Black Aura

Mystic Moons #2

by Jaycee Clark

If anyone needs a vacation, its Lake Johnson. After her psychic abilities failed heralmost costing a friends lifeshe hopes a little time away in Taos, New Mexico, will ease the self-doubt haunting her. Perhaps what she needs is the distraction of sexy gallery owner Maxamillan Gray. Women look great on canvas, Max has learned, but in real life, theyre a pain. Although the mysterious Lake gets under his skin, hes wary after having been betrayed too many times before. As Max and Lake cautiously explore their attraction for each other, Lake becomes aware that Maxs edgy, complex daughter has been targeted by a building malevolence. The problemgetting Max to believe her. And convincing herself she can trust her own instincts. If she cant do either, its only a matter of time before a soulless madman steals Maxs daughter awayand another gifted young woman dies.

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance

222 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty well done little story. If you read the first book in this series, you know that Lake was having a sexual relationship with a serial killer the entire time and no longer trusts her own power or judgement, which is why she's wintering in Taos. She's crushing a bit on local gallery owner, Max Gray, and he's even more intriguing because of his teenage daughter Alyssa, who is an even more powerful psychic than Lake is. Lake and Max hit it off and start dating, but Lake's interest in helping Alyssa sets his back up because he suspects Lake's motives. But this doesn't last long. Meanwhile, there's a very sick individual who is killing psychics in order to transfer their power to him and he wants Alyssa, badly.

This isn't stellar or spectacular, it's just well done and engaging. I liked the characters and appreciate that, although Lake is our heroine, she's not the most powerfully gifted psychic who comes along to steal the show. No, the show stealer is Alyssa, who is almost a heroine in her own right, though she doesn't have much of a romance working. I suspect it was maybe set up so she could be a heroine in a future story if the author felt like continuing the series. It's kind of a shame she didn't because I'd read that. Lake though, ends up being a solid support to Alyssa and particularly for Max, who has a minor intuition gift but doesn't really fess up to it. And Max and Lake do have a nice relationship and their sexy times are hawt (think silk blindfolds and paint). The suspense part of the story does provide plenty of mystery. We get the POV of the killer without any idea who he is, only his motive. Then the author throws a few potential villains in your path and you try to narrow it down you get close, but you're not quite on target...it's the one you don't expect, but you were pretty sure you were in the right family . The story does wrap up, but the epilogue ends a bit abruptly...I might have liked it with Alyssa accompanying her dad to Sedona or something. It felt wrong for her to be alone in the end (though probably right if there'd been another book to follow).

[Hope Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, but like the first one, I just thought it was too short. I thought it needed more backstory, especially with Max & Alyssa. I know we know a lot about Lake from Angel Eyes, but even her background would have been nice. She mentioned not speaking to her parents, but that is it. I liked the secondary characters, but I did grab on to the bad guy pretty quickly in this one. It didn't take away from the story, and I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out if I was right, but it wasn't hard to figure out this time. I even with there had been more backstory for the bad guy and the helper. (Trying not to give to much away lol). I am looking forward to more in this series as the ending makes you believe there will be more.

[Vish · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt the first book was way better and while this was a quick read, the end was super abrupt. The whole book was a buildup for the end, but then, we directly jump to the epilogue with barely any discovery. So the end was definitely disappointing but overall a okay quick read.

[CJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting novel with compelling characters. It was sort of open ended with regards to Alyssa and Jay, but perhaps there is a book to come which finalizes the situation. I enjoyed the book.