Two strangers each quietly carry the baggage of trauma. Through the weight of it, Skylar Aymon's life is going pretty darn well while Tate Morrow's, well, isn’t. Oddly enough, a door is waiting to open for each of them, and if they choose to step through it, their paths will be forever altered. The Magic exists on the other side—a hidden world suffused in golden light, yet edged with a threat of darkness.
When Skylar and Tate’s destinies collide, a simple acquaintanceship is changed, almost forcibly, and continues to be changed over time. The Magic promises power and a brilliant destiny. But a corrupt darkness hangs over them, threatening to destroy not just their desires, but their own humanity.
What do you do when the powerful destiny you embraced becomes cruel, twisted, and lonely? And how the hell do you continue on when fate brings you a connection you can’t survive without, and then won’t let you keep it?
Altered Parallel blurs the lines between light and dark, forging a tale that weaves magical allure with the pulses of the human heart. It is the story of two souls, etching their marks on the world… and each other.
Two strangers each quietly carry the baggage of trauma. Through the weight of it, Skylar Aymon's life is going pretty darn well while Tate Morrow's, well, isn’t. Oddly enough, a door is waiting to open for each of them, and if they choose to step through it, their paths will be forever altered. The Magic exists on the other side—a hidden world suffused in golden light, yet edged with a threat of darkness.
When Skylar and Tate’s destinies collide, a simple acquaintanceship is changed, almost forcibly, and continues to be changed over time. The Magic promises power and a brilliant destiny. But a corrupt darkness hangs over them, threatening to destroy not just their desires, but their own humanity.
What do you do when the powerful destiny you embraced becomes cruel, twisted, and lonely? And how the hell do you continue on when fate brings you a connection you can’t survive without, and then won’t let you keep it?
Altered Parallel blurs the lines between light and dark, forging a tale that weaves magical allure with the pulses of the human heart. It is the story of two souls, etching their marks on the world… and each other.
She kept her head down under her hood as she pushed through the crowd and up the cold, dark asphalt road to where her car was parked, farther from the busy parking lot and the bustling families who’d come for the school’s holiday performance.
She loved her job but just wanted to get out of there without more small talk. Sometimes she needed to shut it off for some quiet time alone. Spotting a familiar family ahead, she walked faster, head a little lower, and felt a twinge of guilt as she brushed past them unnoticed. Most of the crowd was behind her before she chanced a glance upward again. Dang it. Coming down the hill toward the crowd she wanted to escape was Roy Lee, and they made eye contact before she could pretend she never saw him.
“Hey there! How was it?” he asked as they both slowed their pace to start with the friendly chatter. Roy was a retired teacher and coach who still lived near the school, a longtime village resident probably on his way home from one of his evening hikes or runs.
“Oh, it was great. They really worked hard.” She forced an enthusiastic smile.
“Yeah, I’ve heard the rehearsals. Good stuff! You know, I’m glad we ran into each other. Tate hasn’t been showing up lately. Any idea what’s going on?”
“What? No, I haven’t seen him in a while. I thought he was still doing well.”
“I don’t know. First, he just skipped a day or so per week, and I didn’t want to push him about it—you know how he is. But now it’s been a couple weeks of total no-show.”
“Okay. Sorry about that. Yeah, I’ll look into it. I thought we were past that kind of behavior. Thanks again, though, for all you’ve done for him.”
“Of course. Happy to help. I like him; he’s a good kid. But if he wants people to be there for him, he needs to show up too.”
“Yep, he does.” She nodded. “Well, you have a good night, Roy. I need to get home. I’ll let you know.”
“You get home safe now. ’Night.”
They shared small, courteous smiles, and each continued on their way.
“Dammit, Tate,” she whispered to herself, then sighed out a breath of frosty annoyance as she trudged to her car. It was not the ending she needed to an already long and tiring day.
The next afternoon was the village Christmas parade. She walked through the swarm of loud and energetic families, community members, and tourists who were taking in the holiday excitement and decorations. Among the packed gatherings, she spotted Tate with a group of boys. Working her way through yet another crowd, she made her way to them.
“Mr. Morrow, can I speak to you for a moment?”
He looked toward her as his friends stepped back, instinctively avoiding a school staff member.
“I saw Coach Lee last night. He says you’ve been flaking on him. What’s going on?”
“What? Nothing.” He shook his head in casual denial.
“You were doing so well, and you know you can’t treat people like that. What are you doing?”
“I’m just busy; I have other things going on,” he said, trying to shrug off the conversation.
“Okay. Busy with what?” she asked bluntly, expecting a clichéd relapse into delinquency.
Tate saw that his friends were starting to tune into the conversation. He hadn’t told them he’d stopped going to his—already unfathomable to them—conditioning and field-training sessions with Roy. It was still a good cover for his time, as long as none of them brought it up or asked too many questions, which thankfully these guys never did. But now Miss Aymon was here asking the questions they would not. Questions he could not answer.
Tate felt backed into a corner and needed to change the subject, and noticeably so. He needed to make his now-curious friends forget there might be holes in what he’d told them, and he needed to make this freakin’ lady stop with the disappointed interrogation. Not knowing another way to go about it, he settled on shock value to escape the uncomfortable situation.
“My life isn’t your business, so can you just fuck off!” he yelled at her.
She pulled back to correct her posture from casual do-gooder to offended victim.
A look of amused horror crossed the faces of a few of Tate’s friends, while the others stifled surprised laughter. The boys knew enough to know they needed to save their friend, and with arms over his shoulders, they began pulling him back into the crowd and anonymity before she could properly react.
Spoilers: CT Malachite’s Altered Parallel is a powerful romance fantasy with some questionable attributes and flaws to keep from being perfect. However, it does tell an interesting story of two souls with magical powers whose love is passionate, emotional, empathetic, all consuming, troubling, and ultimately tragic.
Skyler Aymon is a teacher who is concerned about the frequent absences, failing grades, and sudden bad attitude of her once promising student, Tate Morrow. After a confrontation, she sees a strange aura and feels a powerful surge of energy around him. Curious, Skylar follows Tate to a group whose members have the same presence. They are able to practice The Magic and live in a parallel universe similar to our own but whose residents can use those abilities. In fact, Skyler is revealed to also come from this universe and can access The Magic but needs to learn how to use it. Since she already has a connection with Tate, he decides to train her so the student becomes the teacher. She learns fast and proves to be quite adept and powerful as they become closer.
The book has an extremely slow and at times awkward start. The initial meeting between Skyler and Tate and the introduction of The Magic works well but it falters a bit. At least three times, the book follows the same scenario: Tate introduces Skyler to The Magic and the parallel universe. She is enchanted and practices some aspects like teleportation, mental telepathy, or clairvoyance. Then after a fun time, she returns to her apartment and wakes up with no memories of her adventures. Amnesia is given to her so she doesn't unintentionally blab The Magic’s secret. Finally, she and Tate get through that hurdle and she retains her memories as she embraces and excels in learning to use The Magic.
It's understandable that they wouldn't want everyone to know about The Magic and the introductions are secret tests of character to evaluate Skyler’s honesty and trust but it gets old. We only needed one trip and amnesia before returning to get the point. Three just stretches the concept too far before the narration really begins.
There is also the discomfort in the age difference between Skyler and Tate and that they were initially a teacher and her student. It's obviously very uncomfortable when this shared experience creates a bond that veers towards romance.
Thankfully, Malachite creates a time portal in which one can enter and emerge years older as Tate does and returns seven years older to Skyler after only one year passes in her world. That however creates another problem in the text. This incident happens so early that it's easy to forget that they started out as different ages.
In fact their backstory becomes superfluous and unnecessary not to mention creepy which is made less so by a plot device. They not only didn't need the plot device, they didn't need that awkward introduction. They could have started at the same age, perhaps as work colleagues or neighbors and it would have had the same effect. It would also have made the rest of the book more comfortable when it comes to discussing how well written the rest of the romance is and it is an excellent romance.
Once that hurdle is crossed and the plot fully takes hold, Altered Parallel excels at both fantasy and romance. Malachite captures The Magic and all of the strengths, weaknesses, and rules that those who have it would follow.
An intriguing concept is how different locations around the world are connected to sources of power. One place could carry an aura of positive Magic that helps practitioners feel welcome and rejuvenated. Another feels cold, negative, and drains Magic users.
The locations retain the residual energy, actions, and motives left by the users. There are those who use The Magic to help others and those who use it for darker purposes. Magic itself is neither good nor bad. It just exists as a neutral force. The good and evil lie in the user.
In fact, this tug between the various motives becomes a barrier between Skyler and Tate. At first, they are magically in sync with each other. Their powers increase the closer they become. They can fly to different locations, create objects, and share a telepathic link. Their romance strengthens their magical connections and vice versa.
In The Magic universe, emotions are heightened so what they felt in the previous world increases, particularly the darker negative ones. This is especially true for Skyler. The Magic opens her mind but also opens stronger emotions like rage, insecurity, longing, envy, fear, pride, and terror. She tries to resist and bury them but they only become stronger. In some of the strongest chapters, Skyler and Tate give their separate alternate versions of various key moments that show increased uncontrollable power but a decreased personal relationship. This relationship becomes darker, confrontational, and more tragic as they come to terms with different views.