Kristy Gillespie's Reviews > Beyond Dusk: Anne

Beyond Dusk: Anne is A House of Crimson and Clover Novelette which may be read as a stand alone. However, the series is fantastic and once you read one of the books in the series, you’ll surely read them all.

This novelette tells the story of Anne Fontaine, Adrienne and Nicholas Deschanel’s half sister, who travels to New Orleans to meet with Adrienne. Unlike her half siblings who reside in an exquisite plantation home, Anne grew up in a shack in the Louisiana bayou. Now that her mother is dead and her brother is moving on to Baton Rouge, Anne no longer feels tied to her childhood home. However, meeting with Adrienne is no easy feat. In fact, Anne has to communicate through Adrienne’s husband, Oz Sullivan, and her brother Nicholas Deschanel, in order to speak with her sister. Over the years a number of women have claimed familial ties to the incredibly wealthy Deschanel family, so it makes sense that Oz and Nicholas are weary.

Nicholas follows Anne to a bar and attempts to fill her with liquor because alcohol after all is truth serum, and he’s convinced that she’s simply another con artist. However, when Nicholas meets Anne, he realizes that there’s something different about her and finds her strangely attractive. After multiple shots of liquor, Nicholas drives Anne back to the Deshanel plantation, where Anne has an intense reaction. Nicholas realizes that Anne is in fact a Deschanel, for supernatural powers is a family trait.

I enjoyed Beyond Dusk: Anne which was a quick but powerful read that allowed me to get to know Anne’s fascinating story. I definitely recommend this novelette as well as the Crimson and Clover series as a whole.