The Hot Zone
3 Stars

Following a daring escape from a strange laboratory, Sedona Snow seeks solace on Rainshadow Island where she fits in with all the other "weird" residents. Unfortunately for Sedona, now that the infamous Preserve is revealing its secrets, the island has also become a hotbed of Ghost Hunter activity, and there is a new Guild Boss in town, Cyrus Jones. When someone sets a trap for Sedona, she and Cyrus work together to discover the truth about what happened to her in the lab.

Series note: Although this is book #3 in the Rainshadow series, it is also book #11 in the Ghost Hunters series, and it is closely related to the Arcane Society books as Cyrus is a member of the Jones family. Moreover, Sedona is related (albeit across the centuries) to Arizona Snow from the Eclipse Bay books. While reading all of these works is unnecessary, the little Easter eggs are fun to find for long-time fans of Krentz/Castle/Quick's writing.

As with most of the Ghost Hunter/Rainshadow books, this is a light and enjoyable read overall. Sedona is an appealing character, and I particularly appreciate the fact that she is not a damsel in distress in need of rescue, but rather saves herself on more than one occasion. Cyrus is a typical Arcane hero. Quietly suffering due to the strangeness and strength of his psychic abilities, he is ecstatic to find a woman who loves and accepts him for who he is.

While Cyrus and Sedona's relationship is relatively angst-free, their chemistry is not as intense as Drake and Alice in the previous book, and Sedona overcomes her trust issues far too easily given the circumstances. Nevertheless, they are a sweet couple and their romance is believable.

All in all, this is a solid addition to the series. The next Rainshadow book focuses on a member of the Coppersmith family introduced in the Dark Legacy spin-off from Arcane. So I will be reading [b:Copper Beach|10889249|Copper Beach (Dark Legacy, #1)|Jayne Ann Krentz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1303676485l/10889249._SY75_.jpg|15689944] and [b:Dream Eyes|15765663|Dream Eyes (Dark Legacy, #2)|Jayne Ann Krentz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1346076693l/15765663._SY75_.jpg|19033873] first. ( )

This story takes place on Rainshadow Island - the place where misfits go. Sedona Snow has escaped from people who were doing scientific experiments on her. She is a stronger gatekeeper and has developed a talent for fire. She is concerned that she might be unstable because many multi-talents are. She is also concerned that those who kidnapped her will try to capture her again. She was adopted by a dustbunny she named Lyle while she was in captivity. In fact, without Lyle she would not have been about to find her way out of the Underworld.

She is settling in on Rainshadow and getting ready for Halloween when a new Guild boss arrives to take over the island. Cyrus Jones is concerned about the protection of the island but he also has been trying to find Sedona. He's afraid that the long lost formula discovered by one of his ancestors has made another appearance. However, no matter how many times it reappears, there are always the same problems with the side effects. The formula is addictive and missing a dose means madness and death. Cyrus wonders how Sedona has escaped those side effects.

Cyrus and Sedona are meant for each other. Both have off-the-charts psi talents. But keeping Sedona safe and convincing her that he is one Guild boss who can be trusted isn't an easy job for Cyrus. It is complicated by an ex-husband who wants her back and the family that disowned her because she was illegitimate now wanting to rekindle their relationship.

This was a fun romance and a great entry into this series. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Sedona Snow is trying to get over the trauma of being kidnapped and experimented on, but the past is about to come back to haunt her in this ultimately disappointing read.

Opening Sentence: The dust bunny was back.

The Review:

Sedona Snow is trying to forget the time she spent held captive in an underground lab. Her time in the lab resulted in her gaining an additional psi talent, something which usually results in the multitalented person going insane. Thankful for her sanity, Sedona is starting to enjoy her new quiet life on Rainshadow. Then, Cyrus Jones, the new Guild Boss, comes to town. Distrustful of Guild Bosses in general, Sedona wants nothing to do with Cyrus, but she can’t deny the attraction she feels for him. When her life is threatened, Cyrus is there to protect her, leading her to believe that there is more to him than it seems. Together, they must stop the people trying to recapture Sedona. Will they succeed, or will Sedona be taken back to the lab?

I’m having a very hard time writing this review, as my general feelings about this book can be basically summed up this way: meh (picture me shrugging here). It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. I mainly felt uninterested for the majority of the book. In the spirit of full disclosure, I haven’t read anything else by Jayne Castle, but I don’t think that really affected my opinion of the book. While I wasn’t entirely certain of how the world operated, I was still able to follow the main storyline just fine.

As far as the romance goes, it felt about as tepid as the rest of the book did. I didn’t really feel any chemistry between Cyrus and Sedona, especially not enough to warrant the romance starting as quickly as it did. There wasn’t a whole lot of character development with Cyrus, so I couldn’t really get a good feel for him. While I liked Sedona, I was more interested in the storyline involving her family rather than the romance storyline.

The best thing about this book was definitely Lyle the dust bunny. He reminded me a lot of the Poofs from Gini Koch’s Kitty Katt series. This is going to sound bad, but he actually had more personality than either of the main characters. I loved everything about him and thought he was a great addition to the story.

As far as the main plot involving Sedona’s kidnapping goes, it was fine. It didn’t really go anywhere for a while, and then it was resolved fairly quickly, so I never felt on the edge of my seat. I never had a “how are they going to get out of this?” moment, which should show how unaffected I was.

All in all, this book was really just okay. I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t interested in it either. It didn’t give me any desire to read either of the series that it’s a part of, and I don’t plan on reading any further in either series.

Notable Scene:

“The Gold Creek Guild authorities told us that you were lost and presumed missing,” Brock said, sputtering a little in shock.

“My life has gotten complicated,” Sedona said.

“Yeah, well, I, uh, filed the divorce papers two and a half weeks ago.”

So much for throwing herself into his arms, Sedona thought.

Lyle rumbled darkly.

“It’s okay,” she whispered to Lyle. “We’ll be fine.”

Brock frowned. “What the hell happened to you, Sedona?”

“Long story,” she said tightly. “What about my stuff?”

“It’s in storage,” Brock said, evidently trying to be helpful. “Isn’t that right, Diana?”

Diana smiled again. “Old Quarter Storage Facility. I’ll get the key.”

She vanished into the depths of the town house. Sedona was left looking at Brock.

“Just one question,” she said.

“What?” he asked uneasily.

“Did you ever look for me?”

“I told you, I was informed that you had gone missing on your last job and that you were in all probability dead.”

Sedona nodded. “So you didn’t even bother to search for me.”

“The Guild boss who hired you for that last mission assured me that a team had been sent out but that it found no trace.”

“Right. Here’s a tip going forward. Next time a Guild boss tells you something, don’t assume he’s giving you the truth. A Guild boss has no trouble lying through his teeth if it suits him.”

Diana reappeared with a key and a business card. “Here’s the address of the storage facility.”

Sedona took the key and the card. Without a word she turned and went down the front steps.

“Sedona?” Brock said behind her. “Do you need some money for a cab or a hotel?”

She stopped and turned around. Somehow she managed an ice-bright smile.

“Go to hell, Brock."

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Jove provided me with a copy of The Hot Zone. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

Light but it kept me gulping it down.

It's Halloween on Rainshadow Island. Cyrus Jones has just arrived to be the guild boss in the town, he meets Sedona Snow and her fluff bunny sidekick, Lyle. She's run away from her former life, from a kidnapping that she escaped and an ex who didn't even try to find her when she went missing, her relatives are also pestering her to come back to their lives after they left it officially when she turned 18, the product of an affair.

It's full of twists and turns and complicated lives and I enjoyed it hugely. Looking back I can see issues but while I was reading I was swept up by it ( )

Jayne Castle (or any of her other names) is one of my favorite writers. The Castle books, set in the future on a planet with very strong and very unusual psychic talents are always fun. Sedona Snow is a gatekeeper by profession who just escaped from a lab that is trying to harness her talents to enhance "the formula". Once free, Sedona goes to Rainshadow Island, the island for talents who don't "fit in" to normal Harmony society. There she comes in contact with the new Rainshadow Island guild boss, Cyrus Jones.

As usual, there is a dust bunny, in this case Lyle, who steals every scene he is in and a sizzling romance between two strong talents.

I'm pretty close to caught up on all the Krentz/Castle/Quick books, but I enjoy them so I keep right on reading. ( )