Customer Reviews

Amaryllis

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Being a fan of futuristic romance I was very happy to "surf" into this, the first book in the series (followed by Zinnia and Orchid). The icing on the cake for me was having psychic abilities added to the story! Amaryllis Lark and Lucas Trent get off to a rocky start, but slowly acknowledge their growing attraction to each other. This is fueled by their Prism/Talent Link that leads them into a nice little murder mystery to solve.

Ms. Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) did a nice job of educating the reader about the time and place of the story without getting long winded. I loved the names for various foods, drinks, places and animals that are a combination of nouns used "here on earth!"

I do not regret in the least ordering all three of these books sight unseen. I've enjoyed all three enormously.

St. Helen's, a lush green world, is an earth colony founded by humans over two centuries before "Amaryllis" begins. The original humans, Founders, were stranded shortly after discovering the planet, and were forever cut off from their home on earth. They adapted to the new environment, utilizing native metals and materials, but much of the science and technology they brought with them was lost over time. Eventually the population of St. Helens evolved into two kinds of humans - "prisms" and "talents," both with psychic ability. Talents have significant degrees of paranormal ability, but cannot focus their energy without a prism. The necessary link between a "talent" and a "prism" has to be mutually consensual in order to accomplish any paranormal activity.

Amaryllis Lark, a professional, academically trained full-spectrum prism, is quite beautiful - but she's also a buttoned-up, prim, proper kind of gal who plays by the rules. Amaryllis is a top psychic detective at Psynergy, Inc., one of the best companies in the business. Lucas Trent, president of Lodestar Exploration and Mining, is a talent of the strongest degree, but he needs Amaryllis to work with him in order to focus his paranormal gifts, and assist him in a simple investigation. Needless to say, Lucas is definitely not prim or proper, nor does he have rules - but when the two join forces, sparks fly! Their business arrangement turns into a murder investigation, and a much closer merger than either of them bargained for.

Jayne Castle has a real winner with "Amaryllis." St, Helens is a fascinating world peopled with some real characters. Lucas and Amaryllis are polar opposites - she's Miss Priss, a real lady - and he lets it all hang out. That's why they're so good together. As a twosome they gravitate toward the middle and compromise, with many arguments and much humor along the way. The romance is steamy and the mystery exciting.

What else is there to say? If you like romance, the paranormal, novels about the future, or just a good story - this book is for you!

JANA

Even though this book was published quite some time ago, I only read it this weekend, due to the recommendation of one of my Amazon.com friends. If it hadn't been for her recommendation, I don't think I would have tried it, because the whole plot of this futuristic romance seemed a little far-fetched.

But then, if I hadn't read it I would have missed a real keeper, so I guess I'm very lucky for having friends who share my tastes, and who know what I might like even before I do.

The story is set in the Earth colony of St. Helen's, and the main characters are two very different. Amaryllis Lark is a prism, and she can help people who have psychic talents to focus them. She works for Psynergy, Inc., and is quite happy with her job. One of the tasks she must perform is help Lucas, the owner of Lodestar Exploration, to find a corporate thief. She does exactly that, by focusing his talent (remember that Amaryllis is a prism, this is more extensely explained in the book). Even they are very different, they find that they are intensely attracted to each other, and that atraction only increases as the case they investigate develops to include murder.

Jayne Castle is the name that Jayne Ann Krentz uses when she writes futuristic paranormal romances. I can only tell that she is incredible! After finishing this book, I immediately searched in the web for the sequels, "Zinnia" and "Orchid", and by now I've already read both of them (they are also great, 5 star rating). This "compulsion" to read everything similar that the author may have written is what distinguishes really good romances novels (for example, Dark Series by Feehan or Cynsters by Laurens) from others that are only midly good.

Anyway, if you follow my advise, good reading! You will have a great time! :)

Since they repackaged two from this series under the title of Harmony, I got these out and decided to reread them, and found I enjoyed them more the second time around. This is JAK writing as the Jayne Castle she saves for her paranormal tales, and it's her best writing of late. I have been a wee tad disappointed in her last several hardbacks, especially in her Amanda Quicks (her historical romance name). She seems to have polished her diamond too much and lost some of the spontaneity that was her trademark. But in Amaryllis, Zinnia and Orchid (and later with After Dark and After Glow) the off-world of Harmony antics show JAK at her top form. These books original received mixed reviews from fans, not completely used to JAK's paranormals. I often see the complaint JAK is a great writer, but the books are too patterned. It's in her Jayne Castle works where is her most original, yet her fans were initially resistant to the paranormal theme. Now the paranormal market has caught up with her, and is so hot, these are getting better reviews. So if you missed the Harmony tales, don't hesitate to seek them out.

In this off world tale, Amaryllis Lark is a private detective, but she is also a prism. In the Earth Colony of Harmony, people evolved with two supernatural talents: either they were a prism or a psychic. The prisms serve to increase the power of the psychics by channeling their powers through them, amplifying it and keeping it stable. Even the strongest of psychics needs a prism, for without them they cannot control and maintain their powers for long periods.

Lucas Trent, the founder of Lodestar, hires Amaryllis for her prism talents. He is an off the chart psychic who need the talent of a prism of his level. A psychic and a prism have to be matched. They are rated 1-10 levels and if a psychic is stronger than a prism, the prism can experience burn-out. There are few prisms who can handle Lucas Trent's strong psychic abilities, so he is delighted to discover Amaryllis can handle whatever power he channels through her.

Lucas is concerned one of his Lodestone employees is selling corporate information to his competition. He, originally, hired Amaryllis to help catch the industrial spy, and to use her talents as a prism to help his focus his psychic talent to trap the spy. But soon they are involved in a murder mystery. In this case, opposites do attract, and Lucas and Amaryllis sizzle, their attraction amplified by the psy-power between them. However, Amaryllis is undergoing the rigors of a matchmaking
service. All solid marriages on Harmony are founded on this service. While she is falling in love with Lucas, she fears it will only be an affair. Lucas has other plans and is not about to let his true match slip through his fingers.

In order to foil nasty corporate to-dos, they are forced to join talents...and more! A super, brilliant work from the fine craft of JAK, without the narrow POV (point of view) being voiced on writers today. Simply magic!

In many ways it seems almost unfair to judge this book (which was published in 1996) by the standards of science fiction/fantasy/romance books written today. These types of books and authors have moved in lightning fast style from what they were when the genre and sub-genre first began to be written. Nevertheless, I have to confess that I found myself bored while reading this first in the Castle series of "flower" books.

Amaryllis Lark, as a character, should have appealed to me since she is the type character I tend to want to read about. But even I found her TOO rigid, TOO prissy, TOO single-minded, TOO straight laced, TOO everything. She was not a psychic detective, as some reviews have stated, she simply fell into investigating the death of her academic mentor because she was too stubborn to let go of her idea that something MIGHT have been wrong in his death. No clear reason for her doubt ever stuck in my mind so I was constantly left wondering why she continued to think he might have been killed. She just went on and on and on insisting on investigating when there did not seem to be anything to investigate. Why? Give me some reason to believe that a mystery actually exists. (In fairness to the author, she did manage to hide the culprit very well, but by the time it was revealed, I just wanted to get it over with and be finished.)

Lucas Trent was a very good character for me. He was portrayed as the opposite of Amaryllis and Ms Castle did a very good job in making me see him as such. I do wish that she had given him more passion. He seemed to be rather lukewarm during situations where his emotions should have registered off the top of the scale. I have read in some of the reviews that this is a "steamy" romance. No, not by today's standards. If you read this book believing that, you are destined to be very disappointed.

I agree with another reviewer, if everything in this book is to be compared to Earth, why not just have the action take place on Earth using a time/dimension vehicle to move it out of our own world? All the descriptions are very shallow; as an example, at one point the characters eat a straw-peach pie. Not one single description of what that fruit looked like, smelled like or tasted like. Coff-tea. What was it? What did it smell like, taste like? Where did it grow? Did it grow? Give me some descriptions to tell me why this was not Earth. A fern-tree. Well, I know it was big but how big? How tall? How wide? Was it even green?

I have read all the Jayne Castle books about Harmony, AFTER GLOW, AFTER DARK, GHOST HUNTER and will receive the newest release in a few days. I just LOVE those books. I can envision the alien world of Harmony. I expected that these "flower" books would give me the same enjoyment level. I was wrong. As I said at the beginning, perhaps it is wrong to judge these too harshly because the writing has moved so far along since these early books were written. But the bottom line is: this book was too long, it did not excite me with any futuristic ideas, it was not a very intense romance and the mystery aspect seemed completely forced. Sorry!

****Comment added March 17, 2008 I have recently read another book in this series, "Zinnia", and absolutely loved it. All of the reasons I had for not really caring for this particular book were absent in the second. I definitely was not bored. Now I am looking forward to reading "Orchid" to complete the series.*****jel

After reading After Dark, another futuristic romance by the same author, the plot is easy to follow in Amaryllis even though there are many differences. Instead of having pyschic illusion dismantlers and ghost hunters as in After Dark, we have pyschic prisms and pyschic talents working together.

the background:
In the distant Earth colony of St. Helens, the pioneer people from Earth that settled in the colony were stranded after the connection warp between Earth and the colony(also called "the curtain") disappeared almost 200 years ago. St. Helens was habitable but the materials from Earth quickly disintegrated. Earth's technology were also of no use. The settlers were forced to learn about the colony's natural materials and how to use them to produce everyday necessities. Through many generations, humans have also evolutionized to develop pyschic abilities. The pyschic power were of two different types: prisms or talents. Pyschic talents have the natural gift of performing one of various functions such as botanist, gemologist, illusionist, etc. However, the talents can't control their pyschic powers without the help pyschic prisms, which uses their powers to create a pyschic plane through which the talents can direct their energy into. Talents and prisms were classified into different levels of classes depending on their pyschic strength.
The first generation of St Helen settlers believed in a strong family foundation. The rules of society forbids divorce. Therefore, marriage is an eternal bound. Because of this, marriage is usually the result of a match by a marriage agency whose job is to find compatible soulmates. Any other type of marriage are doomed to fail. It's also conventional wisdom that high level talents and prisms are not compatible at all.

the characters:
Lucas Trent is the president of Lodestar Exploration, a company who finds and extract jelly-ice, which is the main energy source in St. Helens (like oil on Earth). After experiencing a failed nonagency marriage, he was determined to do it right this time and registered with a marriage agency. He is also a high level talent with the abilities of talent detector and illusionist.

Amaryllis Lark is a high level prism employed by Psynergy Inc, provider of prism services for a fee. Her parents died when she was very young and she was raised by her great aunt. Because her parents were not married, she was called many names growing up. She was illegitimate. This is especially hard in a society where family values were stressed. Amaryllis grew up to be a strict and a person who values ethical behavior. She also understands the importance of an agency marriage. Therefore, she registered with a marriage agency.

their story:
Lucas was concerned about one of his employees selling corporate information to an outsider. Therefore he hired Amaryllis to be his prism in order for him to use his talent to check into the case. There was a mutual attraction. They also teamed up to investigate a probable murder case. After spending so much time together, they started an affair. Even though they have mutual feelings of affection for each other, they both know there would be no future for them. The agency would never match them up since they are both high level pyschics and would not be compatible. Will they be able overcome the many obstacles?

Overall comments:
Interesting world. Good love story between Lucas and Amaryllis. However, I thought the mystery and resolution of it was a bit weak. The conflict was resolved easily. Not much surprise. Good book to introduce us to the world of St. Helens. Will definitely read Zinnia and Orchid, 2 other St. Helens novels.

I thought it was a fun read! I enjoyed the light-heartedness of the mystery. But wait....is it a mystery or a romance or a sci fi tale? It has elements of all three. The story is set in the future on a distant planet. Many of the inhabitants have paranormal abilities. I found the story fun and the concepts presented fascinating. Set aside your disbeliefs and let Jayne Castle take you on an entertaining jouney to New St Helens. This book is the first in a series. Enjoy!

In the not-too-distant future, Amaryllis Lark is a prism, a psychic detective, in the city of New Seattle. A prism is crucial to the well-being of the colonists of St. Helen's, as they developed into two major groups: either talents, or prisms. Talents have a number of psychic abilities, ranging from the mundane (horticultural talents) to the mysterious (illusionist talents). Prisms, on the other hand, help a talent focus his energy in order to be able to use his psychic abilities. Without a prism, a talent wouldn't be able to use his ability for longer than a few seconds at most.

Lucas Trent, also known as The Iceman, hires Amaryllis for her psychic talents. He knows that a close business associate has been stealing and selling corporate secrets, and he thinks there might be more going on than simple greed. When Lucas and Amaryllis join forces, their psychic connection and attraction to each other sizzles. Soon, they're thrust in the middle of a murder investigation, and a love affair neither can resist.

Jayne Castle, who writes contemporary romances under the name Jayne Ann Krentz, and historical romances under the name Amada Quick, has written a phenomenal tale in AMARYLLIS. The romance is strong, and holds its own in a complex and interesting plot. The hint of mystery also unravels nicely throughout the book and keeps the plot moving at a rapid pace. The characters are extremely well-developed and intriguing. Her writing style is outstanding as well, as she manages to add just the right touch of detail to make the setting come alive without overwhelming the story or the characters.

If you're looking for a fun, captivating romance, look no further than AMARYLLIS.

I just love this book, I found the idea of two souls blending together, to create & achieve fantastic. The other two books in this series are just as good. This series would have to be my favorite style of writing form written by Jayne Ann Krantz. You have ghosts, ghouls & always a murder or mystery to solve. But you always know in the end that they end up together happy. I love the flower names & surnames of the heros it gives the books that quirky bit of information about their nature.

I love reading these paranormal adventures with JAK writing as Jayne Castle. Amaryllis Lark is an academic newly arrived in the business world and working as a full spectrum prism for Psynergy, Inc for just the past 6 months. She has dozens of certificates, diplomas and so on and adheres to a strict code of ethics. Lucas Trent was raised in the wild Western Islands with only an old prospector as a guardian. He owns Lodestar which mines jelly ice -- an energy source much needed on this planet!! He also discovered "alien relics" on the Islands that are going on display in a museum. He has an internal company security issue he needs Amaryllis to help him with as he is a "class 9" detector talent. Even though Amaryllis is a very straight arrow and rather prudish, she is excited about this opportunity to work with the famouse Lucas Trent!!

From the first time they link and as the story and murder mystery develops, it is alot of fun reading with some amusing anecdotes, secondary characters and startling ending.

If you enjoy futuristic/paranormal books, read this and the other two books on this planet, "Zinnia" and "Orchid" -- you can learn more about some of Lucas' friends!