Kerrelyn Sparks / Jayne Castle

It's not every day that Elsa Bjornberg feels delicate, not when she hosts a home renovation show where she can effortlessly demolish a kitchen. But from the moment she meets Howard Barr, this bear of a man makes her feel like a woman. And the way he looks at her, as if she were a pot of honey he'd like to lick . . .
Howard is not like most men. For one thing, he's a shapeshifter. And he always thought his celebrity crush would never amount to anything more than drooling at Elsa on TV. When his meddling vampire employer gets involved, the star is suddenly within his grasp -- and within a hair of her life. For an ancient curse forbids their newfound love, and Howard is suddenly torn between his desire for her and his desire to keep her alive.

*  *  *

Life is complicated for Lydia Smith. She's working at that tacky, third-rate museum, Shrimpton's House of Ancient Horrors, trying to salvage her career in para-archaeology--and dating the most dangerous man in town. Just when she thinks she might be getting things under control, she stumbles over a dead body and discovers that her lover has a secret past that could get him killed. Just to top it off, there's trouble brewing underground in the eerie, glowing green passageways of the Dead City.
Of course, all of these problems pale in comparison to the most pressing issue: Lydia has been invited to the Restoration Ball and she hasn't got a thing to wear.


Comment: Another pair of books I've read, both of them another installment in a series I've started before.

Wild About You is the latest book in Kerrelyn Sparks' paranormal series and focuses on Howard, he's a shifter and is a recurrent characters since the first books. He is in a journey to catch some wolf shifters, guilty of murdering people from his past, and at the same time meets Elsa, she works in a tv show renovating houses and he has a crush on her...

Elsa is a big, Swedish young woman and she never felt very feminine but after meeting Howard, that changes. However, her past isn't as simple as one might think and she discovers she's got an affinity to the forest...

I lied the book, it's true to the storyline and mentions many of the subjects still on the table to be solved, which gives the reader an idea of continuity; I liked that.

The romance is actually sweet and has it's hot moments too. Not the very best, but very good anyway.

After Glow is the sequel to After Dark, a story included in Harmony, the fist book I've read by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Jayne Castle. This After Glow keeps the same storyline of the 1st book, with the same main characters. In a way it allows the reader to understand better some things we've learned about in that first book but it also has some news I wasn't expecting to see.

Emmett and Lydia take their relationship to the next level, although not as smoothly as one might imagine. Still, I liked the story and was glad to see this book explained the things left unsolved in After Dark. I'm curious about the next books, I'll try to get them soon but I don't think I'll read another one so fast, schedule doesn't allow it. Still, an interesting world to read about.

Jayne Castle - Harmony

Harmony is a planet in the far future, aglow with an amber light and the psychic energy of its inhabitants. It is here that Jayne Castle casts her spell-over the men and women brave enough to love in a world unlike any we have ever seen before. In this unforgettable volume are two very enchanting tales set on Harmony... After Dark...The New York Times bestselling novel of romantic suspense with a paranormal twist. A para-archaeologist and one of the most dangerous men on the planet heat up a murder investigation with a passion that cannot be extinguished-or denied... Bridal Jitters...From the national bestselling anthology, Charmed. An official marriage-of-convenience between paranormal business partners is almost called off-because of love.

Comment: This is another book for the challenge. But the first reason that led me to it was the fact I won book #6 in the series in Nalini Singh's blog last year. Ha. I wasn't aware it was book #6, so I had to get book #1 to see if there was any chance I might reach book #6.
With two goals in mind because of this book, finally I got the chance to try it.
This book is an omnibus, it has two stories inside, the short story "Bridal Jitters" that's apparently the introduction to the series, and After Dark, which is the official full length book in the series. I was glad I could get both in one volume.

First of all, the world. I confess I don't read much sci-fi, it's not a genre I look for and especially if it doesn't have romance. So, to enter a new world with different rules..well, it can be an adventure so this was why I wasn't discouraged from the start. The author has written a note available in her website where she explains a bit the history behind the series, so I'll spare anyone who's not (yet) interested and leave only the link: http://www.krentz-quick.com/harmony/history.html
After reading this it's obviously so much easier to follow some information in the stories.
To summarize, action takes place in a different planet, in the distant future, after a disaster that separated Earth from the new planet. People there descend from colonizers from Earth and they started showing some affinity to amber, a stone prolific in the planet, Harmony.
This aside, the stories focus more on romance and storyline than the environment around them but it shows, so I think sci-fi is an adequate label.

The two stories I've read were interesting and full of information and even with the author's note I found myself confused a bit but that's normal because it's such a different set of rules and dealings, then the fact people there have some sort of paranormal power or close connection to something paranormal also makes it more rich but I was able to enjoy things more because of that too, it's a fulfilling world.
"Bridal Jitters" is about Sam and Virginia, they're going to get a marriage of convenience in order to gain some profit after selling a house, but after all they want more than just that...
After Dark is the story of Emmett and Lydia and how he asks her to help him finding a piece of furniture that has been in his family since colonization and he wants it back but they find themselves in the middle of a mystery and developing feelings.
Like I said, it's hard to get used to things at first but after some chapters we get to understand things more and to be honest the writing style is the same as her writing as JAK and Amanda Quick. This helped a lot to process the information about the world because the writing style can ease out understanding of things. Besides the fact it focus the romance helps too, we want the couple to be together. I have to be honest, the secondary characters weren't that interesting, but they played their part well.
I liked the book, the two stories and will read more, especially to know more about the world, because after a while we just want to understand Harmony and its secrets better.
In the end of the bigger story I was left wondering how the couple would do next and was satisfied with the mystery solving. All in all, a good attempt and I'm glad I enjoyed reading it.