SIREN'S CALL - Jayne Castle
Rainshadow Series
Berkley Jove
ISBN-13:  978-0-515-15574-7
August 2015
Futuristic Paranormal Romance

Rainshadow Island, Harmony - The Future

Ella Morgan is right in the middle of her friend's wedding as a bridesmaid when she gets a phone text from a private investigation company, Jones and Jones, whom she had hired to check out the background of the groom.  It turns out Ella's sense of his aura was right; he had killed two previous wives and a fiancée.  He is a chameleon-talent, able to change his identity and make people believe him.  When Leo Bellamy, the groom, realizes what is happening, he grabs Ella around the neck with his mag-rez pistol and tries to make his escape.  Unfortunately for him, Ella has her own psychic powers.  The crystal chimes on her bracelet shiver, and with physical contact with Leo she starts a silent, psychic song audible only to him.  The compelling harmonies pull him into the depths, and his senses founder and he lapses into a coma.

Ella is a Siren, and her family want her to register with a matchmaking agency.  Unfortunately, strong talents like hers are hard to find a mate for, and she can't imagine the rest of her life hiding the biggest part of her personality from her husband.  No one outside her family knows of her talent, and it is thought Sirens went away a long time ago.  A month after the wedding and its subsequent publicity, Ella decides to take her dream counseling talents to her own firm.  Weeks later, Ella and her dust bunny come across alien weapons in the catacombs, along with captured dust bunnies for research projects.  Just as she thinks she must report this to the Federal Bureau of Psi Investigation, a man shows up, a consultant with the FBP.  She needs to keep this on the down low, as she needs a spotless reputation to encourage people to come to her new company.

Rafe Coppersmith met Ella in the catacombs and saved her from a man who was working on Alien weapons, and promised to call her for a date.  Three months later, Rafe is back in town and trying to hide from Ella that his talent was burned out, and he is a mere shell of what he used to be, and with his pain and hallucinations, he has no idea what good he is to anyone anymore.  He is working for his family's mining company and wants Ella to go to Rainshadow Island and remove the Alien dinosaurs who have eaten four other consultants trying to get rid of them.  Rafe knows Ella is more than a dream talent, and with her dust bunny Lorelei, she could be the catalyst to free the island for his family's mining activities.Ella might have a little anger over the fact Rafe never called her, but then they are almost kidnapped after a reception the night before they are to leave for Ella's new assignment.

Jayne Castle once again takes us to the futuristic Harmony, and the different people that live there.  Ella has lived with her unique talent since she was a teenager, and it's not something you let anybody know about.  Everybody has his or her own kind of talent, but hers is even more rare and unknown than any.  She figures it will be impossible to ever find a man to equal the strength of her talents, and she won't deceive one by not telling him.  Rafe Coppersmith, while the son of a very powerful and wealthy family, had a burn-out in his talents, and suffers nightmares and hallucinations daily.  He wanted to see Ella again after the catacombs case, but his burn-out prevented it.  Rafe doesn't see any future for him with any woman in the condition he is now in.

Secondary characters in a Jayne Castle story tend to be limited.  There is, course, Lorelei, the dust bunny, a necessary pet for almost everyone in Harmony.  Agent Hardy of the FBP is a media darling and takes credit for every victory; but there could be some mix-up with him and a black-market operation using Alien tech.  And Angela and Ken work on Rainshadow for the Coppersmith Mining, and might be behind some of what is going on there.There are other groups and people to learn about in this futuristic community and lifestyle, and you will totally enjoy being swept away to a civilization we can only dream of.

SIREN"S CALL is another winning story about Harmony in the future.  While there are numerous stories of this futuristic world that are enjoyable, you don't necessarily have to have read them all to get mixed up in Rainshadow Island and Ella and Rafe's story; after all, it's a man and woman having to work through danger to really appreciate their relationship, and that is a timeless story.  Join Jayne Castle's legions of fans and grab SIREN'S CALL this month.

Carolyn Crisher