Blog Tour Review - - Enter the Nightmare

Enter the Nightmare

by Jayne Ann Krentz

writing as Jayne Castle

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: June 30, 2026

Reviewed by PJ

Alice Radstone should have known not to return. Her life before the Hotel of Dreams had been one of a perfectly cloistered teacher at the Ballantine Academy. When the death of her mentor forced her out, she was left to reinvent herself in the big city. Since then, things have not gone well. Ten months ago, after her first trip to the hotel, she woke up in the locked ward of a hospital for the criminally insane and was informed that she had murdered her husband on their wedding night. She has no memory of the husband or the wedding, but after she escapes from the asylum, one thing is certain: She is never going back.

Unfortunately, Alice’s second reinvented life is also deteriorating rapidly, which is why she finds herself once more at the Hotel of Dreams—this time hiding in the shadows of her room with a dead body in the shower and two men wearing masks creeping toward the bed to kidnap her. Again.

When the enigmatic and decidedly dangerous Owen March shows up and claims he’s there to rescue her, she has no choice but to accept his offer—and hope that he doesn’t also intend to kidnap her.

With Alice and now Owen in the killer’s sights, time is running out. They must trust each other and the electric passion between them if they are to make it out of this hotel alive.

PJ's Thoughts:

Jayne Ann Krentz's imagination is a strange and wondrous place to visit. This newest novel set in her fictional, futuristic world of Harmony threw me into the action from the first few pages and kept me on the the edge of my seat until the final sentence. 

Krentz has the ability to create a psychic paranormal world that, while I know is completely fictional, feels believable and real. She immerses me into the various setting of Harmony, making me feel as if I am actually walking the dark and misty streets of the Shadow Zone, overdosing on the glitz and glamour of the Illusion Town casinos, outrunning bad guys through the psy-rich tunnels of the Underground, and racing against time in the hotel where Alice's life first went off the rails and now is in danger of ending.

Interspersed among the action, danger, and suspense of this book is Krentz's trademark humor, sarcastic wit, snappy banter, and romance. It made me gasp on one page and sigh on the next while feeling like I was experiencing every emotion right along with Owen and Alice. 

Of course, a Harmony novel would not be complete without a mischievous dust bunny and Sebastian more than lives up to the DB standard set by his predecessors from earlier books. I adored him!

Don't be intimidated by the fact that this is the eighteenth book set on Harmony. Every book stands on its own and Krentz includes a brief Harmony history in each book that brings new readers up to date. Readers new to Harmony will be fine jumping in with Enter the Nightmare or at any point along the way. 

~~~~~~~~

Jayne Castle, the author of People in Glass Houses, Sweetwater and the Witch, Guild Boss, Illusion Town, Siren's Call, The Hot Zone, Deception Cove, and more, is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. She writes contemporary romantic suspense novels under the Krentz name, as well as historical novels under the pseudonym Amanda Quick. Photo credit: Chandra Wicke Photography

~~~~~~~~~~

ENTER THE NIGHTMARE EXCERPT

 

The thing you had to remember about the Hotel of Dreams was that the nightmares were real.

I ought to know, Alice thought. This was the second time she had checked in. The first occasion had been her wedding night. The following morning, she had awakened in the locked ward of a hospital for the criminally insane and been informed that she had murdered her husband.

The amenities and the service had not improved. Tonight she was hiding in the bathroom of Room 205, a flamer in one hand, a sleeked-out, poised-to-attack dust bunny crouched at her feet, and a dead man in the shower behind her.

She watched through the crack in the partially open door as a figure in a medical mask crept toward the bed.

She had only herself to blame. She had not simply reached for the bait that had been dangled in front of her-she had lunged for it. In doing so, she had violated Core Principle Number One of the Ballantine Method for Achieving the Harmonic Life: Do not mistake impulse for true intuition.

She stayed very still in the deep shadows and tried to will away the shivers. Shivering was not good, because she was clutching a flamer. It was set to stun, but she had only rezzed it a couple of times and her aim was still problematic due to lack of practice. Setting the bed on fire by accident would not be helpful.

She did not like having to resort to the weapon-it went against all her training-but she had learned the hard way that a woman alone in the world had to take personal security into her own hands. It was either the flamer or the dark side of her talent.

There were significant reasons not to go full-rez with her psychic senses for the purpose of self-defense. The results of using the negative side of her talent could be unpredictable. She did not want to take the risk of sending a potential informant into a waking coma. It would make it difficult or even impossible to get the answers she desperately needed. Besides, she hated having to brush up against someone else's dreamlight for even the few seconds it took to unlock the nightmares. She had enough bad dreams of her own.

And then there was the inconvenience of having to spend who knew how many hours in the demanding mental and physical practices needed to restore her inner harmonic balance. She did not have the time to spare. She was too busy trying to survive. Priorities.

The shivering was caused by adrenaline, not panic, she decided, opting for positive self-talk. She had been doing a lot of positive self-talk in the past ten months. But what if returning to the opening scene of her own personal nightmare was causing her to lose control? What if she was hallucinating? Undergoing a psychic break? Maybe she was imagining the dead man in the shower and the figure stalking toward the bed.

Sebastian pressed against her lower leg and looked up at her, all four eyes-the baby blues and the amber pair he used for hunting-wide open. It was as if he knew she was questioning what they were both seeing in the other room.

She wasn't imagining things. The dust bunny was ready to roll in hot. Now that he was not fluffed up and looking like a large wad of dryer lint, you could see all six paws and his sharp little teeth. He had even left his beloved sunglasses on the floor of the bathroom in preparation for battle. As far as he was concerned, the danger was real. That was good enough for her. Reassured, she tightened her grip on the flamer.

The masked figure reached the bed and looked down at the bundled shape beneath the quilt. In a horrifyingly swift, efficient motion, he yanked back the covers. He raised his other hand in preparation for plunging a small weapon of some kind into what he assumed was a sleeping woman.

Moonlight sparked briefly on the syringe. At least it wasn't a knife. Maybe murder wasn't the goal. Of course, you could kill a person quite easily with the injection of a lethal drug. Nevertheless, it was starting to look like someone wanted to abduct her-not kill her-again.

 

She jerked open the bathroom door, clutched the flamer in both hands, and tried for a firm, authoritative voice. Attitude was crucial in situations like this. She could not let the incipient panic show.

"Stop or I'll fire," she said.

 

Excerpted from Enter the Nightmare by Jayne Castle Copyright © 2026 by Jayne Castle. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Tour Review - - Archangel's Eternity

Archangel's Eternity

by Nalini Singh

Guild Hunter - Book 18

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: May 5, 2026

Reviewed by Nancy 

 A thousand years.  

It’s been a millennium since Elena’s fateful first meeting with Archangel Raphael. She has survived war and loss, experienced beauty and cruelty. But no matter what, she has always held on to her mortal heart, as she and Raphael have held on to each other. Passionate and vibrant, they’ve built a life that has stood the test of time, growing ever stronger with each turn of the sun.

But change is coming—of a magnitude they could have never imagined—and it will forever alter the trajectory of their existence. 

Even as they grapple with the cataclysmic shift in their personal lives, the Cadre of Ten, which has maintained a hard-won peace for centuries, begins to simmer with dangerous fault lines. The specter of madness looms in one archangel, the promise of war burns between two others, and in darkness far from mortal and immortal eyes stirs an ancient, slumbering power.

Suddenly, the future is terrifyingly uncertain . . . at the very moment that Elena and her archangel need to protect a treasure infinitely more precious than eternity.

 

Nancy’s Thoughts: 

Nalini Singh has announced that Archangel’s Eternity is the final book in her long-running, popular Guild Hunter series. Her letter to readers at the end confirms this, as does the structure of the book. It is very much a farewell to the series world and its characters, and it reads like a book written for fans, not as one designed to attract new readers. 

The focus of this book is the characters and their relationships, especially Elena and Raphael. The theme is the importance of family, both blood-linked and found. Unlike the other books in this series, there is no overarching, threatening plot. There’s not much adventurous action and little about the politics of the Cadre, the group of archangels who rule the world. 

Readers who love the action and adventure that were such a part of this series may miss that and thus may find the pace a little slow. Others may find that focusing on the relationships and character interactions is a fair trade-off. 

Writing a detailed review of Archangel’s Eternity  would require spoiling something that has been carefully kept close by Singh and by Berkley. Rather than do that, I’ll just say that characters we haven’t seen lately—some of them, not in a very long time—reappear and have a moment with Elena and Raphael. I didn’t remember who some of them were, which isn’t surprising with a series this long, but the text includes reminders. It’s likely that some of those I didn’t recall are favorites of other readers, who will enjoy those bits all the more for having a deeper appreciation of the relationships. 

As the blurb promises, Elena and Raphael’s life is about to change, and that change runs through the story. It’s also the reason for many of the reunions in the book. 

Singh has always written emotion beautifully, and this book is no exception. I don’t generally cry at books or movies, but I got a little choked up several times and had to blink back tears at one reunion. 

Archangel’s Eternity is a moving and fitting end to this series. While reading the last of something I’ve enjoyed is bittersweet, I applaud Singh for closing the series on a high note rather than keeping it going past its prime. 

If you’re a fan of the Guild Hunter series, you’ll love this book. If you’re not already a fan, go back and read from the beginning, Angels’ Blood. You won’t be disappointed.

 

~ Nancy

 

 

Review & Giveaway - - The Magic of Untamed Hearts

The Magic of Untamed Hearts

by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Wild Magic - Book 3

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: January 13, 2026

Reviewed by PJ

Like her sisters, Sage and Teal, Sky Flores has a touch of magic, and it’s caused nothing but heartache. Not only did she disappear into the woods years ago and reappear with no rational explanation, she’s also more comfortable talking to animals than to people. Different and misunderstood, Sky is shunned in the small town of Cranberry.

Sky’s neighbor, Adam Noemi, has his own problems. After being laid off from a prestigious newspaper, Adam, ever the ambitious reporter, needs a big headline to redeem his career. Enter Sky, a girl with a story that news outlets have been chasing for years. Sky agrees to grant Adam an exclusive interview on one condition: that he befriend Sky, in a very public way, to prove to everyone in Cranberry that she’s not an outcast.

As Sky shares her experiences with Adam, something much bigger than a simple agreement begins to grow between them. But for love to take root, Adam will have to take a leap towards a life that defies expectations, and Sky must open her heart – full of flora and fauna and mystical energies – to his curious mind.

PJ's Thoughts:

The first thing you have to do with this book is suspend disbelief. Once that's accomplished, what follows is a satisfying conclusion to this trilogy that tells the stories of the three Flores sisters, complex women with secret magical powers. 

I've been eager to read Sky's book since she was first mentioned earlier in the series. How could I not be curious about a girl who falls from a cliff at sixteen and is not seen again until she magically reappears at twenty-four? How is that possible? Where has she been? Was she really "living" as a ghost caught in the in-between all that time? 

Sky is depicted exactly as I would expect of one who lost eight formative years. Struggling to find her place within her family, the community at large, and an unexpected friendship with Adam, she's a complicated character who embodies both old-soul wisdom and inexperienced naivete. Couple that with what is most certainly undiagnosed neurodiversity and you have a woman who is unapologetically authentic, if at times awkward and a bit cringey. I found her to be believable, relatable, and someone I couldn't help but root for.

Adam is certainly not a perfect hero but he just might be perfect for Sky...if he can unpack his own emotional baggage. I appreciated the time the author took with him as well. Both he and Sky have a believable growth arc that gradually unfolds as their friendship slowly transitions into sizzling chemistry and deepening feelings. 

If you're in the mood for spicy romance, family dynamics, coming-of-age stories, magical elements, and hard-won happy endings, give this one a try. It can stand on its own but I think it's much more meaningful - and enjoyable - if the trilogy is read in order. 

Do you enjoy magic in your reading?

Have you read any books by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland?

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, January 20 will receive a print copy of The Magic of Untamed Hearts.

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

Review & Giveaway - - Shattering Dawn

Shattering Dawn

by Jayne Ann Krentz

The Lost Night Files - Book 3

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: January 7, 2025

Reviewed by PJ

 

Amelia Rivers, a member of the Lost Night Files podcast team, hires private investigator Gideon Sweetwater to catch the stalker who has been watching her. Amelia suspects the stalker may be connected to the shadowy organization responsible for the night that she and her two friends lost to amnesia—a night that upended their lives and left them with paranormal talents.

Gideon suspects that Amelia is either paranoid or an outright con artist, but he can’t resist the chemistry between them. He takes the case despite his skepticism. For her part, Amelia has second thoughts about the wisdom of employing the mysterious Mr. Sweetwater. She is wary of the powerful attraction between them, and deeply uneasy about the nightmarish paintings on the walls of his home. She senses they were inspired by his own dreamscapes.

Amelia knows she doesn’t have time to find another investigator, and Gideon is forced to reckon with the truth when he disrupts what was intended to be Amelia’s kidnapping. Now the pair is on the run, with no choice but to return to the haunting ruins of the old hotel where Amelia’s lost night occurred. They are desperate to stop a killer and the people who are conducting illegal experiments with a dangerous drug that is designed to enhance psychic abilities. If they are to survive, they will have to trust each other and the passion that bonds them.

PJ's Thoughts:

The conclusion to Krentz's Lost Night Files trilogy is another high-intensity story brimming with danger, action, edge-of-the-seat suspense, and plenty of twists, psychic and otherwise. 

This book pulled me into the story from the opening pages and held my interest right through to the end. I love Krentz's psychic world. While logically I can tell myself that many of the events and abilities that inhabit her fictional world are just that - fiction - I still find myself wondering, what if? She immerses me in her imagination and makes it all seem so real.

Her characters have depths that make them relatable and layers that slowly reveal themselves throughout the story, both to the reader as well as one another. I was fascinated by both Amelia and Gideon, especially as those layers fell away and I learned more about who they were at their core. The romance is not the heart of the book but it definitely is a facet. 

You could enjoy Gideon and Amelia's story as a standalone but I'm happy I read the three books in order. There is an overarching mystery that runs through the trilogy, as well as twists in Shattering Dawn that had a greater impact because of things that happened in the first two books. 

I don't know what Jayne Ann Krentz has planned for her next book but I'm already looking forward to it. 

Have you read any of the books in The Lost Night Files trilogy?

Do you enjoy psychic elements in novels, suspense or otherwise?

Do you remember your dreams?

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, January 10 will receive a hardcover copy of Shattering Dawn. 

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

Review & Giveaway - - Under Loch and Key

Under Loch and Key

by Lana Ferguson

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: December 3, 2024

Reviewed by Nancy

Keyanna “Key” MacKay is used to secrets. Raised by a single father who never divulged his past, it’s only after his death that she finds herself thrust into the world he’d always refused to speak of. With just a childhood bedtime story about a monster that saved her father’s life and the name of her estranged grandmother to go off of, Key has no idea what she’ll find in Scotland. But repeating her father’s mistakes and being rescued by a gorgeous, angry Scotsman—who thinks she’s an idiot—is definitely the last thing she expects.

Lachlan Greer has his own secrets to keep, especially from the bonnie lass he pulls to safety from the slippery shore—a lass with captivating eyes and the last name he’s been taught not to trust. He’s looking for answers as well, and Key’s presence on the grounds they both now occupy presents a real problem. It’s even more troublesome when he gets a front row seat to the lukewarm welcome Key receives from her family; the strange powers she begins to develop; and the fierce determination she brings to every obstacle in her path. Things he shouldn’t care about, and someone he definitely doesn’t find wildly attractive.

When their secrets collide, it becomes clear that Lachlan could hold the answers Keyanna is after—and that she might also be the key to uncovering his. Up against time, mystery, and a centuries old curse, they’ll quickly discover that magic might not only be in fairy tales, and that love can be a real loch-mess.

Nancy's Thoughts:

Under Loch and Key skillfully weaves family secrets and estrangement with a magical curse and a quest for belonging into an engaging paranormal romance. Key’s determination to scatter her father’s ashes in Loch Ness had me sympathizing with her immediately. Yes, there are signs warning that the rocks around the loch are dangerous, but her reasons for ignoring them are understandable. So is Lachlan’s irritation with her after he keeps her from sliding in the water. They definitely get off on the wrong foot, and their beginning seeds the prickly tone of their dealings going forward. 

In addition to scattering her father’s ashes, Key very much wants a relationship with his family, who’ve never met her and don’t seem to want her. Despite the grudging hospitality her grandmother offers, her grandfather makes her welcome. She stays at their farm and tries to show them she’s someone they could come to care about.

I wasn’t quite so ready to root for Lachlan. While I started out rooting for him, I found the cryptic references to his problem off-putting. He’s staying at the MacKay farm because he’s looking for something. He sneaks into the attic to search it, for a clue to solve his problem. It’s hard to root for him there, though, because he’s being sneaky and breaching hospitality. For me, that requires a compelling reason, but we’re told only that he’s lost a lot and he wants a chance at a normal life. Without knowing what he’s lost, what he’s looking for, why he thinks whatever he’s looking for will help, and why he can’t have a normal life without it, I gradually began to feel less sympathetic toward him. I didn’t know what his problem was or what the stakes were, and without knowing these things, I couldn’t root for him to succeed.

The truth about his problem comes out about a third of the way through the book, and knowing it had me fully on his side again. So if you find cryptic references and the lack of a clear rooting interest as annoying as I do, just be patient and read on. 

Yes, I know I’m being cryptic, too, but I’m trying not to spoil anything!

Learning the truth about Lachlan’s situation wins Key to his side. They begin working together to solve his problem, a quest complicated by the need to keep it secret. The romance is tender, and the love scenes are steamy and well done. My only issue with them is that I strongly dislike the c-word for female anatomy. I realize, though, that not every reader feels this way. 

Supporting characters include Lachlan’s friends Rory and Blair, Key’s cousin Brodie, and her grandparents. Rory and Blair like to tease Lachlan, which leads to a fun Highland games competition. Brodie and Lachlan have known each other since childhood but have never gotten along. Brodie does like Key, though, and he supplies information that turns out to be helpful before his resentment of Brodie comes to a dangerous boil. 

Key’s relationship with her grandparents evolves in a believable and sympathetic way. As the truth about her father’s mysterious departure for the United States comes out, their different reactions to her unexpected arrival become more understandable and even a little sad. 

I had two other issues with the story. First, I don’t quite see how someone standing on rocks above the water gets knocked forward into it by someone in the water. Second, when Lachlan visits Key to tell her the bits of his story he has held back, she seduces him before he can get out more than a few words. Then she accuses him of hiding the truth. He says he was going to tell her but doesn’t point out that he had started to explain when they became distracted. That’s a logical defense, and I didn’t understand why he didn’t use it.

Overall, the characters are engaging, the story moves at a good pace, and the paranormal elements are used beautifully. The Scottish setting, in addition to contributing to the mystery, provides a lovely encounter between Key and a Highland cow. 

Highly recommended. 

4 Stars. 

~ Nancy

~~~~~~

Have you read Lana Ferguson?

Have you visited Scotland?

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM (Eastern), December 7 will receive a print copy of Under Loch and Key. 

*U.S. only

*Must be18

Review - - Primal Mirror

Primal Mirror

by Nalini Singh

Psy-Changeling Trinity - Book 8

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: July 23, 2024

Reviewed by Nancy

 

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into a family dark with shadowy secrets, as the world of the Psy teeters on the edge of a final catastrophic collapse. . . 

Daughter of two ruthless high-Gradient telepaths, Auden Scott is not the child her Psy parents wanted or expected, even before her brain injury. Her thoughts are scattered, her memories fuzzy—or just terrifyingly blank. The only thing she knows for certain is that she must protect her unborn baby . . . a baby she has no recollection of conceiving and who draws an unnerving depth of interest from her dead mother’s closest associates.

Leopard alpha Remi Denier is a man driven by the primal instinct to protect. Protect his pack, protect his allies . . . and protect the mysterious woman who has become a most unlikely neighbor. With eerie eyes that see too much and a scent that alters in ways disturbing and impossible, Auden Scott is the enemy . . . but nothing about this strange Psy is what it seems, and Remi’s feline heart is as fascinated by her as his human half.

Then Auden asks Remi to help her shatter the wall of secrets that is the Scott bloodline. What they unearth will reveal a nightmare beyond imagination. This time, the battle is to the death. . .

Nancy’s Thoughts:

Once a series hits about the tenth book, I sometimes find my interest falling off. The stories don’t seem fresh to me anymore or don’t engage me or otherwise aren’t satisfying. Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling books, however, have yet to disappoint although she’s up to her twenty-third book (not counting shorter works) set in this world.

The hero, Remi Denier, is alpha of the RainFire leopard changeling pack in the Smoky Mountains. Remi first appeared in Shards of Honor (Psy-Changeling #14) when he and his pack gave Arrows Aden and Zaira refuge after they’d been kidnapped and tortured by a shadowy group of enemies. The interaction resulted in bone-deep friendship between Remi and Aden and, by extension, the Arrows and RainFire. The Arrows play a significant role in this book, and I always enjoy seeing them.

Remi has forged a group of loners and misfits into a tight-knit pack. I loved the scenes of him interacting with the pack, especially the children. He doesn’t have a lot of internal conflict to move past, aside from initial distrust of what Auden is doing on the border of RainFire’s territory. He worries about the unpredictable change in her scent and the accompanying changes in her personality and memory, but his concern for this pregnant woman who seems so alone in her cabin arouses his alpha instinct to protect and nurture. He soon resolves to help her. This means helping her understand what causes her memory issues and personality shifts.

It's just as well that Remi doesn’t have a lot of romantic baggage to overcome because Auden has issues enough for them both. She doesn’t understand her blackouts and memory gaps, nor can she explain how things her late mother knew but she never did suddenly pop into her mind, allowing her access to her mother’s secret records. Her late mother’s assistant, now Auden’s assistant since she has become the figurehead CEO of the family corporation, behaves much more like a zealous guardian than an assistant. To come into her own, Auden must take control of this relationship and resolve her memory issues and the related mysteries.

One of the mysteries Auden faces is just exactly how she became pregnant. She has no memory of agreeing to be impregnated. Still, she’s resolved to protect this child. The assistant, who behaves as though she were in charge of Auden, and the doctor show an intense interest in the baby that worries Auden. Something isn’t right about the whole situation.

Auden’s reaction to her pregnancy is part of the reason I gave the book less than a five-star rating. I’m all in on her determination to protect her baby from the schemes of her assistant and the doctor. My issue is the speed with which she reached that decision in the backstory. Since she was impregnated without her knowledge or consent, I wanted a little bit of wrestling with that before she resolved to see this baby girl as hers and to shield her from whatever schemes are floating around them.

The other part of my reason for rating the book at less than five stars is that I initially found Auden hard to relate to. We first meet her when Remi sees her in a clearing near his pack’s territory, on the property where his Arrow friends Aden and Zaira were tortured. Although other readers may react differently, I found Auden’s changes in focus and scent a barrier to relating to her.

Auden is a Ps-Psy, meaning she reads emotional imprints on objects. Her cabin is therefore sparsely furnished with things that are safe for her to touch. Keeping her surroundings relatively pristine is critical to her wellbeing. Yet she reads an emotional memory from something on Remi’s person when they first shake hands. Given her concerns about her ability, her failure to draw back when she realized what was happening felt a little off to me. 

The reading draws Remi to her, and it briefly brings her into focus. Yet she persisted in the reading, which was obviously very personal, and never acknowledged that this was an intrusion until they met again months later. Then she apologizes but seems to shrug off the incident. For someone who finds other people’s imprints intrusive and often painful, this struck me as less than sympathetic.

After Remi and Auden’s first encounter, her memories become more stable, and I found myself relating to her as I’d hoped to. The reader soon sees her plan to keep her baby safe from her domineering assistant and the intrusive doctor. She can’t do that unless she also wrests control of her life away from them. Her determination to do so, along with the difficulties she knows she faces, are admirable. The stakes rise as she goes along, and her willingness to make a very tough call was heart-wrenching.

Auden’s efforts to break free draw Remi’s sympathy and his heart. She’s falling in love with him at the same time, drawn by his determination to protect her before he even knew her and his dedication to his pack. One of the things I like about the book a great deal is his resolve not to take their feelings to a romantic level until Auden is emotionally stable enough to give meaningful consent to doing so. I think that consideration is too often swept to the side in romance novels, especially where the heroine’s physical security is at issue.

With Remi, of course, comes RainFire. The mutual loyalty and love of changeling packs always draws me into their stories. We meet different members of RainFire in this book, and I can’t wait to read their stories.

Auden and Remi’s story takes place along with further breakdown of the PsyNet, the psionic network all Changelings need to survive. I won’t say more because I’m afraid of spoiling it, but the way these two plotlines turn out to be woven together is masterful.

In summary, Primal Mirror offers an emotionally wrenching but ultimately satisfying romance while expanding the Psy-Changeling world in intriguing ways. It also offers time with established, beloved characters from other books. The story moves at a good pace. I was delighted to see Remi have his own story and to spend time with RainFire. Despite a little initial difficulty relating to Auden, I soon became a fan of her as well and came to love them as a couple.

Readers new to the Psy-Changeling world can read Primal Mirror as a standalone. Singh is adept at dropping in enough detail from prior stories to move the current one along without a big delay. Those who read the series in order, however, will be better able to appreciate the richness of the world and the found families in it.

Highly recommended. 4.5 stars

~Nancy

Review - - Archangel's Lineage

Archangel's Lineage

by Nalini Singh

Guild Hunter #16

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: April 23, 2024

Reviewed by Nancy Northcott

 

Raphael and Elena are experiencing their first ever year of true peace. No war. No horrors of archangelic power. No nightmares given flesh. Until…the earth beneath the Refuge begins to tremble, endangering not only angelkind’s precious and fragile young, but the very place that has held their most innocent safe for eons.

Amid the chaos, Elena’s father suffers a violent heart attack that threatens to extinguish their last chance to heal the bonds between them and make sense of the ruins of their agonizing shared history.

Even as Elena battles grief, Raphael is torn from her side by the sudden disappearance of an archangel. But worse yet is to come. An Ancestor, an angel unlike any other, stirs from his Sleep to warn the Cadre of a darkness so terrible that it causes empires to fall and civilizations to vanish.

This time, even the Cadre itself may not be able to stop a ticking clock that is counting down at frightening speed…

Nancy’s Thoughts:

The aftermath of a cataclysmic story often feels anticlimactic, even a little dull. Nalini Singh avoids that problem in Archangel’s Lineage by introducing a ticking clock with high stakes. The fate of the Refuge, the hidden nursey for angelkind’s young, is in great danger. The earthquakes are wreaking havoc, and the magical protection that hides the Refuge from the eyes and the satellite of the outside world is failing.

Against this tense background, Elena and her father take their first tentative steps toward long-overdue rapprochement. Singh gives us a detailed look at Elena’s family relationships and her connections to her stepmother and stepsisters.

One of the motifs in this book is Elena’s recognition that time passes faster for her mortal father and beloved sister than it does for her. Singh links this with the fear Elena’s father won’t survive this heart attack. Can they find their way back to each other in time? The arc of their attempts at reconciliation runs through the book to a satisfying conclusion.

There isn’t a strong romance thread in this particular story. There are bits of romantic interaction between Cassandra, angelkind’s sleeping prophet, and the archangel Qin, who loves her. Although Cassandra is Sleeping, the angelic equivalent of being in a deep, unaware trance like slumber, she sees problems in the outer world and attempts to influence them. Whether her efforts and the arrival of Marduk, an Ancient newly awakened from Sleep, will solve the problem or only create new ones is a question that isn’t resolved until near the end of the book.

Marduk isn’t like the other archangels. His wings, eyes, and skin are draconic—which I find very cool!—and the events that lead up to his awakening are not only dramatic but potentially disastrous. When he arrives, greeting Raphael and Elena first, they don’t know what to make of him or whether to trust him. Their doubts are reasonable and are resolved logically.

The Cadre, the group of ruling archangels, work together more smoothly in Archangel’s Lineage than they have sometimes done. Even Ilium’s jerk of a father, Aegaeon, does his part.

Little bits of the story pick up threads from earlier books. Ilium’s growing power reaches a resolution, and we learn more about the mysterious Legion who were so helpful in the war against Lijuan, the evil archangel of China. Meanwhile the Cadre’s efforts to save the Refuge take on an ominous note. There may be a solution—but will the price shatter their hearts?

The story develops at a good pace. Though the romance of Qin and Cassondra is a minor thread, the story overall is very emotional and tense. The character development given to many of the regular characters made up for the romance being a minor thread, at least for me. I loved this book and highly recommend it.

 

Tour Review - - The Night Island

The Night Island

by Jayne Ann Krentz

The Lost Night Files - Book 2

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: January 9, 2024

Reviewed by PJ

Talia March, Pallas Llewellyn, and Amelia Rivers, bonded by a night none of them can remember, are dedicated to uncovering the mystery of what really happened to them months ago—an experience that amplified innate psychic abilities in each of them. The women suspect they were test subjects years earlier, and that there are more people like them—all they have to do is find the list of others who took that same test. When Talia follows up on a lead from Phoebe, a fan of the trio’s podcast, she discovers that the informant has vanished.
 
Talia isn’t the only one looking for Phoebe, however. Luke Rand, a hunted and haunted man who is chasing the same list that Talia is after, also shows up at the meeting place. It’s clear he has his own agenda, and they are instantly suspicious of each other. But when a killer begins to stalk them, they realize they have to join forces to find Phoebe and the list.

PJ's Thoughts:

Yes, I know this is fiction but I can't be the only reader who on some subconscious level feels like there are echoes of actual government parapsychic experiments on remote islands in the Pacific Northwest. That's how vivid - and realistic - Jayne Ann Krentz's imagination is. 

This second book in Krentz's The Lost Night Files trilogy hits the ground running and never lets up. The characters, both primary and secondary, are intriguing, with hidden layers that kept me guessing through a number of twists and turns. The sense of place that Krentz creates on the island is a character in itself: immersive, evocative, highly suspenseful, and vital to the overall storyline. 

The slow-growing romantic relationship between Luke and Talia is forged in their unlikely partnership as they race against time to find and free Phoebe, try to uncover what happened to Luke during his lost night, and stop the bad guys who are determined to take them out. I was with them every step of the way, frequently on the edge of my seat, gasping out loud more than a few times, always eager - though sometimes apprehensive - to discover what was lurking around the next corner. Set aside plenty of time before you turn the first page. This is another Krentz story that is impossible to put down. 

While The Night Island can be enjoyed as a standalone, there's an overarching storyline that continues through the three books. I enjoyed this second book much more for having read book one, Sleep No More, first (click the title to read my review). For maximum enjoyment and understanding, I recommend reading the series in order. 

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Excerpt

The Night Island

 There would be nightmares again tonight.

She'd always had a knack for finding misplaced keys, glasses, and pets. She was fine with that. But her new psychic ability for tracking down the bodies of those who had died by violence was not only depressing but frequently led to anxiety attacks and disturbing dreams.

Why couldn't it have been a talent for something more positive-like, say, picking winning lottery numbers? Why did it have to be dead bodies?

Talia March clenched the dead man's gold cuff link in one hand, gathered her nerve, and flattened her other hand against the metal side of the industrial-sized trash bin. She was braced mentally and physically, her core Pilates-tight; nevertheless, the jolt of psychic lightning rattled her nerves and her senses. In the past few months she had learned that the energy laid down by violence always came as a shock.

She had finally figured out that what she detected with her new ability was the psychic stain of the killer's emotions-or lack thereof-and the pain and fear of the victim. It made for a toxic brew that seeped into the crime scene and, to her, was as obvious as a pool of blood.

She was aware of a weak frisson emanating from the cuff link. The owner was dead but the item that he had worn frequently in life was still infused with the hollow echo of his vibe.

She could work with almost any object that had belonged to the missing or the deceased, but over the course of the past several months she had learned that some materials absorbed and reflected paranormal energy more efficiently than others. Gold was a particularly strong conductor, almost as good as crystal.

"Shit," she whispered. She took a quick step back. "He's in there."

Roger Gossard, the head of Gossard Consulting, a crime scene consulting company, studied the trash bin with a pained expression. "Are you sure?"

"You hired me for my best guess," she said. "This is it."

Roger grunted but he did not argue or demand more details. He knew better than to ask her to explain her conclusion. He looked at the unhappy man wearing a security guard uniform emblazoned with the logo of the company that controlled the loading dock.

"Okay if we take a look?" Roger said. "We need to find out for sure if there's a body inside before we call the police."

The security guard shrugged. "Boss says I'm supposed to cooperate but I'm telling you right now I'm not going into that bin to look for a dead body. You're on your own."

"Right." Roger switched his attention to the two members of his team who were waiting for instructions. "Bailey and Thomas, take a look. We need to make sure."

Grim but resigned, the pair pulled on heavy gloves, climbed into the bin, and went to work sorting through the trash generated by the several hundred office workers employed in the building.

Talia retreated to the front of the loading dock and contemplated the view of the alley. The rain was coming down in the steady way that was typical of Seattle in the late fall. The heavy skies indicated the weather was not going to change anytime soon. The Big Gray was just getting started.

In the past she had been comfortable with the drama of the city's dark season. But the night she had lost to amnesia had changed a lot of things. Now she was aware of a relentless sense of urgency simmering just beneath the surface, a sensation that was intensified by the late dawns and early twilights.

She tuned out the noise of the trash bin excavation process and opened her phone. There was no new text from her mysterious informant. She was starting to lose hope. Maybe she had been conned. It was a discouraging thought because the lead had appeared so promising.

"Looks like we found Clayton, boss," Bailey called. "Wrapped in plastic sheeting. Not a pretty sight."

 

Excerpted from The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz Copyright © 2024 by Jayne Ann Krentz. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Jayne Ann Krentz is the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. She has written contemporary romantic suspense novels under that name and futuristic and historical romance novels under the pseudonyms Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick, respectively. Learn more online at www.jayneannkrentz.com.

 

Photo credit: Marc von Borstel