A House by Any Other Name

Hidden Sanctuary, Book 2

De: Jenny Schwartz

Narrado por: Tess Irondale

Reality is a complicated multiverse of many species and rare magic. Diplomats are the official envoys and investigators who hold the Union of Worlds together.

Raisa never intended to be a diplomat. Like so many things in her life, it was her stepmother's idea.

Hector is an elf in disgrace. He chose his cyborg brother over his lying, abusive family. Elves revile augmented people. They leave such despicable technology to their ancient enemies, the goblins.

When a diplomatic mission strands the two elves on a goblin world, they find themselves the target of a legendary killer. If they die, so will the emergent species they were sent to save.

A House by Any Other Name is a standalone novel in the Hidden Sanctuary series. It includes characters from the Uncertain Sanctuary trilogy. No previous knowledge of Reality is necessary to enjoy the adventure.

©2024 Jenny Schwartz (P)2025 Podium Audio

Another great story.

More please?! I love the Sanctuary stories. I love the Worlds of Reality you've created.

Fun Adventure

Fun adventure. Good story with interesting challenges and positive relationships. It is Well read and expressed.

Fabulous sf-fantasy romance (romantasy) between two elves

This story is set in the same universe as the Uncertain Sanctuary series. Each of the books in this offshoot series, Hidden Sanctuary, is a standalone novel with a separate set of lovers, but the lovers from the original trilogy show up in cameo appearances in each of these books.

The FMC, Raisa, is an elf who was orphaned as a young child and came to live with her father and stepmother. She is an attorney and is probably in her early 30s, though her age is not specified. The stepmother is a wonderful woman who lovingly enfolded Raisa into a nuclear family with many different step-siblings and half-siblings, and over the years it has expanded into a tightly knit, extended family, producing many nieces and nephews. Raisa's family live on a horse farm on an agricultural planet. Raisa adores everyone in her family, and everyone adores her. They are basically one of the most ideal families anyone could ever imagine. For that reason, she has never wished to leave the planet she was raised on, until an opportunity comes to use her lawyer skills in a special diplomatic mission involving protecting some newly discovered sentient beings on a moon, and her beloved stepmother and many of her siblings urge her to go. She later discovers that they not only believe it is professionally an excellent opportunity for her, but they are matchmaking. They are convinced that her partner for this mission is perfect for her.

Raisa's love interest, Hector, is also an elf. He isn't technically a co-equal MC, because the story is narrated entirely from Raisa's POV. However, we get to know him really well from his conversations with Raisa. He is a fellow diplomat on the same mission as Raisa. His age is not given, either, but he is presumably around the same age as Raisa. He is the brother of the MMC, Evander, from the initial trilogy of this sf-fantasy world. He is an important subcharacter in the third book of that trilogy.

Raisa and Hector are instantly attracted from the first moment they meet. It is not just a physical attraction, though they are both very goodlooking. Each is a highly ethical, compassionate, courageous individual, and they are extremely well suited in their values and goals in life. Hector, in particular, is an absolutely fabulous character. Though he is so virtuous that he seems almost flawless, he is not obnoxiously so.

Similar to the other books in the series, there is no sex onstage in this novel, not even any offstage sex. There are only a few kisses. In spite of that fact, romance fans will be happy to know that there is plenty of emotional and physical chemistry between Raisa and Hector.

I highly recommend reading the initial trilogy before experiencing this book, although it is not, technically, absolutely necessary, because the author concisely and clearly explains the sf-fantasy world of this series. I mainly recommend reading those books because every single book in this series is terrific.

The narration is quite well done.