Extrasensual Perception

Dreamspun Desires, Book 26

By: Rayna Vause

Narrated by: John Solo

If a stalker doesn't kill them, the heat between them might.

Christopher Vincent is desperate enough for a job that he accepts an offer to entertain as a psychic in a friend's nightclub. Jackson Whitman, one of the club's co-owners, is less than thrilled by the new act. To him, psychics are ridiculous and a liability. But when they come face-to-face, attraction flares to life between them.

Someone is watching Jack and Chris from the shadows. What starts as a series of creepy encounters leads to deadly attacks.

Jack and Chris must set aside their differences and work together to survive a homicidal stalker. But can they survive their explosive connection?

©2016 Rayna Vause (P)2017 Dreamspinner Press

Just didn't hit the mark

I am always amazed at the variety of books in the Dreamspun Desire series. While the claim of “troptastic” is absolutely appropriate in each case, the way that manifests differs widely.

In this case, the sense I got from this was of a day time made for TV movie. The characters weren’t terribly well developed and the plot seemed to drag. I wasn’t very invested in the romance as I never felt anything like sincere chemistry nor feelings from either MC for the other.

The psychic power stuff was vaguely interesting and the mystery/danger moved the story along, but overall this just didn’t grab my heart nor my attention very strongly.

John Solo did a fine job narrating this. He didn’t do any interesting accents or anything but he was easy to listen to and added the right emotion when needed to keep the listener engaged.

If you’re a fan of melodrama this might appeal to you more than me, but I can’t really recommend this for more than a light bit of entertainment.

2.75 (rounded to 3) of 5 stars

Nice, easy escape complete with psychics

Extrasensual Perception was a good, lighter book that provided a lively escape for me this week. The psychic element wove perfectly into the story, foreshadowing the excitement but also injecting some mystery as the characters tried to uncover the person stalking and threatening them.

Both the main and secondary characters were interesting and likable. Jack and Chris had distinct personalities and the reader gets a brief, but decent background on them and their families. There wasn’t a lot of growth in this book, and though that that fit with the generally lighter feel in the book, it kept me from getting swept away by their story. I did like the way the romance steadily grew between Chris and Jack. There wasn’t instalove and it followed a fairly natural progression that resulting in some nice heat. I also found Jack’s skepticism about Chris’s abilities provided an interesting conflict that created some tension between the two and offered some depth and growth opportunities for the characters. The writing and dialogue reinforced the tone of Extrasensual Perception- steady, solid, and casual. The conflicts kept me engaged with satisfying and well developed resolutions. I think this had the bones to be a really intriguing story if it was longer and there was time for more depth and development to the characters and relationships. However, it also didn’t feel half-baked, so I wasn’t left bored or frustrated either. The narrator was new to me but he worked well with the book, keeping an even keeled rhythm with good diction. In a word, I’d characterize the book and performance as low-key.

While I was listening to this audiobook, I was reading a book that wore out my emotions so this proved to be a great counterbalance and palate cleanser. Overall, this was an enjoyable easy listen with just enough action and mystery to keep things interesting. If you’re in need of a break from heavy angst, I think this would be a good fit.

*Reviewed for Alpha Book Club*