Blending suspense, sci-fi powers, and quantum entanglements of the heart, the first entry in DaSilva’s Periphery series finds protagonist Charlotte’s life upended when a car crash kills her husband Jared, and very nearly her, too, just moments after revisiting an argument over her suspicions that Jared might have been cheating. After dying on the table, Charlotte awakens with new, deep knowledge of physics and strange, realistic visions of herself racing to warn a soldier. Over the next four years, living numbly, she rehashes the accident, working complex mathematics in her head to soothe her anxiety. A chance encounter introduces her to Sy, a retired veteran and military contractor with whom she feels an instant, electric, teasingly familiar connection, perhaps rooted in the fact that both have briefly died.

Complicating Charlotte’s sense of new possibilities: the fact that someone seems to be stalking her. DaSilva writes the sweet and sexy tension of new love well, juxtaposing it masterfully with the terrifying tension of being stalked. As the story digs into the mysteries of Jared’s past and Charlotte and Sy’s present, the leads’ attraction to each other proves undeniable, and soon Sy is the person Charlotte calls when she becomes convinced someone is stalking her, following her to her husband's grave, staking out her home, and sneaking into her bedroom at night. Sy, though, fears he might not return from his latest mission in his job, so Charlotte must take matters into her hands.

DaSilva’s slim, fast-moving novel packs a lot of wonderment and hard choices into relatively few pages, with Charlotte facing the question of whether to try to go back to what she once had or take a chance on something new. The speculative premise takes a backseat to the chemistry between the leads, making the novel ideal for romance readers interested in science fiction, military life, and romantic leads who are alpha-male types ready to sweep a lady off her feet and away from her problems.

Takeaway: Paranormal romantic thriller of a woman bereft but manifesting strange powers.

Comparable Titles: Elizabeth Hunter’s Suddenly Psychic, Sue Fortin’s The Dead Husband’s Secret.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-