Obsidian Prey by Jayne Castle

So good until the end.

Lyra Dore made the find of an amber prospector's life and was ecstatic until her boyfriend at the time, Cruz Sweetwater, claimed the find for his family company, Amber, Inc. She was understandably upset. 

So now she can't believe that he's on her doorstep wanting help to get some of his men out of a trap that's been sprung, keeping them locked in the jungle. Even after she's done, he just won't seem to leave. His entire family claims that he loves her, but can she trust the man who left her taking not only her find but her heart?

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 25, 2009

Ghost Hunters #6 

Follows Dark Hunter

Followed by Midnight Crystal

Hard copy I own

Opinions are my own

Silver Master by Jayne Castle

Celinda Ingram has moved to a new city in order to avoid a scandal. But now there's a police detective and a private investigator sitting at her desk. Is she going to have to move again?

It turns out that the PI, Davis Oakes, has been retained by the local Guild (a collection of hunters, thought by some to be similar to the mob) to recover an artifact that Celinda unknowingly bought. She is more than willing to turn it over but her dust bunny has other ideas. Davis doesn't want to let her out of his sight because this job is the first major operation since he recovered from a major psychical coma. 

The two are instantly attracted but they have bigger things to worry about since there are some very bad men after the artifact and them.

Three stars

This book comes out August 1, 2007

Ghost Hunters #4

Follows Ghost Hunter

Followed by Dark Light

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Dark Light by Jayne Castle

Sierra McIntyre is an investigative reporter for a tabloid newspaper. In the beginning of the fifth book set in Castle's futuristic/sci-fi Harmony, she is sitting in the office of the local Guild boss, trying to get to the heart of some mysterious disappearances of some former hunters. When the boss, John Fontana, unexpectedly proposes a Marriage of Convenience (two people can dissolve a marriage immediately unless there are children, in which case, the people involved are immediately entered into a Covenant Marriage), Sierra is surprised but agrees to go along for the sake of getting her story.

The two are immediately attracted to each other but need to take some time during the marriage to figure out exactly what the other person is about. Luckily for them, they have some added distractions of finding the lost Hunters, being chased by a Motorcycle Gang and dealing with some near death experiences.

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 24, 2008

Ghost Hunters #5

Follows Silver Master

Followed by Obsidian Prey

Hard copy of my own

Opinions are my own

Illusion Town by Jayne Castle

Hannah West is known online as the Finder. Her psychic ability to "talk" to her doppelganger during sleep helps her find objects for people (this is sort of sketchy how this works, takes some suspension of disbelief). She has recently helped Elias Coppersmith track down a family heirloom and now she's accepted a dinner date. But she wakes up the next morning with no memory of the evening before and a marriage certificate in her purse. She and Elias will have to work together to piece together the evening before, figure out why they're being chased by biker dudes, discover a lost Arcane archive, and rescue a team of his people from a hidden gate.
This was very reminiscent of several other books in this series. The female character being the only one who can work the dreamlight and open a gate where people are trapped. Biker dudes chasing our main characters down. And some shadowy subplot with a secret location. It was a good story but felt a bit repetitive and a little disjointed. A fast, fun read and I'm not going to be giving up on the series any time soon.

Three stars

This book came out July 15, 2016

Ghosthunters #13

Follows Siren's Calll

Followed by Guild Boss

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Siren's Call by Jayne Castle

I would definitely recommend reading more in the series before this one but I don't think you'll be very lost if you don't. 

Ella Morgan is a Siren(!). She can literally sing (along harmonic lines, out loud? She can't carry a tune) a person to death. And we see her use her talents almost to that point in the beginning of the story. There was a lot of action bunched at the beginning which was a little annoying but we get an immediate introduction to Ella's talent and a glimpse of our hero, Raphael "Rafe" Coppersmith. 

There is a gap of three months between Rafe and Ella's first meeting. I was a little annoyed because Ella kept thinking "Oh, he's never going to call" and then getting mad because he didn't call, but I guess that's normal(?). 

Also, the reason that Rafe and Ella are together gets solved awfully quickly. I'm guessing there was a LOT of set up in this book for the rest of the books in the series because there were also some plotlines that were started and never finished (DND, Vortex, actually doing any mining).

I know this review seems nitpicky, especially for a four-star review, but overall, this was a book that I really enjoyed and now I am already ready for the next book.

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 26th, 2014

Rain Shadow #4, Ghosthunters #12

Follows Hot Zone

Followed by Illusion Town

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

People in Glass Houses by Jayne Castle

Molly Griffin is a crystal tuner and the biggest job of her career is jeopardized when a man is found dead in her shop. It's not like her life isn't complicated enough. Her sister was part of the Hollister Expedition, the one that was lost in the underground Glass House sector three weeks ago. But her mothers finally found the one person who made it out alive, Joshua Knight. 

His psi vision burned out after the expedition, Joshua doesn't have any memories from that night. He's recently escaped from a psychiatric institute and is living in a house of mirrors; one so spooky the town gifted it to him at no cost. He's startled to see Molly show up on his doorstep but he can't turn her away as the local fog is getting too intense. That night starts their relationship as Molly ignores one of Joshua's rules but then saves him. 

The story is a little disjointed but I think regular Ghost Hunters readers will enjoy it.  

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 7, 2024

Follows Sweetwater & the Witch

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle

When Elly found out that Boone Cooper was only engaged to her because it was good for the Guild (of which he is the Aurora Springs boss), she broke off their engagement and fled her small town for the big city. When she calls him, he's quietly sure that she's ready to come back to him. It comes as a big shock when she asks for help finding a lost friend. It's even more shocking that finding her friend pulls them into a drug ring conspiracy and hunting down a man determined to kill Boone.
Decent story in the Harmony series though not one of my faves.

Ghost Hunters #3

Three stars

This book came out May 28, 2006

Follows After Glow

Followed by Silver Master

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

After Glow by Jayne Castle

Lydia Smith is having issues. Her love life is a little uncertain (she loves Emmett but isn't sure of his feelings), her job isn't her favorite (but Shrimpton's House of Horrors is beginning to grow on her), and now she's found another body. This time it looks like an overdose. But why did Professor Maltby call her? And what the heck is going on with Emmett?

Ghost Hunters #2

Four stars

This book came out February 24, 2004

Follows After Dark

Followed by Ghost Hunter

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

After Dark by Jayne Castle

Lydia Smith experienced a "Lost Weekend" wherein two of the Hunters she was underground with claim she went rogue and ran away. She can't dispute the claim since she can't remember exactly what happened. But she's too cautious to have ever done something as stupid as run away from the men who were supposed to be protecting her. After the incident, she lost her university job and is now working at Shrimpton's museum of horrors. And she's just discovered a body. One that's not supposed to be there. The body of a man who was a ruin rat and sort of a friend. Whatever will the first client of her fledgling antiques-finding business think?

Emmett London is hard to disconcert. After all, he was the Guild Boss of a neighboring city and managed to completely overhaul that group's reputation into being something less than hired thugs and more like any other large business. Of course he hasn't told Lydia that he's a hunter. He's read her file and knows that she blames hunters in general for her lost weekend. Emmett just wants help finding an curio cabinet his family brought from Earth when they came through the Curtain and he thinks she might know some of the... less savory places to look.

Despite their total differences, Lydia and Emmett manage to not only find the curio cabinet, but in the process they take down a group working illegally in the tunnels, and rescue Emmett's nephew as well.

Ghost Hunters #1

Four stars

This book came out January 1, 2000

Followed by After Glow

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Sweetwater and the Witch by Jayne Castle

When the book begins, Ravenna Chastain is a profiler for the FBPI (Federal Bureau of Psi Investigation). She's not really supposed to be in the field but she volunteered to pose as a witch. Well, as the type of woman a specific cult is targeting as witches. But the FBPI isn't exactly knocking down the door of the cultists to rescue her. It's a good thing she has her fire talent and a dust bunny she names Harriet who ends up being an inveterate pen collector. It's that night that causes her to pivot into matchmaking. It's there that she meets Ethan Sweetwater. He has, of course, lied on his application making it hard for Ravenna to find him a match. But, they both have events coming up that would be nice to have someone else at. So they agree to go as each others dates.

This is a plot point that Castle has used a lot in this series. And this book feels like a mishmash of a number of other books she's written (which, at this point, is probably really hard not to do.) The whole time I was reading this book though, I was thinking of Filomena from "The Main Attraction"; she is basically the same character as Ravenna. Small, red haired, volatile (the scene with Ravenna's family felt like a major Krentz throwback; heroine embarrasses herself by being too emotional while the hero is uber calm and makes the family love him even more than the actual family member.) Overall, the book was fine but it felt like a lot of retread to the 90s with shallow characters and a plot that was not as tightly woven or fleshed out as more recent books. 

Three and a half stars

This book come out September 20, 2022

Ghost Hunters #15

Follows Guild Boss

Followed by People in Glass Houses

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audible May 2024

Guild Boss by Jayne Castle

The Vortex saga continues... on another planet in the future. This time, the Jones family is brought in through Gabriel. He's a special sort of Hunter, one who is after a specific person in the book's beginning, Lucy Bell. It seems like she wandered away drunk from a wedding and got lost in the underground tunnels. Her family has put out a big bounty for her and Gabriel is the one to notice that there is a dust bunny showing up to get a free pizza every night. He follows the bunny, Otto, and finds the girl.

BUT, that is just the beginning of the story. Lucy objects to the fact that everyone blames her; in fact, she was drugged. But that's not what makes a good story and she loses her clientele. And she blames Gabriel for that fact because... he left? I guess fiction doesn't have to make sense but this seemed odd for a character who otherwise was fairly level-headed.

Gabriel does come back though. He needs someone with Lucy's particular set of talents and he knows what she can do underground. Plus, he just wants to see her again.

There is a lot going on in this story which, even though it's number 14 in a series, seems to be setting up some new storylines. With all of Krentz's books lately, the endings seem to go on and on as in, you think this is the end of the book but then there's another chapter. And another. I also wish we had seen more interactions with Lucy's family. However, Gabriel and Lucy were both great characters and I liked seeing how their relationship went from rescuer/rescued to equal partners. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out November 16th, 2021

Ghost Hunters #14

Follows Illusion Town

Followed by Sweetwater and the Witch

ARC kindly provided by Berkley and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audible May 2024

The Hot Zone by Jayne Castle

When the book opens, Sedona Snow is being rescued by a dust bunny from a hidden underground lair. While pushing past the armed guards, Sedona discovers she has a new talent and a new pet (now named Lyle). Thank goodness since when she gets out, she finds that she's been gone for six weeks. And her MC husband has moved on. Rumors abound and that she is unable to find work until moving out to Rainshadow island. I loved that previous characters weren't shoehorned into the story. Sedona and Cyrus were able to find their own way. 

For his part, Cyrus is the Guild boss of the newly formed Rainshadow Guild. He's something of an unknown quantity. He's part of the powerful Jones family and, of course, has an off-the-charts, unusual talent. And he falls into insta-lust with our heroine. 

This book moved so past and had so many parts, I feel like I should have been irritated. But most of Castle's books move like that that it wasn't completely unexpected. It was part of the formula, even the "bad guy" was easily identifiable and probably will be for other regular Castle readers. And to be honest, I wouldn't read this book out of order in the series.

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 26th, 2014

Rain Shadow #3, Ghosthunters #11

Follows Deception Cove

Followed by Siren's Call

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus May 2024