I have a soft spot for futuristic books so I was very much hoping that I would feel the love again for Jayne Ann Krentz’s books with her fantasy release Canyons of Night written under her Jayne Castle pseudonym. While not a bad book, the series has not moved forward with any new innovative plot devices. Included are the quirky dust bunny and unusual psi powers, but after numerous books, these no longer seem fresh or imaginative.

Fifteen years ago, nineteen-year-old Slade Attridge saved Charlotte Enright from three tanked up tourists. After that they spent some time together, and he showed her the wonders in the Rainshadow preserve, an area protected by a psi fence that only a select few are able to penetrate.

The next day he left, starting his new career with the Federal Bureau of Psi Investigations. Charlotte left the island also, but now both are back. Charlotte, with her talent of reading rainbow auras, didn’t get her degree in para-archeology and work for Arcane as she planned but became very successful at selling antiques, like her family predicted. Inheriting her aunt’s shop, Looking Glass, she decides to close her business in Frequency City rather than the Looking Glass, and moves all her inventory to Rainshadow Island. Slade, with his talent of recognizing paranormal committed crimes moved up the professional ladder to the group, a special department within the FBPI. But after his last assignment goes bad, he needs a break. Taking the job as Chief of Police will allow him to recover, plus put in place his plans for private security consulting company.

The attraction that both felt fifteen years ago is still very much alive so Slade doesn’t hesitate to ask Charlotte for a date. However his desire to move the relationship forward is stymied when Charlotte reads his doubts. After Charlotte finds a former client dead in her shop, killed by paranormal means, Charlotte and Slade are thrown together more as they search out the answer to his death, and the unusual activity occurring in the island’s preserve.

I have an affinity for plots featuring the trope of soul mates, which is a recurring theme throughout the Castle’s books but along with this, I need the characters to experience more conflict with finding that one. Lately the books in general and this particular book are missing viable conflicts between the hero and heroine. They meet, they have a near sexual encounter, a few issues come up that are easily eliminated, they get involved in a mystery, and then we have resolution. I also really miss witty banter between the hero and heroine. Without conflict, the conversations seems so mundane.

Since the author has linked all the books under the Arcane umbrella, even the mystery and challenges the hero faces about his talent are duplicated from book to book. Hero thinks he is turning into a monster, heroine is sure that he isn’t. Maybe it is time the heroine has her own issues and the hero believes in her?

This book isn’t a chore to read, but it didn’t leave me with warm fuzzies either. Your enjoyment will depend on whether you think that sameness equals comfort or sameness equals unexciting. If you are new to Jayne Castle’s futuristic books, then I can easily recommend some of her early releases but this one doesn’t have much sizzle.