In Too Deep: Book One of the Looking Glass Trilogy [Mass Market Paperback]

I just finished reading this book, and I enjoyed it a great deal. Fallon Jones has been a secondary character in all of the contemporary Arcane books, it was nice to finally get to spend more time with him, and read his story. I thought that he and Isabelle had a lot of chemistry (an important bit in any romance novel) and that the story moved at a good pace. I also liked the fact that the story moved beyond the whole Arcane vs. Nightshade thing, and that we got to see some of the characters from other books. All in all a good read.

BACKGROUND & STORY BRIEF:
Fallon Jones' continuing enemy is Nightshade. When one Nightshade leader is killed, another replaces him. Nightshade consists of several independent groups that make drugs to enhance psychic abilities. Fallon and his partners/buddies had some success against Nightshade groups in prior books with more to come in future books. This book is about other bad guys, with a minor role for Nightshade.

The characters in the Arcane Society books have a wide variety of psychic talents. Fallon sees patterns inside of chaos which helps uncover conspiracies. He can also send power that kills. Isabella finds lost things - people, bodies, objects. In this book, Isabella comes to Fallon and gets a job as his office manager. Together they solve at least four different mysteries/questions. Each mystery has something to do with a mechanical object like a lantern, doll, clock, etc. The objects have different powers, for example to kill or make someone unconscious.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
The story starts off interesting with Isabella on the run and two thugs chasing her. But after that, there is not enough interesting action. Isabella and/or Fallon interact with a bad guy, the bad guy then confesses or tells them what he has been doing, and it is solved. This happened for each mystery. It had the feeling of telling, not showing - because there were long explanations about PAST EVENTS. I didn't get to experience bad guys and good guys doing things and feeling things. Also there was too much dabbling in different places - like the author was grabbing unrelated stories out of the air. By the end, some of the mysteries didn't feel complete. They weren't explained enough.

There was some good action, just not enough. For example Isabella used her power a few times to get out of trouble. I also enjoyed a conversation Isabella had at a cocktail party where she defended Fallon and likened him to Sherlock Holmes.

When I was at 75% of the book, I felt like I was waiting for the story to take off - for things to start happening. It's not that I wanted it to be over, but more like when is it going to get good? A couple of times I was bored when the author went into lengthy technical descriptions about psychic influences, for example: why different geographical areas have different psychic energies.

I hoped for interesting romantic relationship development, which I did not find. There was no back and forth, witty dialogue, or conflicting personalities. No one grew or changed. Isabella just came into Fallon's life and was a good thing for him.

OTHER BOOKS:
I've read 5 Arcane Society books. I enjoyed two of the earlier books: "Running Hot" and "Sizzle and Burn." But the most recent two books "Fired Up" and "In Too Deep" just fizzled for me. I gave 5 stars to two of her non-Arcane Society books: "Trust Me" and "All Night Long." Those two are favorites.

DATA:
Story length: 324 pages. Swearing language: moderate. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 3. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 5. Setting: current day California and Arizona. Copyright: 2010. Genre: paranormal romantic mystery.

I've been loving the whole Arcane story line that JAK has taken across her sub genres, w/ her Amanda Quick, JAK & Jayne Castle stories, but there isn't another character that I've waited and anticipated their story more than Fallon Jones. Head of the Arcane Society's Investigative branch, J&J, Fallon Jones needs an assistant ~ but doesn't want to share. Isabella Valdez, a newcomer to Scargill Cove, decides she'll BE his assistant ~ and proceeds to do so, schooling Fallon on what it means to work w/ a partner again. With paranormal talents and secrets of her own, she's a perfect match for the secretive, theorist Fallon Jones ~~ I loved, loved this story! JAK totally lived up to all the promise we've seen coming w/ Fallon. Isabella is a perfect match for him, and their dancing around one another was fun to read ~ and of course, seeing what Nightshade is up to! I loved seeing other Arcane characters, and just enjoyed every min. of this read ~ I couldn't quit until I was done!!

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