Welcome back to Jen’s Jewels, where I uncover the reads that will keep you turning pages long into the night. Today’s spotlight is on ENTER THE NIGHTMARE by Jayne Castle - a thrilling blend of paranormal suspense, danger, and sizzling chemistry. With a mysterious hotel, missing memories, deadly secrets, and a heroine fighting to reclaim her life, this Harmony novel pulls you into a dark and electrifying world where nightmares don’t just haunt you… they come alive.
LIGHTNING ROUND
What’s your favorite way to spend a slow July afternoon?
Reading a Gothic novel with a glass of cold iced tea.
If your main character could plan the perfect summer getaway, where would they go?
Illusion Town on Harmony. Think, Las Vegas, only seriously weirder.
What’s one thing that instantly helps you slip into a creative mindset?
Boredom. If I’m bored, I start plotting.
THE SUMMER SPARK
What was the very first image, line, or idea that sparked this book?
A dust bunny, a dead body and an antiquities thief at a classy reception. What could possibly go wrong?
Tell us about a scene that changed significantly from your first draft to your final version. What made you rethink it?
In the story, the hero and heroine and the dust bunny must play a deadly escape game in the Underworld. The details changed when I refined the scene. Turns out lethal escape games are hard to invent.
Many authors say their characters “talk back.” Did any character surprise you or take the story somewhere unexpected?
Absolutely! I am a very dialogue driven writer. I feel my way into a story until the characters start talking. After that, things start moving.
Setting can shape a story in powerful ways. What role does the setting play in your book, and what inspired you to choose it?
The setting for ENTER THE NIGHTMARE is the planet Harmony which looks a lot like our present world but with a psychic twist. I love working in this setting because I get to make the rules!
THE PERSONAL TOUCH
What’s a behind-the-scenes detail about writing this book that readers might never guess?
I had fun imagining what a convention of people who think they have been abducted by aliens would look like on Harmony. Think: tinfoil helmets.
Summer is ideal for discovering new books. Which books are currently at the top of your TBR pile this July?
Christina Dodd’s TEACH THE TORCHES TO BURN. Good news: Romeo and Juliet didn’t die. Their daughter is alive and well and solving murders in fair Verona. I also loved the new title in Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries series: PLATFORM DECAY. A nonstop rush of a story featuring a loveable killer robot.
LOOKING AHEAD
Can you give readers a sneak peek into your next project, minus any spoilers?
My next release is THE BOOK HUNTER (under my Jayne Ann Krentz name). This is a novel of psychic romantic-suspense featuring a dog from the mysterious Cerberus Project. There’s a haunted mansion, strange music in the middle of the night, a cool librarian and a bodyguard who is desperately trying to change careers.
Where can readers connect with you and keep up with your latest writing news? (Website, social media, newsletter, etc.)
So glad you asked. You can find me on my website. I’m also on Facebook and Instagram.
Narrator: Barbara Rosenblat
Harmony #19
Nightmares become real when a woman trying to rebuild her life enters the Hotel of Dreams in this exhilarating Harmony novel by New York Times bestselling author Jayne Castle.
Alice Radstone should have known not to return. Her life before the Hotel of Dreams had been the perfectly cloistered world of a teacher at the Ballantine Academy. When the death of her mentor forced her out, she was left to reinvent herself in the big city. Since then, things have not gone well. Ten months ago, after her first trip to the hotel, she woke up in the locked ward of a hospital for the criminally insane, told that she had murdered her husband on their wedding night. She has no memory of the husband or the wedding but after escaping the asylum, one thing is certain—she is never going back.
Unfortunately, Alice’s second reinvented life is also deteriorating rapidly, which is why she finds herself once again at the Hotel of Dreams—this time hiding in the shadows of her room, a dead body in the shower, and two men wearing masks creeping toward the bed to kidnap her. Again.
When the enigmatic and decidedly dangerous Owen March shows up, claiming he’s there to rescue her, she has no choice but to accept his offer—and hope that he doesn’t intend to kidnap her, too.
With Alice and now Owen in the killer’s sights, time is running out. Alice and Owen must trust each other and the electric passion between them if they are to make it out of this hotel alive.
Romance Paranormal | Romance Science Fiction [ Berkley, On Sale: June 30, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9798217187386 / eISBN: 9798217187386 ]
Jayne Castle, the author of Guild Boss, Illusion Town, Siren's Call, and a variety of other novels set on the futuristic world of Harmony, is a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. With more than 40 million books sold, she is one of the most successful commercial fiction authors writing today. She writes contemporary romantic suspense novels under the Krentz name, as well as historical novels under the pseudonym Amanda Quick.
Jennifer Vido is the author of The Gull Island Series, sweet Lowcountry romances inspired by her love of coastal living and small-town charm. Serendipity by the Sea won Best First Book from the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest, and Baltimore Magazine readers named her Best Local Author in 2024 and 2025.
A Vanderbilt graduate, Jennifer traded in teaching French to follow her dream of becoming an author. She loves discovering and sharing literary gems through her Jen's Jewels column, celebrating the books that make her heart happy.
Jennifer lives in Maryland with her husband and is mom to two grown sons. Her rescue dog, Fripp, is her constant companion, though he's better at napping than editing. When she's not writing, you'll find her at the beach with her toes in the sand, dreaming about her next romance.
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