The second volume in the 1990s paranormal romance series set on the planet St Helen's. Like the first, this is a crossover novel in the sense that it has science fictional trappings though fairly superficial ones. The basic plot consists of: a couple who seem mismatched are nevertheless highly attracted to each other, during the course of an unofficial investigation into the death of an antique book dealer and the whereabouts of a journal written by the leader of a lost expedition, which he supposedly had in his possession. Again this is told against the background of an ex-Earth colony cut off from the home world for 200 years (because travel to the remote star system was accomplished via an energy field near Earth called the Curtain, which somehow closed after the colony was established).

The planet, St Helen's, is populated with three city-states, and the story takes place in New Seattle. Because the colonists named everything after the Earth equivalents which they missed, it does get a little risible at times that there are beverages such as coff-tea and lots of other hyphenated mashups that don't always make sense.

On St Helens, everyone has psychic abilities and these are studied, measured and classified, so people have certificates showing what talent they have and what grade level they can achieve, with six being the average and nine upwards being considered high. A lot of people are wary of people with a ten rating, and anyone above that tends to cover it up by faking tests or getting forged certificates which play down their power levels. To use a talent for more than a few seconds requires the help of someone with another kind of psychic ability, known as a Prism. Such people can project a crystal on the psychic plane through which the talented person then directs their talent to maximum efficiency and duration.

The hero of the story, Nick Chastain, is an off-the-scale matrix talent, who can see the patterns in things. His ability has led him to amass a lot of wealth as a casino owner, but he is regarded as shady by the wealthy and respectable contingent in the city. Nick is a careful planner and has set his sights on buying respectability, starting with the purchase of an old estate from a family whose son got into debt at his casino. Another strike against Chastain is that his parents were unmarried at the time of their sudden deaths, and he is shunned by the rest of the family. Marriage is the bedrock of St Helen's society, and illegitimate children are bluntly called bastards and suffer discrimination and abuse.

Recently, Nick became aware of the existence of a journal written by his explorer father who everyone supposes committed suicide on the eve of his third expedition into remote jungles. The general consensus is that the expedition was cancelled, but Nick has always doubted this, and has been negotiating with an antiquarian bookseller. The story starts when the eponymous female protagonist arrives at his casino, accusing him of being responsible for the bookseller's disappearance. Zinnia has worked with the bookseller as a Prism because she works particularly well with matrix talents, who are thought by the general population to be peculiar and obsessive - yet another strike against Chastain who tries as far as possible to keep it secret that he is one. As a Prism, she can help those who trade in old objects to use their talents to authenticate them. She feels sorry for 'poor Morris' as she calls him again and again through the story, rather irritatingly, and she embarks after some reluctance on a joint investigation with Chastain. This drives the plot of the story, as does their mutual attraction.

This time around, the heroine isn't a goody twoshoes, but she is very stubborn. She isn't quite so irritating as the female protagonist in book one. Zinnia is the daughter of a once wealthy family whose business went into bankruptcy after the accidental death of her parents. Four years ago, she was declared unmatchable by a top matrimonial agency, marriage on St Helen's being a very organised affair where compatibility, including psychic compability, is assessed, and very few people will consider marriage without going through such a bureau. Zinnia is being pressured by the matriarch of the family to marry the head of a IT company who doesn't seem bothered by her unmatchability or the scandal she was caught up in, when a wealthy citizen, who was having a menage a trois with his wife and a local politician, staged things so she would be falsely accused of being his mistress and splashed across the tabloid front pages. The affair cost Zinnia a lot of clients in her interior design business which is why she has been working part time as a Prism. Being stubborn, she tries to live up to her tabloid nickname of Scarlet Lady by henceforward always wearing red, and this has become her trademark.

There are a few interesting twists and the climax of the book works more successfully than the ending of the first volume. The sex scenes are a little more graphic this time around in terms of 'plumbing' which can be a bit offputting, though the two protagonists are also much more forthright in declaring their feelings to each other. The story style is sometimes a bit cludgy - the author feels the need to spell out things and repeat character names as if the reader couldn't possibly have caught on - but there are also some good action and atmospheric sequences. On the whole, a good page-turning read. ( )

Really liked these books and was happy that there were more to come. Original world building and liked the characters. ( )

Zinnia Spring is on off the chart prism talent who works best with matrix talents. She had been declared unmatchable by the very reputable marriage agency she hired to find her a husband. She has also had her reputation and new business ruined by false accusation in a tabloid. That followed her parents' deaths and the bankruptcy of the family business. But that doesn't stop her from confronting casino owner Nick Chastain when one of her clients, who was negotiation to sell him a rare book, disappears.

Nick didn't have anything to do with the disappearance of Zinnia's client but he really wants the diary that the man was going to sell him. When they go to the man's store that find no diary and the dead body of Zinnia's client. Next thing Zinnia knows she's on the cover of the tabloids again. This time she's supposedly having an affair with Nick.

Nick is an off-the-charts matrix talent who thinks it is time to become respectable. A part of that means finding a marriage agency approved wife. He has some problems with that though because he refuses to be tested to certify his talent but a marriage counselor who owes some money to the casino can be pressured to find Nick a wife without going through the pesky process Nick wants to avoid.

Nick and Zinnia find that their two talents mesh perfectly but also know that marriage agencies seldom match high level prisms with high level talents. They are fighting their attraction to each other all the while they are trying to find the missing diary and the criminal who is killing people to keep it hidden.

This was a nice romance and an intriguing mystery. It is also the second book in the St. Helens trilogy which is sort of a science fiction romantic suspense series. I enjoyed the characters and the paranormal powers they had. ( )

I don't usually read this type of book but it fit a couple of my challenges so I decided to give it a go. It's set in the future on a planet called St. Helen's which is very similar to Earth. In this world, marriage is highly desirable and matched through agencies. Divorce is practically non-existent. Nick Chastain wants to marry but he owns a casino, which makes him an undesirable match, despite his good looks and money. While searching for a full-spectrum “prism” to help him locate his dead father's missing journal, he meets Zinnia, who is also unmatchable. Like all good romance novels, they are immediately attracted to one another.

This book was actually very well written and that's not a surprise, considering what a prolific writer Jayne Castle is. Her real name is Jayne Anne Krentz and she has written numerous novels and series under the pen names of Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick. It was fast paced and interesting and I would recommend it for any readers looking for a paranormal romantic mystery. It's the second book in the St. Helen's trilogy and I would pick up the other two, Orchid and Amaryllis, if they fit another one of my challenges.
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The heroine is trying to rebuild her life after a false scandal destroyed everything she built. She bursts into the hero's office to demand he release her client, whom she's convinced the hero has kidnapped. The hero is a bastard and an owner of a casino who wants nothing more than to buy his way into high society. He's a rare and power bred of psychic that makes his paranoid and reclusive and, he fears, will drive him insane one day. He's shocked to realize that the heroine, with her psychic powers, can balance his and keep him sane. He does everything in his power to keep her close. Together they are looking for a journal that details the heroes last exploration before he was murdered and the trail leads them deeper into the underbelly of the his class. The hero is calm and collected and though he's ruthless in business, he's kind and misunderstood. His profession makes him less of a person but he's rich and has the money to buy himself respectability. His mental psychic powers cause him to be unable to express him emotionally and he tends to hold all of his thoughts to himself but he falls in love with the heroine instantly. The heroine is stubborn and takes on the burden of finding her clients killer though she really has no business doing so. And she's just as outcast from proper society as the hero is. She defends him when others insult his parentage and focuses him when a drug results in his lose of mental stability. I really loved this book. I didn't like the stupid names for plants or the futuristic new world but I loved the characters. Especially the hero who buys himself into class yet blackmails people for future gain and isn't afraid to threaten people who insult or threaten the heroine. Also he has terrible design taste and decorates his casino is gold and pink. ( )