HEART FATE - Robin D. Owens
Berkley Sensation
ISBN: 978-0-425-22367-3
September 2008
Paranormal Romance

Druida City, 406 years after Colonization

Lahsin has done something that will forever change her future. Given in marriage at fourteen to FirstFamily GrandLord T'Yew, she spent three years living a nightmare. Despite T'Yew's promise not to bed his child bride, he began to have sex with her immediately, more like rape to Lahsin as the man was beyond cruel. Now, as she begins to enter her Second Passage when she will, by law, become an adult, Lahsin knows that if she is ever going to disavow her marriage, it is now. Her psi powers, her Flair, will soon be freed when she enters the fever dreams of her Passage. Having wed at fourteen, she is not yet legally married to T'Yew, and Lahsin has no intention of making it official. Her dramatic escape from the T'Yew Residence, when her pre-Passage Flair, fueled by her fear and anger, blew out all of the shields on the House as well as the doors and windows, scared her. T'Yew would not be happy.

Struggling through the winter night, Lahsin stumbles upon BalmHeal garden, a secluded, safe area for those who are in need. Wearily, she finds a garden shed where she sets up warming spells and begins to plan her bleak future. Also in the garden is an injured dog who makes a tentative peace with her via their psychic connection. Both are there to heal their wounds and find answers to their troubles. Will the garden protect Lahsin from T'Yew's clutches?

Tinne Holly is trying to heal his own wounds -- those inflicted by the death of his unborn child and the fact that his wife, Genista, has asked for a divorce. FirstFamilies do not divorce, or at least there is very little record of any. But Tinne is not about to hold onto a marriage that he knows is irrevocably lost, even if it means that his family's reputation will be sullied. Tinne has a HeartMate, but she was sold into the T'Yew family at fourteen, although Tinne has retained a tiny link to her, and knows that she will soon experience her Second Passage. When Tinne finds the BalmHeal garden, he is stunned to find his HeartMate there, although he does not tell her how they are linked. He offers to train her in self-defense, and they become friends. Tinne is also there to help Lahsin through the perilous, frightening Second Passage.

HEART FATE is Robin D. Owens's seventh novel of the people of the planet Celta. We've met Tinne before in previous books, and most of the secondary characters will be familiar to readers of this fabulous series. Lahsin and Tinne have both had jolting, heartrending experiences, and the BalmHeal Residence is the perfect place for them to find themselves, and each other. The Second Passage is nightmarish and dangerous, and Tinne's steadfast support of his HeartMate is both noble and heart aching at the same time. His soul is wounded, and yet he knows it would do him no good to reveal himself to Lahsin for she, too, is struggling to find herself. What will happen if and when she does find out? And what if T'Yew finds her first?

This latest excerpt of the lives of Celta is filled with angst, doubts, and excitement as Lahsin and Tinne each must face their own demons and learn to trust again. The Familiars, the psychic animal companions, add both humor and friendship, and the dark menace of T'Yew casts a shadow over Lahsin and Tinne's lives. I look forward to each installment of the lives of Druida, and was especially waiting for Tinne's story. I was not disappointed. Great writing, coupled with brilliant characterizations, and the magical background that is Celta, make HEART FATE another terrific, fulfilling read. I can't wait for the next novel!

Jani Brooks