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Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

Dark Light – Tabloid Sensational Paranormal Romance by Jayne Castle

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Dark Light is one of my favorite Jayne Castle Harmony stories. The main characters are great as are the side romances and minor characters, and best of all is The Curtain, with its reporting on Honeymooning in the Alien Temple of Love!

Yes, our heroine writes for The Curtain. She does solid reporting on real problems that her editor dresses up with aliens and sex and conspiracies and prints alongside articles about alien abductions and anal probes. It’s great!

Dark Light begins when Curtain reporter Sierra McIntyre interviews John Fontana, the new boss of the local guild. Sierra has reported on several guild-related scandals – including stories about former ghost hunters who are addicted to Juice or have disappeared – and Fontana believes she may have access to information about critical problems within his guild. His solution? Marriage! Fontana proposes they marry and work together to uncover what is really happening to the missing men, what’s behind the corruption Fontana and his friend Ray have discovered.

The minor characters are some of the best parts of Dark Light. Ray and Sierra’s fellow reporter Kay fall for each other (despite Kay’s Alien Temple of Love column); other curtain friends like Matt (the photographer who photographed the Alien Temple of Love, aka donuts and coffee pot), Sierra’s ghost hunter friends, and of course her dust bunny Elvis make the novel feel real and funny.

I highly recommend Dark Light if you enjoy romance or suspense with a paranormal/futuristic twist. My other favorite is After Dark, an excellent story that helps introduce the world of Harmony.

5 Stars

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The Hot Zone – Paranormal Romantic Suspense on Harmony by Jayne Castle

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The Hot Zone is a little different from some of Castle’s books. I liked the first part a lot, the middle third, when our hero and heroine meet, confront danger, survive and love, was pretty good. And the ending left me feeling kinda blah.

In the beginning… Evil doctor Blakenship has imprisoned our heroine, Sedona in the alien catacombs to see how Castle’s handy plot device, the omnipresent psi-enhancing Nightshade formula, works on someone with her talents. Dust bunny Lyle makes friends with Sedona and helps her escape, then they hitchhike back home to find her Marriage of Convenience husband Brock has divorced her and is shacking up with someone else. Somehow Sedona manages to get herself and Lyle to Rainshadow Island where the middle of the story begins.

Sedona meets Cyrus Jones, the new Guild boss on Rainshadow, when he arrives to the inn where she works. They have the usual, almost immediate attraction although Sedona tries to avoid interacting with Cyrus; she is wary of him or any Guild boss after one allowed her to be kidnapped on her last job. However Sedona needs Cyrus’ help and he needs hers. This section is good with plenty of adventure. I noticed a few discrepancies between this and Castle’s other Rainshadow novels in terms of what had been discovered on the island and in what sequence, something that usually doesn’t bother me about book series, but this time did for some reason.

The last part of the story moves to the mainland where Sedona’s upper crust family decides to include her in her grandfather’s birthday. The same evil villains from the beginning kidnap her to unlock the door to their drug lab and Cyrus must come to the rescue.

The romance and suspense both work in The Hot Zone. I liked the main characters, especially Lyle, and it’s always fun to see people from prior Rainshadow novels come to the new story. It was great seeing Lyle bond with Sedona and their ongoing friendship. I’m not sure why I don’t like The Hot Zone more, perhaps it’s because the villains aren’t as believable as they need to be, and Sedona’s family is unlikable, leaving the novel just a little unsatisfying.

4 Stars, almost.

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Silver Master – Paranormal Romance from Jayne Castle

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Silver Master is set in Castle’s wonderful world of Harmony, a normal appearing place except for the psi-drenched, glowing green cities and catacombs left by long-gone aliens. I read Silver Master a week ago and recall the plot only vaguely; this is typical of Castle’s novels. I enjoy them but they blur together and I have to skim a few pages to draft a review.

Celinda Ingram is a matchmaker, very important on Harmony where Covenant Marriages are to last forever. Celinda bought her dust bunny Araminta a pretty red toy in an antique shop and now several people are after the toy because it is actually an alien artifact stolen from the local Guild’s museum.

Araminta grabs her toy and runs off when Celinda tries to give it to Davis Oakes, the security consultant trying to retrieve the artifact for his client, the Guild. Of course lots of psi and danger and sexual encounters ensue as Davis and Celinda work together to retrieve the artifact and shut down the bad guys.

One of the best things about Silver Master revolves around the whole marriage consulting idea and tension between what Celinda knows works best when considering a Covenant Marriage, versus her instinctive belief that she and Davis belong together. Several Harmony novels reference matchmakers and Celinda’s how-to guide, 10 Steps to a Perfect Covenant Marriage and it’s fun to see how the how-to author herself is snared by romance.

Jayne Castle also brings in some favorite characters from other Harmony novels along with their lovable dust bunny friends. This is a good way to make readers connect with the characters and see Harmony through individuals and connections.

4 Stars

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