Kismet
Tessa Chamblin
Author Bio
Tessa Chamblin in a freelance writer and online journalist living with her husband and young son in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born and raised in Southeast Missouri, Tessa took up an interest in creative writing at an early age, but pursued it only as a hobby while she gained her Baccalaureate in Child Development and Family Studies. As a behavioral therapist for children with autism, Tessa was able to utilize several of her creative outlets, including writing, as she created social stories that helped reach client goals.
Tessa actively enjoys photography, painting, hiking, and journaling, and participates in multiple writing groups. She loves digital design and works to expand her implementation of the skill into web design.
Tessa’s passion for writing has spanned out over the years, from keeping diaries to journaling to a wealth of unfinished manuscripts and ideas.
In 2011, a romance story with a supernatural twist took root in Tessa’s thoughts. Several days later, characters started to develop and soon she was writing down scenes while developing plot points. Though she wasn’t sure were the writing would take her, it quickly evolved into a flowing piece of work that would finish with the completion of her first novel: Kismet. Kismet carefully mingles and extraordinary supernatural existence with a satisfying romantic twist.
Description
Michael Clarkton is a small town graduating college senior, feeling lonely living in secret with his ability to manipulate the fabric of reality with his thoughts. A childhood of disbelieving parents, and a few too many doctor visits, force him into a life of disguise – and an awkward relationship with his parents. But when Michael falls into an unexpected love with Rylan, his gifts are rekindled.
Michael feels connected to Rylan in a way that he’s never experienced with another person; this connection makes his attachment to her passionate and fierce.
As he’s navigating this new relationship, Michael is recruited into a secret organization of operatives with similar powers. They’re fighting a war with Integrated Technology Services (ITS) – a massive intelligence apparatus with enormous resources. They’re dedicating to ridding the world of the supernatural beings.
Michael eagerly learns the details of this dangerous company, while working relentlessly to strengthen his abilities with the others like him. His training reveals that his abilities far exceed those of his peers. The weeks spent with the other supernatural individuals lays a new foundation to Michael’s life. He develops new friends, close relationships, but also a wealth of challenges. Ava, an attractive girl in the group, has a unique personality and gift that Michael finds alluring. The bond that they create, will threaten everything Michael has established with Rylan.
Learning to balance the two worlds proves to be a challenge. And just as life starts falling into order, Rylan’s connection to the agency bent on eradicating Michael’s kind will unleash chaos. This revelation will force loyalties and push the limits of their budding romance, as Rylan takes the steps necessary to join ITS ranks while knowing Michael’s secret.
Frightened by what Rylan’s position could mean, Ava and the others place an impossible demand on Michael: Take away Rylan’s memories.
With Rylan’s past and Michael’s future laced with incompatibilities neither could have foreseen, what will it mean for them?
Can a forbidden love survive the odds stacked against it? Or will a new love come between them? What will Michael’s role be in the line of duty with his kind?
Book excerpt
Maybe I needed a break from relationships. I’d gone from my first love, to finding others like me, to heart break, to another love. It all felt like too much.
“What?” she asked incredulously.
“I have a new family that I love and adore. Every one of them. You seeing me as an exception will never be good enough, Ry.”
“Michael… it has to be. Look at everything that’s happened.”
“Yeah, look. Look at how they saved your life.”
“I wasn’t in any danger,” she defended. It made me angry.
“Six of us risked our lives for yours.”
“Yeah, you made that pretty clear,” she remembered bitterly.
I scoffed, then my manner softened. I knew this was difficult for her, too.
“I’m sorry for directing my anger at you that day. People I love were in danger and I might’ve behaved irrationally.”
We stood in silence for a long moment.
“I was ready to give up everything for you. I was good to you. I loved you as much as any man has ever loved another person. I was ready and preparing to share my life with you. My whole life.
I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry that these perfect words coming out of you right now are just too late. I’m sorry that none of it will ever be enough for us. I’m sorry, because it’s something that I want, too. It just isn’t going to happen.”
She pondered what I said, but I could see the resolve on her face. There was no winning. She would never really budge and neither would I.
“The man that killed your father died that same day. It doesn’t make it any better, but he’s dead too, and he was Ava’s fiancé. Both sides of this are always going to have losses as long as we’re fighting each other. It sucks that it all happened, but ‘normal’ humans kill each other every day and no one is bent on wiping you out.
I’m sorry for the mess that has become of things. I knew the moment we couldn’t be together that you’d always be my weakness. But I care for Ava now…I love her. For some stupid, messed up reason, I still love you, too. It was your insecurities, your actions, and your rebellion that pushed me into this, something that I’ve never wanted to be a part of. Yet, here I am, confused by my feelings for two different people, and idly wondering if I’m even able to really be in love with you again.”
“You are, Michael. You know it. We’re in love with each other, and it’s real. And it’s not going away,” she protested.
“Rylan, my thoughts are just idle thoughts though, because the real answer is I can’t… or I won’t. I’ve already taken enough risks with you. I can’t be what you want me to be, and you can’t be what I need you to be.
In so many ways, I started living my life when I met you and for that among other reasons, I will always care about you.
I don’t want to hurt you, but hurt is just how this ends, Ry.”
She was being brave, fighting the wetness that filled her eyes.
“You’re naïve if you think you’ll get your happily ever after. ITS will not stop,” she didn’t say the words with hostility. In fact, she said them very gently.
“I think the tables have turned on them. I think they’re going to be taking a step back to reevaluate.
But, for the record, I won’t stop either,” I remarked.
“You don’t even have the element of surprise on them anymore. They know you, they know what you can do. Is that the life you’re really choosing?” Though her tone was soft, it seemed like it held a subtle threat.
“And being with someone who works there would be better?” I asked, just to humor her statement.
“I could keep you safe.”
It was heartbreaking. The thought of her wanting me and me refusing her felt stupidly impossible. I sucked in a deep breath. There really was only one way this could all end.