"More Than Fiends"

Maureen Child, who has written under several pseudonyms, including Ann Carberry, Sarah Hart and Kathleen Kane, has a new novel (published under her own name) out this month, More Than Fiends.

She applied the "page 69 test" to the new book and reported the following:

The Page 69 test was a revelation for me! I immediately went through the stacks of books I own and read page 69 in a dozen or so of them. Mostly, I have to say, they passed the test. Strange though, that a couple of my favorites didn’t!

Still, it’s an interesting experiment — and I applied it to my own newest release, More Than Fiends. I think it held up. In this book, Cassidy Burke has just found out that she’s a legendary Demon Duster. She’s also faced with the reappearance of Logan Miller, father of her daughter, Thea. He’s back in town and now that he knows about his child’s existence, he wants into their lives.

Page 69 gives readers an idea of Cassidy’s personality. And a peek into her relationship with Logan. It also showcases the fact that this is a first person, sort of snarky book with plenty of attitude. So, all in all, I think it passed the test!

Pg. 69:

Thanks,” he said as he followed me into the kitchen. “It does help.”

“Look,” I told him, pulling an extra coffee cup out of the cupboard and filling it for him, “I’m willing to work this out, because I’m a fabulous human being, but I’m only going to listen to you being mad for so long.”

“About sixteen years?” he asked, a reluctant smile curving one corner of his mouth.

“Ha-ha,” I said and handed him his coffee. “One more time, Logan. I was a kid. And pregnant, okay?”

He leaned back against the counter, holding the cup between his palms. “If I’d known, it would have been different,” he said. “Cassie, you wrote to me all that year and you never even mentioned it.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, taking a huge gulp of coffee, “like you never mentioned that you were dating Skippy.”

“Misty.”

“Whatever.” I set my cup down, walked to the service porch and Logan was only a step or two behind me. While I stuffed a load of towels — Thea used two for every shower, one for her hair, one for her body and took two showers a day, you do the math — Logan leaned against the dryer, watching me.

To be honest, he gave good stare.

He made me so jumpy, I dumped enough soap in to wash five loads and hoped that wouldn’t come back to bite me in the ass. Then I slammed the lid and looked up at him. Well over six feet, it took awhile to lift my gaze all the way to his eyes, but it was worth the trip.

“What do you want from me, Logan?”

He blew out a breath, crossed his feet at the ankle and said, “Another shot.”

“At what?”

“You.”

Whoa Baby!

Check out Maureen Child's website and her blog.

Visit the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue