Fired Up begins Jayne Ann Krentz’s three-book Dreamlight Trilogy, a series that will span her Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle books. It has a promising start, but disappointed in the end.

Psychic talent Jack Winters is in trouble. He’s suffering from blackouts, hallucinations, and nightmares, and thinks he killed someone during a blackout. He believes he’s developing a new psychic talent, and will go mad. Jack’s only hope is to locate a missing family heirloom, the Burning Lamp. According to legend, if he can find someone with the right psychic talent to manipulate the lamp, he will be saved. Chloe Harper seems like the perfect solution to his problems.

Chloe is an investigator who focuses on locating missing antiquities; she’s also a psychic talent, whose ability to read psychic emanations, or dreamlight, is exactly the skill Jack needs. Chloe’s psychic talent has also caused her a lot of personal problems. She can’t fall asleep in a bed with anyone. She’s been involved with a lot of men, but has finally resolved that she won’t marry, and is currently planning to live a celibate lifestyle. Jack puts a crimp in her plans. They’re attracted to each other the minute they meet and, as psychic talents, the sparks truly do fly.

Both Chloe and Jack’s families have been on the outs with the Arcane Society – the ruling group for the psychic elements of society – for generations. The Harpers have traditionally used their psychic talents for such interesting activities as art fraud, forgery, and sleight of hand. Jack’s ancestors delved into methods to develop multiple talents, with dangerous results.

I had great hopes for this book. Chloe and Jack are extremely likeable, with just enough quirks to be interesting. And typical of the author, they’re both intelligent, respect each other, and engage in a lot of witty dialog.

I enjoyed the initial parts of the book when Chloe and Jack first become acquainted. I also enjoyed many of the secondary characters including Chloe’s assistant and her dog. However, the Arcane Society psychic elements eventually began to dominate the story, to the detriment of the romance.

Fans of the author’s Arcane Society series will be happy to learn that Fallon Jones – the head of Jones & Jones Investigations – appears several times. He’s proving to be an interesting character, and I’m eager to read his book, especially if it features more romance and fewer psychic elements.

Jayne Ann Krentz is the first author I read when I rediscovered romances. Some of her older contemporary romances are regular rereads for me. However, while I’ll definitely pick up her next book, I can’t quite recommend this as one of her best. I have no doubts that die-hard fans will want to read it, but if you haven’t read any of the author’s books, I’d suggest you do a power search here at AAR and look for one of her older romances.