Association. All rights reserved

-- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Karen Chance

Karen Chance has lived in France, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, but always comes back to America. She currently lives in Central Florida, the home of make-believe, which may explain a lot. .

Customer Reviews

• Excellent beginning.

  Posted April 19, 2009 by Tasha, Calgary

  If you want to read an excellent paranormal fantasy series, try this book out. Its the first of the series and it got me so hooked, I read the others within a week.

• ??

  Posted May 25, 2009 by Jenn, Ocean Springs

  This book never got me hooked. I finished it only because I spent the money to buy it. It felt like I was jumping into a story that was already started and had to go back to her website just to make sure I was actually on book 1. All the main characters backgrounds were thrown in here and there that I felt I had whiplash from trying to keep all the stories straight and some of the dialogue would just run on and on and on that I just started skimming though it.

• Fast Paced/Action Packed Novel

  Posted June 22, 2009 by A. Bauer, Calgary

  This was a very fast paced and action packed novel, however it did have a lot of back story so in the middle of a fight scene all of a sudden the author would go into and explain a bunch of back story. It also was more fantasy based than I expected, and as a newer reader of fantasy it was a bit much to take in to begin with. That beeing said it is well written and I'm enjoying reading the whole series.

Additional Info

Imprint

Penguin Group, Inc.

Filesize

746.6 KB

Number of Pages

320

eBook ISBN

9781429510172