With so many authors writing paranormal romances these days, sometimes I feel like I've read one, so I've read them all. Then I start a series that takes my breath away, and I know that sometimes you have to read a lot of them to find the gems. And Erin Quinn's Haunting series are diamonds in the rough. With a talent for weaving a complex plot and a beautifully lyrical prose to accompany her story, Quinn's books stand head and shoulders above the pack. HAUNTIN WARRIOR is the second in the series, following Haunting Beauty (also reviewed here). The story is quite complicated so I'm going to just give a very high level synopsis and leave readers to discover out the goods for themselves.

At age 12, Rory, Dani's brother, almost disappeared along with his father when the two fought over the Book of Fennore in a cavern under a castle on an island near mainland Ireland. Dani used her powder to bring him back, but part of him got left behind. An unhappy troublemaker, his mother sent him to California to live with his aunt where he stayed until the ghost of his grandmother visited him, telling him it was time to go home. At her funeral in Ireland, a woman who had enticed him in his dreams calls him to the cavern and back to the past where he reconnects with his his missing self.

Okay, so that's only in the first 25 pages. The Book of Fennore, an evil tome, plays an important role as does time. Quinn works with time travel in a believable and manageable way and never loses track of any thread of her tale. Rory, and his dream woman, Saraid, who he meets in the flesh when he arrives back in time, are 3-dimensional characters with realistic flaws, feelings and emotions. Rory's grandmother visited Saraid as well, letting her know Rory would save her people which gives her enough encouragement to start to trust him, but the rest he has to do on his own if he can.

I'm a fan of the complex plot where I haven't a clue what will happen, and Quinn delivers in spades. A story that combines magic, evil, love and trust that takes place in the present and the past and succeeds on all levels. While HAUNTING WARRIOR can be read on its own, I recommend reading Haunting Beauty first for background. Haunting Desire, the third book in the series, is due out in early 2011.

Book Summary

A past he couldn’t forget.

Rory McGrath's life changed the night his father mysteriously vanished after uncovering the secrets of the ancient Book of Fennore. The trauma turned Rory from an innocent boy into a troubled, cynical man. Leaving Ireland, he shunned his family, his heritage—and the very magic that has defined his people for centuries.

A dream he couldn’t ignore.

Then the dreams begin…dreams of an ethereal beauty whose touch is more real that any he’s known. And in these dreams, she has a message—a calling for Rory to return home to a destiny that will take him beyond the realm of anything he imagined.

A woman he couldn’t resist.

Lured to the castle ruins where his father disappeared, Rory is plunged back in time, and into the body of another man—a man betrothed to the very woman of Rory’s dreams. In possession of the secrets of his past, his family, and his identity, her hold on Rory is inescapable. For she is his doom. His salvation. And his destiny.

Read an Excerpt