Haunting Beauty

by Erin Quinn

Book Overview

Danni always believed she was an abandoned child. Then the seductive Sean Ballogh appears out of nowhere with a startling story challenging everything Danni thought was true. He claims that Danni's family has been searching for her ever since she disappeared 20 years ago - and he's come to bring her home to Ireland. Now Danni must rewrite history to save her family, to fight a force more evil than she ever imagined and to reunite herself with the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425228177
• ISBN13: 9780425228173
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Fascinatingly Complex!

Abandoned at a young age, Danni has always felt different. Afraid to open herself up and explore the oddness of who she is. Danni never knew what happened to her family. She grew up in foster home after foster home. And then one night a strange, yet somehow familiar man, appears on her doorstep, and from that moment on, everything changes. This man, Sean Ballagh, claims to know where her father is, who she is, where she's from. He has answers she's lived her entire life wondering about. Now's her chance to discover her past, as visions unfold, and an amazing journey sweeps both Danni and Sean back in time to twenty years in the past, just a few days before the terrible events unfold that will change their life to the one they just left. It's not often second chances are given. Does Danni have the power within herself to alter the tragic events? The imagery and tone created a mysterious and vivid story. The twisted, tangled, and devastating events from the past catapult this book on a journey to uncover the secrets that will allow Danni and Sean to find the peace and answers they need to heal and find the love of of a family Danni has always yearned to have. The twists and turns this dark tale takes you on was at times confusing, and some things were left unanswered or rather unanswerable, but I chalk that up to storytelling and the beauty of fiction. Let your mind wonder and explore the possibilities. Complex and fascinating to say the least!

An outstanding novel!

Danni is terrified of her visions. But when Sean suddenly appears in her life, she is not only forced to face her gifts, but a past that threatens her new-found love. Although this is a fabulous love story, there is a depth to this book that can only be appreciated once the full plot is revealed. Quinn's prose is as haunting as the plot itself, which often mirrors the circles of a celtic love knot. Sensual, oftentimes scary, with a dream-like quality that pulls the reader in from start to finish, Haunting Beauty is metaphorically ingenious to the discerning reader. Do not miss the opportunity to add this unique novel to your keeper shelf!

I loved this book!

Mysticism combined with romance wrapped up in a beautiful mist of Irish folklore and time travel. Wonderfully evocative writing. Characters that jump off the page. A plot that kept me guessing. A chemistry that smoldered. I was transported along with Danni and Sean to another time and place. My sole disappointment in this book was when the journey had to come to an end. I'm just glad to know that "Haunting Beauty" is only the first in a series of books about this family, their adventures through time and the evil Book of Fennore.

4.5 starts -Haunting Romance with a touch of Irish Magic

It starts with a vision of her own death and a compelling stranger that Danni `knows' she will meet again. Danni has been denying the gift that forced her from foster home to foster home after being abandoned by her mother as a child. Now Shaun, the man from her vision, appears in the `flesh' on her doorstep offering Danni her fondest wish - Shaun tells her of a father and extended family in Ireland who want her. But even as Danni is drawn to Shaun, Shaun is keeping secrets - more secrets than he even knows. It will take a bit of Irish magic, love, a leap of faith and a trip to the past for Danni and Shaun to avert a past tragedy and for them to even have a ghost of a chance at a future together. I really really liked Haunting Beauty though it took me a while to understand what was really going on. I wasn't initially sure whether it was a ghost story or a time travel romance even though the Danni figures this out fairly quickly. Because key elements of the story are told in visions or dreams, Haunting Beauty has a non-linear flow that actually works to reinforce the haunting feel and to build the tension as Danni struggles to find a way to change the events of the night which had such tragic consequences for Danni and Shaun and for both of their families. I liked the magical feel that the visions and the Celtic lore brought to the story, but it was really Danni and especially Shaun who won my heart. Both the leads are quite likeable and have an appealing vulnerability. Both have been alone for so long and have experienced such emotional hurt that makes it hard to trust again, but despite that, the connection between Shaun and Danni is so powerful that they can't help putting themselves in the position of being hurt again - even when it looks like there is no possibility for a future together. If there is a weakness to the story it is that there alot different kinds of mystical things going on (visions, dream sequences, time travel) and there are a few threads left dangling even after the story resolves itself - how does the White Lady fit in? But it turns out that the tale is not complete and the story of Danni's twin is yet to be told. Though I can't imagine where author Quinn will take us next, when the story continues with Danni's also magical brother Rory, I am looking forward to his tale in Haunting Warrior.

whimsical charming modern day Celtic romantic fantasy

Danni grew up as a foster child believing her parents abandoned her at birth or soon afterward. She worked hard to make something of herself and has become an expert at antiques. The young woman has no interest in her own past though occasionally late at night she curiously wonders who they were. Sean Ballogh enters her life seemingly out of thin air. He insists her family has been searching for her for two decades and he wants to bring her home to her Irish roots on Ballyfionuir Island. Furthermore his arrival has stimulated her second sight skill. Unable to resist the lure of kin, Danni travels to Ballyfionuir where she meets loving family, alive and dead. As she and Sean fall in love, Danni realizes, for them to have a future, she must change her family's past and fight an evil beyond her imagination or watch her beloved die. This is a whimsical charming modern day Celtic romantic fantasy starring a courageous heroine and a haunted hero. Danni makes the tale when she and Sean reach her birth island as she is in awe as she meets her family, live and dead members. Fans will enjoy her family reunion, but in order to have a future, she must somehow rewrite the past. Erin Quinn provides a haunting thriller. Harriet Klausner