In the first book in the Harmony series, Lydia Smith used to be a prestigious para-archaeologist but lost her career after suffering a two-day black out in the catacombs that run under Cadence City. Now she works at a low-key museum and has started up her own consulting agency.
Emmett London is Lydia’s first client, but things don’t get off to a good start. When they discover a body together minutes after meeting, their lives become intertwined with the theft of a family heirloom, the kidnapping of Emmett’s nephew, a second murder, blackmail, and lots of secrets.
On the planet of Harmony, there seems to be two kinds of people: the ones who can control ghost energy (ghost hunters) and the other that can control trapping energy (tanglers). It’s pretty confusing to me.
Anyway, Lydia is a tangler, and she’s very prejudiced against ghost-hunters, especially those who work for the Cadence Guild. Lydia and a good portion of the city believe the Guild is a step up from mobsters since they act as though they’re above the law. In many cases, they are.
I couldn’t connect well with Lydia and Emmett. She acted way too snobbish and superior. As an ex-Guild boss from Resonance City, Emmett knows how to keep secrets, but he kept Lydia in the dark for far too long and fueled her dislike for people in his profession. I couldn’t feel any romance or chemistry between them. All they seemed to do was argue, make out to avoid discussing their problems, and then argue some more because she didn’t trust his intentions toward her.
The book could use a light edit to fix a few misspelled words, etc. I sometimes had a hard time figuring out what was going on.
The story ends with a few unanswered questions. There’s not a cliffhanger, per se, but Emmett and Lydia’s relationship isn’t wrapped up. There’s a second book that features this couple, so hopefully their relationship will grow with more romance and trust between them.
Overall, I liked the story for the murder-mystery plot, but I wish I could’ve related to the H/h.
3 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion. ( )

After Dark
3 Stars

Welcome to Harmony - a world colonized by humans centuries ago and then suddenly cut off from Earth leaving its inhabitants to fend for themselves. Set against the backdrop of a lost ancient civilization, Lydia Smith is a parapsychologist working in an off the grid museum following a traumatic incident in an alien tomb. Unfortunately, Lydia's plans to work as a freelancer go awry when she and her potential new client, the enigmatic Emmett London, stumble upon a corpse in a sarcophagus.

While this is the first book set on Harmony, it is the third that I've read. The first two as part of Krentz's Arcane series, and as such, the setting and world-building were more or less familiar.

Despite the originality of the concept (humans colonizing a planet that was once inhabited by a mysterious alien race), the romantic suspense plot could have been set anywhere. The murder mystery is pretty straightforward and very similar in nature to most of Krentz's books.

Likewise, the romance is reminiscent of Krentz's works both historical and contemporary. Both Lydia and Emmett are likable and engaging as individuals and as a couple. They have good chemistry and the next book in the series continues their story, so readers will be able to see them take their relationship to the next level.

Overall, readers who enjoy Jayne Ann Krentz's writing will enjoy this as well.

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DNF at 14%. I should have abandoned it sooner. It teeters on the edge of okay, and I love the pet, but there are several strikes against it that are endemic, unavoidable, and annoying. The language is very current-Earth-US English, give that this is supposedly cut off from Earth for some chunk of time.

I can almost forgive that. But no attempt at all do think through colloquialisms even to the point where a character's described as wearing 'chinos' and 'leather'? Um...

I am intrigued with the extinct aliens stuff. And the dust bunny. But this reads like a murder mystery with magic on top stuffed into a science fiction shell. The MC feels rather ordinary, even with the mystery trauma. Who cares about boring landlord trouble. And the other MC has gotten too little page time for me to care about him.

This review would be shorter, but I'm frustrated with this. It had promise, and several in the series are at my library, and I... just can't. ( )

Para-archaeologist Lydia Smith has had nothing but bad days lately. After losing 48 hours and her memory in an alien tomb, she's lost her university job and is working at Shrimpton's House of Ancient Horrors while trying to start her consulting business.

Her first client is Emmett London who is looking for an ancient Earth artifact called the chest of curiosities. Lydia has her doubts about the provenance of the chest and also about Emmett but a job's a job. Only she doesn't make a good impression on Emmett when the two discover the body of one of Lydia's acquaintances near her office at the museum. Chester Brady had the same psychic talent as Lydia but didn't have the advantage of her education. He was quite a shady character.

Emmett is keeping a number of secrets about his quest and about himself which are slowly revealed through the story. He's really looking for his nephew who made off with the chest and then disappeared. The nephew isn't the only unexplained disappearance either.

Chester knew something about the disappearances and about a discovery of very rare artifacts and those who are trying to keep their crimes secret believe that he told Lydia. This puts Lydia in lots of danger and causes Emmett to move in with her to protect her.

Fuzz is the dust-bunny in this story. He's Lydia's companion and the one who rescued her when she was trapped in the alien ruins. He is very protective of Lydia even though he most often looks like dryer lint and is small enough to ride on her shoulder. He is a big fan of pretzels.

This is definitely science-fiction-lite but an entertaining paranormal romance. I liked the worldbuilding and the paranormal talents the residents of Harmony are developing. ( )

quick read with the type of characters you except from Krentz. ( )