Empath
(Flawed #1)
by
Becca J. Campbell
Published
August 16th 2013
Genre:
Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, New Adult, Thriller, Supernatural
Blurb:
Supernatural empathy isn’t a gift, it’s a curse.
Anywhere she goes, Jade’s emotions are replaced by those of the people around
her.
Jade grew up in a suburb of Colorado Springs,
protected from other people by her parents. Now she faces college—and the world—with
nothing to shield her from unwanted feelings.
When Cam, a classmate with a major crush on her,
unintentionally hijacks her emotions, Jade struggles to keep from being carried
away in feelings of attraction. When Ethan, a psychopath with a thirst for
fear, fixates on her, the emotional impact could be lethal.
Caught in a deadly trap, Jade must untangle the
emotions and find a way to use her empathic curse to overcome this killer or be
overcome by him.
Grab Empath now
Empath is now available on Kindle
Unlimited.
Excerpt:
When she heard the teacher enter and begin talking,
Jade’s eyes flicked back open. She sat up and gripped her pen with a shaking
hand.
A wave of irritation hit her like a slap in the
face, jerking her away from the professor’s words. Her shoulders hunched and
she dug her toes into the floor as she fought the compulsion to kick someone.
The pen in her tightly clenched fist gouged into the table’s surface. She
dropped it and clamped her hands together in her lap, scanning the classroom.
Where was the source of this anger pounding through her skull and flooding her
veins? There—a guy on the end of the third row scowled, shaking his head at the
professor.
Without warning, excitement replaced the agitation.
Jade straightened in her chair and fought the urge to bounce in her seat,
though she couldn’t keep the dumb smile off her face. Farther down her row, one
girl whispered something about a vacation to the Bahamas and another girl
nodded enthusiastically.
She was gulping quick and irregular breaths, telling
herself to regain control, when a surge of intense attraction hit her, knocking
the wind from her lungs. Her heart beat faster and a hot blush crept over her
face. She was acutely aware of every male in the room. Forcing herself to stop
ogling the guy in front of her with the armpit stains, she distracted herself
by searching for the culprit. Her gaze froze on a girl who was gazing at a guy
two rows up. Oblivious, he seemed to be one of the few faithfully taking notes
on the current topic: modern rationalism and the theories of Descartes.
Jade dropped her head into her hands and pressed on
her temples, wishing for the hundredth time that she could turn off her
empathic sense. She squeezed her eyes shut again and tried to focus on only her
breathing. She had to escape.
Guest Post:
Why Being an Empath Sucks,
Especially if You're Jade Edwards
A Different Breed of Empath
When you hear the term Empath in science fiction, what comes to
mind? Supernatural powers, or maybe the ability to control minds? The term has
many variations, and when I set out to write my own book about an Empath, I
wanted to step outside of the mold, to take the unexpected route.
In creating characters with cool, super-human flaws, the first
glint of inspiration came from Stephenie Meyer's stories. Her character Jasper
Hale had an intriguing power: the ability to control all the emotions in the
room simultaneously. I latched onto that idea, but morphed it for my own
purpose.
Taking the opposite route of Meyer, I used supernatural empathy as
a character flaw instead of a superpower. That led to the creation of Jade
Edwards, a young woman who is inhabited and controlled by the emotions of the
people around her. Not only is she powerless to influence them, she can't even
experience her own feelings when around others.
With Jade formed in my mind, I explored the idea of what she might
encounter upon entering the "real world" for the first time. There
were so many varieties of bad that could happen to someone with such a flaw.
What if she was around someone who was suicidal? What would happen in crowds of
people where the emotions were conflicting? What if someone fell in love with
her—would she be
forced to reciprocate those emotions, even if they weren't her own? What if a
psychopathic killer captured her and she had to internalize his feelings? Those
questions led as I plunged into the life of an empath and wrote Jade's story.
Jade was sheltered from stray emotions by her parents since she
was a young child. Here's a little peek inside Jade's head as, now entering
society, she wrestles with her first day of college.
My
Review:
Jade is very happy to start her new life at college but
she has a very rough time when she is around people. Jade can feel what other
people feel. She feels them to the point to where she can’t feel her own
feelings and it overwhelms her. Jade miss a lot of class time not only
physically but she misses a lot even when she is physically present in the
class with all the emotions that is floating around.
Jade is afraid that she is going to fail her class but
she is in luck when she runs into Professor Logan Henry and he agrees to tutor
Jade to help to pass. Jade likes being around Logan because she can’t feel his
emotions she can relax and just be herself and only feel her own feelings. She
knows that there is something different about Logan but she doesn’t know what
it is.
Then she has her next class and she has a hard time with
it as well until she meets the very happy Cam. Jade likes being around Cam with
all his happy happy feelings. Even though she can feel what he feels he also
acts like a barrier between her and other people which helps Jade to be around
people more. Cam and his happy family help Jade to be able to go out and
experience life.
Then we have Ethan a serial killer that likes to prey on
trusting women. Ethan spots Jade one night and is very determined to have her.
Ethan is not in any hurry he knows that sometimes you just have to plan
everything out and that could take a while. He sure didn’t want to screw up
with Jade she was very different than all of his other women. Ethan can be a
very patient man when he needs to be. He will take as long as he needs to if it
means getting his girl.
I really enjoyed following along with Jade and all her
friends learning all of their secrets and abilities. Even Jade was learning a
few things about her own self as well. For someone that was sheltered all of
her life Jade was very outgoing and happy person. I loved getting the story in
different characters pov and knowing what they were thinking and feeling. If
you have not read Empath then I would like to suggest that you do. I know I
like reading it and can’t wait for the next book in the series.
Author Bio:
Becca J. Campbell is the author of the New Adult Urban
Fantasy series Flawed as well as the New
Adult Science Fiction novels Foreign Identity and Gateway
to Reality.
An avid lover of stories that tiptoe the line
between fantasy and reality, Becca looks for new angles on bridging the gap
between the two. She holds a special place in her heart for any story that
involves superpowers or time travel. Her passion is defying the limits of her
own creativity.
You can find her at BeccaJCampbell.com.
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