Love, Cass

Love, Cass is a heart-wrenching story about life, love, and loss. Loosely based on true life events of Author Stephanie St. Klaire, Cass is a relatable story guaranteed to make you look at life through a different lens. In this emotionally charged roller coaster of events, Cass represents life in fiction as she achieves triumph over tragedy, even in death. Stephanie shares her inspirational tale of victory with symbolic representation as she says goodbye to the girl she once was...through Cass. 

As requested by Brother’s Keeper fans...

There’s something they don’t tell you about fairy tales. Happily ever after isn’t promised. Happy forever? Now, that’s a thing…

I met my Prince Charming right out of pigtails and just before that point where boys stop being icky, and they just smell bad.

Before I knew it, we went from best friends growing up to a whirlwind romance full of dreams come true. We were planning a forever that every love-soaked romance novel tries to recreate.

I was living the ultimate romantic love story – skipped the frog phase and went straight to full-blown prince. My life was perfect - until it wasn’t... I’m dying. 

The fairy tale just changed a bit, didn’t it? I can’t leave until those left behind know how to live their happy forever…without me.

I won’t get the forever with them, but they’ll get a forever with me. I’m Cassidy O’Reilly…and this is my story.

Phenomenal!!!

Stephanie St Klaire has me weeping before I ever read word one in chapter one.

Make sure to have a box of tissues before you start

I loved every gut-wrenching part.

I wish I could give it more than 5 ⭐️’s

one of the best books I've read

WOW! Stephanie was sooo courageous to write her own story on the pages

Love, Cass is such a wonderful, emotional story of love, laughter, loss, and heart break.

This book has all the feels and takes you through every emotion.

A truly beautifully written story that stays with you after you turn the last page!

you could feel the heart and soul that Stephaine poured into this book!

This book is full of gut-wrenching sadness but also with soul-rendering joy.

It's a poignant, heart-wrenching tale of love and loss.

Yes, I ugly-cried reading this.....but I'm so much better for it.

From the prologue to the epilogue, you feel the love pouring form the pages. Just keep the Kleenex close.

It will also fill you with hope and strength and also adjust your view of life and how to live it.

I cried so many tears with this story but they were worth it, it was so moving.

This book is Amazing!! It is so emotional you will need a box of tissues.

This is the story I didn't know I needed to read, but I'm so glad and honored to have read. You can feel the emotion pouring from every sentence.

The narration is so clear and the feelings are just everywhere. You need this book in your life. The story feels as real as it can get…

Wow...no words! What a wonderfully beautiful story.

I don't normally cry when reading a book but this one brought me to tears. So keep plenty of tissues on hand.

This one is heartbreakingly sad and beautiful. It has all the feels.

Love Cass, is so powerfully written. It tore my heart to shreds then put it back together again. The emotions bled into the characters and the pages rendering you speechless and at the same time has you an emotional wreck, then it was healing your soul. I have no words strong enough to convey what this book means to me.You won't want to miss out on this one, and be sure to have a box of tissues handy. You will need them.

The story was remarkable and the marks it left on me will stay forever. There should be some kind of award coming for this book, because it has touched me as no other ever has.

This story is EVERYTHING. I do not think there has ever been another book that gave me so many “feels” as Love Cass did. I cannot explain with words how deeply touched I was by this one.

Prepare to have your heart ripped out…Author Stephanie St. Klaire has written the most emotionally challenging story you may ever have the pleasure of reading…Love Cass.

This story hurt. From the moment I discovered what was happening in her life, my heart was broken. Learning, also, that this story is based on the author's life ... oh. my.lanta. This story was not only beautifully written, but it was felt into the deepest part of my heart. I don't have all the words to discuss how poignant this story truly was for me. A definite must read.

I was sucked into the pages of the book from page one and didn't resurface until the box of tissues was empty and the story, well at least Cass' story, had ended. I felt everything. My heart hurt.

Chapter 1:
The Beginning…

Life isn’t always fair. I often wonder if it’s a constant barter — for everything good, you also have to take a little bad. Sure, you can have that expensive luxury car, but the insurance is going to be outrageous and it’s going to suck so much gas, you personally become responsible for that hole in the ozone layer. It’s like having your cake and eating too…but don’t forget the stomachache that may or may not be the battle shits waiting to happen. That’s the trade.
And what if I tell you the real things in life — the important stuff — comes with heavier consequences. I mean, that’s what they are after all. Aren’t they? To be blessed is to be cursed…maybe? I don’t know. What I do know is it doesn’t seem to happen to everyone, and I don’t have an explanation as to why. Maybe I’m just lucky.
I’m far from qualified to decipher the meaning of life, and quite honestly don’t have the energy to dissect the ins and outs of it. I have my definition of blessings and…not blessings. Hell, I don’t even know what to call it — seriously…not blessing? What I am qualified to tell you is life is full of ups and downs. Everyone can relate to that, right? Yay, I got a new car — shit it has a flat tire. Life.
The other thing I can say without a shadow of doubt is the ups far outweigh the downs. Most of the time. My current state is leaving that to question. I have a grand life with everything I planned and dreamed for…but it has an end date. I know what you’re thinking. Everyone has an expiration date — we all die, hello…that’s the life thing again. But what if you knew your end date — maybe not the actual day, but the measure of time you have left before it’s all over.
That’s what I’m struggling with. I’m a firm believer that we reap what we sow, and everything has purpose full of those damn silver linings — blah, blah, blah. Maybe that was my first mistake. Maybe that simple belief provoked a challenge from the universe, forcing me to find those fucking silver linings in the purposeful bullshit which exists in the life I have sowed.
My story goes a little like this…
I married my high school sweetheart, Liam O’Reilly. Brains, brawn, and a vocabulary so exceedingly brilliant, it’s intimidating…and sexy. None of that outweighs his heart, though. The man, even before he was a full-fledged man, was exceptionally kind, thoughtful, and gentle. That may not be entirely endearing, or macho, but it’s Liam…who doesn’t need to be labeled macho. He just needs to be Liam.
My Irish guy is one of six — one sister and five brothers. One of those brothers is his twin. Luke is equally handsome and charming, but where Liam was all about the books, Luke was all about everything except the books. A total jock. A total heartbreaker. A total playboy. He is good, though. Genuine. He’d bend over backwards to help a stranger because that’s who all the O’Reilly boys — and girl — were raised to be…good.
Each of the brothers went on to join various branches of military — some were the kind you just don’t talk about because I, for one, do not have that level of national security clearance…but they all did. They’re all honorable men who have served and protected with the best of them. Real life heroes, and I’m lucky to call them my family.
Carrigan, the only girl and baby of the family, chose a slightly different route. With five older brothers, she didn’t stand a chance in the military out of fear they’d show up all over the world stepping in front of bullets for her. She protects and serves in her own way as an EMT in our favorite place — our home away from home — McKenzie Ridge. Well-intentioned, protective brothers are better loved from afar because I won’t be responsible for my actions otherwise, she always said.
They are protective of her, like they are with everyone they love — and they love fiercely.
Liam went on to serve his country too, but in a much different capacity. His high school years were spent as the president of the robotics club and all the various tech clubs — he even created a few clubs to satisfy his tastes. My handsome, self-proclaimed nerd. Those clubs paid off in a roundabout way when his hobbies landed him in federal custody and prison bound for pecking his way into the backdoors of government main frames that shouldn’t have been penetrable by anyone, much less a high school kid with a niche for “hacking.”
In lieu of a hefty sentence and lifetime felon badge, he landed a job, followed by full ride scholarship offers to several tech schools…he pursued more than one, of course. That was Liam.
We married right out of high school and lived the proverbial dream. By day, we were young college students studying for the next final; by night, we were passionate lovers. Those were some of the best days of our lives — we didn’t have a care in the world.
College came and went, each of us moving onto the next stage of life with degrees in hand — Liam had several — ready to plan a family and take on the world. Liam continued his work on various government contracts while starting a security firm with his brothers as they each made their way back home, re-entering civilian life.
I helped them with menial tasks as they got off the ground, but that didn’t last long. Liam and I spent years tossing caution to the wind, not concerned about pregnancy. If it happened, cool. If it didn’t happen, cool. There was that universe again, playing it’s part by sending the stork our way.
Here’s another one of those blessings that comes with consequences. The happiest day of our lives was the day we found out we were pregnant. It was also the day we found out I was dying…the first time.
With that diagnosis came opinion after opinion as to how I should proceed. Recommendations — that’s what they called it. I didn’t like their recommendations because they began and ended with terminating the pregnancy we’d waited so long for.
Science is funny. They say it’s fact when most of said science is followed up with “we think.” They thought carrying to term and starting treatment after would be a bad idea, but they didn’t know — so much for science. They also didn’t know if starting treatment immediately would increase my odds. There were a hell of a lot of I don’t knows to make such a permanent decision.
With all the scientific facts and I don’t knows heavily weighing against each other and their alternatives, I made my choice. I chose her. Reagan. My smart and wickedly sassy little redhead.
Our world turned upside down for a while — like the inside out and backward kind of upside down. I was postpartum, going through aggressive treatment to fight the cancer with a newborn who had colic and liked to be held — a lot. Let me be clear with some of my own science…that shit doesn’t mesh.
It was certainly not how we envisioned starting our family — it was damn hard in the beginning. Not only did I have the full arsenal of side effects to deal with, there was guilt. Nobody prepared me for that, and there were days where it was worse than those side effects. I was bedridden, weak, always so tired. I wanted to be with my daughter and she clearly wanted me, but some days, it was literally impossible.
I knew I made the right choice. She was meant to be here, to be with our family — hell, as cliché as it sounds, she completed us. But as much as all that was true, I felt like I was failing her. I was failing Liam. I wasn’t used to being so sedentary, so dependent, and so…miserable.
As much as it felt like a sentence, it was also my motivation. I dug deep, found strength I didn’t know I possessed, and fought my damnedest. She deserved the best of me, and this was the worst of me. After all we went through to have her, all the sacrifices we made, the gamble we rolled…I wasn’t giving up. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. And it paid off.
I swear I spent a year in bed, and if I never have to drink a cup of broth again, it’ll be too soon. But I didn’t complain. It was all worth it because those odds the doctors tossed my way — you know, the facts — I beat them all — every last one. I had my life back, albeit a new life, and I wasn’t looking back. The past was right where it belonged, and I had my eyes on the prize. My family. My miracle. My daughter.
Remission is a beautiful word and I danced in its glory to the point my husband nearly had a heart attack. It took a while, but he finally came around and didn’t panic every time I sneezed. Our life was back on track. We were back to that fairytale. We were living the dream.
We beat the odds and didn’t take a single moment for granted. We lived every day, every minute, second by second. We were the luckiest people in the world.
It was one of those blessings again — but I forgot my blessings always came with a price.