Witch Trial Legacy (The Cassadaga Collection Book 1) by Katherine Eddinger Smits is a Paranormal and Paranormal Romance Event pick #pnr #paranormalromance #paranormalsuspense #giveaway
- N. N. Light
- 9 hours ago
- 6 min read
Title: Witch Trial Legacy (The Cassadaga Collection Book 1)
Author: Katherine Eddinger Smits
Genre: Romantic Supernatural Suspense
Book Blurb:
Sybilla Sanborn must break a centuries old curse before everything she cares about goes up in smoke.
Sybilla is a nurse gifted with the ability to heal with her touch but cursed with visions of future tragedies she cannot prevent because no one heeds her warnings. With help from the mediums of the spiritualist town of Cassadaga, Florida, she learns she is descended from both the first person executed for witchcraft in this country and the man who accused her.
Conn Ahern is an Iraq war vet dealing with pain and PTSD while working as a paramedic and struggling to save the ranch his grandmother founded. He’s an atheist who wants nothing to do with the people of the town.
When Conn and Sybilla meet, sparks fly, but not always in a good way, and their relationship fans the flames of jealousy and revenge in someone who doesn’t want them to work things out.
During a séance, her ancestor’s spirit reveals how Sybilla can rid herself of the curse and save Conn, but the price may be too high.
Excerpt:
Mr. Bennett held up his hand to interrupt her. “Don’t be too skeptical until you try it. The process is a little like hypnosis, except I won’t give you suggestions or commands. Instead, I’ll guide you to remember past incarnations. Time is not a concrete concept on the other side. Who you were, and who you are, and who you will be are all the same. Only our mortal minds need to sort events into before and after. So, whatever happens to you, go with it. All right?”
Sybilla shivered and touched her butterfly necklace.
“All right.” She leaned back, closed her eyes, and listened as the medium said the invocation and guided her through the relaxation sequence. An odd floating sensation went through her as if she hovered a few inches above the chair.
Something happened.
She felt like she’d lost her balance. She was whirling through a dark tunnel, then—
Hartford, Connecticut 1647
Truth Young
She viewed the world from a different perspective as if she were shorter. Her chubby body was that of a child. Young, maybe six or eight.
She stood in a musty cell with a dirt floor. Dim light shone through cracks in the log walls. Beside her was a woman who wore an ankle length, black skirt with a white apron, and a dark, long-sleeved blouse. The woman wept and sobbed into a handkerchief.
“Mother.” The breath caught in her lungs and her limbs trembled. She clutched the woman’s legs and clung to her. “Please don’t cry. What’s happening?”
The woman hugged her hard. “Truth, you be a good girl now. You hear? Be strong. I will always love you.”
Tears flooded her eyes, and she choked on the lump in her throat. “I love you too, Mother. What is wrong? Please, tell me.”
Rough hands gripped her shoulders from behind and plucked her from the woman’s arms though she screamed and struggled and fought with all her strength.
“Mistress, it is time to say goodbye to your daughter,” a male voice, cold and harsh, commanded.
“No, no!” Although she fought, her cries did nothing but echo around the tiny chamber.
The man dragged her away, his cruel grip sending throbbing pain into her tiny arms.
“Let me go,” she wailed. “I want my mother. Mother, help me, please.”
The man lugged her out as she kicked and screamed. She did not understand what was going on, but she was sure it was something terrible.
Behind them, Mother shouted.
“Damn you, Matthias North. You bear false witness against me. Though I am no witch, I condemn you and your line forever. For the rest of time, no one will believe anything you or anyone descended from you ever says again.”
“Witch you are, proved by the curse that falls from your foul mouth, evil one.” The man spat on the floor.
When he reached the outer door of the jail, he handed her, still struggling and sobbing, to another woman.
“Take this child and find a family to care for her until she is grown. Her witch mother hangs tomorrow.”
Windsor, Connecticut 1657
Truth Young
Another dark tunnel, then she was older. She was disoriented as she adjusted to her new height. After a moment of dizziness, she settled into the strange body. She knew who she was, and where she was.
Truth and another maid stood before two large tubs of water in front of a stone fireplace that covered an entire wall in a spacious, open room. Truth lifted a linen shirt from a pile of clothing, plunged it in the sudsy water, grabbed a chunk of lye soap, and scrubbed a stain on the front of the garment.
Charity did the same. They worked in silence. Heat from the hearth made sweat run down their faces and stained the bodices of their heavy black dresses.
Truth swiped her brow. She longed to escape this hell, even just to get a breath of fresh air. She glanced longingly out the window.
Horses neighed in the street out front. Charity stopped scrubbing.
“Who is it?”
“Matthias North.” Truth’s tone was bitter around the man’s name.
The man responsible for her mother’s execution drove his fancy carriage into town and tossed the reins to the stable boy.
Charity’s eyes widened and she scrubbed harder than before.
While I scrub clothes to earn a place to sleep in a closet, he lives on the farm he stole from us.
She pressed her lips together and attacked the spot with renewed vigor.
“Your mother helped me once,” Charity whispered. “Many of those in town owe her a debt. We haven’t forgotten.”
Truth threw the shirt into a tub of clean water and started on a linen shift. Right after Father’s funeral, Master North had courted Mother. She had scoffed and rebuked him for only wanting the property.
“Besides,” she told him, “I’d never take a nasty old man like you to my bed.”
He yelled that he’d make her pay if she didn’t accept, but she laughed in his face.
Her mother’s fate was inevitable. She was too different, too independent, and did not keep to her place.
Truth continued scrubbing furiously.
The only consolation was that no one in town would have anything to do with the old knave. They executed her, but everyone realized why he reported Alse for practicing black arts. Though he got the homestead, he and his sons became social pariahs.
She finished cleaning the shift and tossed it in the rinse basin, then took a pair of soiled breeches from the never-ending mound.
People were afraid to confront him. After all, he could bring charges against anyone, whether they were guilty or not. A person who perjured himself once would do so again. So, no one spoke of what he did.
It’s over now, and nothing will bring Mother back. Somehow, though, I will punish him.
I just have to figure out how.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
What makes your featured book a must-read?
Romance collides with supernatural suspense! Witch Trial Legacy is a tale of curses, personal struggles, and an ending where love conquers all. If you adore modern romance with historical connections and mental health representation set in a world of psychic abilities, you’ll love Witch Trial Legacy.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card:
Open Internationally.
Runs April 8 – April 15, 2025.
Winner will be drawn on April 16, 2025.
Author Biography:
Katherine Eddinger Smits’ fascination with the occult stems from family lore about her 11th-generation ancestor, Susannah Martin, a strong and talented woman executed during the Salem witch trials. Inspired by this legacy, Katherine weaves mystery, magic, and romance into her stories, where the supernatural meets the everyday.
Though she began writing stories in elementary school, she pursued a career in social work, earning a master’s degree and dedicating herself to assisting veterans and their families—an experience that deepened her understanding of resilience and human emotion.
Now retired, Katherine channels her passion for storytelling into crafting genre-blending tales filled with romance, suspense, and the unexplained.
Social Media Links: