REVIEW: Deception Cove (Harmony #10) by Jayne Castle

Description: 

In the world of Harmony, Rainshadow Island is home to a mysterious preserve, secrets that have been kept for centuries, and a treasure worth killing for...

As a light-talent, Alice North has the rare ability to make things disappear, including herself—a gift that comes in handy during her magic act with her dust bunny Houdini.

Business mogul Drake Sebastian is day-blind, since his sight was nearly destroyed in a lab accident. But he’s the one man who can see Alice when she disappears—and he needs her.

On Rainshadow Island, two dangerous Old World crystals are missing, igniting a paranormal storm. Drake thinks Alice is the key to finding them, and proposes they head there, but only after a Marriage of Convenience.

Alice’s honeymoon on Rainshadow is guaranteed to be memorable, as the island—and the passion between her and Drake—is about to explode...

Review:

The third Rainshadow book hits the ground running as light-talent Alice is threatened by two thugs in an alley.  Not coincidentally, Drake Sebastian comes to her rescue -- needlessly, as it turns out, because Alice is pretty good at taking care of herself.  She should be; she's had a lot of practice.

There are two intertwined plots in Deception Cove: the need to find the missing crystals that are wreaking havoc on Rainshadow Island's mysterious Preserve, and the thugs and stalkers someone keeps sending after Alice.  As usual, Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) blends paranormal futuristic fantasy, thrills, sizzling passion, and humor in more-or-less equal measure.  After a bad first marriage, Alice is predictably cautious about getting involved with Drake, but an MC (Marriage of Convenience, a "trial marriage" on Harmony) appears to be the best way to keep her safe from her stalker while she and Drake track down the crystals.  I enjoyed the relationship between them, as they find themselves having to trust each other in order to stay alive.

No Harmony book is complete without a dust bunny, and Houdini is a charmer.  We also see a few old friends, particularly Charlotte and Rachel from the previous two Rainshadow novels.  Unfortunately, their husbands, Slade and Drake's brother Harry, are off in the Preserve on a rescue mission, so we don't see them until everything is resolved.

My only quibbles with Deception Cove are that it's a little harder to follow and a little less believable than most of the previous books set in this world (insofar as any of them are believable -- which is, of course, half the fun.)  The plot seemed a hair less well thought-out and tightly executed as I generally expect from Castle/Krentz, but it was still an exciting and throroughly escapist read.

Deception Cove isn't a good starting place if you're unfamiliar with Castle's Harmony novels.  At the very least, start with Canyons of Night, the first Rainshadow book.  Better yet, go right back to the beginning and read After Dark, the first in the Ghost Hunters series.
 

   *   *    *

Rating: 3.5 stars

Category:  Fantasy; Paranormal romantic suspense
Series: Harmony #10; Rainshadow #3
Publisher:  Jove
Release date: August 27, 2013
Book source: purchased

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Photo credit Marc Von Borstel

About the author:  The author of over 40 consecutive New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ writes romantic-suspense, often with a psychic and paranormal twist, in three different worlds: Contemporary (as Jayne Ann Krentz), historical (as Amanda Quick) and futuristic (as Jayne Castle). There are over 30 million copies of her books in print.

She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.

Ms. Krentz is married and lives with her husband, Frank, in Seattle, Washington.   (biography from Goodreads)

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