Read Only Wednesday - The Crystal Singer trilogy by Anne McCaffrey #scifi #romance

Read Only Wednesday is when I highlight a book I've just read, am reading, or have just added to my TBR list. In this case, I'm revisiting an old favourite as a treat for finishing some very rough edits. I read the original back in my teens and bought the subsequent books as they came out, but somewhere along the line I've lost them all. So I bought myself a second hand paperback of the trilogy so I could enjoy them all over again. (I find the cover quite disturbing as that pose looks back breaking!)

Blurb:

CRYSTAL SINGER
Young and beautiful, Killashandra Ree was a trained musician with no prospects . . . until she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild on the planet Ballybran, where the fabled Black Crystal was found. For those qualified, the Guild was said to provide careers, security, and the chance for unimaginable wealth. But once you'd sung crystal, there was no going back . . .
KILLASHANDRA
Killashandra's first season on Ballybran was everything she had hoped for: She had sung Black Crystal, grown wealthy, and met a man who could make her forget her own sorrowful past. But then, a year later, everything had changed. She was broke, she had crystal sickness so bad she thought she'd die, and the only way she could be true to the man she loved was to leave him. . . .
CRYSTAL LINE
Crystal singing changed the singer forever, bringing ecstasy and pain, near-eternal life . . . and gradual loss of memory. Killashandra had a lot of painful memories she could afford to lose. What she hadn't counted on was the loneliness she felt when her heart still remembered what her mind had forgotten. Then she found she might have a chance to salvage what was left of her mind. But to do that, she would have to learn to open herself--to another person, and to her own unhappy past . . .
THRILL TO THE SONG OF CRYSTAL ALONG WITH KILLASHANDRA REE!
AT LAST, ALL THREE CRYSTAL SINGER NOVELS COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME!

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While many prefer her dragon books, for me the Crystal Singer was one of the biggest influences over my writing as a teenager and beyond. She taught me it was more than possible to write scifi mixed with fantasy and, though I didn't realize it until much later, romance too. If my love for scifi romance started anywhere, it was here, and I'm so pleased I got the chance to meet the author many years back. I look forward to immersing myself in this book again.