"Off pairing of two JAK tales"
Reprint alert! This has to be one of the stranger pairings
of Jayne Ann Krentz/Jayne Castle books. AFTER DARK is the
prequel to AFTER GLOW, just out recently under the Castle
name. It was a super paranormal/off-world tale that I
really adored and thought it a great, vibrant tale.
Strangely, it was not received well by her fans at the
time before the big paranormal romance boom. It's
reception was so cold that her publisher put off putting
out any more in this series for nearly four years. I guess
the Paranormals burning up the charts caused them to
rethink that line. My, my what a time frame can mean to
the readers mind? SOFT FOCUS was a very enjoyable single title romantic
Suspense. It was a very enjoyable read, but not Krentz at
her best. So why the putting of the Krentz tale and the
Castle Tale together, where there is nothing to connect
them, especially since both are still in print? AFTER DARK was a great Off-World tale of Harmony, where
earth travelers colonized and then were cut off from Earth
connections when the "curtain" closed. (See Amaryllis,
Zinnia and Orchid, books set on the same planet). A race
of aliens once lived on the planet, leaving behind vast
underground ruins, all protected by "trap" illusions. It
takes a special sort of "detangler" to derazzle the traps
that were known to fry people's minds. Lydia Smith is a
detangler for an archaeologist team working in the eerie
green glowing underground. When something goes wrong,
Lydia finds herself without a job or a professional
reputation. In comes Emmett London, who is tracking down
lost antiques. He hires Lydia as a consultant. Alien
ghosts and "traps" start haunting the couple left and
right as it's obvious someone doesn't want the team to
solve the riddle of the missing alien artifacts. Lydia and
Emmett sizzle. This was one paranormal that was ahead of
the pack. In SOFT FOCUS, Elizabeth is an all business heroine. She
applies the same cost and profit from her business life to
her romance life. So after a one night stand with Jack
Fairfax, and Elizabeth ?discover?s Jack deceived her. She
wants to cut her losses. Jack is not willing to let her do
it, and uses their business contract to keep a leash on
the spunky lady. Jack owns Excalibur, a cutting edge technology firm. When
he ?discover?s there is sabotage going on that could put
them both in the red financially, Elizabeth has to let
Jack back into her life. If she helps Jack save Excalibur,
she stands to make millions of dollars. Together they
search for a missing scientist who made off with a new
special crystal. Elizabeth and Jack follow the clues to a
film festival and the fun begins, with Jack keeping an eye
on winning Elizabeth back as well as saving his firm. Two very enjoyable reads. Two oddly mismatched books. If
you are a JAK fan, check your shelves. You likely already
own both! Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted September 18, 2004
Reviewed by Deborah Macgillivray
Posted January 14, 2007
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