Secrets of Life

Publisher Marketing: Beryl, in her mind, is a normal teenage girl who goes through the normal everyday perils every normal girl goes through. That is until her teacher, of all people, gives her potentially-life-changing news-that she is a psychic and a mind reader. Her ancestors were part of a race of people who had special gifts, and the ability to have these gifts was passed down through the generations. A war resulted in them being nearly wiped out from earth, and there was only one survivor-Aya, Beryl's great-great-great-grandmother. Because she was the last of her kind, the special abilities got rarer as Aya's descendants had human blood. Beryl and her teacher is one of Aya's few descendants to have a gift, and in her case, she can read the future and minds. When the war resulted in Aya losing her family and her home, she got depressed, so she did what she did best-she used magic. She created the Scroll of Elysium, which contains all the love and hope in the world. She distributed happiness fairly and justly, but word got out of what she had done. Aya decided that it was no longer safe for the Scroll of Elysium to be used, so she hid it away. The Scroll of Elysium can be used by anyone; whether they use it for good or for bad does not matter. It was stolen long after she died by a man she once loved, so once she got it back, she hid it away in a safer place. That same man is back again, and now he wants the Scroll of Elysium for good. However, Aya has set enchantments on the Scroll of Elysium, which means that it cannot be handled by anyone who is not her descendant, and that is where Beryl comes in. She has to try and stop him before he finds a gifted descendant and uses the Scroll of Elysium for evil again. And he will do anything to get the Scroll of Elysium again. Review Citations: BlueInk Review 03/15/2013 (EAN 9781466970113, Paperback)