Paranormal romance seals ‘Healing Kiss’ | Book Talk
“Healing Kiss,” a paranormal romance-thriller by Cleveland resident Amanda Uhl, stars a young woman who’s on the run as she tries to help her family and dodge a romance.
Lillian is in Cleveland, using the name Zoey, to help her ailing sister. Hannah has a rare virus that’s often fatal. Lillian has taken a big chance in coming from her home in Boston because she has the power of healing and hopes she will be able to save Hannah’s life.
Lillian is using a fake name and wearing a wig and colored contacts because she is being followed by a shadowy enterprise called Kinetica, whose purpose becomes more clear as the book progresses.
After she realizes that she does not have the capability to hear Hannah, she bumps into a man who is a burner — who unknowingly has the vitality Lillian needs to tap. She recognizes the man as Tristan King, a handsome technology genius and the richest man in the state. He recruits her as a last-minute date for a fundraiser, and in return she makes up a story that he is Hannah’s hero and “meeting you might give her the boost she needs to survive.”
This is true, of course, but not in the way Tristan infers it. He agrees on the condition that she be his date for another fundraiser the following night.
Their plans are complicated by Tristan’s ex-fiancee, for whom he still holds a torch, and Lillian’s justifiable paranoia that Kinetica will find her, directly or by getting through to her family. They go back and forth to his mansion to rest, change clothes, and lie to each other. When Tristan finally learns about Lillian’s ability, he hopes that she will be able to help his mother, who has Huntington’s disease, but Lillian can do only so much.
“Healing Kiss” (314 pages, softcover) costs $15.24 from online retailers. Uhl also is the author of the Mind Hackers series, with two novels and a novella, and the standalone “Charmed by Charlie.”
‘A Mollusk Without a Shell’
University of Akron professor Mary Biddinger is co-editor, with Julie Brooks Barbour, of “A Mollusk Without a Shell: Essays on Self-Care for Writers.”
According to the editors’ introduction, the book came out of the need to reestablish friendships during the isolation of the COVID-19 epidemic. Each essay is followed by a writing prompt to inspire writers, such as setting aside time to write and writing about a place where one lived or visited.
“Unshelled” by Lee Ann Roripaugh, former poet laureate of South Dakota, is written in the second person and recalls a period of overwhelming stress while caring for unappreciative parents and dealing with personal medical issues — a feeling she describes as “unshelled,” as a clam or snail is vulnerable without its shell. The prompt suggests writing a poem “that comes from a place of being profoundly unshelled.”
“A Mollusk Without a Shell” (91 pages, softcover) costs $16.95 from University of Akron Press. Biddinger is chair of the English Department at the University of Akron; Barbour is assistant professor of English at Lake Superior State University in Michigan.
Events
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Olmsted Falls branch, 8100 Mapleway Drive): Allan R. May signs “Petro: Cleveland’s Handsomest Public Enemy,” 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Snow branch, 2121 Snow Road): Percival Everett talks about his novel “James,” a retelling of “Huckleberry Finn,” followed by an announcement of the 89th Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winners, 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday (this date has been rescheduled from Wednesday). Everett won the 2022 Anisfield-Wolf Award in Fiction for “The Trees.” Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Hudson Library & Historical Society (96 Library St.): Cara Mangini (“The Vegetable Butcher”) talks about “The Vegetable Eater: The New Playbook for Cooking Vegetarian” and demonstrates a recipe, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Register at hudsonlibrary.org.
Massillon Public Library (208 Lincoln Way E.): Becca Moore and Scott Ryan talk about “Massillon Against the World: The Story of the 2023 Massillon Tigers,” 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch, 1876 S. Green Road, South Euclid): Susan Petrone (“The Musical Mozinskis”) and Judith Mansour (“Kan Zaman”) discuss their books, 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. From 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jason L. Moore talks about “Divine Frustrations.” Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Beachwood branch, 25501 Shaker Blvd.): Sheila Williams discusses her historical novel “No Better Time,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at cuyahoglibrary.org.
Wadsworth Public Library (132 Broad St.): William G. Krejci talks about “Ghosts and Legends of Northern Ohio,” 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday.
Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Brandy Schillace signs her cozy mystery “The Framed Women of Ardmore House,” joined by true crime author James Renner 7 p.m. Thursday,
Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library (Coventry Village branch, 1925 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights): Graphic artists Francis Elizabeth (“Drugs and Other Things to Do in Cleveland”), Jake Kelly (“Death, Destruction, Vice, and Sleaze”) and Aaron Lange (“Ain’t It Fun: Peter Laughner & Proto-Punk in the Secret City”) talk about their books, 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at heightslibrary.org.
Gathering Volumes Bookstore (196 S. Boundary St., Perrysburg): In observance of Trans Day of Visibility, Cuyahoga Falls poet Barbara Marie Minney reads from “A Woman in Progress,” 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Healing Kiss’ by Amanda Uhl is paranormal romance thriller
