Explore After Dark (Harmony, #1) Documented By Jayne Castle Classified In Readable Copy
sitelinkJayne Ann Krentz writing as sitelinkJayne Castle
First published:
Length:pages
Setting: Aroundyears in the future on the planet Harmony, cut off from Earth.
In Cadence City.
Sex: Very explicit, infrequent
Hero: Hunter and former Guild Head,
Heroine: paraarcheologist
What really happened when Lydia was burned I wish Krentz had told us, . It was relevant to her motivations and attitudes but was never explained, May be followed through in Book
Otherwise, a thoroughly enjoyable romantic suspense with enough romance to keep it in the genre,
Good characters, good story, good world building,
Harmony:
"Although the first few Harmony titles make no direct mention of Arcane, paranormal ability is evident on Harmony and references to the ancient Society are made in SILVER MASTER and DARK LIGHT.
Harmony has now officially joined the Arcane series, In OBSIDIAN PREY August,you will meet the Sweetwater family, descendants of the mysterious Sweetwaters who first appear in RUNNING HOT, The Sweetwaters are a family of professional assassins who occasionally work for Jones amp Jones, Some things still havent changed" Krentz Harmony faq sitelink com/faq/
Book,sitelinkBridal Jitters Virginia Burch and Sam Gage
BooksitelinkAfter Dark Lydia Smith Ghost Hunters
BooksitelinkAfter Glow Lydia Smith Ghost Hunters
BooksitelinkGhost Hunter Cooper Boone and Elly St.
Clair Ghost Hunters
BooksitelinkSilver Master Celinda Ingram and Davis Oakes Ghost Hunters
BooksitelinkDark Light Sierra McIntyre and John Fontana Ghost Hunters
BooksitelinkObsidian Prey Lyra Dore and Cruz Sweetwater
BooksitelinkMidnight Crystal Adam Winters and Marlowe Jones Arcane, Dreamlight Trilogy
BooksitelinkCanyons of Night Charlotte Enright and Slade Attridge Rainshadow. Looking Glass Trilogy, Arcane
BooksitelinkThe Lost Night Rachel Bonner and Harry Sebastian Rainshadow
BooksitelinkDeception Cove Alice North and Drake Sebastian Rainshadow
BooksitelinkThe Hot Zone Sedona Snow and Cyrus Jones Rainshadow
BooksitelinkSiren's Call Rafe Coppersmith and Ella Morgan Rainshadow
References:
Author's website: sitelink com/afterdark/
ISBNX
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This is a really hard book to classify, It's scifi, but with some mystery and romance thrown in, In the end, I think its about equally romance and scifi with the mystery getting the shortest shrift,
I liked the premise, though it felt a little, . . sparsely populated. The story takes place on a world a handful of centuries after initial colonization is shut off by a closing of "the curtain", So the colonists know that they originate from Earth and that the artifacts found on the world are not from anything human, But their civilization is relatively well established and they're working things out in their isolation,
More interesting, the world seems to have changed humans somehow so that they have developed gifts that can only be termed psychic, Two of the more overt psychic gifts are used mainly to help people explore the vast underground tombs of the alien cultureallowing people to overcome the traps and "ghosts" buried as guardians.
All of this smacks of unexamined assumptions to me, but then, I'd expect that in a centuriesold field of exploration with little feedback or builtin reality checks,
The sparselypopulated feel comes from the interaction between Lydia and her profession/world, It feels like there just aren't that many people doing things and I wish I could explain it better than that, Lydia and her new client, Emmett London, are kind of adrift with opponents striking from the shadows and fading away without leaving much to get a grip on to followup or find the primary movers.
There isn't a lot to analyze where they stand or where they're going through the course of the mystery,
That said, I rather enjoyed Emmett and Lydia, Their relationship was enough to pull me into the story and keep me there long enough to find my bearings in the weird world they inhabit, By the end, I felt good enough about the series and where it is going that I'll certainly flag the sequel for reading in the future, Even with the annoying nitpicks, After Dark is more than entertaining .
The characters aren't its strong suit, but the mystery is pretty decent, They actually have to solve it, I liked that part of the story a lot,
/
Incredibly one of the best in this series, Probably because it lacks the instalove and instalust that plague the other books, Here everything is slow building finally :
All the other books appear clearly as a product rather than a book compared to this novel meaning they are really formulaic, by the numbers.
Like most of her works this is a short novel, on the side of fluffy, very light hearted,
Many readers complain about the lack of world building, I can't really say anything about it as I read the series completely out of
order I am reading book one and two as the last ones.
. . But as a rule of thumb they are probably right, That's never been a strong suit of hers, A thoroughly enjoyable and uniquely creative story in a genre romantic suspense that is alltoooften predictable, The romance side of things needs to be stronger and more fleshed out but the intrigue, mystery and suspense is all kinds of fun! I really love this book.
Of course, I love pretty much everything sitelinkJayne Ann Krentz writes, no matter which name she writes it under, But this book holds a special place in my heart, Why Let me count the reasons:
: It's the first of her sitelinkJayne Castle futuristicromance books that I ever owned and read,
: It was my introduction to dust bunnies and I will love Fuzz forever and ever, Oh, and I also really love Lydia and Emmett, both together and separately I'd steal Emmett from Lydia if I could,
: It's autographed! When I used to live in Seattle, I attended several of Jayne's signings so that I could get a few of my favorites under each of her nowthreemain names signed.
This was the "Jayne Castle" book I wanted signed and she signed it, "For Jennifer with thanks, Jayne Ann Krentz"! :
There were so many scenes and lines in this book that had me smiling as I read them.
Most, if not all, of the scenes that included Fuzz can be counted among this number, I also really loved that this story is told from both Lydia's and Emmett's POVs, They each have a rather snarky sense of humor and having the story told by both of them was/is great fun,
I always laugh out loud when reading the scene in the Green Wall Tavern, where Durant follows Lydia into the alley and sees Emmett in action.
When Lydia introduces them and says, " 'That's Durant, He says he's in love with me, He wants me to marry him and have his babies, ' " And Emmett gives him "a speculative look" and says " 'Is that so' " Then "Durant gulped and managed to close his mouth, 'No. No. Big misunderstanding. ' He flapped his hands in a wardingoff gesture, 'Just a passing acquaintance, that's all, ' " lol I laugh every time, The whole of this scene can be found in Chapter, on pages,
I've lost count of the number of times I've read this book, I thought I hadn't read it for a few as in, more than five years, but reading it this time, in February, I realized that I last read it probably two to three years ago.
Either that, or I've read it enough times that the roads are set in my mind and the story just flows along them so smoothly that I don't notice the passage of years between readings.
All I do know for sure is that this won't be the last time I read this book, I really love it, after all, and those stories I really love are always clamoring to be reread,
Oh! I almost forgot to mention one other thing I always do when reading this book, . . I always finish it smiling, : Now to read book two, the continuing adventures of Lydia, Emmett, and Fuzz!!! :,