(MATURE YA)***Due to strong language, mention of cutting, alcohol and drug use, and sexual situations, THE DEEPEST CUT is not intended for younger teens.*** Sixteen-year-old Riley Williams has been able to see ghosts since the car crash that took her mother's life and shattered her family. Guilt-ridden over the belief that she's somehow responsible for her mom's death, Riley is desperate to see her mother's elusive spirit to gain her forgiveness. When her father moves the family to Scotland so they can all start over, Riley believes her life couldn't get worse--that is until the ghost of nineteen-year-old Ian MacKinnon catches her purposely cutting herself. An uneasy truce quickly turns into friendship, and soon Riley's falling hard for Ian. Riley believes her gift could help Ian end the curse that has kept him tied to the land for centuries, but that would mean letting him go forever and she's not sure she is strong enough to do that. As if her life wasn't complicated enough, the malevolent spirit of the woman who killed Ian returns and she'll stop at nothing to keep Riley from helping Ian find eternal peace. *****************THE MACKINNON CURSE SERIES:The Deepest CutThe HauntedThe DepartedThe MacKinnon Curse (The Beginning) novella******************Excerpt:I stared at him, and I don't know what came over me, but I took the steps that separated us and I kissed him. I had meant for it only to be a chaste kiss, a you-make-me-so-happy kind of kiss, but it ended up being something completely altogether different.I sensed his surprise, but only for an instant. The next thing I knew, his arms came around me, crushing me to him. I sighed into his mouth and he smiled against my lips before he deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding against mine, silky soft.Exhilaration and need rushed through me as my hands flattened against his back. I could feel the play of muscle and sinew beneath my fingers. What I felt for Ian was real, and ironically he made me feel alive in a way I hadn't been since my mom's death.Ian pulled away the slightest bit, looking down at me, his blue eyes intense. "We're playing with fire, Riley Williams.""I don't care." And I didn't care. I wanted Ian MacKinnon more than I'd ever wanted anything in my life.