#BookReview – “Obsidian Prey” by Jayne Castle

Blurb

The world of Harmony has its own special glow, thanks to the aliens who left behind powerful amber and twisting underground catacombs. Sparks fly, senses are rezzed, and passion can take you by surprise...

Three months ago, amber tuner and independent prospector Lyra Dore made the find of the decade in an underground rain forest: amethyst ruins. But the very man she was dating stole her claim -- and her heart. At least she has her artistically talented dust bunny, Vincent, to comfort her...

Amber Inc. CEO Cruz Sweetwater never meant to hurt Lyra. His affinity for obsidian amber gives him the ability to sense that she is his true love. But the ruins have mysterious powers, putting everyone involved with the project in danger. Only by trusting their psychic instincts will Cruz and Lyra survive -- and surrender to the desire that binds them.

Review

In the sixth Harmony series book, Lyra Dore finds a remarkable amethyst ruin in the jungle. Instead of doing the legal thing and reporting the discovery to the local authorities, she decides to sell some priceless relics in the shady underground antiquities market. When her first client turns out to be an undercover agent in search of the ruin, she’s devastated because the client is also her boyfriend.

Cruz Sweetwater planned to use Lyra but never expected to fall in love with her. After he and his private security firm takes control of the ruin, she breaks up with him and unsuccessfully sues the company. When they reconnect a few months later, they have to team up to survive a frame-up and a mysterious stalker who’s determined to make Lyra his.

I couldn’t connect with Lyra and Cruz, and I didn’t feel any real romance or chemistry between them. In my opinion, Cruz did nothing wrong when he took the ruin from her except that he lied to get close to her. (Lyra didn’t have the money or the connections to properly research the ruin as needed, and she also wasn’t able to defend the ruin and herself from thieves and murderers who wanted to take it from her.) Cruz was able to do all that and more, and offered to pay her outrageously for the find. Unfortunately, she refused the money and stubbornly insisted throughout the course of the whole book that he “stole” the ruin from her. It really annoyed me. Cruz, however, foolishly thought she would forgive him because of their “connection” but never apologized for hurting her.

Lyra is portrayed as determined and strong-willed, but she cried too much and humiliated herself by shouting and screaming for no good reason. I also didn’t like the fact that everyone in Cruz’s family accused her of breaking Cruz’s heart. She did, but he broke her heart too. No one seemed to care about that.

The best part about this book is that the Sweetwater family from the Arcane Society series is back and that the Society is still thriving in secret on the planet of Harmony. Awesome!

The book could use a light edit to fix missing punctuation marks. I usually breeze over all the “he said” and “she said” taglines, and I really enjoyed the murder-mystery and theft part of the book. This is a good series and I recommend it, but this particular book just didn’t strike home for me.

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.