A 1990s paranormal romance, this is a crossover novel in the sense that it has science fictional trappings though fairly superficial ones. The basic plot consists of: a couple who seem mismatched are nevertheless highly attracted to each other, during the course of an unofficial investigation into the death of the woman's university mentor. So there isn't one science fictional idea in it really. Nevertheless, the background of an ex-Earth colony cut off from the home world for 200 years (because travel to the remote star system was accomplished via an energy field near Earth called the Curtain, which somehow closed after the colony was established) was quite interesting. 
 The planet, St Helen's, is now populated with three city-states, and New Seattle is where the story takes place. Because the colonists named everything after the Earth equivalents which they missed, it does get a little risible at times that there are beverages such as coff-tea (which makes you wonder what awful taste would that have!) and lots of other hyphenated mashups. The other aspect that gets a little wearing is the eponymous heroine's self pronounced goody twoshoes act. She constantly states that she adheres to the values of the Founders of St Helen's, believing them to be upright and honest as the day is long, rather than having the more realistic view of the hero, Lucas, that they must have done what was expedient to survive in a hostile environment where all the technology they had brought from Earth disintegrated and broke down (for reasons the author never explains) and they had to come up with alternatives. 
 The most interesting aspect of the book is the paranormal one. Everyone on St Helen's has psychic powers of some kind, and the author has invented new ones. So there are people who can enhance the growth of plants, for example, as well as those more commonly encountered in fiction such as the ability to project illusions. Strangely enough, telepathy isn't a real power on the planet. And everyone who has a talent as it is known also requires the assistance of someone who can create a psychic prism through which to focus it, or they can do very little and for only a few seconds. It does beg the question of how they discovered this in the first place, but we have to suppose that Prisms as they are known must instinctively start to project and that the first people with talents picked up on how to use them. Thus the exercise of such powers requires the co-operation of two people - in this case, Lucas being the one with the talent and Amaryllis being the Prism. 
 St Helen's now has a society remarkably similar to e.g. 1980s or 1990s Earth although enhanced psychically and with all energy needs being met by a substance which is mined and has the nickname of jelly-ice. Because of the necessity of ensuring a stable society when they were cut off from Earth, marriage whether between hetero- or homo-sexual couples, is permanent with divorce being unheard of and stigma being incurred by anyone who has children outside marriage. The children of such unions are bluntly termed bastards, and Amaryllis has had to endure the disgrace of being illegitimate, despite having the support of her mother's family. (Her father's refused to acknowledge her existence.) 
 Marriage is highly organised, with everyone registering with psychic marriage bureaus, and it is regarded as foolish in the extreme to marry without being matched by a bureau, a process partly based on extensive questionnaires and interviews, and partly on psychic compatiblity. Psychic abilities are tested and certified in this slightly rigid society, and Lucas has had to fake a 9 rating as he is really higher - which would put off most prospective marriage partners - while Amaryllis is a full spectrum Prism meaning she can handle the power of a 10 or higher. Prisms such as herself have the reputation of being picky and therefore difficult to match. Amaryllis and Lucas, both undergoing the matching process, believe that despite their feelings for each other, they will not be able to stay together. The emotional conflict in the book arises in their internal monologue as each contemplates the fact that their relationship must be doomed and short-term. 
 And, as I've said, against this quite complex and interesting background, we have the plot which is driven mainly by a murder mystery. Although there is quite a clever twist, it does have the disadvantage of appearing to create an anticlimax (view spoiler)[where you think it's odd that the book is trundling on resolving various family-related issues after the dramatic 'resolution', until you reach the real one and understand what really happened. (hide spoiler)] But all in all, quite a decent page-turning read.