The Third Circle

The Third Circle by Amanda Quick

Leona Hewitt, a gifted crystal worker, isn't the only one sneaking into Lord Delbridge's private museum to recover a relic. Thaddeus Ware, a mesmerist with psychic gifts, is on a similar mission. Neither one of them has any idea that this relic—a rare ancient crystal—will lead them in a deadly chase where danger and desire await.

--The Third Circle (An Arcane Society Novel, Book 4)
by Amanda Quick
Copyright © by Jayne Ann Krentz
Published by Putnam Adult, 2008 (Hardback) and Jove Books 2009 (paperback)

My Review

Leona Hewitt has been hunting for the Aurora Stone ever since it was stolen from her family when she was sixteen years old. Now that she’s finally found it, she’s found she has a rival for possession of the stone, one Thaddeus Ware. They manage to steal it from the man who stole it (who stole it from yet another thief), but Thaddeus is unfortunately poisoned in the endeavor. Only Leona, wielding the power to use the Aurora Stone to its full potential, is able to cure him. Leona, with the aid of her friend Adam Harrow, leaves Thaddeus in the care of an innkeeper and disappears into the night.

Thaddeus, however, is not about to be denied the woman who saved his life. He tracks her down and convinces her that the man they stole the Aurora Stone from can find her just as easily. His words prove to be true when she finds the Aurora Stone is not where she hid it in her home.

Reluctantly accepting his offer of protection, Leona and her dog, Fog, move in with Thaddeus and his aunt, Victoria Melton. Together, they plot to find out who took the stone and get it back.

Meanwhile, Thaddeus is conducting an investigation on the behest of the Arcane Society into a series of murders attributed to a man the press calls the Midnight Monster. The Aurora Stone, the Monster and a mysterious cabal called The Third Circle are connected and Thaddeus and Leona must tread carefully to expose the members of The Third Circle before they end up like the victims of the Midnight Monster.

I found the pacing in parts of this story to be long, hard and tedious. Part of that, I suppose, is due to the verbiage Amanda Quick employs to give the story the proper Victorian-era atmosphere that, if one were to be honest, it so rightly deserves as the style of speaking in that time was quite formal.

Ahem…

That being said, I did enjoy this story as it gave the background into two more Arcane Society entities, Jones and Jones Investigations and ArcaneMatch.com (though I’m sure it had a different name before the internet era).

Thaddeus and Leona’s search for the Aurora Stone took some predictable turns and the romantic entanglement between them was a given (it is a romance, after all) but it was an enjoyable read.

I’ve read the next two novels in the Arcane Society series, Running Hot and Perfect Poison but will have to re-read them in order to give a review. They may wait, however, as I have several other new books to read and would like to get to them before doing any re-reads.


I give this story THREE STARS.

Second Sight

Second Sight (The Arcane Society, Book 1) by Amanda Quick

Financially straitened and on the path to spinsterhood, Venetia Milton thought her stay at the remote, ramshackle Arcane House would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engineer her own ravishment. She was there to photograph the artifacts collected by a highly secretive organization, founded two centuries earlier by an alchemist. And the alchemist's descendant-her employer, Gabriel Jones-has the eyes of a sorcerer.

But despite Venetia's intent to seduce Mr. Jones and move on, she is shattered upon her return home to read in the press of his violent demise. Using the sizable fee Mr. Jones paid her, Venetia establishes a new life, opening a gallery in London. Of course, posing as a respectable widow makes it easier to do business, so-in a private tribute to her lost, only lover-she assumes the identity of "Mrs. Jones."

Her romantic whim, however, will cause unexpected trouble. For one thing, Mr. Jones is about to stride, living and breathing, back into Venetia's life. And the two share more than a passionate memory-indeed, they are bonded by a highly unusual sort of vision, one that goes far beyond Venetia's abilities as a photographer. They also share a terrible threat-for someone has stolen a centuries-old notebook from Arcane House that contains a formula believed to enhance psychic powers of the kind Gabriel and Venetia possess. And the thief wants to know more-even if he must kill the keeper of the Arcane Society's treasures, or the photographer who catalogued them, to obtain such knowledge.

--Second Sight (The Arcane Society, Book 1)
by Amanda Quick
Copyright © 2006 by Jayne Ann Krentz
Published by The Putnam Group

My Review

Though I try, sometimes I simply cannot improve on the synopsis provided by the publisher. The above is taken from Amazon.com’s “Product Description” of the book and it seems quite lengthy for a “back-of-the-book” blurb, but sometimes Amazon is all I can draw from, so there you go.

Venetia Milton is not your typical Victorian-era heroine. She’s strong-minded, willful and determined to do things her way. She has to in order to support her family, which consists of herself, her younger brother and sister and her aunt.

Gabriel Jones is also not your typical Victorian-era hero. He’s open-minded about women establishing businesses for themselves and encourages Venetia in her work, except, of course, when her life is potentially in danger, he puts his foot down, and she very neatly trods over it. Which, of course, both infuriates him and makes him admire her even more. Truly a modern thinker.

Amanda Quick captures the era very nicely, and her historical knowledge of Victorian-era photography is excellent. Throw in the supernatural elements that she is quite adept at weaving into her stories and you have a well-constructed, entertaining story that’s a good kick-off to the Arcane Society series.

For those who don’t already know, Jayne Ann Krentz writes under two pseudonyms, Amanda Quick for historicals, Jayne Castle for futuristics and uses her own name for contemporaries. The Arcane Society series crosses all three of these genres, though each book can be read on its own. I’ll be reading/re-reading the series but not back-to-back, as I have so many books to read. I foresee the consumption of this series taking me well into next year…but I’m no psychic, so we’ll see!

I give the story THREE stars.

Burning Lamp

Burning Lamp: Book Two of the Dreamlight Trilogy (Arcane Society, No. 8) by Amanda Quick

The Arcane Society was born in turmoil, when the friendship of its two founders evolved into a fierce rivalry. Nicholas Winter’s efforts led to the reaction of a device of unknown powers called the Burning Lamp. Each generation, the Winters man who inherits it is destined to develop multiple talents—and the curse of madness.

Plagued by hallucinations and nightmares, the notorious crime lord Griffin Winters is convinced he has been struck with the Winters Curse. But even as he arranges a meeting with the mysterious Adelaide Pyne, he has no idea how closely their fates are bound, for she hold the missing lamp in her possession.

Their dangerous psychical experiment makes them the target of forces both inside and outside the Arcane Society. And though desire strengthens their power, their different lives will keep them apart—if death doesn’t take them together.

--Burning Lamp by Amanda Quick, Copyright ©2010 by Jayne Ann Krentz, published by the Penguin Group

My Review

Book Two in the Dreamlight Trilogy takes us across the pond and back in time to London, the late Victorian Era. Our tour guide this time is Amada Quick, and she tells us the tale of Griffin Winters and Adelaide Pyne, a crime lord and a social reformer, a man suffering a family curse and the woman who can save him.

Griffin possesses the Burning Lamp, an object created by his ancestor Nicholas, but it cannot be used without the skill of a powerful dreamlight reader. Griffin must find such a person, and soon, for the family curse is starting to come out in him. Adelaide Pyne, known in London society as as “The Widow,” is that person. She agrees to work the lamp for him, but before she can, Griffin is shot. Adelaide helps him heal from his wound and, once he is stable, they employ the lamp to stabilize Griffin’s powers.

But that is not the end of the story.

Griffin is a crime lord, known as the Director of the Consortium, and he wants to know why he was shot. He also wants to know why two men broke into his home and attempted to steal the Lamp and kidnap Adelaide. The men carried canisters that emitted a strange, sleep-inducing gas which allowed them to get past the dogs and the men guarding the house. They also carried mysterious red crystals that they used to channel their psychic energy. Adelaide recognizes the crystals from an incident in her past. Who created the crystals? How do they enhance the user’s psychic powers? Where did the gas come from? Who created it? Why? Why? Why?

Griffin forms an uneasy alliance with Caleb Jones, a member of the Arcane Society and founder of Jones & Jones Investigations to track down the mastermind behind the crystals (and the answers to all those whys). They must act quickly, for the fate of their futures, as well as the future of the Arcane Society, is in their hands.


This second book in the Dreamlight Trilogy answers some questions raised about the history of the Burning Lamp that were raised in the first book, Fired Up. Other questions, such as “where does the lamp wind up in the future?” and “why doesn’t the Midnight Crystal light up when the lamp is activated?” will be answered in the third and final installment, Midnight Crystal, which will be released August 31, 2010.

I give this story THREE STARS.