Crystal Gardens

April 23, 2012
Romance and the paranormal are neatly entwined in late 19th century England in the opening of the new Ladies of Lantern Street series from the prolific Quick (Quicksilver). Sent to the country to recover from the trauma of a murder attempt, psychic investigator and novelist Evangeline Ames is pursued by a hired assassin onto the grounds of an ancient abbey, Crystal Gardens, which have become the focus of an unusual surge of paranormal energy. Rescued by the owner of the Gardens, Lucas Sebastian, who has arrived to investigate the sudden death of his reclusive uncle and the dangerously increasing power of the Gardens, Evangeline finds herself drawn not only to the various mysteries but to Lucas himself, possessor of a dark paranormal talent of his own. While not a standout, the occult elements provide an original twist to a competent mystery plot with a dash of gothic flair and a traditional romantic pairing for a pleasant tale that will satisfy fans of gaslight paranormals.

April 15, 2012
A psychic spinster meets her match in a dark, equally gifted stranger, in Quick's Ladies of Lantern Street series launch. Evangeline, of good breeding but approaching 30 and penniless, is deemed unmarriageable by Victorian society, but luckily she has not had to enter service or support herself as a governess. She is a paid companion, but for a most exclusive and remunerative agency, Flint & Marsh, which deploys clairvoyants as private eyes to the moneyed classes. Undercover in her dowdy disguise, Evangeline recently completed her latest assignment: exposing as a fortune hunter a young man, Douglas, who was courting an heiress. However, Evangeline wasn't expecting Douglas to exact revenge. (The two were not unacquainted in the past.) When she's forced to use psychic power to immobilize him, resulting in his death, Flint & Marsh sends her to a country cottage to recuperate (where she can devote some time to writing the melodramatic novels which are her real passion, at least until her landlord, Lucas Sebastian, comes along). When a London thug, Hobson, breaks into the cottage, knife at the ready, Evangeline manages to escape to Crystal Gardens, the mansion newly purchased by Lucas. As Lucas and his hired man Stone deflect the threat by luring Hobson into a menacing maze of carnivorous greenery, Evangeline cannot deny the powerful pull Lucas exercises on her, in both the paranormal and sensual realms. All too soon, however, an invasion of his relatives dampens the budding romance, as Lucas and Evangeline try to contain their ardor long enough to solve several mysteries--e.g., who murdered the former master of Crystal Gardens, Lucas' Uncle Chester, a reputed madman whose botanical experiments have run amok in the gardens? Who hired Hobson to kill Evangeline? Is there really Roman treasure buried on the estate? These questions are overshadowed by the book's main focus: ensuring that the course of true love is strewn with as many obstacles, psychic and otherwise, as possible. Delivers all that Quick fans swoon over.

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April 15, 2012

Fleeing from an assassin for the second time in two weeks, undercover psychic investigator and fiction writer Evangeline Ames bolts from the bed of her small rented country cottage and plunges into Crystal Gardens' ancient, forbidding grounds--and straight into the life (and eventually the arms) of the enigmatic Lucas Sebastian. The mysterious new heir and estate owner has the locals buzzing, and his psychic power sends Evangeline's senses flaring. A pair of smart, well-matched protagonists, a cast of well-defined secondary characters, and a beautifully described, frighteningly vivid garden setting combine in a fast-paced, multiplotted adventure that has enough secrets and intrigue to satisfy fans and keep the pages turning. VERDICT One of the most creative, inventive storytellers in the field, Quick infuses her own addictive brand of breathless, sexy adventure with dashes of vengeance, greed, and violence and a hefty splash of delectable, offbeat humor to spin another mesmerizing paranormal gem. Quick (Quicksilver) lives in Seattle.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2012
It is the second time in the last two weeks that someone tried to kill Evangeline Ames. Fortunately, when she hears someone breaking into Fern Cottage, she has enough time to escape through her bedroom window, and she immediately heads for Crystal Gardens. Evangeline had already done some exploring at the abandoned estate, and her plan is to lose her assailant in the gardens surrounding the house. What Evangeline hasn't planned on was running into Lucas Sebastian, the new owner of Crystal Gardens. Nor does she realize that he will prove to be far more dangerous to Evangeline's plans for a quiet rest in the country than any mysterious intruder. Crystal Gardens, the latest danger-rich, paranormal-spiced historical romance from best-selling Quick (Burning Lamp, 2010), is an absolute delight. From the entertaining battle of wits between the story's intriguing heroine and mysterious hero to the botanically inspired plot and its deliciously gothic setting, all the literary components add up to a romance worth savoring.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)