I have finally figured out the basics of accessing e-books through my library and this has potential to seriously complicate my reading life. There I was last night, uninspired by my library books, despite having picked up new ones that day. This little volume called to me and I answered that siren song.
Jennifer Estep has ideas for books that interest me. I read eight of her Elemental Assassin series before I got distracted. I enjoyed the first book of her Crown of Shards series, although I never felt the need to continue on. I got to know Estep a little when she attended a writers conference here in Calgary in 2017 and she struck me as a hard working, disciplined writer and very pragmatic business woman. This is the best book of hers that I have read so far.
This author has imaginative magic systems and I was quite taken with the various talents of the characters in this world. The paramortals keep their talents hidden from regular human society, but their abilities are harnessed by the low-profile spy/assassin organization known as Section 47. Of course there are similarly skilled criminals.
Charlotte Locke has an interesting variant of synesthesia, allowing her to see colours when someone is lying, in speech or in print. This sense also detects danger and allows Charlotte to avoid or at least mitigate what happens to her. Under normal conditions, an analyst like Charlotte would remain in the bowels of the Section 47 building and never require her early warning system, but Charlotte's brilliant reports and accurate analysis has attracted the interest of a high ranking cleaner (i.e. assassin) who is on a revenge mission.
I really liked Charlotte as a character. She has learned so many skills from her mundane grandmother and her deadbeat father (who was a well known cleaner who screwed up royally). She has skills and brains, a delightful combination and Desmond, the vengeful cleaner, recognizes her worth. That's the big fantasy as far as I am concerned—a man who actually sees a woman's abilities and appreciates her as a person equal to him. Desmond's skill set includes seeing people's auras and detecting strong emotion and he likes what he sees in Charlotte.
Within minutes of meeting, these two have given each other nicknames. Desmond is Australian and Charlotte calls him Crocodile Dundee, shortened to Dundee. Desmond calls her Numbers, for her sure analysis of a spreadsheet. These epithets are a bit corny, but serve the purpose of establishing a link between the two agents.
Estep uses my favourite romance trope, enemies to lovers. They aren't really enemies but they are definitely hostile! I loved all the action and the plotting as they pursued the criminals and attempted to uncover the mole in Section 47. There is much more going on than a simple romance story. My library has the second book, Sugar Plum Spies, and I can see myself picking it up soon.
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