Raven Callahan has the gift, or curse, of psychometry. Her ability allows her to "sense" the history behind works of art. It also allows her to sense a person's history and emotions. When a kidnapping throws her together with a troubled ex cop, things become complicated. "Sight Unseen" is an easy read with a touch of the paranormal. ( )

Raven Callahan is blessed (or cursed) with the gift of psychometry--that is, she can read the history of an object by touching it. It comes in handy in her job: recovering and authenticating stolen artwork.

Dax Maddox was a cop, until a burglary left his partner dead and himself no longer able to see color. Now he's searching for the thief responsible. He knows it wasn't Raven, but he'd caught her casing the same place the unknown thief hit, and now they're after the same painting.

The Raven's colleague is kidnapped, and Raven has to steal a priceless painting as ransom, and she and Dax are forced to work together.

Sight Unseen is fast-paced and exciting, and I don't normally pay much attention to settings, but they go to Cuba in their pursuit, and that was pretty darn fascinating. The suspense plot is nicely convoluted, with some twists I didn't expect, and the romance develops along with the suspense plot. There's also personal growth and change--it hits the mark on all three things I look for in a romantic suspense.

I enjoyed both Raven and Dax, and it was a nice switch to have a bad-girl heroine (she's not the only bad-girl heroine I've ever read, but the bad boys vastly outnumber the bad girls in this genre). Raven's adventurous spirit was infectious, and her aloneness and discomfort with her gift made her sympathetic. Dax was damaged and guilty, but he was also honorable and determined. It was wonderful watching both of them become more at ease with themselves and heal emotionally.

The secondary characters, too, were interesting and three-dimensional. I loved Raven's young protégé Paulie, who I'm thrilled to hear will also make an appearance in the next book. The villains, too, were fleshed out, with believable actions, and more motive than "he's a bad guy."

I'm not going to reveal the romantic climax (heh--not that kind of climax), but I will say that it was one of the loveliest I've ever read--entirely specific to these two characters, and with layers of meaning. I'd read the book again just for that scene, even if I didn't love the rest of the story.

I can't wait for Out of Time next summer, but in the meantime, I think I'll be checking out her work as C. J. Barry. I know there's at least one of her books in my TBR pile. ( )

Sight Unseen is a pleasant paranormal that isn't too heavy on the romance and doesn't bog the reader down in reams of backstory about an 'almost universe' of supernaturals like most of the paranormals on the market. In terms of plot and characterisation Sight Unseen feels refreshingly quaint like a tiny slice of old skool Jayne Anne Krentz or early Nora Roberts has been emulated.

Raven (minus a point overall for the obviously 'cliched fictional character name'!) is an art thief with a difference; firstly, she works on the side of the righteous, recovering stolen art pieces for their owners through a high class and legitimate agency, and secondly she has a rare ability of psychometry where she feels the emotions of the objects that she touches.

Dax is a former cop who nearly caught her on the job but his junior partner let her go, unfortunately his junior partner is killed off the page and Dax naturally sets out to find the killer. With no small amount of unbelievable coincidence and contrivement the two characters meet again and are embroiled on a quest to find the cop killer and some paintings, naturally this leads to friction, some animosity and of course the potential for true love. To be fair there are some attempts to add shades of complexity emotionally with long drawn out hints about Raven's family history in particular and Dax's colour blindness, but for the most part this novel reads like the flyleaf states proudly like it was written in five months and such is best enjoyed as something light to read on the train or in the bath.

I liked Dax and Raven, but as a long time anti-uber romance reader I found their interaction far more compelling before they decided to fall in love with each other because its Tuesday or because her hair looks good in a blowing breeze or some such nonsense. The mystery is full of plot holes that could have been repaired with some greater attention to backstory details but alas the romance plot took over.

I suspect that I will probably buy the second book featuring Raven's sister (who seemed much cooler anyway from even her short cameo in this) if I can find a copy that's reasonably priced. For the most part this is one of the better romantic paranormal pot boilers out there, as long as you don't expect too much from it. ( )