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When Amrita Merchuck gave birth to her daughter, the midwife looked at her blue lifeless body and pronounced her still born. Mrs Merchuck had lost a lot of blood and there was fear that she would die, but she pleaded with the midwife to just let her hold the baby, and the old lady granted her that wish.

Mrs Merchuck held the baby close, caressing the lifeless little blue hands, telling her how much she loved her. Suddenly she felt a vibration.  “It’s the baby. Her hand is ….vibrating?” she thought.  And suddenly this woman who had bled so much that the midwife thought she would die, was filled with warmth and contentment; she rebounded and rode a wave of golden energy. She felt buoyant and full of life.  She opened her eyes and looked down at her daughter, who was suddenly very much alive. The child was squirming and pink; her blue eyes wide open and calm.

Ivy Merchuck had made her grand entrance, her “gift” very evident—except no body recognized it then.

When she was five Ivy’s beloved dog was run over by a hit and run driver.  In her grief, Ivy collapsed over it’s torn body, begging it not to die. An unfamiliar vibration coursed through her body and buzzed in her ears. Her palms grew warm, her head foggy and Ivy fell into a white light and in an instant there was nothingness. She woke up in her bed later, cold to the bone, head heavy. She was grieving, believing her dog was dead. To her amazement she was alive, without a scar.  But how could that be? she wondered.  She had seen the torn body, the blood all over on the street.

Her mother, Amrita, had witnessed what had happened. To her it was surreal. Beautiful. Terrifying. Unexplainable.  But it had happened and she had seen it with her own two eyes. She kept it to herself.

Ivy was different. She had few friends and she was lonely. The kids at school called her a geek because she read books that were too advanced for other fifth graders.  She had one friend  that didn’t mind that she was different.  She came to stay overnight and during the visit was injured.  Ivy’s “gift” surfaced again and she healed her friend.  Of course the friend had been unconscious and had no idea what happened; all she knew was that Ivy had “fainted” for a long period of time and that something that she didn’t understand had taken place.  After that she hardly spoke to Ivy and Ivy was devastated. Now she had no friends!

After that incident her mother took her to the doctor for a battery of tests.  Doctor Vivian Oliver concluded that Ivy was perfectly healthy and told her mother to ignore Ivy’s “gift”.  But Ivy  over heard her say “She’d be the star of her very own Freak show.”  Those words twisted like a knife in Ivy’s heart. So she wasn’t normal. She was a freak—that’s what the kids at school called her.

When she was 16, her father fell and broke his arm and once more, as leaned over him, she felt the unfamiliar vibration and heat in her palms and she fell into the white light and was gone.  Her father’s arm was healed and he did not understand what had happened.  He was freaked! When Ivy awoke she heard her parents arguing about it and she demanded to know everything. Then her mother explained that she had this gift that no one understood, and for her own safety, she begged her to hide it from the world. Well Ivy wasn’t about to tell anyone. Her life was crazy enough. She just wanted to be normal. She hadn’t asked for this “gift”. She didn’t want it!

Ivy and her father were never close. He had never understood her. Three years later when her mother was dying from cancer, Ivy tried desperately to access her gift and heal her, but she couldn’t make it happen.  Her father’s anger for her became more and more obvious. He was devastated when her mother died and his fury at Ivy’s inability to save her spilled out onto Ivy.

It hit Ivy hard. Her mother was gone. Now she had neither parent. She was an orphan, a freak, uncomfortable in the world she lived in. There was something different about her. People said it all the time—they just couldn’t put their finger on what it was. Ivy wished she was invisible. She wished she lived in a book.

She sought anonymity. She became a librarian; books were her friends, her love. She organized them by day, and read them by night. For a while it even seemed that her “gift” had been lost—maybe she had outgrown it.

One night when she was leaving work, she heard sounds in the back alley. A struggle.  Angry male voices. Someone was hurt and groaning. She  hesitated, afraid.  Then she swallowed her fear, put her books down and crept into the alley.  There she witnessed a violent beating that left a man seriously injured. When his attackers left, he was lying, broken and unable to get up. She went to him. Suddenly, as she leaned over him,she felt her palms vibrating and a sensation in her head. Then she saw a blinding white light and she lost consciousness again.

When she woke up, the man had taken her to his place.  She had healed him. Victor Morgan , a brooding urban samurai, had entered her life; he drank continuously, and there was a terrible sadness in his eyes. But he was kind, curious about what had happened and showing no signs of judgement.  Suddenly she found herself telling him about her life, from her birth until the present. It felt so good to share the burden with someone else; someone who didn’t see her as a freak.  Then it was time for Victor to share the guilt and shame he harbored and his burden was heavy.  Each of them carried so much pain, but being together was comfortable and felt as old as time.

Joji, a Asian criminal who has maintained a hold over Victor for years, comes back looking for him, confident that the beating he had received will make him submit to his demands. There is a life and death struggle in which Ivy discovers new skills that she has never known she had.  She uses them against Joji to save their lives. But now Victor knows that they have to flee, because Joji and his thugs will be back to destroy both of them.

Under the cover of darkness they leave the city to go to the home of a dear friend and mentor of Victor’s. Bill lives in a remote area and he is a Reiki Master. He works with Ivy, helping her learn to control her gift so she can use it at will and protect herself from the debilitating aftermath it has on her own body when she uses it. Victor finds sobriety and develops his samurai art. The weeks spent at Bill’s home bring them rest and peace and understanding.

I have told you a lot, but from my point of view there are no spoilers here.  This is only the background of a story that is action-packed, un-nerving, exciting and romantic. I loved Ivy’s sense of honor and justice—how she was true to her own sense of right and wrong, and how the two of them did not exact revenge on the bad guys, but allowed it to be played out in a more fitting way!

The ending was touching—a painful glimpse of uncontrolled power in the genetic line that the “gift” she had received came through to her from and the blessing of her enlightened way of dealing with it.  The story ended with the completion of  the cycle.

I was intrigued by the title of this book and the cover. I have worked a very minute amount with energy and am fascinated by it (please don’t get me wrong–my personal experience is nothing like that of the character’s in this book.) But I do believe in energy blocks and energy fields and the power of energy for healing. In fact, my husband and I have both taken the first level of Reiki, but neither of us have practiced it enough to make it a practical experience in our lives.

This novel covers a lot of territory and Sabrina Furminger did a good job of portraying the burden that such a “gift” would have been for Ivy.

I highly recommend this book to any one who enjoys romance, action, suspence and a touch of “paranormal”.  And if you are open  to consider the real possibility of the power of healing that can be channeled from the universe, it will take on even greater enjoyment for you!

You can find Sarah at http://sabrinafurminger.com/

Don’t pass The Healer by. You would miss a very special read.

My toast to you. Enjoy!