Crystal Shadows

by Joy Nash

"A dark stranger is your enemy." Crystal scientist Gina Petrillo scoffs at the fortuneteller's words, until a seemingly harmless gem launches her into a world where crystals are magic. She soon finds herself imprisoned by a powerful rogue wizard. Gina's captor is convinced she is a sorceress from beyond the web, but in Derrin's land a woman's power is considered unstable and dangerous. He believes Gina was summoned by a prominent member of the Wizards' Council-a corrupt mage who seeks to use Gina's knowledge of crystals as a bridge to endless power. Gina's presence in Derrin's world is an aberration, one that is rapidly unbalancing the life essence of the land. He vows to open a path to her world and seal the rift behind her. If his efforts fail, he will have no choice but to kill her. Derrin's effort to free Gina from a spell cast by his rival creates an erotic mind link usually reserved for bonded lovers. The link is overwhelming, frightening and uncontrollable, but Gina and Derrin have little choice but to accept it. Their hearts and bodies meld passionately as destruction sweeps over the land and their enemy draws ever closer. Time is running out.

Genres: Erotic Romance

324 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 2004

About the author

Joy Nash is a USA Today Bestselling Author and RITA Award Finalist applauded by Booklist for her "tart wit, superbly crafted characters, and sexy, magic-steeped plots." Joy, best known for the Druids of Avalon and Immortals series, writes romantic fiction in historical, contemporary, and alternate-reality settings. Her newest series is the apocalyptic fantasy The Nephilim: Demons Among Us.

Joy once read a book about a girl living on the moon and thought it was real, until her big sister messed everything up with the truth. Ever since, Joy's been of the opinion that fiction is way more interesting than reality. She credits her love of tortured heroes to the Brontë sisters, her fascination with magical adventure to J.R.R. Tolkien, and her weakness for snarky humor to Douglas Adams.

Join Joy's mailing list at www.joynash.com for info about new releases. Connect with Joy at facebook.com/joynash.

May the stories never end!

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trash warning: no class ahead

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you're going in the trash.

This is the second book by this author I have had to slam down right out of the gate. I won't try hers again.

I got this book free while volunteering at my library's bookstore. It would have been trashed but I thought I'd take it home and give it a try. Another free one of hers I got was Immortals: The Awakening, which I just recently slammed down in disgust because she had the heroine scry the hero having sex with another woman. Why you'd ever want to see your future partner having sex with someone else the first time you meet them is beyond me. I hope I never understand it. So when I recognized the author's name when I went to read this, I was turned off and worried there'd be another disgusting situation.

The summary failed to mention that Gina had been married before, had divorced 6 months earlier. Her husband cheated on her and now seeing someone else, his newest "lay of the month." And it's clearly a matter of class here. Some authors are too crass and sordid for me and that's the case here. Gina was at the Wizard's Ball at Princeton, sitting outside when she heard her ex-husband and another woman talking about "doing it" in the gazebo. She escaped through the garden but looked back and saw the woman undo his pants and take his penis into her hands. The author then started sickly describing the blow job of the "pencil-dick." There were slurping noises, groans, and him telling her to take him deeper and her gagging when she tried to do so. I was astounded that someone actually wrote a blow job scene with the ex-husband, much less detailed it and had the heroine watch and hear it. I know he's not the hero, but no one should subject others to reading this filth. He was her husband. Have the decency not to go there.

I was worried about this book when I first saw it in the store; it's a clearly a low-budget, cheap production. Just look at these two. They look like CGI aliens. I've also never seen naked breasts on a cover before...probably because they shouldn't be there. Idk that erotic romance is what they inspire. I've never seen a cover like this in all of my romance reading days. The summary is definitely strange and a lot to handle. What little I read proved to be as weird as the cover and summary led me to believe it would be, and I wish I'd let the shop throw hers out in the dumpster out back where they belonged.

She's going on my never-to-read list along with some others. Once I see someone has a class level that is well below mine, I don't waste any more of my precious time on them.

[Janine]

Ellora's Cave; erotic contemporary fantasy

[Patti · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read

A pleasant read for an afternoon. The characters were not well developed, but often relied on an unspecified history. Never really invested in the characters.