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Spinning Sordid ‘What If’ Scenarios
Crossover follows a woman who is haunted by a ghost and must find a way to exorcise the creature if she will ever have a chance at a happy life. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I have a shaded past, much like Karlee. I was adopted too. Unlike Karlee, I am still in the dark about my biological heritage. The scenarios in the book, CROSSOVER, stemmed from me asking questions and spinning sordid ‘what if’ scenarios.
Karlee is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Karlee’s character is all about leniency and tolerance. Initially, she perceives herself as well adjusted and stable, and when her life crumbles all around her, she rallies, picks herself up, and forges brand new connections.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The common theme that tends to run through every book is the importance of family. Karlee is on a journey of self-discovery; a quest that makes her realize family is not all about DNA.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The second book in the Cross Your Heart and Die series is DOUBLE CROSS released on August 2nd. The third book in the series, CROSSBONES, will be released this fall. CROSSOVER was set in present day and each subsequent book is a prequel and travels back in time.
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A severe storm brings Cole Maxwell, the commitment-challenged landlord living in the marina, off the water and inside. He and Karlee share their accommodation while repairs are completed on his boat. Cole’s interest in Karlee makes him hyper-vigilant, and it doesn’t take long before he discovers the ghost.
The more Karlee learns about the ghost’s background, the less certain she is of her own. She’ll have to trust her instincts to find everyone a peaceful ever after…if she can exorcise the dark creature manipulating them all.
Crossover
![Crossover (Cross your Heart and Die Book 1) by [Diane L. Kowalyshyn]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41qvBd7V97L.jpg)
Crossover by Diane L. Kowalyshyn is a thrilling story centered around a young woman, Karlee and her lifelong companion who is a ghost. Full of twists and intrigue, this novel rapidly becomes intriguing as you follow their journey towards unravelling the ghost’s past.
This story is written beautifully, and the various narratives as well as perspectives are cleverly created. While travelling through this turbulent time with Karlee, you are introduced to multiple key characters, all of whom have fascinating back stories. The reader slowly becomes invested in discovering what the future may hold for each one such as Winnie and Julia, especially intriguing is the third main character of Cole. His involvement in the journey is prominent and key to bringing the multiple threads of the story together.
Through the use of dialect, Kowalyshyn allows the reader to experience characters from all backgrounds and helps them to visualize each situation, for example when Winnie says ‘She’s positively black and blue’ which is usually a phrase used by the older generation. As the reader you are able to use these moments to picture the characters. The use of metaphors and descriptive language is also an interesting aspect of this piece of writing. One of my personal favorite metaphors was ‘The landscape contained a rich palette of greens’, because I think describing the landscape as a painting is a great way to set the scene, this is done well repeatedly throughout.
Crossover is a tremendous read with an enthralling investigation along with themes of love, friendship and the spiritual world. There were many plot twists I did not see coming and each branch of the story eventually all ties together in the end which was written in a very clever way. Kowalyshyn has done an incredible job writing this page turner, I was hooked on the story from the prologue and even felt the epilogue wrapped the plot up nicely. I will be keeping an eye out for more by this author as the high level of writing, imagination and planning that went into this novel, created a fantastic story that I would highly recommend.
Pages: 354 | ASIN: B08VHX5KXJ
LITERARY TITAN 