#BookReview – “Second Sight” by Amanda Quick

Blurb

Financially straitened and on the path to spinsterhood, Venetia Milton thought her stay at the remote, ramshackle Arcane House would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engineer her own ravishment. She was there to photograph the artifacts collected by a highly secretive organization, founded two centuries earlier by an alchemist. And the alchemist's descendant-her employer, Gabriel Jones-has the eyes of a sorcerer.

But despite Venetia's intent to seduce Mr. Jones and move on, she is shattered upon her return home to read in the press of his violent demise. Using the sizable fee Mr. Jones paid her, Venetia establishes a new life, opening a gallery in London. Of course, posing as a respectable widow makes it easier to do business, so-in a private tribute to her lost, only lover-she assumes the identity of "Mrs. Jones."

Her romantic whim, however, will cause unexpected trouble. For one thing, Mr. Jones is about to stride, living and breathing, back into Venetia's life. And the two share more than a passionate memory-indeed, they are bonded by a highly unusual sort of vision, one that goes far beyond Venetia's abilities as a photographer. They also share a terrible threat-for someone has stolen a centuries-old notebook from Arcane House that contains a formula believed to enhance psychic powers of the kind Gabriel and Venetia possess. And the thief wants to know more-even if he must kill the keeper of the Arcane Society's treasures, or the photographer who catalogued them, to obtain such knowledge.

Review

In the first book in the Arcane Society series, Gabriel Jones and his cousin Caleb discover a hidden laboratory and the tomb of their ancestor, powerful alchemist Sylvester Jones. After an artifact was stolen, Gabriel and the society decided to have all of their antiques cataloged, so Gabriel hired and quickly fell for photographer Venetia Milton.

In Victorian England, proper society snubbed women with careers, but Venetia passed herself off as a respectable widow with a sob story, and she caught the interest of society. Everything was working out great for her until her dead fake husband returned months later.

Gabriel was charming and sarcastic, but he feared he might be more beast than man due to his unusual abilities. He’s also very secretive, which annoyed me, but I understood why he kept so many secrets.

I really liked Venetia at first. She was smart and in control of her life, but then she backed down and let Gabriel take the lead far too often.

The side characters were great, especially Caleb. I would love to see more of Venetia’s friend, Harrow, in future books.

Though I enjoyed the plot and the characters, the book was a little slow and wordy at times. There was too much detail about some things, not enough detail about other things, so I found it hard to visual some of the scenes. There was also a lot of information about photography and how it worked, most of which I didn’t understand.

The story is well-written. I noticed a few typos but nothing to take me from the story.

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.