Review

Erin Quinn’s fourth and final installment in the Mists of Ireland series, Haunting Embrace brings together a cast of characters, the Book of Fennore and paranormal happenings in a complex tale of time travel and Irish mysticism.

While this is the fourth and final book and not having the series, it took some tracking, but I was able to follow along pretty well. Quinn released the right amount of backstory and although a bit heavy on detail, the two combined to breathe life into a variety of likeable, disagreeable and evil characters and sketch an island and intricate tome so vividly, that like the Book of Fennore, you were pulled right in.

In order to right the future, the past must be corrected without altering the timeline and it’s into this complex story that Meaghan Ballagh and Aedan, the Druid are thrust back through time, and now temporarily freed from the Book of Fennore. The volume, created by Aedan and his then lady love, Elan to cure her visions of death, has taken on a life of its own and is ruled by Cathan sucking the power of those enticed by the book, into it. Elan banished Aedan to the book unwittingly centuries ago and has emerged as the White Fennore. Landing in a cave on an Irish island, Meaghan with a mysterious pendant in hand, pulls Aedan from the Book’s grip and emerges into the time of her young grandmother, Colleen Ballagh.

With seemingly only each other to sort through their tale and figure out how to banish the book and free themselves from its curse, the weary and distrustful Aedan and steadfast Meaghan embark on an uneasy partnership whose tension is heightened by the fact that Elan’s blood now surges through Meaghan triggering Aedan’s misgivings and painful memories of his greedy bid for power and enslavement to the book. The pendant turns out to be a lock to the book and it, too has the power to call people. And while feelings between Aedan and Meaghan grow exponentially as he faces his past and she begins to take on Elan’s visions, they never alter their course to find the book or let the many obstacles and people placed in their path (some to help, others to hinder), stop them from their mission.

Meaghan, stays with the vulnerable yet staunch Colleen, son Niall and her loathsome husband Mickey who employs Aedan. Soon, the couple realize that Mickey  has begun to assume the sinister character of Cathan now ruler of the Book of Fennore. But Meaghan’s torn between the feelings mounting between her and Aedan, her grandmother’s utterly miserable predicament and the fact that the married Brion MacGrath is the true father of Colleen’s baby  now suspected of being the future evil Cathan.

The tough exterior of the people are matched by the rugged beauty of the island they inhabit with heightened suspicions and folklore to set everyone on edge. Into this mix is the discovery by Aedan and Meaghan of the keepers of the Book, Jamie, Kyle and Eamonn setting in motion another chain of events towards recapturing the Book.

This multifaceted book is not a light read because it is so rich in detail, plot lines, subplots, personalities and lore surrounding the Book of Fennore. And that’s what makes it stand out from other historical fiction with romantic and paranormal elements. Haunting Embrace brings together so many facets and a large group of players all dedicated to one end, forever closing the Book of Fennore and righting the wrongs of the past, that it’s a triumph of a tale and well worth the read with a thoroughly satisfying end.

Reviewed by Helena