OPENING THE VEIL by C. L. Clark

Amazon.com – Opening The Veil – New Sight Series – Book 1

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the author, C. L. Clark, for an honest review.

Genre: Adult/Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal

Plot: One eventful night changes everything Cassie thought she knew. When young women are found savagely murdered and their bodies dumped around her beloved town, she discovers that the killer is her new neighbor, but she has to find proof before the police will listen. Add to that her new ability to see ghosts, plus being forced to deal with evil entities she never knew existed, and not only does she question her sanity, but her life may hang in the balance. This is the first book in the New Sight Series – a paranormal series about a young woman whose eyes are opened to the hidden world around her and her compulsion to help the dead seek answers and justice.

Opinion: I sure hope you guys have been enjoying the last few book reviews I have done, and have enjoyed the fact that most of them have been a book in a series…because HERE IS ANOTHER ONE!! 😀 Oh! Can you feel the joy radiating off of my typed words?!? Another series (which fits in great for an October/Halloween read mind you), another tough female lead character, ghosts, talking cats, an evil murderer…*sigh* is there anything better?

Cassie, short for Cassiopeia, is having an interesting few days. She learns that her cat, Allie, can speak to her though her mind, that her coworker Todd, an insurance investigator, may be doing something highly illegal, and that her new gorgeous neighbor, Scott, may be something other than human and murdering women in her town. After the murder of a girl named Courtney comes to light, which just so happens to be the waitress that Scott was flirting with on his date with Cassie, Cassie feels the need to hunt down the murderer and put an end to the now climbing deaths. As Cassie looks for clues to who might be the cause of these women turning up dead, she also starts to develop certain supernatural abilities such as seeing spirits.

“I didn’t consider myself that easy to set aside, but I was trying to not let any of these thoughts show; no easy feat for me, by the way, seeing as how I am a consummate eye-roller with tendencies toward mild vindication and bouts of sarcasm.”

-Cassiopeia

I think we can all agree that Cassie is a feisty woman, and of course I absolutely LOVE her sarcasm. Again, I have come across another story with a strong and spunky female character who commands your attention. You know what is even better about this character though? She doesn’t have a romance on the side while she is investigating these murders…can somebody say refreshing? Refreshing. All she has is her trusty sidekick cat, Allie, who has been placed on earth by “The Creator” to protect Cassie. Very Sailor Moon-esque. I enjoyed how the author made sure to keep the feline traits with Allie, even though she can speak to Cassie in her head which makes her feel a bit more human. The way the author tied a bit of fictional background about cats into the story was very interesting. The author explained that each “Cat” is given a human to watch over and protect, but of course not all humans like cats (as I am one of them) so that is why there are so many stray cats all over…because they have nowhere to go. It is all very sad (sarcasm). But nonetheless, it was rather interesting to think about because I have always felt that cats are rather strange and seem like they are always up to something.

Did I mention that the author does a fantastic job with description and creative writing? She has a TREMENDOUS knack for comparisons and making the reader actually feel the words, which I found fantastic. I love a lot of details and obnoxious amounts of descriptions in a story, so this was exactly the type of writing that I enjoy. But not only do you get wonderful visuals into exactly what the characters are feeling, but we also get some much enjoyed sarcasm and wit along with it:

“If I were made of metal, the sudden sound of my eyelids crashing together and the rest of my face scrunching up would have echoed like a massive wreck in the parking lot. Not unlike my ego at that very moment.”

– Cassiopeia

I think the author could have done a better job at explaining certain aspects of the story. There were many times when a turn in the story was presented, but it was never fully executed and explained later on. For example, our main character starts to suddenly be able to see spirits around her town. This was explained a little, but not nearly enough for me to feel like I completely understood. It seems that most things were cut a little bit short, without the reader getting the full background on what happens. I think the author should have spent a bit more time on giving more details to the evil that resided in Scott, the cat Allie, the reasons why the murders were happening, and our sketchy investigator Tom. Instead, I think the author focused a little too much on the center of the story, and not enough on explaining the outcomes and the motives.

Overall, I am interested in seeing how the next book in the series turns out. I want to see where the new abilities that Cassie now possess takes her, as well as how the writing and storyline progresses. Though the center of this book got a little slowed down at times, I think it was overall a fun read. Cassie is definitely a character I enjoy reading about and going on a journey with, so I am very excited to start book two in the New Sight Series called A Brighter Light.