Review: A phenomenal setting, long-buried secrets, a present-day murder mystery and a dash of paranormal intrigue!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 17, 2011
This book has it all -- a phenomenal setting, long-buried secrets, a present-day murder mystery and a dash of paranormal intrigue, not to mention a cast of characters that leap off the page.  And while it is so much more than a romance book, the two main characters are absolutely unforgettable.Maya Sinclair is on her first trip to Paris, hoping to forget her most recent breakup with her fickle boyfriend in the most beautiful city in the world.  However, a mix-up with her reservations leaves her sharing a room with a pompous professor, Dr. Juliet Rice, who is clearly a woman carrying quite a number of secrets.  Before she can learn what they are, however, Maya finds Dr. Rice murdered in their shared room, and immediately becomes the prime suspect in the subsequent police investigation.  Just when it seems Maya's vacation couldn't get any worse, she finds herself yanked by the mysterious and handsome Simon Girard into the very quest that got Juliet Rice killed.Together, the two discover that Juliet was searching for a book that may hold the key to eternal life, which has been hidden by a French religious order for centuries.  And though Maya puts all of her formidable research skills and imagination to work, there are others who are looking for the book and its secrets -- people who are willing to kill anyone in their path.  Unwittingly, Maya finds herself in the center of an ancient mystery that begins to consume not only her dreams but her every waking step, and involved with a man who she barely knows and cannot seem to forget.Having worked as a librarian for several years, I'll admit to having a very special place in my heart for librarian heroines.  I am thrilled to report that Maya does us all proud.  She is feisty, driven, and immensely resourceful when it comes to untangling the mystery of the Black Nun and the Aurum Liber.  Even alone in a strange city, surrounded by danger and mystery, she still follows her heart and stays true to her inherent sense of right and wrong.  She is also never dominated by Simon, even when he is at his grumpiest, which was very impressive.  Her empathy with the people she researched helped bring the historic aspects of the book vividly to life and her determination to solve the mystery kept me turning pages as fast as I could.Simon is just about all you could want in a hero.  Handsome, fiery and passionate, he is a fearless journalist with one of the most bizarre and wonderful set of friends and family you could hope to meet.  From the moment he and Maya meet, you can feel the sparks begin to fly, and though there is little discussion of their relationship, it's clear from the start that there is no going back for either of them.  They are equal partners in their work and together. In fact, the scenes showing them bickering back and forth were some of the most entertaining of the book.I took to reading romance novels as a kind of escape -- a mental vacation to a world that could offer adventure and intrigue and larger-than-life characters.  This novel, without a doubt, provided all these things, and I loved every minute of reading it.Reviewed by Bridgetfor The Romance Reviews