Christy's sister Jo-Jo is a supermodel, and Christy hasn't spoken with her in twelve years. When a frightened call from Jo-Jo asking for help coincides with an assignment from her editor to interview Peter Hutton for whom Jo-Jo acts as muse, Christy is drawn back into a family dynamic she's been purposely avoiding. Christy has always rescued Jo-Jo from trouble, and it seems like this time is no different, except that maybe this time Jo-Jo is in too deep for even Christy to pull her out. Despite Jo-Jo's warning not to trust him, Christy teams up with Aaron Cain, an archaeologist, to find out what happened to some artifacts which could be the key to Jo-Jo's disappearance.
I'm aware of how complicated that summary sounds, but the book does a decent job of laying all this out, even though it's a little too coincidental that Christy just happens to work for a magazine about style, not just trendy fashion, but also an almost psychological view of how style sometimes transcends into art. I can't even think of a magazine to compare the fictional Horizon to. Also, it kept bugging me that ostensibly Christy was supposed to be writing a piece on Hutton's new designs, but instead she's wandering around the desert looking for artifacts with Cain. Most of the middle part of the book took place in said desert doing said wandering. It almost got boring, but with the threat of cave-ins and possible artifact-finding, it never completely lost my interest.
In terms of chemistry, I thought Christy and Cain had a fair bit, but it always bugs me, particularly in romantic suspense, when people who've known each other less than two days are suddenly totally in love. I get that a lot has happened in those two days and that it totally feels like two years, and I would buy the adrenaline-induced lust, but the "and then they got married and lived happily ever after" just bugs me. A more realistic ending would be that the two decided to date for a while and see if they still liked each other when people weren't out to kill them. Even an epilogue that implies they continued to see each other for a while after the book's climax, and decided they'd make a compatible couple, so entered into a mutually agreeable living arrangement with an eye towards marriage... But, I digress.
I was interested in the Anasazi history and lore, as that's not something I'm well versed in, and I believe I learned some worthwhile things. I've liked Lowell's work lately that focuses on gemstones and their history, properties and sales arenas. I always feel like I'm getting more out of the book than just a satisfying love story. And, this was pretty satisfying. Despite my above nitpicks, I did enjoy reading it. If you are a fan of this genre, I'm sure you'll like it, too. ( )