Comment: Time does fly, no way around it, and it's again time for the TBR post. For August, Wendy has reduced the backlist glom to Backlist, and we can interpret anyway we might think of.
Since my imagination doesn't need to go that far, I'm sticking to the meaning of the word and I chose a book by an author whose titles are quite a few in my TBR pile.
This is not the only one I could pick but I decided to go with PNR.
In this third installment of the Harmony series by Jayne Castle, we once again follow the events set in a planet which emulates Earth, after many colonists remained stranded due to a rift in dimensions. Now, centuries after, society is pretty much like the one on Earth but, of course, bearing in mind the differences in the planet, especially the way the minerals there affect humans and even the animals and how many show some paranormal abilities.
It should be said the author included a note in the beginning which explains this a little bit.
The protagonists used to be a couple but after Elly discovers some things about Cooper, she decides to put and end to their engagement and moved to a bigger city. However, months later, due to a case on going near her, Cooper returns to her life and besides helping with the ghost case on had, could it be they could go back to how things used to be?
To summarize: the second book in this series I had read in 2013 but surprisingly, I still had a pretty decent idea about the world, how it came to be and some of the main ideas the author developed in this sci-fi/PNR world.
The stories follow a very predictable pattern: there's a mystery/situation the protagonists see themselves in, they need to join forces to solve it and they fall in love in the process. There can be some slight variation but this is it. In fact, there's no real change from the author's contemporary books under Jayne Ann Krentz and her Amanda Quick's historicals.
Since there is no real challenge in how the stories develop (had we read some book of the author, no matter the genre), the fun is on the details of the background and personality of the characters.
This said, I should share I've been a lot more dedicated to the historicals, where in my opinion, the author's style was a better fit, but overall, I prefer when the main couple isn't immediately aware of one another. This trope of the "second chance" mixed with "lovers reunited" isn't really that appealing to me and I wasn't particularly eager to know how Cooper and Elly would fix things between them but mixed with the plot, I thought it wouldn't be too badly done.
It's true the romance doesn't take center stage and the development of it doesn't get too much variation from the expected, but it was still nice to see them talk, explain each other's POV on why the engagement ended and of course Cooper is one of those heroes who acts as if the heroine should know his feelings anyway. At the same time, Elly just assumes things and despite her profession of love - which the reader is aware of - she didn't give enough time for Cooper to explain... yes, yes, otherwise where is the conflict.... but this can become rather annoying.
Still, I liked they fixed things by the end of the book.
As for plot, nothing amazing there, except why the villain acted the way we see. I admit I didn't make that much of an effort trying to guess who the bad guy is but to be honest, who cares, after all we would get to that somehow. This is not a thriller, where motives and means would truly matter. I think it's safe to say the story is quite simple and easy in terms of crime solution and not that too different from the author's usual trademarks.
All this said, though, I suppose one could wonder why would it be worth reading this. The truth is that, despite the obvious flaws, this story was still easy to read, easy to engage with, easy to connect with the characters and offered some hours of quietness and simplicity and a little bit of distraction from the loud and complicated daily life.
It's not literary prizes contended, no, but it fulfills its goal to entertain and to make readers want to know more about he planet and the special little things that exist in it.
This said, I'm very likely going to read the next installments. At some point.
Grade: 7/10
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