A 1990s paranormal romance, this is a crossover novel in the sense that it has science fictional trappings though fairly superficial ones. The basic plot consists of: a couple who seem mismatched are nevertheless highly attracted to each other, during the course of an unofficial investigation into the death of the woman's university mentor. So there isn't one science fictional idea in it really. Nevertheless, the background of an ex-Earth colony cut off from the home world for 200 years (because travel to the remote star system was accomplished via an energy field near Earth called the Curtain, which somehow closed after the colony was established) was quite interesting.

The planet, St Helen's, is now populated with three city-states, and New Seattle is where the story takes place. Because the colonists named everything after the Earth equivalents which they missed, it does get a little risible at times that there are beverages such as coff-tea (which makes you wonder what awful taste would that have!) and lots of other hyphenated mashups. The other aspect that gets a little wearing is the eponymous heroine's self pronounced goody twoshoes act. She constantly states that she adheres to the values of the Founders of St Helen's, believing them to be upright and honest as the day is long, rather than having the more realistic view of the hero, Lucas, that they must have done what was expedient to survive in a hostile environment where all the technology they had brought from Earth disintegrated and broke down (for reasons the author never explains) and they had to come up with alternatives.

The most interesting aspect of the book is the paranormal one. Everyone on St Helen's has psychic powers of some kind, and the author has invented new ones. So there are people who can enhance the growth of plants, for example, as well as those more commonly encountered in fiction such as the ability to project illusions. Strangely enough, telepathy isn't a real power on the planet. And everyone who has a talent as it is known also requires the assistance of someone who can create a psychic prism through which to focus it, or they can do very little and for only a few seconds. It does beg the question of how they discovered this in the first place, but we have to suppose that Prisms as they are known must instinctively start to project and that the first people with talents picked up on how to use them. Thus the exercise of such powers requires the co-operation of two people - in this case, Lucas being the one with the talent and Amaryllis being the Prism.

St Helen's now has a society remarkably similar to e.g. 1980s or 1990s Earth although enhanced psychically and with all energy needs being met by a substance which is mined and has the nickname of jelly-ice. Because of the necessity of ensuring a stable society when they were cut off from Earth, marriage whether between hetero- or homo-sexual couples, is permanent with divorce being unheard of and stigma being incurred by anyone who has children outside marriage. The children of such unions are bluntly termed bastards, and Amaryllis has had to endure the disgrace of being illegitimate, despite having the support of her mother's family. (Her father's refused to acknowledge her existence.)

Marriage is highly organised, with everyone registering with psychic marriage bureaus, and it is regarded as foolish in the extreme to marry without being matched by a bureau, a process partly based on extensive questionnaires and interviews, and partly on psychic compatiblity. Psychic abilities are tested and certified in this slightly rigid society, and Lucas has had to fake a 9 rating as he is really higher - which would put off most prospective marriage partners - while Amaryllis is a full spectrum Prism meaning she can handle the power of a 10 or higher. Prisms such as herself have the reputation of being picky and therefore difficult to match. Amaryllis and Lucas, both undergoing the matching process, believe that despite their feelings for each other, they will not be able to stay together. The emotional conflict in the book arises in their internal monologue as each contemplates the fact that their relationship must be doomed and short-term.

And, as I've said, against this quite complex and interesting background, we have the plot which is driven mainly by a murder mystery. Although there is quite a clever twist, it does have the disadvantage of appearing to create an anticlimax where you think it's odd that the book is trundling on resolving various family-related issues after the dramatic 'resolution', until you reach the real one and understand what really happened. But all in all, quite a decent page-turning read. ( )

This book got me interested in reading Sci-fi romance. I never considered anything alien or out of our world stories before. Had read some Jayne Ann Krentz and Amanda Quick books so figured I might as well try Jayne Castle. Good stories, some fun and, of course, there are some thrills along with the romance. ( )

The planet of St. Helens was discovered and settled from Earth when a curtain appeared in space above Earth. However, soon after the curtain was discovered and groups of settlers from the Pacific Northwest left to resettle St. Helens, the curtain disappeared stranding the colonists. Two hundred years have passed during which the Earth technology disintegrated due to something in the atmosphere and the settlers had to learn to use native materials to survive. The settlers also began to discover that they were developing paranormal powers that are growing stronger with each new generation.

In order to preserve society, the Founders decided that the family was the basic unit that needed to be strengthened. Marriages were permanent and therefore not to be entered into lightly. Businesses that did complicated tests were established to guide people into successful marriages with compatible people. Few, if any, contract marriages without going through these agencies.

One important point about the paranormal powers on St. Helens is that successful use depends on pairings of talents and prisms. The talents can do things but only if they can focus their powers through prisms.

In this story Amaryllis Lark is a very high talent prism. She is also illegitimate since her parents ran away together despite the fact that her father was already married. They died soon after they ran away leaving Amaryllis to be raised by her uncle and aunt in a small farming town where she was also actively ignored by her father's relatives and where she was the victim of cruelty because her parents never married. Amaryllis has made a new life for herself in New Seattle first at the university where her talents as a prism were honed and now in a business that contracts prisms to high level talents.

Lucas Trent is one such talent. He has made his fortune prospecting for and selling jelly-ice which is used to power everything on St. Helens. He is a hero in the Western Islands since he gathered a group of people to defeat pirates who were trying to take over the islands and the jelly-ice business. Now he needs a prism so that he can find out why his VP is selling out his business secrets.

The two couldn't be more opposite in character. Amaryllis is a definite rule follower and quite uptight; Lucas is more free-wheeling. Both are registering with a marriage bureau to find their best matches knowing that the other would never qualify. The only problem is that they are falling in love.

Well, not the only problem. Amaryllis is concerned that the death of her mentor at the university was not an accident and decides to look into it. Also a local politician seems to be using his charisma talent to convince potential donors to support his candidacy for governor. And the discovered VP isn't going away quietly and would still like her revenge on Lucas.

This was a fun story set in an interesting world. It was filled with adventure, danger, and witty banter. It was also an excellent romance. ( )

Like the paranormal twist but is romance novel. Enjoyable few hours, but don't read for depth. ( )

A romance set in the future is one of the categories of the 2016 Reading Challenge.
Synopsis: Amaryllis Lark is a full spectrum prism with very high moral and ethical standards. Lucas Trent is a level 9 (very strong) psychic talent from the jungles of the outer islands on planet Saint Helen's. Saint Helen's was settled by earth explorers when a 'curtain' opened to make access possible. Lark and Trent really get on each other's nerves, but are able to work together to determine if there is a security break in Trent's company. They come to a grudging respect of each other with Trent helping Lark determine if her mentor was murdered and if there is a rogue psychic talent on the loose.
Review: This was fun! I am not a fan of romance novels, primarily because there is always a situation that makes one or the other of the main characters look profoundly stupid. That was not the case with this book. It was also a pretty good mystery with a very nice twist at the end. ( )