Deception - Book One“You really don’t know, do you?” There was an incredulous expression on Bennett’s face. “I can’t believe they didn’t tell you. I thought you were playing games, pretending you didn’t know, keeping secrets from me and – “
Seventeen-year-old Emma Vaile is left alone in San Francisco when antique-collecting parents disappear while on a mysterious business trip, she. Her brother Max is unreachable in Asia and her best friend Abby, now at college, is no longer speaking to her. When Abby’s mother and her parents’ sole employee abruptly quits her job, Emma is truly left to her own devices. She soon makes some new friends at her school, but when they decide to throw a party at Emma’s house, against her better judgment. When the police arrive, Emma soon discovers that they are not there to break up the party but to her horror because she was living alone underage. She soon finds herself in the custody of Child Protective Services. The next morning, Emma finds out she has a new guardian, Bennett Stern. Bennett was a friend of Emma’s brother he met in college until an argument between the two caused them to never speak again.
The next day, Emma finds herself on a plane with Bennett to Echo Point, Massachusetts. He enrolls her at Thatcher Academy and moves her into his parents’ mansion/museum. Soon Emma finds herself having vision of a previous life and visited by ghostly apparitions. She believe it is all connected to the Incident that occurred ten years earlier. Her parents had her committed to a mental institution after she wandered off with a dangerous ghost. Even though she has made new friends quickly, Bennett is the only person Emma feels like she can trust her fears to. And Bennett is about to fill her in on her ghostly secret.
Just what is going on with Emma? What do her visions mean? Where are her parents and brother Max? Why did they leave her? How did Bennett Stern know she was in trouble? Why has he brought her to Echo Point? But most importantly, why does Emma Vaile see ghosts?
“I’m losing my powers Emma. I can feel it already. I woke up this morning and … it’s already happening. How would I explain to my parents that I can’t find my sister’s killer because I’m in love? I’m sorry, but I can’t do this.”
Emma Vaile has discovered she is the most powerful ghostkeeper in centuries. She even shares the same name and physical likeness of her predecessor. Emma’s powers to summon, compel, communicate and even dispel are great when it comes to the challenge of battling the ever increasing powers of Neos. Unfortunately it puts the brakes on her burgeoning relationship with fellow ghostkeeper and Emma’s soul mate, Bennett Stern. When two ghostkeepers fall in love, the weaker one loses their powers. Until Neos is defeated, Bennett cannot risk being around Emma.
With Bennett out of the picture, things at Thatcher Academy are even worse with the death of Coby. The entire student body blames Emma for Coby’s suicide and she cannot tell them Neos is the real reason for Coby’s death and that she barely escaped with her own life. Help arrives for Emma when the Knell sends two new ghostkeepers to Echo Point to join Emma and Natalie’s tea, teen heartthrob Lukas and Simon, a British ghostkeeping scholar. Simon’s job is to get Emma back into training. As the team gets stronger, so does Neos. What’s worse is that someone will betray them and Emma never sees it coming.
Who betrays Emma? Is she able to defeat Neos? Why are her parents and Max still missing? Can Emma set things right over Coby’s death? And will Emma and Bennett to able to find their way back to one another?
Look for the next book in the Haunting Emma series Surrender in December 2011.
Visit Lee Nichols' website.
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