Sunday, March 29, 2015

The Secret Book Review


Title:  The Secret
Series:  Irin Chronicles
Author:  Elizabeth Hunter
My Rating:  5 Breathtaking 's

First Thoughts:  A Lyrical, Hauntingly Beautiful love story that is so much more...

Elizabeth,  Thank you for an ARC of The Secret.  It is my pleasure to review this book.  This series resides on my Favorites Shelf.  It is quite simply magical.
I had the pleasure of reviewing both of the previous books in the Irin Chronicles series.  You can read my reviews here:

The Scribe

The Singer



The Secret Synopsis:

Only when the darkness falls can you see the light of the stars.
For thousands of years, the scribes and singers of the Irin race have existed to protect humanity and guard the gifts of the Forgiven. They have lived in the shadows. They have kept their secrets.
But the Irin aren’t the only race with secrets.

Ava and Malachi have found each other, but wounds as deep as theirs don’t heal overnight. While the Irin world struggles to correct the power imbalance left by the Rending of the Irina, Malachi and Ava struggle to connect their past with their present.

The Fallen may scheme, but Ava has found her power and refuses to be an angel’s pawn. And while Malachi may have forgotten his history, the scribe’s relentless search for answers leads both him and his mate to the heart of the Irin power structure in Vienna, where knowledge is guarded more closely than gold and those with power will do anything to keep it.

Malachi and Ava have survived the darkness, but will they ever discover its secrets? A powerful cabal of the Fallen may hold the answers, but to surrender them, it wants the Irin race to finally face their enemies. Both those coming from the outside, and those raging within.


My Review:

"She walked as she always walked in these dreams.  Slowly.  With no thought of where she was going.  She only knew that within this forest, a dark angel walked on her right and her mate walked on her left."   (Opening scene, Prologue of The Secret)

From the opening lines to the very last page, I was bound by the magic of Elizabeth Hunter's The Secret.  The apprehension I was feeling over knowing this book would wrap up Ava & Malachi's storyline vanished, as their story unfolded in an achingly beautiful way that only Hunter can deliver.  She truly has a magical gift of rendering a story that will touch your spirit & soul, leaving you satisfied and yet longing for more.

The Secret finds Ava & Malachi reunited, searching for her roots - the truth of her bloodline & magic, and the key to recovering more of Malachi's memories.  With Ava's father, Jasper, refusing to give them answers, they begin a search for Ava's grandmother, amid warnings of a dark secret, so unthinkable, so impossible that learning the truth may be more than Ava can bear.   She often walks with Jaron in her dreams, awakening confused and struggling with what is reality or only dreams.  What does Jaron want?  Is he protecting her? Does he have a hidden agenda? Rumblings of a pending battle escalates the suspense, as the ancient power struggle between the Fallen, Forgiven, and Gregori materializes as a destiny they cannot avoid - is it also one they cannot survive?  The final struggle for power is nigh as forces secretly invade the city.  Secrets are revealed that will change everything as the Irin are forced to face their enemies and reevaluate past beliefs about the Fallen and their children.  Who is an ally & who is foe?  

It's very difficult to discuss The Secret without giving away...well, secrets!  Suffice to say this story is hauntingly beautiful, delivered in a lyrical manner typical of Hunter.  At times, the verse is like an addictive melody stealing into your mind, drugging you with its refrain.  The characters are bold - alive with color...truly a visual experience.  Ava is a worthy heroine, capable of standing on her own but graceful in her need of her mate.  Malachi is a warrior without the arrogance - always, always protective of his mate, yet accepting of her differences & power.  Together, they are so much more as they join forces with a diverse supporting cast to face the ultimate challenge.  

The Secret is a magical love story, a story of offering & assending redemption through grace, a story of embracing one's fate & destiny.  Hunter is a master weaver, picking up threads from the previous books, mixing in new vivid lines of love, hope, angst, betrayal, & destiny and weaving them all together into a beautiful, intense, powerful explosion that climaxes on the pages in a fireball of revelations.  It is a magical & mythical, breathtaking spiritual-like experience.  A perfect ending to a perfect series.  A Page Burner!  I loved every single word. It will reside on my Favorites 2015 Shelf!

My Rating:  5 Hauntingly Beautiful 's...And that's the truth!

Cross My Heart...xxx

Sandra

Quotes:

He wasn't whole.  He wasn't the man that she'd once loved.  He was different.  Damaged.
"Do you love me?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Then I'm whole."
A wound doesn't heal just because it stops bleeding.  They were both still wounded, but her love had stopped the bleeding.  Malachi knew everything else would come in time.
♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥

"Why do you visit me like this?" she asked him.
"Because I want to."
"There is another reason."
"If I am here, then the other cannot be."
♥          ♥          ♥          ♥          ♥

Some mornings Ava woke feeling as if she could drift away.  She was smoke on those mornings.  The thick fog that hung over the ocean in the moonlight.
♥          ♥          ♥          ♥           ♥

Malachi opened his eyes and Volund was there, gold eyes wide with madness.
"She is mine!" the angel screamed.
♥           ♥          ♥          ♥           ♥

"I think I'd pull down heaven if that's what it took to keep you here with me."
"And I'd abandon it if you weren't there."
♥          ♥          ♥          ♥           ♥

"We were meant to be like this.  Two halves of the same soul.  Dark and light together."
Their union was a reflection of the peace he'd seen.  Holy and wholly.

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