Book Review: School For Psychics by K.C. Archer

Orphaned at a young age, Teddy was fortunate enough to be adopted by two loving parents, but that fact alone didn’t discourage the confusion at her unknown childhood manifesting itself in strange ways. With an uncanny ability to read people—which often presented as overwhelming anxiety and the resultant epileptic fits—Teddy struggles to balance her emotions with the demands on a young adult in typical society. Now on a delinquent path due to some unforeseen complications while playing, and winning, at her favorite casino game, Teddy puts everything she has into one last game, lest she fail to recuperate all that she has already lost.

Teddy Cannon was the epitome of Vegas. She’d grown up just a dozen miles away. And like the town itself, she was entirely self invented.

When things go awry and one player at the table doesn’t succumb to her usually effortless reading abilities, Teddy is cornered by one Clint Corbett, who in just a matter of minutes shatters Teddy’s world while also giving her the ultimate chance at redemption and the things she has craved: acceptance and success. The most unbelievable thing of all is that Teddy is not simply good at reading people and her lost of consciousness is not epilepsy but rather she is a psychic.

“Teddy,” Clint said, pulling her attention back to him, “listen carefully. At the Whitfield Institute, we work with psychics like you from all around the country. We train them in law enforcement techniques and teach them how to channel their fists to make the world a better place. If you accept, I’ll make sure that your record is wiped clean and that Sergi will never both you or your parents again. I’m giving you another move—not Sergi, not jail, but school.“

Immediately, her walls go up, falling comfortably into the guarded person Teddy has grown to be out of necessity. With little time before the start of the school year, she is forced to do the one thing that doesn’t come easy to her: trust. Can she accept the possibility that her path in life now leads to a training school for psychics and the ultimate goal of law enforcement after she has such few positive interactions with that very group of people? Does she really have a choice, given her current financial predicament, with the very safety of her parents on the line?

Until now, she had thought of herself as someone who needed people, not someone who other people needed. But for a brief moment, she let that idea carry her away. She knew she wasn’t Wonder Woman or Superman or anything, but maybe she could learn to make a difference, in a small way. She reread her note and added a quick postscript: Next time I come home, you’ll be proud of me.

When Teddy arrives at the Whitfield Institute, things begin to unravel at a fast clip and she learns about her abilities, how to utilize them and, most surprisingly, about her past and the family she never knew. With this knowledge comes insight into the secrets desperately hidden by the school authorities, and Teddy will stop at nothing until the truth is revealed.

School For Psychics is a action-filled, entertaining and mind-bending first book in what promises to be a great addition to the trilogy set. Archer lays a solid foundation of character and plot that leaves multiple tributaries flowing into the next, highly anticipated installment.

A review copy of this title was provided by Simon & Schuster