Lord Andrew Harrington has come to the kingdom of Montebello to visit his aunt Gwendolyn, the queen. Montebello is currently enjoying a precarious peace with the neighboring kingdom of Tamir, and Drew learns how uncertain that peace is when a bomb goes off just as he disembarks the plane. Fortunately few people were hurt, due to Rose Giaberti, who called in a warning.

Rose is a psychic and that’s how she knew of the bombing, but no one is willing to believe her. Drew and his cousin Lorenzo, the head of Montebello’s security, think she may have inside knowledge, and be protecting someone. Drew plans to get close her until she’s comfortable enough to reveal her secrets. While Drew is happy to get know Rose better, there is a drawback: the closer he gets to her, the worse his migraines and their accompanying fugue states become. Soon Drew has to choose between the woman he loves and his sanity.

Meanwhile there is a sub-plot involving Lucas, the crown prince of Montebello, whose story began in Silhouette’s Firstborn Sons series. Lucas has recently returned home after being presumed dead in a plane crash in the Rocky Mountains. Lucas is despondent, until Rose tells him the woman he met during his absence needs help. This is clearly setting up plot points for the next books in the series.

Drew and Rose are likable characters. Drew is bothered by the fact that he cannot get close to people and worries that he is cold. This is a sign that he really cares more than he wants to. There is a good reason for Drew’s supposed distance from those around him, and Rose quickly picks up on it. Rose is caring, but she is portrayed as more distant than Drew and is prickly in conversations with people. These contradictions between how they viewed themselves and their true selves were realistic, but sometimes caused them to seem inconsistent.

While I enjoyed the plot and was intrigued by what was causing Drew’s attacks, as well as the sub-plot with the prince, I was upset with the lack of detail and follow-through of either plot. The reason behind Drew’s attacks is briefly explained and brushed over to a degree. Details are implied and not given. It made me wish that Drew’s story had not been part of a series, and instead given enough room to be told properly. As for the prince’s story, it is dropped abruptly on a flimsy bit of news, which everyone who read the prologue knows is a lie. What’s more annoying is that Rose, a psychic, should also have known it’s a lie given her abilities. I know that this was not Lucas’s story, but the ending to the sub-plot was too brusque.

So while I was intrigued and enjoyed the story set up, in the end I was unsatisfied. If you’re following the Romancing the Crown series, I can recommend this story. Otherwise, it does not stand well enough on its own to make it worth the while.