Sophia Rose Reviews: Sleep No More by Jayne Ann Krentz

Welcome to Sophia Rose's first review of 2023 and she's starting out with a bang with Sleep No More a brand new paranormal romance series debut from a favorite of Sophia Rose's and mine Jayne Ann Krentz. So sit back and let Sophia Rose tell you more about it.
Enjoy!

Sleep No More by Jayne Ann Krentz

#1 The Lost Night Files

Romantic Suspense

Publisher:  Berkley

Published: 1.3.23

Pages:  336

Rating: 4 stars

Format: eARC

Source:  NetGalley

Sellers: Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

 Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz returns with the first novel of the Lost Night Files, an exciting new romantic suspense trilogy about a night that changed three women forever—but that none of them can remember. 

Seven months ago, Pallas Llewellyn, Talia March, and Amelia Rivers were strangers, until their fateful stay at the Lucent Springs Hotel. An earthquake and a fire partially destroyed the hotel, but the women have no memory of their time there. Now close friends, the three women co-host a podcast called the Lost Night Files, where they investigate cold cases and hope to connect with others who may have had a similar experience to theirs—an experience that has somehow enhanced the psychic abilities already present in each woman.
 
After receiving a tip for their podcast, Pallas travels to the small college town of Carnelian, California, to explore an abandoned asylum. Shaken by the dark energy she feels in the building, she is rushing out when she’s stopped by a dark figure—who turns out to be the women's mysterious tipster.
 
Ambrose Drake is certain he’s a witness to a murder, but without a body, everyone thinks he’s having delusions caused by extreme sleep deprivation. But Ambrose is positive something terrible happened at the Carnelian Sleep Institute the night he was there. Unable to find proof on his own, he approaches Pallas for help, only for her to realize that Ambrose, too, has a lost night that he can’t remember—one that may be connected to Pallas. Pallas and Ambrose conduct their investigation using the podcast as a cover, and while the townsfolk are eager to share what they know, it turns out there are others who are not so happy about their questions—and someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

Another series from the talented pen of Jayne Ann Krentz brings a new eerie, sometimes atmospheric tale involving an asylum’s dark history, a weird psychic phenomenon out in the desert, suspicious characters who form a partnership to get at the truth, and a diabolical plot at the heart of it all.

 

I was hooked from the start when Ambrose Drake’s distorted first scene confused, shocked, and above all, drew me entirely into the story from the first pages as I had to find out what in the world was going on.  This need to know didn’t leave when the POV switched to Pallas and she has a psychic episode in a creepy abandoned asylum.

 

The two main personalities circle each other warily for a bit, but end up tentatively forming an alliance to find out the truth.  They’ve both been recently saddled with enhanced psychic gifts that they aren’t able to control and must learn how to get any normalcy back to their lives.  Ambrose’s conviction there was a murder and further developments convince Pallas to go all in.

 

She’s a podcaster who deals with intriguing unsolved crimes and he’s a thriller writer and they come with extras which all help them track down evidence and face the menace that comes at them when they start to get close to the truth.  Eventually, they exchange their own stories and form a connection that goes from early attraction to something more.  I liked how her believing in him was the best thing she could do for poor Ambrose who’d been alone and thought he was insane and he reciprocated bolstering her when her ex thought she was a freak.

 

There were some great suspense moments and surprise twists.  In the end, a bizarre turn of events hints at what is still to come for this trilogy as the other two women who are partnered with Pallas get their turn at investigation and romance.  Sleep No More was a solid start and I think other fans of romantic suspense with a psychic element are a good match for this one.

 

Author Bio:

The author of a string of New York Times bestsellers, Jayne Ann Krentz uses three different pen names for each of her three “worlds.”   As Jayne Ann Krentz (her married name) she writes contemporary romantic-suspense.  She uses Amanda Quick for her novels of historical romantic-suspense.  Jayne Castle (her birth name) is reserved these days for her stories of futuristic/paranormal romantic-suspense.

“I am often asked why I use a variety of pen names,” she says.  “The answer is that this way readers always know which of my three worlds they will be entering when they pick up one of my books.”

In addition to her fiction writing, she is the editor of, and a contributor to, a non-fiction essay collection, Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance,  published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.  Her commitment to her chosen genre has been strong from the very beginning of her career.

“The romance genre is the only genre where readers are guaranteed novels that place the heroine at the heart of the story,” Jayne says.  “These are books that celebrate women’s heroic virtues and values:  courage, honor, determination and a belief in the healing power of love.”

She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California.  Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.

She is married and lives with her husband, Frank, in Seattle, Washington.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/JayneAnnKrentz

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jayneannkrentzauthor/

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose