It's Complicated

By Rain Trueax

What if? Do you know how many ideas for books begin with-- what if. The next thought can be-- ridiculous, but sometimes it's-- why not! 

Why not have a hero who is named after an ancestor who did evil during his lifetime? Why not have that man be the very soul who has lived lives between the evil one in an attempt to get his lives on a healthier course? How much of that outlaw violence would carry over into the one he's now living? Can someone really change their soul through the lives they choose? Since they won't remember those earlier lives, how much do they impact today's choices? What if he has spiritual helpers who have come along for the ride but that he doesn't see or want to hear?

These are the questions raised in Complicated Bargain-- third of the Hemstreet Witch books, now in a series called Mystic  Shadows.


Asa Taggert born 1978 in Flagstaff Arizona, has no interest in the world of the supernatural but has the Midas touch where it comes to making money. Everyone admires him for his acquired riches and physical beauty. It is said that he'll be a billionaire by the time he's forty. Asa might not doubt that, but he isn't sure he'll live to forty. He has this feeling that he'll meet an early end-- not a good thought since he is raising his son as a single parent. 

Asa's tall good looks have been both his luck and his downfall. A one night stand with a woman he never could have loved has blessed him with Curt after he paid the woman to carry the child to term and let him have him. Curt is a curious boy, interested in things that worry Asa. He is concerned that Curt isn't getting all the attention he needs.

Being pressured to run for higher office in Arizona, Asa doesn't want the political life, but what does he want? Because he's so handsome and doesn't have a woman in his life, people suspect him of being gay. His physical ancestry down from a family of one-time outlaws is a mixed bag as to whether it would help him win an election that he doesn't want.

Even more complicated for Asa is that he is burdened with dreams of a life he never lived-- a life where he did despicable things. He's named after a great great uncle who tried to kill his own brother after he poisoned his mother. Why would any parent chose that name for a son? Despite having done nothing violent himself, Asa feels inside he has a killer instinct. Does that come from a soul that can never be redeemed-- his?

There is help from the spirit world for Asa, to help him conquer his demons, but all of it

makes him fear he's losing his mind. Who talks to a raven? Some might but what about if

the raven is called Jeff and talks back? And what is the strange energy in his home, the one he inherited from an uncle, who kept silver bullets in the gun safe? What is it down by the river that he can't see but feels is threatening?

Training horses, his son, and time in nature, especially at the ranch he owns in Central Arizona, give him his few pleasures in life because at this point making money isn't doing it. 

Can a witch, who doesn't want to be one, change his fate?

A Complicated Bargain is available from Amazon for eBook, paperback and borrowing through Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0732HT4ZQ/