Ecstasy by Jacquelyn Frank

Jacquelyn Frank delivers a great story in the first book of her new series, The Shadowdwellers.

At one with the darkness, the mysterious Shadowdwellers must live as far from light-loving humans as possible in order to survive. Yet one damaged human woman will tempt the man behind the Shadowdweller throne into a dangerous desire.
Worlds Couldn't Keep Them Apart
Among the Shadowdwellers, Trace holds power that some are willing to kill for. Without a stranger's aid, one rival would surely have succeeded, but Trace's brush with death is less surprising to him than his reaction to the beautiful, fragile human who heals him. By rights, Trace should hardly even register Ashla's existence within the realm of Shadowscape, but instead he is drawn to everything about her-her innocence, her courage, and her lush, sensual heat.
After a terrifying car crash, Ashla Townsend wakes up to find that the bustling New York she knew is now eerie and desolate. Just when she's convinced she's alone, Ashla is confronted by a dark warrior who draws her deeper into a world she never knew existed. The bond between Ashla and Trace is a mystery to both, but searching for answers will mean confronting long-hidden secrets, and uncovering a threat that could destroy everything Trace holds precious .

Trace and Ashla are great characters and Ms. Frank has developed her world building to an art. The parallel dimension that Trace lives in is realistic and believable, and Ashla’s addition to that world is interesting.

Trace is fighting a traitor to the rulers of his country when they crash into the store that Ashla is poking around in. Sorely hurt, Trace manages to kill his opponent, but without Ashla’s healing skills, both the traitor and the plot would have died with him. She should not have even been in Shadowscape, but luck is on his side.

Ashla has no idea that she has been in a deadly car crash and her actual body lies in a coma in the Earth dimension. She can only imagine that she is the survivor of some very strange catastrophic event that has left New York empty and silent. She never dreamed a dimension such as Shadowscape even exists. Then suddenly, two men appear out of the eerie street and crash through the window of the shop she is currently in. Having seen no one else in weeks, Ashla is stunned. But she can’t stand by and let the warrior who survives the fight die, despite knowing that he is bound to look at her healing gift as some kind of demon’s curse.

Together, they must find a way to save the royal twins from the assassin’s latest plot and figure out why and how Ashla is in Shadowscape.

I really enjoyed the book. Ashla and Trace caught my full attention immediately and the action kept me reading longer than I should have at times. The world is fully developed, with plenty more interesting twists and turns to be explored in future books. The relationship between Ashla and Trace is well done, with plenty of page heating sex.

There was only one small issue I had with the book. Early on, the possibility of Ashla being a sub was introduced. However, in the rest of the book this is pretty much ignored. I expected a bit more Dom/sub relationship and the exploration of that new side of Ashla. I was disappointed that after having introduced the possibility, the author chose to go with a more traditional relationship between an alpha male and his mate.