Heartbroken over the betrayal of a friend who ruined her business and basically stole her creative mojo. Now, the heroine is searching for every reason not to return home and deal with her crumbled life. She finds the excuses to say away when she picks up her photos from getting developed and discovers a picture of a battered woman in one of the films. She takes in into her mind to report the disturbing image to the police. The hero lives on a private island with his ailing grandfather and his friend. When he receives an email from a fan of his writing threatening the life of a young girl if he doesn't give her the pearl from his book, he's disturbed but totally confused. There's no such this as the dark pearl, he got the story from his grandfather who used to tell him tales of fantasies and magical places. But the safety of the girl leads him to the heroine and he reluctantly sort of teams up with her. Against his wishes, his grandfather brings her onto the island to do some sculpting for him. She's a distracting that he doesn't need but can't seem to get away from. I though this book dragged its feet from start to finish. I don't feel like it ever got out of the slow paced contemporary theme that it started out as. Even when things 'heat up' and the magical elements make an appearance, I was horribly bored with it all. The heroine was really annoying. I can understand her desire to be in the middle of the action after being out of the loop in her failing business but her stubborn need to involved grated on my nerves. Even when the grandfather was having a heart attack and the hero told her to go for help, she lingered to ask questions. Bitch, go get help! And I don't know how I feel about the fact that the hero never truly believes in everything he's found out during the course of their adventure. He denies the magical pearl and everything his grandfather told him to the end. Overall it was a sad attempt at suspense but I liked the romantic aspect of the story. The two characters had good chemistry but sadly both the writing and the story lacked in passion. ( )

I really enjoyed this story, which has suspense and paranormal elements. It has a good storyline and two likeable protagonists. I liked the interaction between hero and heroine, and totally believed in their relationship and HEA.
Rating: 8/10 ( )