The Book Gourmet

After one failed Marriage of Convenvience—her husband wanted to kill her—that ended in a honeymoon at Rainshadow Island, Alice North knows better than to enter into one more MC.

So what the heck is she doing married to Drake Sebastian (it's just an MC, mind you) and honeymooning on Rainshadow Island again?


For me, this was the best in the Rainshadow series. And I'm not even exactly sure why that is. Everything just clicked. But what I liked most about it, was the heroine 'knowing her place'. Sure, the story was supposedly about her, like all the stories set on the world of Harmony are supposedly about their heroines, but Alice was pretty comfortable with her role of box-jumper to her mighty Magician. Yes, I liked that about her. She wasn't a remarkable heroine, she could handle herself when need arose, but she didn't push her luck. She knew well where her limits were and didn't gripe about letting her hero take the reins. When that happens the heroines usually get annoying for me, but Alice thankfully escaped that 'curse'.

Now, the hero. Oh, the hero. As said before, this books are supposedly about the heroines, but their heroes always steal the spotlight where I'm concerned. And I couldn't be happier about it. I love Krentz/Quick/Castle heroes. There's just something about them that lets the reader know that they don't exactly want to be in the limelight, but they're willing to bite that proverbial bullet to get the job done. And Drake Sebastian was the prime example of that hero-credo. You know, those heroes that try to appear unassuming and bland, but deep down you know there's a beast deep down that just waiting to pounce. Oooh, shivers down my spine. I loved the guy. He was sexy, funny, dangerous, protective, possessive, a little self-deprecating at times, and not allowing the minor handicap of being day-blind get in his way.

Overall, this was another good effort from Ms. Castle, keeping the Harmony world alive and intriguing. The pacing was good, the plot pretty tight, the characters interesting, the villain twisted (boy, was the villain twisted), the suspense riveting, but what really got to me in this book, beside the hero that is, was the descriptions of the island shrouded in the psi-infused fog. The descriptions of the night scenes on Rainshadow Island were chilling. Loved them.

Loved the book.