Category Archives: Romance

Purchased

Where deadly energy ghosts lurk in the ruins of an ancient alien civilization.
Where dust bunnies prove to be loyal pets.
And where a ghost hunter will discover that a woman’s heart is the most dangerous adversary of all…

Local Guild boss and powerful ghost-hunter Cooper Boone is everything botanist Elly St. Clair could ask for – the handsome, strong, and silent type. Maybe too silent. For when Guild secrets threaten her career at the college, Elly has to call off their marriage – and leave small-town life behind…

But starting over in the thriving metropolis of Cadence City isn’t easy, especially when one of Elly’s new friends disappears in the eerie catacombs beneath the streets. Cooper turns up just in time to help Elly investigate. And as the mystery deepens and dangerous ghost myths and legends come to light, Cooper makes it clear he intends to stick around – and this time he’s holding nothing back… (from Goodreads)

I am not sure how many times I have read these books, but I am always grateful for an excuse to do so again.  JAK is interweaving two of her series in a future book:  this one and the Arcane Society.  Now that I am re-reading them and know that, I can see the connections she is setting up.  It adds an entire new level to the books.

Purchased

Life is complicated for Lydia Smith. She’s working at that tacky, third-rate museum, Shrimpton’s House of Ancient Horrors, trying to salvage her career in para-archaeology – and dating the most dangerous man in town. Just when she thinks she might be getting things under control, she stumbles over a dead body and discovers that her lover has a secret past that could get him killed. Just to top it off, there’s trouble brewing underground in the eerie, glowing green passageways of the Dead City.

Of course, all of these problems pale in comparison to the most pressing issue: Lydia has been invited to the Restoration Ball and she hasn’t got a thing to wear. (from Goodreads)

This book is a true sequel to After Dark.  It not only continues the Ghost Hunter series, but completes Lydia’s and Emmett’s story.  Their relationship develops very satisfactorily as all romances should and we finally found out what happened during Lydia’s “Lost Weekend.”

Fuzz continues to have an important part in the story and we learn a little more about the dust bunnies.  We also find out when they develop their desire for accessories.

I have read and re-read books in the past that are never quite as good as I remember them being.  This series, however, just keeps getting better and better.

Purchased

Life is tough these days for Lydia Smith, licensed para-archaeologist. Seriously stressed-out from a nasty incident in an alien tomb, she is obliged to work in Shrimpton’s House of Ancient Horrors, a very low-budget museum. She has a plan to get her career back on track, but it isn’t going well. Stuff keeps happening.

Take the dead body that she discovered in the sarcophagus exhibit. Who needed that? Finding out that her new client, Emmett London, is one of the most dangerous men in the city isn’t helping matters either. And that’s just today’s list of setbacks. Here in the shadows of the Dead City of Old Cadence, things don’t really heat up until After Dark.

This is the book that really gets the series going to me because it introduces the dust bunnies.  Fuzz, not a really original name, but definitely descriptive, is Lydia’s dust bunny.  Prior to the book’s beginning, he saves her live in the tunnels.  Although, dust bunnies look like a pile of lint, they are actually predators.  As it states in the book, “if you see their teeth, it’s already too late.”

This book is classic Jayne Ann Krentz which is Jayne Castle’s real name.  She is actively writing under three names right now, including Amanda Quick, and has retired several others.  I own all of her books, but a couple of the very early ones.  Anyway, there is a strong alpha male with a “feisty” female.  The clashes between them can be some of the funniest parts of the books.

I love science fiction and I love romance and I love humor.  JAK knows how to interweave these to write some of the most enjoyable books on the market.

Purchased

Virginia Burch, a psychic archaeologist, can’t believe her luck when she meets Sam Gage, a ghost-hunter and owner of prime real estate in the Old Quarter of Cadence, above the Dead City. He offers her his space to live and start up her business. What follows is an even more intriguing proposal–to become his wife. Strictly for professional reasons, of course…

Their marriage of convenience would lead to a very lucrative business partnership, Gage & Burch Consulting. Until something throws a wrench into the plan: the undeniably sensual energy that exists between them–and a love so strong it could wake the ghosts below…

This novella (only 82 pages) is the beginning of Jayne Castle’s, aka Jayne Ann Krentz’s, Ghost Hunters series.  It sets the stage for the city of Cadence, 200 years after the Curtain has closed.

I am re-reading this series in preparation for the release of Midnight Crystal which will bring together her worlds of Arcane Society and Ghost Hunters.  This is not the best of the series because it is so short, but it does a good job of setting the plot line.  I really start to enjoy them when the dust bunnies make an appearance.