Julie Garwood - Saving Grace

When Lady Johanna learned that she was a widow, she vowed she would never marry again. Only sixteen, already she possessed a strength of will that impressed all who looked past her golden-haired beauty. Yet when King John demanded that she remarry -- and selected a bridegroom for her -- it seemed she must acquiesce, until her beloved foster brother suggested she wed his friend, the handsome Scottish warrior Gabriel MacBain.

At first Johanna was shy, but as Gabriel tenderly revealed the splendid pleasures they would share, she came to suspect that she was falling in love with her gruff new husband. And it was soon apparent to the entire Highlands clan that their brusque, gallant laird had surrendered his heart completely. But now a desperate royal intrigue threatened to tear her from his side -- and to destroy the man whose love meant more to her than she had ever dreamed!

Sparrowgal's rating: 9/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - Spoiler Alert!

One of my favourite Julie Garwood books, Johanna is a meek and mild timid little mouse who was a child bride who was abused and sorely misused by her husband.  Within her she has some gumption - she did have a good and gentle upbringing and was from a well loved family, so perhaps from there she kept a small belief in herself, that she wasn't useless or worthless in God's eyes.

MacBain did not expect a beautiful English bride, and is impressed by her beauty on first sight, though her manner was less impressive to him.  However, her acceptance of his bastard son was the start of his softening towards her - Johanna was relieved that the pressure of producing an heir was not a concern to her new husband.

King John has an interest in Johanna - her dead husband was one of his closest advisers and he was concerned that she had witnessed or overheard a conversation to get rid of Arthur, one of the other heirs to the throne.

Johanna's step brother, Nicholas, has been secretly in love with her all these years, and MacBain can see that, stirring a bit of jealousy in him.  However, that is remedied when a beaten body is dumped on the MacBain doorstep, a young girl whom Johanna takes under her wing and ends up catching Nicholas' eye.

Under Macbain's gentle hand Johanna befriends the other members of his clan, and her self confidence emerges.  When she hears the news that her ex-husband is not dead however, and has come back to reclaim his wife, she does the brave thing and surrenders herself to her husband as an English army has crossed the Highlands to retrieve her, avoiding major bloodshed.  MacBain rescues her but not before Johanna confronts the monsters who were her husband and the Bishop who supported him.

If you like the typical Garwood heroine, soft and gentle but secretly a strong will, then this book is one for you.

Intrigue - the romance bookstore

Tucked away in Garema Centre, Level 1, 70-86 Bunda St, in Canberra is this fantastic bookstore.  I have walked past it a multitude of times heading to the Indian restaurant (Flavours of India) on the same floor, but it's never been open!  Or I've been accompanied by non understanding male friends who roll their eyes in disgust at me.

They have the largest range of romance fiction, new and pre-loved - in the ACT and NSW, and have all the latest releases imported direct from the US.  They also have a monthly electronic newsletter/catalogue, and a mail order service

Interested but can't get to Canberra?  Not to worry, you can order or ask them questions online!

phone/fax: 02 62574833

email: intrigueromance@bigpond.com

www.intrigueromance.com.au

Christine Feehan - Dark Possession

Manolito De La Cruz knew he was dangerously close to turning into a vampire. The last thing he expected after being called back to his Carpathian homeland by Prince Mikhail was to catch the scent of his destined lifemate in MaryAnn Delaney. MaryAnn is human, but she knows all too well the overwhelmingly aggressive instincts of Carpathian males. And they're not exactly the kind of men she'd prefer to be bound to for life.

A dedicated counselor for battered women, MaryAnn has a fulfilling life with no room for someone like Manolito, born and bred in the Carpathian Mountains, a law unto himself. But when MaryAnn agrees to go to South America to offer guidance to a brutalized young woman, she's oblivious of the trap that awaits her in the sweltering thick of the jungle. She has been lured there by Manolito himself, who has seductive plans for the unaware, irresistibly human female.

Once there, she will be his. Once his, she will never be released. He is her lover, her predator, her lifemate. She is his dark possession....

Book 18 in the Carpathain Dark Series

Sparrowgal's rating: 9/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - Spoiler Alert!

This was my favourite Carpathian book for a while until Dark Slayer came out.  And, it featured a black woman!  It felt like there were a lot of new things with this book which is why I enjoyed it so much.

MaryAnn, who features in Dark Destiny as a friend to Destiny, and met Manolito in Dark Celebration, is a therapist who came along to the Carpathian Mountains to meet Destiny's kin.  It was in Dark Celebration where Manolito marked her, and she agreed to go to South America with the De La Cruz family to help Juliette's (Dark Hunter) sister who was raped by Jaguar men.

This book was the first book where Carpathians were not the dominant species.  MaryAnn has some psychic abilities as a therapist, but she didn't realise it, and she certainly didn't know her parentage.  She was an amusing heroine, very urban, not the fighter or jungle girl at all, which she overcame after a while as she fought to help Manolito.

MaryAnn is a Lycan, a werewolf.  And when she and Manolito share blood, he begins to take on her aspects not his own.  Walking in daylight.  Inner wolf protector.  I also like how he initially is telling her how it is alright to give up her humanity to become Carpathian but when he becomes more Lycan he is angry how he is changing, giving up his Carpathian heritage and MaryAnn calls him out on the double standard.

The Malinov brothers are the arch enemies to the De La Cruz's.  There were 5 of each, and every brother turned vampire.  Yet they are banding together to try to bring down the Carpathian empire, to be the new master race.  Each De La Cruz book seems to have a Malinov brother in it to defeat.

I think the multiple crossovers also make this a great book to me.  I love the crossovers and old characters, probably because I'm a Feehan fan.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has read her books before, and even those who haven't, it's not a bad starter either.

Christine Feehan - Dark Slayer

A rumor has persisted in the vampire world of a dark slayer—a woman—who travels with a wolf pack and who destroys any vampire who crosses her path. Mysterious, elusive and seemingly impossible to kill, she is the one hunter who strikes terror into the hearts of the undead.

She is Ivory Malinov. Her only brethren, the wolves. Long ago betrayed by her people, abandoned by her family, and cast out by everyone she held dear, Ivory has lived a century without companionship or love. She has sustained her sanity by the habit of the hunt and the custom of the feeding. Until the night she picks up the scent of a man, her unexpected salvation. Her lifemate. The curse of all Carpathian women.

He is Razvan. Branded a criminal, detested and feared, he is a dragonseeker borne of one of the greatest Carpathian lineages, only to be raised as its most despised—and captive—enemy. Fleeing from his lifetime of imprisonment, Razvan now seeks the dawn to end his terrible existence. Instead he has found his deliverance in the Dark Slayer.

In spirit, in flesh and blood, in love, and in war, Ivory and Razvan are made for each other. For as long as they dare to live.

Book 20 in the Carpathian Dark Series

Sparrowgal's rating: 9.5/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - Spoiler alert!

This is my FAVOURITE of all Christine Feehan's Dark series.  I think I've read it about 20 times.  I carried it on my phone and read it at work, on the train, any time I was needing something to do I would pull out this book and read it.

Ivory Malinov - beloved and betrayed sister of the treacherous Malinov brothers, hunts vampires, but her identity has been a secret.  Her story was tragic and agonising, and shows extremely strong will to live.  She was mutilated, chopped into pieces and thrown out onto a field, including being beheaded.  Her heart was not incinerated so even though she would have easily died to her injuries, she lived, for one reason only - Justice.

Equally tortured, and even more misunderstood is Razvan - the hated turncoat, twin brother to Natalya (Dark Demon).  He nearly killed Manolito (Dark Celebration), and committed multiple foul acts against the Carpathians.  He is of the Dragonseeker blood, which is why he never turned, but he was not immune to mind control by Xavier, which is what all the Carpathians have overlooked.  Razvan does not begrudge his status as most hated, he did it to protect his loved ones - his sister Natalya, his daughter Lara (Dark Curse) - and has managed to escape and was going to die in the sunlight, until he was rescued by Ivory.  Ivory - who managed to recognise him as her lifemate, even without hearing his voice.  It must be a female thing.

I loved the characters.  Razvan, who was afraid to love, did not want another weapon that Xavier could use against him, yet remained noble and true in front of the other Carpathians.  Ivory, who did not want or need a lifemate, fell in love with the gentle man, who was so noble inside but asked nothing in return.  Razvan is not a warrior like Ivory, he is a strategist, and has a brilliant memory.  Ivory has studied her enemy Xavier thoroughly and her careful planning and caution impress Razvan.  Gregori and Mikhael are the only ones who see them for what they truly are, and without suspicion.  When Gregori heals them, he sees the true agony they both have suffered, and it humbles him also.

At the end, where Ivory performs the mage spell to counter the parasites that have been killing the children and babies is truly amazing, and the adversity they both had to overcome to earn the respect of their race is amazing.  But what is more amazing is how they don't even need nor want that respect.  They have each other, and they need nothing more.

Christine Feehan - Dark Peril

Dominic, of the Dragonseeker lineage—one of the most powerful of the Carpathian lines—is desperate to go to the very heart of the enemy camp and learn their plans. There’s only one way to do so: ingest the parasitic blood of a vampire. He knows that it is a mission from which there is no return. With little time before the blood takes effect, he’ll get the information he needs, relay it to the leader of the Carpathians, and go out fighting. There is no more honorable way to end his life.

Solange Sangria is one of the last of the jaguar people, a royal pureblood, a dying species that cannot recover from bad decisions made over hundreds of years. She has long been alone, fighting to save the remaining shapeshifters from the hands of Brodrick the Terrible: her own father, who slaughtered her family and everyone she loved. Wounded and weary, she plans one last battle, hoping to stop the man who has made an alliance with the vampires, accepting that she will not come out alive.

They are two warriors who have lived their lives alone. Now, at the end of their time, they find each other—an obstacle neither can hope to ignore. 

Book 21 in the Carpathian Dark Series

Sparrowgal's rating: 8/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - Spoiler alert!

Solange and Dominic feature in the previous books in the series - Dominic in Dark Curse and Solange in Dark Possession.  Dominic, of the legendary Dragonseeker line - legendary because none of succumbed to the dark side and gone vampire, volunteered to spy on the vampires as his blood is the most resistant to their dark calling.  He ingested their blood and the parasites within work endlessly to turn him.  Solange, is a warrior, proud and fearless, and all she wants is to protect her jaguar sisters from the marauding hordes of jaguar men who kidnap and rape female jaguars and confiscate their offspring.

Both were looking to die, with a bleak mission in sight.  After finding one another, death with completion of the mission was no longer the goal.  Solange was going to kill Broderick and Dominic was to infiltrate the vampires - with the parasites in his blood he could move amongst them undetected.

There are a lot of complaints about the sex scenes in the book.  Geez, Dominic is old fashioned, and Solange is a man-hater, but she is confident as a fighter, not as a woman.  How else would you act when the man you have feelings for, when you have no experience to draw on?  Would you not trust him if he wants you to do something that pleases him?  Especially since he has done so much to please you?  Dominic is not as chauvanistic or overbearing as most Carpathians of his age have been in previous books.  I think Feehan is moving towards a more tolerant male instead of the protective, coccooning males that Gregori and Mikhael were.

What I liked best was the blood exchange in this book.  It seemed sad to me that in previous Jaguar and Carpathian matings, all jaguar blood was overwritten with Carpathian genes.  However, like Dark Possession, both keep aspects of their species, and the Jaguar is not lost within Solange.  That's because Solange is Royal jaguar blood, pure and strong.  Though of course, it will be no longer, with offspring diluted by Carpathian blood, but we'll see.

Jayne Castle - Silver Master

Professional matchmaker Celinda Ingram is a psychically gifted woman with a problem. She is in desperate need of a bodyguard who can double as a date for her sister's wedding. Davis Oakes, a member of the mysterious Ghost Hunter's Guild, is a security expert with a most unusual paranormal talent. But Davis doesn't trust matchmakers and Celinda doesn't trust anyone connected to the Guild. Sparks fly immediately. Danger is closing in fast, however, and this pair has no choice but to work together to survive. 

Ghost Hunters Book 4

Sparrowgal's Score - 7/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - spoiler alert!

This was the first book in the Harmony series which explained the whole Harmony planet and why things are they way they are there.  Probably because I read them out of order... but I think that if you want anyone to just pick up a book, you would probably need to explain it a little bit in each novel, though that may get old for those who faithfully follow the novels. That probably made it score reasonably high in my book.

A typical heroine in this book - Matchmaker Celinda Ingram is hiding in Cadence city, after a tragedy when she was in Frequency City, an unfortunate affair with a powerful Guild member, Landry.  Davis Oakes is a Private Investigator who is working for the Cadence Guild and has come to see Celinda because she has artifact in her possession that was stolen from the Guild master.

The romance in this story was believable and I liked the characters.  Celinda looks at Davis and sees her perfect man, and he of course unbeknownst to her has an instant attraction to her as well.  He hides a secret - he has an ability to turn invisible but can also deactivate "ghosts".  Ghosts are balls of energy that can do a lot of damage when summoned by certain individuals with that particular power - Ghost hunters they are called.  But using his power for extended periods to make himself invisible for longer than 5 minutes puts him into a coma.  Celinda's talent lies in Aura analysis, which is why she is a good matchmaker.  She can see through auras who would be well suited to one another.

Celinda and Davis both have dust bunnies - and Celinda's dust bunny takes a liking to the artifact and takes it and hides it.  However, there is a doctor out there who has another similar artifact and knows how to use it for his evil purposes - mind control.  Celinda finds that the artifact can be used to alter psi waves and has great medical applications, when used in conjunction with the right talent.

She reveals to Davis that Landry, with who she had the so called "affair" with had actually drugged her and she was photographed in compromising positions with him and was blackmailed into silence - her family was threatened.  So she moved cities to get away from it all.

Landry ends up working with the doctor to try to get the artifact but love conquers all, as Celinda shows that she is not without tricks of her own - her talent allows her to dampen or reduce people's auras and thus reducing their powers - or arousal.

Davis and the doctor have a showdown in the tunnels, with Davis emerging the victor, resisting the mind control by focussing on Celinda, and Celinda conquers Landry when he grabs her and she uses her talent to dampen his abilities long enough for Davis to finish him off.

Celinda convinces the head of Cadence guild to donate the items for medical research, and Davis and Celinda live happily ever after - match made in heaven.  There's even a cameo appearance from Lydia and Emmett from After Dark.

Jayne Castle - Midnight Crystal

For many earthly centuries, a legendary curse has plagued the Winters familly, stemming from the tumultuous founding of the Arcane Socieety.  But now, on the futuristic world of Harmoney, the curse's final mystery will be unravelled... head of the ghost hunters guild Adam Winters and dreamlight reader extraordinaire Marlowe Jones must break the curse, save Harmony'e entire underworld - and fight a passion that could destroy them both.

Book 3 of the Dreamlight Trilogy
Book 9 of the Arcane Society series

Sparrowgal's rating - 7/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - spoiler alert!

This was the first book I read about the futuristic planet, Harmony.  And it wasn't well explained to me, so I was a bit confused, but by the end of course I got the hang of it all.  So that's why the rating was not as high as you would think, due to my being confused for the early part of the book.

It's a great conclusion to the Dreamlight trilogy, with a Winter finally partnering a Jones.  Lifelong enemies historically, but in this book, lovers.  Fitting.

Marlowe is a strong dreamlight reader, the first non strat talent in the Jones family to run Jones and Jones.  Her ability however, makes for a great private investigator, as she can see many clues in dreamlight psi prints.  Adam has discovered that crystals underground are out of sync and could be a great threat to all of Harmony and feels that the Burning Lamp can help fix the problem.  Together he and Marlowe fix the crystal and also unlock the midnight crystal - which was dormant in the previous books.

Adam, as the new head of the Ghost hunters guild, has been having blackouts and hallucinations, which accompany the second talent of the Winters curse.  He can control all spectrums of amber, and can generate nightmare energy, incapacitating would be attackers and foes.  Marlowe with the help of the lamp stabilises his patterns and unlocks his ability to be able to wield the Burning Lamp.

The midnight crystal contains a powerful hypnotic suggestion to wield the lamp to destroy all of the Jones, but the power of the lamp can only be wielded by two people - a Winters and a dreamlight reader.  Adam overcomes it in the end, obviously because of the great love he bears Marlowe.

A true Cerebrus raises its head at the end of the book - Elliott Fortner, father of the triplets in the book, one of whom has dreamlight talent, one has crystal talent and the other  has chameleon talent (and who dated Marlowe and managed to make himself her "perfect" match).  These triplets tried to steal the lamp to help the brother with the crystal talent who was dying.  However, Marlowe was able to stabilise the crystal talent brother's patterns with her own talent, and the trio were grateful.  Elliott however, started to go crazy with his 3 talents and also playing with the crystals.  Adam eliminated him in a final battle.

Jayne Castle - Canyons of Night

Charlotte Enright, owner of a small antiques shop called Looking Glass Antiques on Rainshadow Island, and Slade Attridge, the community's new chief of police, have something in common: they possess strong paranormal talents.  They met several years ago when they were in their teens spending the summer on the island.  Slade saved Charlotte from a gang of drunken toughs, but then at the end of the summer Slade and Charlotte went their separate ways and started their adult lives.

Now, fifteen years later, they have both been drawn back to Rainshadow island.  They will discover the adult passion they have for each other and start to explore some of the mysteries of the forbidden section of the island known only as the Preserve.

Book 3 of the Looking Glass Trilogy

Book 12 in the Arcane Society series

Sparrowgal's rating: 7.5/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - spoiler alert!

This was the second book that I had read in the series set in the future, under the Jayne Castle pseudonym.  This one is not set in the cities but on an island, with a secret within the Preserve - a wilderness on the island that seems to be imbued with power, and growing power by the sounds of it.

The heroine and hero of this book are extremely likable.  Charlotte was shy and geeky when a teenager, but blossomed in adulthood but still has some of that awkwardness about her with her panic attacks.  Her talent, subtle, is a "rainbow" talent, an aspect of aura talent that also allows her to tune objects so that they resonate in harmony with someone else's talent, making the item "fit" to the person.  It doesn't sound like her talent can do much, but by the end of the book she can neutralise people's power but turning items opposite to someone's frequency to nullify their talent, or render them unconscious if they pick up an object.  She is now looking after the antique shop that her aunt had, and there is an item of interest in her shop that people seem to be willing to kill for.

Slade comes back to the island because he thinks he's losing his powers, but actually what has happened is that he has opened up a new power - all this occurred after he was exposed to a blast of some sort of energy.  Charlotte helps him tap that power and he is able to use that power to channel into others and permanently neutralise their talent.  A formidable talent indeed.

In the end, one of the townsfolk was working in conjuction with someone Charlotte had previous dealings with, who wanted the snowglobe.  The snowglobe was the Bridewell Engine, which Millicent Bridewell created to allow her to infuse energy into glass in such a way that it could be used as a weapon.

Jayne Ann Krentz - In Too Deep

When Fallon Jones took over the family business, he moved Jones & Jones headquarters to Scargill Cove, a secluded coastal town in Northern California. The Cove suits him just fine, as a confirmed recluse . . . and as an investigator of the paranormal. The Cove is a hot spot, a convergence point for unusually strong currents of energy, which might explain why the town draws misfits and drifters like moths to a flame. 

Isabella Valdez is used to changing apartments, jobs, even names and Social Security numbers at the drop of a hat — but this is too much. She’s been framed by some very dangerous men. They may be behind the disappearance of her grandmother. And now they’ve sent their thugs after Isabella. She would be dead if her gift of intuition hadn’t told her to run. 

So she’s fled to California — and found employment with Fallon Jones. It’s been only a few days, but Fallon doesn’t remember life before his new assistant. Isabella’s already organized his pathologically chaotic office, and she doesn’t bat an eye at the psychic aspect of his job. She’s a kindred spirit, sanctuary from a world that considers his talents a form of madness. The surest sign that he’s falling for her? He doesn’t even mind her cheery personality. 

But after a routine case unearths an antique clock infused with dark energy, Fallon and Isabella are dragged into the secret history of Scargill Cove. Next thing they know, they’re fighting for their lives in an abandoned underground lab — not exactly an ideal first date. Now their lives depend on the combined strength of their powers as they unravel a cutthroat conspiracy with roots in the Jones family business . . . and Isabella’s family tree.

Book 1 of the Looking Glass Trilogy

Book 10 of the Arcane Society series

Sparrowgal's rating: 7/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - Spoiler Alert!

I just couldn't get my head around their romance at first.  It was very whirlwind.  I would have thought that Fallon, with his conspiracy theories from his Chaos Theory talent - seeing random items and somehow connecting them all into one big theory - would be more suspicious of Isabella and her sudden arrival in Scargill Cove, and also his inability to discover more of her history.  That's probably why I wasn't that enamoured with this book, though by the end they do make a great couple.  Isabella's talent is intuition and she comes from a conspiracy theory family (her grandmother writes the Iceberg Conspiracy Website).  I do like Isabella though. She's forward, headstrong, and understands Fallon completely.

In this book, a cache of psi powered toys and artifacts has been guarded for years by the local residents of Scargill Cove.  Years ago there was a cult of sorts and the leaders of that cult discovered the cache of psi based weapons, and squabbled between themselves and ended up dying or missing.  So the cache was never discovered.  However, branches of Nightshade have decided to branch out and acquire psi-infused weapons, in particular some pieces done by Millicent Bridewell, who in the Victorian era was very talented at creating and handling psi in glass.  By the end of the book, one of the curators of the Arcane Museum, Sylvia Tremont, was responsible for thefts of weapon type artifacts from the museum and turned out to be a direct descendant of Millicent Bridewell.  She also knows how to handle the psi from those artifacts.

There was a subplot within about trying to overthrow the power of the Jones family from Jones and Jones, and also as head of the Arcane society - partly engineered by Victoria Knight who used the emnity between the Austin family and Adrian Spangler to the Jones' to try to push her agenda.  However, that didn't work.  Isabella somehow foiled the plans.

At the end, Victoria Knight is having an affair with Spangler, two powerful talents, both working for the opposing side.  No doubt they will feature in the next novel.

Jayne Ann Krentz - Fired Up

Jack Winters has been experiencing nightmares and blackouts - manifestations of the Winters Family curse.  The legend says that he must find the Burning Lamp or risk turning into a monster.  He needs the help of a woman who can read the lamp's dreamlight.  Jack is convinced that private investigator Chloe Harper and her talents for finding objects and accessing dream energy will save him, but their powerful sexual pull threatens to overwhelm them.  Chloe picks up the trail of the missing lamp but as they draw closer, will they be able to withstand the power that dwells within it?

Book 1 of the Dreamlight Trilogy

Book 7 in the Arcane Society series

Sparrowgal's score - 8/10

Sparrowgal's thoughts - spoiler alert!

Jayne Ann Krentz writes under a lot of pen names!  In reference to the Arcane society, however, she writes as Amanda Quick when writing historical romance, as Jayne Ann Krentz for Contemporary romance, and as Jayne Castle for futuristic romance.

I really enjoyed this book.  Chloe, is a convincing and powerful Dreamlight talent.  Her talent works thus:  Every living thing emits psi, and even those with no talent give off considerable amounts of energy even in a calm state of mind, also known as auras.  Humans give off a lot of energy in the dreamstate, more so than the waking state.  Even if they are not dreaming adn even if they forget their dreams, the energy is nevertheless produced, and people leave races of it wherever they go and on whatever they touch.  Chloe can see it in the form of psi prints, which are like fingerprints, giving off various hues of ultralight.  Chloe works as a Private investigator and also gives accurate dating of historical artifacts as she can date and read the prints left on the artifacts by people who have created and handled the item.

Jack's talent is a strat-talent, meaning he can predict people's behaviour and hone in on their weaknesses for his benefit.  He has recently begun to experience the next stage of the Winter's curse - which states there are three talents locked in the Winter's bloodline.  The first talent fills the mind with a rising tide of restlessness that cannot be eased by research or alcohol or drugs.  The second talent is accompanied by dark dreams and terrible visions.  The third talent is the most powerful and most dangerous.  If the key is not turned properly in the lock, his last psychical ability will prove lethal, bringing on insanity and then death.  Jack has started exhibiting the second talent symptoms.

They meet, and there is an instant attraction, and Chloe agrees to hunt for the lamp for him.  She doesn't let him know at this stage that she can't sleep with any man because of her talent.  This is because sleeping in the same room is extremely disturbing for her as the dream energy they produce is so chaotic it can be painful.  Even people napping in a chair is distressing to her.

Searching for the lamp as well are Nightshade operatives, who want to use the lamp to help those under the influence of the drug, stabilising them, or even to make them more powerful.  Humphrey Hulsey (a descendent of Basil Hulsey - who worked on the original formula), a scientist who believes that dream psi is the key to opening unlimited power, is working for Nightshade, and Victoria Knight (who featured in Sizzle and Burn as Niki Plumer) who has a poweful hypnotic talent, who was working for Cascadia Dawn, work together to see if the rumours about the lamp are true, with Victoria trying to see if her Grandfather's theories are true.

The romance between the two characters is very believable and palpable and enjoyable to watch unfold.  They engage each other in the stages of post psi-burn, which is similar to a post adrenaline rush experienced after a fight, or even a football match.  Being both powerful talents, the sex is amazing, with the right person.

Jack sought Chloe because like him, they both are not connected to the Arcane Society, and even less connected to the Jones family - the founders and one of the most powerful families within the society.  Chloe's family, the Harpers, are a long line of con artists and counterfeiters, and Chloe is one of the few who engage in legal activity.

Chloe and Jack obtain the lamp, and use it together.  It can only be used together, and she realigns his spectrum a little, stabilising it, removing the hallucinations and blackouts, but also enhancing his power to be able to access his powers a little better, to use the lamp in a specific way.  Together, they are able to wield the lamp as a psi weapon - but only a Winters and a dreamlight talent are able to use the lamp as such a weapon.

By the end of the book, it is discovered that Jack is immune to the Nightshade formula, due to his genetic makeup.  Chloe describes his genetic anomaly as the ability to tolerate open channels between the dreamstate and the waking state, allowing him access to the power from the dreamstate.  In normal individuals this can drive you insane.  In the Nightshade formula, it artificially opens these channels, but it creates a dependence on these open channels that you have to continue to take the formula to keep access to the power or they shut down and you almost all of your power and go insane.

So happily ever after, and the book ends with Fallon Jones meeting Isabella Valdez in his office - the beginning of In Too Deep.

Introduction and welcome to my Romance Novel Blog

Lace Nor Venom is my anagram title of Romance Novel.  Yep, you guessed it, this blog is about Romance Novels - ones I've read and will comment on.  There are a lot of romance novels out there in many different genres, and admittedly I do have my favourites, but I will write about each one.  There are lots of series too, so this blog is also my personal diary to keep track of what I've read and where each one was in the series.  There are multiple spoilers so be aware when you are reading the reviews!