DARK
EMBRACE – Brenda Joyce
The Masters of Time, Book 3
A
Perfect 10
HQN
ISBN: 978-0-373-77334-3
September 2008
Time Travel Romance
Loch Awe, Scotland – 1436
Aidan, the Wolf of Awe, is battling in the highlands
when he senses that his young son Ian is in mortal danger. Aidan
immediately time shifts to Castle Awe only to realize his worst
nightmare. His father, the deamhan Earl of Moray is not dead as
he believed, but is holding Ian hostage to force Aidan to do his
will. Aidan tries every trick he knows as a Master, but is unable
to free Ian. He realizes that to save his son, he must do as Moray
says and destroy the village at Awe and every man woman and child.
But, Moray is evil personified, and as Aidan stands ill at the
destruction he has caused, Moray murders Ian before his eyes.
Aidan’s pain and anguish are so great that more than 500
years in the future, Brianna Rose feels his pain.
New York City – Present Day
Brianna Rose is a strong empath, and when she wakes
in the night feeling Aiden’s pain and torment, she is sure
he must be in New York. Brianna met Aidan a year ago when he traveled
to the future to help her cousin Claire, and it was infatuation
at first sight, at least on her part. Over the last year, that
infatuation has grown...even though Brianna knows Aidan can never
be hers. After all, he is a Warrior from the past. Aidan’s
pain and torment is so strong that it nearly kills Brianna, and
without the help of her friends, Tabitha and Sam, and Nick Forrester,
her boss at CDA, she will die.
Castle Awe, Scotland – 1502
Aidan has spent sixty-six years hunting the Earl
of Moray, determined to destroy the deamhan or die trying. He
has turned his back on the God’s and the Masters and is
bent on obtaining enough power to track, find, and destroy his
father. When Aidan hears Brianna’s cries of pain and terror,
for the first time in sixty-six years he shifts through time too
protect an innocent.
New York City – Present Day
Brianna is sure that the deamhan’s surrounding
her will kill her, but she puts up a valiant fight until suddenly
rescue comes from an unexpected source – a large black,
feral wolf. Brie realizes the wolf is Aidan, and after he saves
her and takes her home, she believes she is safe, until she realizes
that the man before her is not the handsome rogue she met the
year before, but a man filled with darkness. Nick, her boss, and
her cousin Sam arrive, and Nick knows immediately that the Aidan
they are facing is evil and cannot be trusted. Before Nick can
separate Brie from Aidan, Aidan takes them both back in time.
Castle Awe – Scotland – 1502
Brie wakes and realizes immediately that she has
been taken to Aidan’s time, and the man Aidan has become
terrifies her. However, fate has brought her to this time and
place, and she is sure that her fate is to save Aidan from being
hung as a traitor. When Brie sees the ghost of young Ian, she
realizes that much of the darkness in Aidan is pain and not evil.
Determined to save his soul, Brianna will risk everything, even
her life.
DARK EMBRACE, the third novel in the Masters of Time
series, is a spectacular read. Brianna is a heroine whose only
power is to feel the emotions of others, and yet, she is incredibly
strong and steadfast in her loyalty. Because she can feel the
anguish and pain inside Aidan, she knows that he is not truly
evil. But that doesn’t alleviate all of her fear of him,
because Aidan is the son of a deamhan and seems determined to
become the very evil he seeks to destroy. Brianna knows what history
says about the Wolf of Awe, and she is determined to change Aidan’s
fate. Aidan is a man conflicted on many levels. Raised and trained
as a warrior to protect innocents, he has turned his back on his
fellow warriors and drunk power until he is nearly indestructible.
However, beneath the menace and the hard exterior beats the heart
of a man in anguish. He feels betrayed by the gods, and the death
of his son has driven him toward self-destruction. The feelings
he has for Brianna enrage him, but he cannot deny his need to
protect her, even from himself. Secondary characters include Malcolm,
a warrior and Aidan’s brother; Malcolm's wife Claire (DARK
SEDUCTION); Black Royce and his wife Allie (DARK RIVAL), as well
as Tabitha and Sam, Brie’s cousins; and Nick Forrester,
her boss. Nick is a character just crying out for his own book,
and I’m sure Ms. Joyce has plans for him.
This is a novel that will capture you from the first
and simply break your heart. The reader will feel the intense
anguish that Aidan feels when his son is murdered and will understand
fully why he turned away from his calling to protect innocents.
How can he save so many and yet be unable to save his own son?
It’s a question Aidan asks himself over and over –
and his bitterness is something that is painful to witness. Brie,
for all her innocence, is not unfamiliar with evil, or with the
anguish and pain Aidan is suffering. DARK EMBRACE, just as its
predecessors, DARK SEDUCTION and DARK RIVAL, offers up a terrifying
villain, a larger than life hero, and a heroine strong enough
to stand beside him...and soft enough to ease his heart.
Brenda Joyce has created a tale that is full to overflowing
with emotion. Passionate, heartbreaking, hopeful, and entertaining,
DARK EMBRACE is a novel you do not want to miss. I recommend it
highly, and once again award a book in this series a Perfect 10.
Terrie Figueroa
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