New Revelations Blog Tour: guest post, excerpt & review
New Revelations (Second Sight, Book Two) by Heather Topham Wood
New Adult / Paranormal Romance*paperback & e-book, 252 pages
Date Published: 10/9/12
Purchase: Amazon
Life should’ve been perfect. Kate Edwards had won the heart of police detective Jared Corbett and was coming to terms with her psychic ability. Things were blissful—until the day she met Declan Brayden.
Declan also has psychic visions and wants to work alongside Kate. Kate doesn’t trust the damaged and arrogant seer, but she knows combining their abilities would allow her to help more people. This becomes vital when visions of a missing fitness instructor turn into a race against time to save the girl’s life.
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Have you ever avoided a book because of the cover? Many readers will be turned off by amateurish looking covers. I personally have skipped a few books despite rave reviews because of covers. It’s presumptuous, but I figure the writing and plot will be as unappealing as the front image.
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Don’t use a cover for your book unless you love it. With an attractive cover, you’ll gain readers who are interested in the novel based solely on the front image. This will build readership and ideally help increase your fanbase.
Excerpt:
(Declan comes to Kate’s house to ask for her help in finding a missing fitness instructor.)
“Anyway, Delaney wants us to meet with her today to look at a few photographs. She didn’t want to get into it over the phone, but apparently she has suspects in mind that she believes may know where Melanie could be,” Declan described in a rush.
Silence descended on the room as Kate digested this information. Chambersburg was almost four hours away which meant she would have to miss her night class. With all of the classes and work she’d been missing lately, academic dismissal and unemployment seemed to be in her foreseeable future.
“I’d like to leave as soon as possible,” Declan declared. He looked at his watch before continuing. “We probably wouldn’t get there until early evening depending on how bad the traffic turns out to be. What do you think?”
“Absolutely not.”
Shocked, Kate turned to Jared. Her normally laid-back boyfriend looked beyond pissed. Kate guessed she could kiss those dreams of a psychic detective agency goodbye. As she glanced at Declan, his full lips were down turned and he seemed surprised too at Jared’s outburst.
“Jared?” she questioned softly.
His gray eyes met hers, but he addressed Declan. “There is no way I’m letting Kate get herself involved in something so risky. Both of you have no idea what could have happened to Melanie. If Kate goes there to help out on the case, she could make herself a target of whoever is responsible for Melanie’s disappearance.”
“I guess it’s only acceptable when you drag Kate into a dangerous case and almost get her killed,” Declan replied with venom in his tone.
“Declan…” she hissed.
“What?” He turned to face her. “It’s the truth, isn’t it? He is the one who forced you into the Preston case to help find his girlfriend’s sister.” Kate really wished everyone would stop referring to Cori as his girlfriend’s sister. It was beginning to get on her last nerve. Declan was getting himself worked up as he continued to denounce Jared. “If Billy Rizzo had killed you that night, your blood would be on his hands.”
Jared stormed across the room to face down Declan. Jared had a few inches on him but Declan seemed to be the type willing to fight dirty if the need arose. “You know nothing about me or Kate. And if you think for one second I’m going to let you involve her in something that will hurt her, you’re certifiable.”
“I would never hurt Kate. And we share something that you could never be a part of,” Declan spat out.
Jared clenched his fist and looked ready to knock Declan into next week. No way in hell was she letting the two of them bloody up her mother’s home. In an alarmed voice, she called, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind!”
The boys got out of each other’s faces and turned to stare at her. She was beginning to recognize their equal expressions of concern for her mental state. Declan reacted first. “Huh?
“It’s a quote from Gandhi. I don’t know—it was the first thing that popped into my head to get you two to stop fighting. My translation is that beating each other to pulp won’t solve anything,” she explained.
Declan looked skeptical. “You know quotes from Gandhi?”
“Yes!” she replied haughtily.
In actuality, there was a TV show about him on the History Channel the weekend she had lost the remote. Kate ended up watching it because she was too lazy to get off the couch and change the channel. “Anyway, just cut it out.”
Turning to Jared, she looked at him beseechingly. “I know you’re looking out for me, but I have to go. What if we have a vision that could save Melanie’s life?”
“I guess my opinion doesn’t matter,” Jared said flatly. His text alert sounded and he took his phone out of his pocket. With a frown, he scanned the message before looking back at her. “I have to go.”
He shouldered his way past Declan and headed towards the door. Kate followed at his heels. She clutched his arm as he reached his car. “Jared, please don’t go.”
“I have to get into work. Have a safe trip.” His voice was cold and detached. The electricity between them from earlier had completely fizzled out.
“Anyway, Delaney wants us to meet with her today to look at a few photographs. She didn’t want to get into it over the phone, but apparently she has suspects in mind that she believes may know where Melanie could be,” Declan described in a rush.
Silence descended on the room as Kate digested this information. Chambersburg was almost four hours away which meant she would have to miss her night class. With all of the classes and work she’d been missing lately, academic dismissal and unemployment seemed to be in her foreseeable future.
“I’d like to leave as soon as possible,” Declan declared. He looked at his watch before continuing. “We probably wouldn’t get there until early evening depending on how bad the traffic turns out to be. What do you think?”
“Absolutely not.”
Shocked, Kate turned to Jared. Her normally laid-back boyfriend looked beyond pissed. Kate guessed she could kiss those dreams of a psychic detective agency goodbye. As she glanced at Declan, his full lips were down turned and he seemed surprised too at Jared’s outburst.
“Jared?” she questioned softly.
His gray eyes met hers, but he addressed Declan. “There is no way I’m letting Kate get herself involved in something so risky. Both of you have no idea what could have happened to Melanie. If Kate goes there to help out on the case, she could make herself a target of whoever is responsible for Melanie’s disappearance.”
“I guess it’s only acceptable when you drag Kate into a dangerous case and almost get her killed,” Declan replied with venom in his tone.
“Declan…” she hissed.
“What?” He turned to face her. “It’s the truth, isn’t it? He is the one who forced you into the Preston case to help find his girlfriend’s sister.” Kate really wished everyone would stop referring to Cori as his girlfriend’s sister. It was beginning to get on her last nerve. Declan was getting himself worked up as he continued to denounce Jared. “If Billy Rizzo had killed you that night, your blood would be on his hands.”
Jared stormed across the room to face down Declan. Jared had a few inches on him but Declan seemed to be the type willing to fight dirty if the need arose. “You know nothing about me or Kate. And if you think for one second I’m going to let you involve her in something that will hurt her, you’re certifiable.”
“I would never hurt Kate. And we share something that you could never be a part of,” Declan spat out.
Jared clenched his fist and looked ready to knock Declan into next week. No way in hell was she letting the two of them bloody up her mother’s home. In an alarmed voice, she called, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind!”
The boys got out of each other’s faces and turned to stare at her. She was beginning to recognize their equal expressions of concern for her mental state. Declan reacted first. “Huh?
“It’s a quote from Gandhi. I don’t know—it was the first thing that popped into my head to get you two to stop fighting. My translation is that beating each other to pulp won’t solve anything,” she explained.
Declan looked skeptical. “You know quotes from Gandhi?”
“Yes!” she replied haughtily.
In actuality, there was a TV show about him on the History Channel the weekend she had lost the remote. Kate ended up watching it because she was too lazy to get off the couch and change the channel. “Anyway, just cut it out.”
Turning to Jared, she looked at him beseechingly. “I know you’re looking out for me, but I have to go. What if we have a vision that could save Melanie’s life?”
“I guess my opinion doesn’t matter,” Jared said flatly. His text alert sounded and he took his phone out of his pocket. With a frown, he scanned the message before looking back at her. “I have to go.”
He shouldered his way past Declan and headed towards the door. Kate followed at his heels. She clutched his arm as he reached his car. “Jared, please don’t go.”
“I have to get into work. Have a safe trip.” His voice was cold and detached. The electricity between them from earlier had completely fizzled out.
About the author:
Heather Wood
Heather Topham Wood graduated from the College of New Jersey in 2005 and holds a bachelor’s degree in English. Working full-time as a freelance writer for publications such as USA Today, Livestrong.com, Outlook by the Bayand Step in Style magazine, she writes fiction in her spare time. She resides in Trenton, New Jersey with her husband and two sons.
New Revelations is the second novel in the Second Sight series. First Visions: Second Sight Book One was published on May 1, 2012.
Follow Heather on Twitter and her blog to keep posted on her upcoming works.
If you've read my review of the First Visions (here), you'll see I wasn't much of a fan of Kate until later in the story. That is so not the case with New Revelations. Kate has matured (I guess a kidnapping/life threatening experience will do that) and it is evident in her voice in this third person narration. I was in her corner from page one.
Kate is embracing more of life. She has her detective boyfriend, Jared, she's attending classes at the local community college, she's still working, and she is now searching for something to do with her life. This gift of being a psychic concerns her. Her mom believes it's a gift from the angels, but what if it isn't? As she grapples with her concerns, Kate meets Declan, another psychic. He stalks her at first, following her, until she confronts him with a can of pepper spray. Snarky and full of attitude, Declan tells her he had to see if she was the real deal. Hoping to learn from him, she agrees to talk with him.
Heather Topham Wood introduces an interesting dynamic with Declan. Closer in age to Kate and sharing similar abilities, she can't help but want to spend time with him. Despite his good looks--Kate is secure in the fact that she's falling in love with Jared--her curiosity wins out. She wants to know more about working with her abilities. She needs to. Her father has been pushing her to decide on a career. Can helping others with her gift become the answer to her dilemma?
I read New Revelations in one sitting. Fast-paced, I fell into Kate's life and enjoyed my time there. Her settling into her relationship with Jared, spending time with her girlfriend, working and learning to train herself to properly use her psychic gifts, keeps her busy. Until Melanie. The smiling, pretty young woman on the Missing flyer is the first case Declan wants her to work on with him, they'll be partners, solve the case, and claim the reward money. Kate has already seen what the abducted boy (from the beginning of this story) had to endure before he was rescued. This time she is determined to push herself into finding the victim earlier. I liked how the author showed the extremes Kate endures as she pressures herself for visions to help bring this woman home safe until it almost becomes an obsession. Working with someone like herself is a plus, drawing the two closer together especially during a crisis, but how will Jared handle this news? Placing her in danger is the last thing the detective wants her to do, yet Kate is determined to do good with her gift.
New Revelations took some interesting and surprising turns that kept me happily reading. Once again, the mystery visions Kate has were quite intense and shocking, especially the opening and closing scenes. With Declan added into the mix and the changing situation with Jared, I cannot wait to see what unfurls for Kate in the next installment.
Rating: 4. Really liked it.
Favorite excerpt: "“The truth of it is we will probably never know why we were given these abilities,” he shrugged. “People have near death experiences everyday. Why were we the ones selected to have visions? And when I see the future, am I supposed to try to fix things?” he questioned rhetorically with a shake of his head. “Or maybe it’s just a big cosmic joke and I have to let fate run its course.”
Kate is embracing more of life. She has her detective boyfriend, Jared, she's attending classes at the local community college, she's still working, and she is now searching for something to do with her life. This gift of being a psychic concerns her. Her mom believes it's a gift from the angels, but what if it isn't? As she grapples with her concerns, Kate meets Declan, another psychic. He stalks her at first, following her, until she confronts him with a can of pepper spray. Snarky and full of attitude, Declan tells her he had to see if she was the real deal. Hoping to learn from him, she agrees to talk with him.
Heather Topham Wood introduces an interesting dynamic with Declan. Closer in age to Kate and sharing similar abilities, she can't help but want to spend time with him. Despite his good looks--Kate is secure in the fact that she's falling in love with Jared--her curiosity wins out. She wants to know more about working with her abilities. She needs to. Her father has been pushing her to decide on a career. Can helping others with her gift become the answer to her dilemma?
I read New Revelations in one sitting. Fast-paced, I fell into Kate's life and enjoyed my time there. Her settling into her relationship with Jared, spending time with her girlfriend, working and learning to train herself to properly use her psychic gifts, keeps her busy. Until Melanie. The smiling, pretty young woman on the Missing flyer is the first case Declan wants her to work on with him, they'll be partners, solve the case, and claim the reward money. Kate has already seen what the abducted boy (from the beginning of this story) had to endure before he was rescued. This time she is determined to push herself into finding the victim earlier. I liked how the author showed the extremes Kate endures as she pressures herself for visions to help bring this woman home safe until it almost becomes an obsession. Working with someone like herself is a plus, drawing the two closer together especially during a crisis, but how will Jared handle this news? Placing her in danger is the last thing the detective wants her to do, yet Kate is determined to do good with her gift.
New Revelations took some interesting and surprising turns that kept me happily reading. Once again, the mystery visions Kate has were quite intense and shocking, especially the opening and closing scenes. With Declan added into the mix and the changing situation with Jared, I cannot wait to see what unfurls for Kate in the next installment.
Rating: 4. Really liked it.
Cover comment: As with the first cover, this one works for me. I like it.
Kate prayed that wasn’t true. It made her especially thankful she had never experienced a premonition. It terrified her to think she could see something painful happening to someone she loved and be powerless to do anything about it. With any luck, she would never develop the ability to predict the future. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. A flash of Jared saying that he loved her would be most welcomed.
“Did you notice any constants when you had the visions?” she inquired. “Anything you were doing that could have brought them on?”
Declan nodded. “I guess you could say that my emotions were heightened at the time. I wasn’t in the same relaxed state like when I have most of my visions. It happened twice after I…” He gave her an uncertain look before continuing. “Well, I guess I should tell you that I used to do a lot of drugs—especially after my accident. I’m clean now, but I used to try all kinds of nasty stuff. I have seen omens when I’ve been high.”
“Then maybe they were just hallucinations,” Kate countered.
For some reason, she was having a tough time accepting the idea that Declan could see the future and she couldn’t. It made her question her abilities and wonder at the reason she had yet to harness this power.
“Good point,” he replied with sarcasm, “except for the fact that the visions came true.”
“I’ve been psychic for over two years now. In all that time, I’ve only seen people’s memories of the past. It’s one of the reasons I find it hard to believe you’re not full of it.”
Declan shrugged. “Maybe it’s just your blasé personality.”
“If my personality sucks so much, stop hitting on me,” she retorted.
“Touché, little Kit Kat, touché,” he laughed. “If you saw what I did in the vision, you
would understand why I can’t get the thought of us together out of my head.”
Book source: I received a promotional eARC in return for my honest review during a book tour.
Thanks for taking the time to review the series =) I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the books.
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