An engaging paranormal romance in which love triumphs over isolation.
A Psy and a cat shifter separated by trauma and amnesia reunite and take on an unknown enemy.
The Psy-Changeling series continues with a new pair of lovers whose personal connection might strengthen the links among the human, Psy, and shifter groups just as the Psynet is under attack. In sections that alternate between the recent past and present and between the points of view of the two protagonists and a mysterious villain, we learn about the abruptly ended budding romance of Psy Ivan Mercant and ocelot-shifter Soleil Bijoux Garcia and then see them renew their bond. Ivan has always been self-contained. His in-utero exposure to a drug, followed by a childhood with his troubled single mother, has affected him emotionally as well as cognitively. Though eventually embraced by the powerful Russian Mercant family, despite not having a biological connection to them, he is convinced that the drug’s effects will eventually make him a danger to everyone. A chance meeting with a playful healer briefly gives him hope, but losing her seems part of his inevitable solitary existence. Even when he finds her again, she doesn’t seem to recognize him. Orphaned young when her shifter-human parents died in an accident, French Latinx ocelot Lei is now reeling from the recent massacre of her shifter pack. But her shifter half is drawn to an intense stranger in the midst of a Psy crisis. Once Lei realizes the love they could have, Ivan must contend with her determination that they stay together and his own protective instincts. While an amnesia plot may not be for everyone, the novel deftly balances Ivan’s grief with sweet flashbacks to the couple’s initial dates and then ramps up the electric attraction between them in the present. The author’s signature warm scenes involving new changelings and the changeling families familiar to regular series readers reinforce a tone of communal love and support. While the external threat mounts and Ivan and Lei work with Psy and changeling leaders to combat it, the sexual chemistry between the couple reaches a joyful culmination. Some readers, however, may grumble at how late in the book the scene occurs.
An engaging paranormal romance in which love triumphs over isolation.Pub Date: July 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-44067-4
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.
In this long-awaited fifth installment of Shannon’s Bone Season series, the threat to the clairvoyant community spreads like a plague across Europe.
After extending her fight against the Republic of Scion to Paris, Paige Mahoney, leader of London’s clairvoyant underworld and a spy for the resistance movement, finds herself further outside her comfort zone when she wakes up in a foreign place with no recollection of getting there. More disturbing than her last definitive memory, in which her ally-turned-lover Arcturus seems to betray her, is that her dreamscape—the very soul of her clairvoyance—has been altered, as if there’s a veil shrouding both her memories and abilities. Paige manages to escape and learns she’s been missing and presumed dead for six months. Even more shocking is that she’s somehow outside of Scion’s borders, in the free world where clairvoyants are accepted citizens. She gets in touch with other resistance fighters and journeys to Italy to reconnect with the Domino Programme intelligence network. In stark contrast to the potential of life in the free world is the reality that Scion continues to stretch its influence, with Norway recently falling and Italy a likely next target. Paige is enlisted to discover how Scion is bending free-world political leaders to its will, but before Paige can commit to her mission, she has her own mystery to solve: Where in the world is Arcturus? Paige’s loyalty to Arcturus is tested as she decides how much to trust in their connection and how much information to reveal to the Domino Programme about the Rephaite—the race of immortals from the Netherworld, Arcturus’ people—and their connection to the founding of Scion, as well as the presence of clairvoyant abilities on Earth. While the book is impressively multilayered, the matter-of-fact way in which details from the past are sprinkled throughout will have readers constantly flipping to the glossary. As the series’ scope and the implications of the war against Scion expand, Shannon’s narrative style reads more action-thriller than fantasy. Paige’s powers as a dreamwalker are rarely used here, but when clairvoyance is at play, the story shines.
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781639733965
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sloppy worldbuilding undermines a high-concept romance.
A teenage time traveler is stuck in the past.
Magnolia Brown’s parents invent personal time-travel suits in the 2070s. When Magnolia is 16, the three travel back to 2024, hoping to warn people about the coming ravages of climate change. Her parents don’t realize their suit design is stolen while they’re there, and the resulting flood of time travelers causes massive societal unrest. Magnolia’s parents are arrested and executed for these crimes, but Magnolia is adopted by a pastor and his family, including two sons, in Aubrey, Kansas. Two years later, Magnolia has fallen in love with one brother, Fallon, while the older brother, Ramsey, is on the front lines, fighting the wave of time travelers. As Fallon’s girlfriend, Magnolia is protected from the disdain and hatred of the townspeople who see her as the poster child for the evils of time travel. After a fire at the high school, Magnolia is determined to repair a time-travel suit and go back in time to prevent the tragedy. In the process, she grows closer to Ramsey and discovers that she may have been in love with the wrong brother all along. Unfortunately, Bailey’s first foray into SF romance is not a success, with both the worldbuilding and the plot underdeveloped. The mechanics of time travel are inconsistent, as are its effects in the story. Based on what any scene requires, supplies are either scarce or readily available, technology is either advanced or it backfires, and laws are either ignored or rigidly enforced. Magnolia thinks, acts, and operates like a 2026 teenager even though she grew up 50 years in the future. Bailey brings her characteristic heat to the romance between Magnolia and Ramsey, but he’s barely a character in his own right. Readers are unlikely to understand his devotion toward Magnolia or the dramatic sacrifices he makes on her behalf.
Sloppy worldbuilding undermines a high-concept romance.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9780063381018
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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