Review: Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot #2)

 Secrets and Lies (Cassie Scot #2) by Christine Amsden
Age Group: New Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release Date: October 2013
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Book Description:

Cassie Scot, still stinging from her parents' betrayal, wants out of the magical world. But it isn't letting her go. Her family is falling apart and despite everything, it looks like she may be the only one who can save them. 

 To complicate matters, Cassie owes Evan her life, making it difficult for her to deny him anything he really wants. And he wants her. 

Sparks fly when they team up to find two girls missing from summer camp, but long-buried secrets may ruin their hopes for happiness. Book 2 in the Cassie Scot Mystery series.




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"Secrets and Lies" is the second book in the Cassie Scot series that follows a ParaNormal Detective through the mysteries of her small town. Cassie Scot was born to a powerful sorcerer family, but is seemingly the only one of the seven children that has no powers. This leads her to want to prove to her family, as well as the town, that she is capable of living a life outside of sorcery.

This book starts right where "Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective" left off, with Cassie and Evan bound together in an awkward situation that I won't go into too much detail due to spoiler reasons in case you haven't read the first book yet (which you should, it's great!). Let's just say that events at the end of book one made their relationship even more complicated than it already was.
Does this mean that you have to read the first book to enjoy this one? Not necessarily. The author, Christine Amsden, does a great job of giving the reader the need to know summary of what happened before this book started, making sure that new audiences aren't lost. However, I do recommend reading the first one so you get that more in depth back story, and it's a good read.

In my review of the first Cassie Scot book, I remarked that the detective story took the main spotlight while the relationship between Cassie and Evan played around in the background and it seems that the reverse is true for this book. The main mystery in this story is finding out what happened to two girls, (who happen to be distant cousins of both Cassie’s and Evan's families) who disappeared from camp, and Cassie and Evan are put to the case by their fathers.

The missing girls didn't read as big of a priority as the mystery in the first book, as Cassie's personal life is in an upheaval. Which is understandable, and as a reader, I didn't fault Amsden for how much time she spent writing about Cassie and Evan and their unusual predicament. I actually think that it would have seemed forced if the missing girls played a bigger role; given everything else that was personally going on for Cassie.

We also get a lot more of Evan in this book, which I liked. The first book ended with an epilogue in his point of view, and this one had both the prologue and epilogue in Evan's perspective. This gave the reader more insight into how Evan ticks and what he really feels for Cassie, since we are never really sure while we're stuck in her head and she constantly doubts his intentions.

One of my favorite parts of this book was actually a flashback about how Cassie and Evan met in grade school. It showed that even at a young age, the two of them had each other's backs, and felt the need to protect one another. That one childhood moment showed me that these two were always destined to be there for the other one, and even their feuding families couldn't get in the way.

I think one of the reasons why I like this series so much is because Cassie is such a great character. She's actually real. Yes, she's from a paranormal family of sorcerers, who turn lead into gold for a living, and her maybe-he-is-maybe-he's-not-boyfriend is crazy powerful, but she doesn't rely on all of that to get by.

In fact, she goes out of her way to do things her own "normal" way. She doesn't have healing powers, and can't throw fireballs, or even move things around with her mind, but she's smart. She gets into these mysteries that always end up being supernatural in nature, and she uses her brain to get out of them.

So many other books that deal with paranormal romance between a supernatural and a normal would have the supernatural sweep in and rescue the damsel in distress every time, but Cassie doesn't need a sorcerer in shining armor. All she needs is a plan, or some quick thinking, and she's good to go. It's a refreshing change of pace, and I can't wait for the next book to come out. Seriously. I need it right now, please.

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 Author Bio:

Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.

Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They have two beautiful children.

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