Customer Reviews

Haunting Warrior (A Mists of Ireland Novel)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What I love about this book is that it takes the Haunting series to a whole other level--in lyrical writing, in heart-stopping adventure and in red-hot chemistry between the hero and heroine. Time travel is so interesting anyway--and Ms. Quinn handles it with such skill--but she transcends the concept by taking us to places we just haven't imagined on our own. The Ireland of Ms. Quinn novel, HAUNTING WARRIOR, is older, more treacherous and more mysterious than the mystical lore in which her book is so satisfactorily mired. And yet, she manages to instill a modern sensibility into the narrative through her very sexy leading man--a hunk straight out of the 21st century! Literally! It's fun when an author takes us where we want to go and still surprises us in the process. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

First thing that came to mind when I turned the last page was how long must I wait for the third book, Haunting Desire! Erin Quinn won me over with Haunting Beauty and sealed the deal with this second installment centered again around the mysterious and evil Book of Fennore.

Haunting Warrior expands on the events that took place in Haunting Beauty regarding Rory and his father and the encounter they had with the Book of Fennore, which resulted in the sudden disappearance of Rory's father, Cathan. Ever since that terrifying experience with the book when Rory was five, he has not been the same. He grew rebellious and angry, and was eventually sent to live with his aunt in the US when he was twelve. Now thirty years old, Rory begins dreaming of a beautiful woman who haunts his sleeping hours.

After the death of Rory's grandmother and her prophetic visit, Rory travels back to Ireland to the Island of Fennore, a place he swore he'd never step foot again. During the funeral, he discovers that the woman he has dreamed about is not only haunting his sleeping hours but now his waking hours as well. She appears, luring him away from the funeral with her pleas for his help. But what he doesn't realize in order to help this mysterious woman until it's too late, is that Rory must travel back in time. And those first scenes as Rory is making that transition was just awesome. It was gradual, rather than a bam, here one second, there the next. A unique course of events, unlike anything I've ever read.

I think Erin Quinn is an amazing writer. She has such a talent for painting such vivid pictures with her prose. She's one of those authors that I love to read and I feel like I'm getting a treat, something special to get lost in.

Take a journey with Rory and Saraid to an ancient Ireland, where he rediscovers himself and a love he thought never to have. Haunting Warrior was both fascinating and compelling in its originality and the beautiful prose that sweep you along throughout the pages. This is a must read series, in my opinion!

Another 5 star read!

Rory MacGrath works at night at the Low Down bar, a dive in which only cockroaches frequent as the place is near the Pacific yet far enough that one cannot smell the ocean. He is haunted at night with recurring dreams that happen even when he dozes while watching ESPN. A woman whose attire looks like it comes from an Irish museum keeps shadowing him and his late grandmother pleads with him to go home.

Finally unable to cope with ghosts and never the same since his dad vanished into the ancient tome The Book of Fennore, he heeds his grandma's plea and travels to Ireland to the very place where his father disappeared. However, instead of modern Ireland's castle ruins, he goes back in time to medieval Eire where he meets the woman of his dreams, Saraid. As they fall in love, both fear their destiny is death, not being together.

This is an interesting Irish time travel romance with a strong support cast in both eras and in the mortal and supernatural realms. The overall enjoyable story line feels unnecessarily stretched in the middle, but fans will still enjoy Rory's adventures; as he meet the Haunting Beauty of his dreams only not in his body but that of her fiancé while evil prowls waiting to destroy both of them and their respective families.

Harriet Klausner

Rory McGrath left Ireland after his father disappeared one mysterious night. Rory knew his family blamed him, even if the disappearance had everything to do with the Book of Fennore. He grew up in America, breaking all contact with his family and living life on his own; until the night his grandmother, Colleen, visits him. The minute Rory sees her he knows that she's dead, and she has a message for him. It's time for him to come home.

While attending his grandmother's funeral he sees a vision of a woman, one who has visited him before, and he can't help but follow her...right back through time.

Saraid is being forced to marry Ruairi the Bloodletter in order to stop a feud between her family's clan and that of Ruairi's father, the evil Cathan Half-Beard, whose one true desire is to find the Book of Fennore. Before the wedding she receives a strange visitation from a woman called Colleen who tells her one will come in the guise of another to save her clan.

When she sees Ruairi she knows it is the Bloodletter, yet it is not really him? She soon finds out that Ruairi is really Rory, and he proves himself by protecting her from a man sent to kill them both. They are soon on the run from Cathan, who is convinced Saraid and her family have the Book of Fennore. And he wants it, no matter what the cost.

Erin Quinn has penned another hauntingly beautiful tale of love and how it can transcend time. Rory and Saraid run a long path together, that travels from distrust to love, and does it smoothly and with wonderful depth.

Ms. Quinn has drawn real characters that weave their way into a reader's heart and make it hard to put the book down. Watching Rory and Saraid fall in love was a real treat. Their journey is a realistic one, and as a reader I felt every emotion they did.

This story is the second book in the Haunting Series, but could easily be read as a standalone, although readers who haven't read Haunting Beauty will want to back and capture the first story as well.

Haunting Warrior is a treat for lovers of time travel romance. Readers will devour it, and look forward to the release of the third book, just as I am.

Amelia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

The Story
Rory has always felt half of a person, neither here nor there. He has always dreamed of an Irish woman calling his name asking him to come to her. When his Grandmother's ghost shows up telling Rory he needed to return to her funeral, that if he didn't show up at home people he loved would die. He reluctantly goes, seeing his twin and family for the first time in years and years. After her funeral, Rory sees his dream girl beckoning him to follow her. Once he reaches her in the magical cave below his family's castle, Rory finds himself merged with an identical copy of himself preparing for a wedding to his dream girl, Saraid. Rory is prophesized to save Saraids people, events lead him down a unstoppable path.


Thoughts
This book was a perfect follow up to the first Haunting Beauty. We learn the origins of the book of fennor. I really liked all the characters. Saraid is a strong, loyal female, she compliments Rory perfectly. The pace is steady, it picks up pretty fast, the plots are complex and kept my interest. Rory is very complex, it started in the first book. The way the author explained it and played it out was very well done! I was sad that he didn't see his family again, but he and Saraid are happy and play a part in history. The ending was good, surprising again. I liked all the secondary characters too, I'm excited to get the next in the series coming soon. The world this author builds is colorful, real and unique. I love the Ireland mythology!

The Book of Fennore strikes Irish lives again, this time taking Rory to another time so he can live the life he was meant to. Erin Quinn once again delivers exquisite descriptions and amazingly entwined plot turns. I savored each page and cannot wait until Haunting Desire comes out.

With her sophomore novel, HAUNTING WARRIOR, Erin Quinn solidifies herself as a must have, must read author. One who shatters all the molds with her sweeping epics of tangled fates and unforgettable characters where not even the monumental pressure of the decades past can barricade those that wish to transcend them. Instead, time is a vital conduit, one that is as essential to Quinn's characters and their survival in the fight against the evil that conspires against them as is the romance that binds them. It is these very characters that enrapture the reader with their courage to bend the sands of time, realign it and reshape it into a present that heals and keeps them safe.

Rory MacGrath has felt like an outsider, a man out of time with the world around him ever since the burden of his father's disappearance was heaped upon him by his own doing when he was five years old. Rather than face the crippling events of his past, Rory flees instead to Los Angeles, California - a place that couldn't be farther away in culture or climate from Ballyfionúir, Ireland. Burying the burgeoning powers of his youth, Rory has all but convinced himself that any paranormal magic he was once able to wield is all but a dream when in fact it's a dream that haunts him and its also one that will soon be his waking reality. Each night Rory's taunted by the most beautiful of women. The mystery of her, the realness in which she arrives bewitches Rory to the point that she bleeds from the dream into real life, beckoning him to her even though he tries to resist.

Saraid of the Favored Lands, a destitute princess of a dying people, faces sure death as she walks with her head held high into a marriage with Ruairi the Bloodletter - the man that destroyed her clan with death after bloody death. Seeking peace, her desperate brother has promised her hand in marriage and wed she did but when a prophecy reveals itself to be true, Saraid soon finds herself wed to Ruairi who is not the Bloodletter but his twin and a man that destiny says can save her people. But Saraid must first seduce him to her cause for he's not there to save her but to find his ticket home with the Book of Fennore - a deadly, manipulative entity that delves into the darkest pits of a man's soul, awakening the dormant greed and evil within.

Finding himself in a foreign Ireland and in a time seemingly before time, Rory is beyond reluctant to step up as the savior that Saraid proclaims him to be. He's never been able to accomplish a thing in his life other than perfecting the art of avoiding his family. All he wants is to find his way home with the Book of Fennore but Saraid's sparkle, her fierceness and bewitching beauty has him bound to her in a way he can't fully explain. He's reluctant to be her hero but he's also reluctant to leave her. She's haunted him for so long that her essence has already managed to imprint itself upon his soul and to finally have her in his arms has Rory fighting with himself to never let her go.

As a common enemy grows closer and as loved ones die or turn in betrayal, Rory and Saraid come together not only for survival but for love as well. United, they each begin to open the wells of power within themselves as they work to keep Saraid's people safe. Feeling as though he's stretching unused muscles, Rory taps into the magic he's always denied and accepts that this is who he is. Unfortunately they're greatly outnumbered and when Rory falls to his death in battle, the Book of Fennore seals his and Saraid's fate. The Book is never something to be tampered with or bound to, but Saraid, in her desperation to not lose Rory, unwittingly speaks the sacrifice that will cost her more than she ever thought possible.

My Thoughts:

HAUNTING WARRIOR is exactly as the title implies: Haunting. The magic, the time travel, the betrayals, all of it will become a hovering thought in your mind well after you turn over the final pages. Erin Quinn excels as a writer in this second effort of her Haunting Series with her incredibly tight plotting and completed story arcs.

Rory is a reluctant hero but one that grows exponentially from the anger consumed man-child of the beginning into an unparalleled and fearsome leader by the end. And while the love between him and Saraid is soft and slow in growth, its also vastly complex and it takes every bit of page time to explore all the nooks and crannies that make up their combustible passion for one another.

The Book of Fennore. Its as much of a character as Rory and Saraid and the parallels that were drawn between the three were incredibly frightening but wonderfully engrossing. The history that is unveiled in HAUNTING WARRIOR brings the Book that much more to life as an unstoppable entity with dark and evil motives.

For paranormal lovers who long for sweeping epics as well as a certain level of complexity to their reads, look no further than Erin Quinn's Haunting Series.