by Jayne Castle
Part of Harmony
First published 2006
Elly St. Claire packed her botanical research and left Cooper Boone behind. The Guild boss had kept too many secrets, and those secrets had put her academic career at risk. Cadence City felt like a fresh start on the planet Harmony, where ancient alien ruins run beneath the streets and energy ghosts drift through the underground catacombs. Elly settles in, makes friends, and acquires a dust bunny companion with fierce loyalty and soft fur. Then one of her new friends disappears into the catacombs, and Cooper shows up at her door. He comes to help find the missing person, but he also comes for Elly. The investigation pulls them both into the labyrinthine passages below the city, where old ghost myths turn out to have sharp edges. Cooper tells her plainly: he is not leaving again, and he will not hide anything from her this time. Elly wants to believe him. She also remembers exactly what his silence cost her. While they work through dangerous ruins that a vanished alien civilization left behind, Elly has to decide whether a second chance with Cooper is worth the risk.
Genres: science-fiction, romance, adventure, mystery, fantasy, paranormal
Vibes: adventurous, atmospheric, emotional, romantic, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity, found-family, second-chance-romance
Setting: Harmony, Cadence City
327 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Jove Books