Essence

Sky Jackson had a crush on Rafe Ferguson throughout high school. One night at a party, a very drunk Rafe took his virginity – and then acted as if nothing had ever happened. Sky was crushed. Now, more than a decade later Sky is brought in as a consultant on a serial murder case. Rafe happens to be the detective in charge – and just as handsome as Sky remembers.

I’m a little split over this story. The story had a lot of potential. Sky is “gifted” with the ability to read objects. Kind’ve like a psychic. Rafe doesn’t believe, but the case is at a standstill. I loved the idea. However, I quickly became disappointed. Sky spends a lot of time pining for Rafe via internal monologue, and recalling their first time in the back of show more an Impala. A LOT of time. It was nearly constant and quickly became annoying, which made the character less sympathetic. He thought he loved Rafe in high school, and obviously still finds him sexy, but it has been ten years! Certainly, I expect him to be attracted since this is a romance as well as a mystery. But, the whining and self-disgust over it became a distraction from the plot instead of building suspense for the romance. SLIGHT SPOILER: it was also annoying because the killer is doing the exact same thing every other section. He’s killing people who look like Rafe, because he loved him in high school too! All this in the just the first 50 pages. The killer is very one-dimensional. Every time the author jumped to him, I cringed. Not because he was scary but because he was boring. Plus, knowing who he was right from the beginning made the story beyond predictable.

However, once the two finally admit their attraction and they have sex, the story improved greatly – including the plot. The sex was very hot, as both men are experienced now and know what they want. This also spurs the killer to finally make his move and the pace and action increase quickly. I found myself engrossed in the second half of the novella to see the resolution. And though our couple decides they’ll have a happily ever after, the reader is still left hanging. This story practically begged for an epilogue showing the results of the trial and a little more of what happened to Sky and Rafe (one lives in NY, the other in CA). I was frustrated with the execution of this. All the elements were there for a great story, but things kept getting in the way.

Overall, I found the one sex scene in the book extremely hot, but the story was only mediocre. I am glad the book’s proceeds are for charity and would recommend it to other on that basis. I will try more form this author, though, because there is a lot of potential and other works may bear it out. show less

Rafe and Sky were at high school together and Sky had a crush for the handsome quarterback. And one night he managed to be alone with him and they had sex, fast and rough, cause they are too young to do better. It was the first sex experience for Sky. But after that Rafe ignored Sky and few days after he left New York and Sky never see him again until now, twelve years later.

Rafe is a detective and he is investigatin in a series of kill on the San Francisco gay community. Sky is a psychic consultant for the police and he is asked to help Rafe. And apparently Rafe doesn't recognize him.

Rafe is a very macho man, rough and tought. He is a dom and he is very confident of himself. Sky is somehow shy and still tortured by his young feelings show more for Rafe. But he is not the classic psychic character, he is more stable and secure, he manage well his power.

The story is not really a mystery, cause the killer till the beginning of the story show uo himself, so no clues to collect to discover him. It's more a love story, where two persons have to rebuilt their bound after many years of separation.

All proceeds from sales of this book will be donated to the International Red Cross by D. J and eXtasy books. show less