Orchid
Orchid Customer Review: Actually, for me, 3.5. But still quite enjoyable!
I've read the other two books in this trilogy, "Amaryllis" and "Zinnia". My favorite was "Zinnia" and "Orchid" was quite a bit behind that book when it came to my enjoyment. Having said that, I will say that I am a huge fan of the fantasy/sci-fi/romance novels of Jayne Castle and fully intend to read each and every one she publishes.
Now on to "Orchid". Orchid Adams is a writer of psychic vampire romance fiction. (A psychic vampire novel involves a very strong talent mentally kidnapping a - usually virginal - prism and forcing her to do his bidding. This, or course, turns into true love because the vampire is just misunderstood.) So far she has written three novels. I had hoped that Jayne Castle would give us some idea of what it might be like for an author to be involved in crafting a book. No. This book is all about Orchid's other job. She works part-time as a prism for Psynergy, Inc. Orchid, however, is not just a prism, she is an ice-prism. She has a talent which is truly remarkable and unusual among the general population.
Rafe Stonebreaker (where do authors come up with these names?) is a psychic strat-talent which means that he is skilled in finding, locating, hunting, tracking, tracing. Those types of skills. They help him earn a living as a financial advisor by using his analytical skills on the stock market. As a hobby he likes to investigate problems such as finding stolen books or alien artifacts posed by friends and aquaintances. Rafe's talent is looked down upon by most of the inhabitants of the space colony St. Helens because his skills are considered primitive, a throwback to earlier times when hunting, force and violence were required to survive. Strat-talents are often criminals. But of course, not our Rafe. I liked him. I REALLY liked him in the other two books when there was a total air of mystery about him but even after meeting him in this story, I still liked him. He is in need of a wife and has registered with an official marriage brokerage firm. Orchid is working with him to provide him with a prism so that he can concentrate his strat-talent, but his ulterior motive is to use as many prisms as possible to help find a wife for himself. Orchid does not meet any of his requirements for a wife but he can't seem to stay away from her.
A good book. I was somewhat disappointed because I read this one just days after finishing "Zinnia" and there are many instances of dialogue and situations which are word for word the same in these two books. As a mystery it seemed forced. The two culprits (yes, Orchid is caught two times by two different bad guys) were not fleshed out at all. Not very well done, in my opinion. The family conflict is settled much, much too easily. If it was that easy to solve, why had it gone on so long in the first place? This one is not my favorite but I do like Jayne Castle's writing and, as I've said before, will buy any other books in this genre which she writes.
Customer Review: I'm very happy with this Product.
GOOD BOOK. VERY GOOD FOR A BEGINNER IN ORCHID GROWING. ORCHIDS AND ROSES ARE THE ROMANCE FLOWERS! I GIVE THIS BOOK 4****!!