When skeletal remains are unearthed at her husband’s ancestral home, Dr. Quinn Allenby must use her psychic gift to discover what led to Gabe’s ancestor’s secret burial in an unmarked grave. As Quinn bridges the centuries with the help of a warrior’s sword and an amber rosary buried with the skeleton, she stumbles upon a secret about her own past that will cast a new light on everything she’s … she’s been told about her birth and set her on a quest to discover the truth.
1461. Novice Catherine Dancy is forced to leave Holystone Priory when her father summons her home, but when she stops to help a dying knight after the massacre at Towton field, she alters the course of her life forever, and sets off a chain of events that lead to heartbreak and betrayal.
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First and foremost I want to thank the author Irina Shapiro for gifting me this audible book. When she did so I realized that it was part of a series and messaged her if it could be read as a stand-alone, she messaged me back that it could, but after the first chapter I decided I wanted to know more. I got the first three previous books and I’m glad I did. This series is so intriguing. The day to day life of Quinn Allen-bee, with her psychic ability to see the past though the touch of a personal object, her husband Gabe and the many characters that have developed though these stories are interesting. Quinn’s insatiable desire to find not only her past, but those poor souls whose demise can’t be explained, because they have been buried in strange out of place manors. Quinn is essentially a woman who will not rest till she gets to the bottom of a case, sometimes even when it puts her in jeopardy, which it has many times. I’m sure there will be more in this series and will await it.
Quinn is an interesting character. With her ability to see into the past by using a personal item makes for a unique story when she happens to stumble across an ancient skeleton at her husband’s home. When she dives deep into the past, she learns about the skeleton, a woman named Kate who went through many trials in her last few weeks alive.
I loved learned about Kate’s tale, and the jump between the present-day timeline and the historical made it so we could see both what happened to Kate as well as Quinn’s reactions to it. Kate herself was a bit of a frustrating character, but that was what made her so real. I think of all of them, Quinn was my favorite, not only for what she could do, but for her intrigue to want to learn all that she could, even when she didn’t think it the best idea to do so.
With that being said, I did find the book a little hard to get into at first. I’m not sure if it was because this is the first book in the series I’ve picked up or if it was just not the genre for me, but I am glad that I pushed through whatever it was because the ending of this book was fantastically done.
This series is Epic. If your a lover of mysteries this is a must read. Dr Quinn and her husband Gabe discover bones at his Ancestrial home. So why Quinn is doing her job with discovering the story behind the bones. She learns other surprises about her ancestry. Theres lots of twists and turns. This series is hard to put down because I couldn’t wait to see what was happening next in this real page turner. This series would be great on netflix or a movie made. The Narrator does a fantastic job. And the Authors writing is so creative. This is an Epic listen definitely more than 5 stars.
Shauna Joesten
Gabe’s ancestral home is found to have a skeleton under the kitchen floor which Quinn investigates. Her quest for answers to her biological origins are finally getting some answers, jut not the ones she expected!
In 2014 Quinn’s mother in law comes upon a grisly discovery beneath the kitchen of her ancestral home. Quinn and Gabe go to her aid and unearth skeletal remains, a sword, and a rosary that Quinn can’t wait to get her hands on. The mystery is made more pressing since whoever was found under the floor was somehow connected to Gabe’s family. But as Quinn learns time and time again in her own life, some familial secrets are best left undisturbed.
In 1462, Lady Kate has just been forced from the priory to go home to her parents. She’s grieving the loss of her brothers from the last battle of the War of the Roses and fears her father will marry her off, something her mother always warned would be the worst thing to ever happen to her. But she comes upon some wounded knights, and although she never took her vows to become a nun, seeing them safe is her Christian duty. While she sees her nursing as nothing more than a necessity, one of the knights is making his own plans, plans that will change her life forever.
Where to begin…I guess I can start with Quinn’s tale, our favorite psychic who often dives into the past. Over the course of the other few books, I’ve gotten attached to her and wish that she could just live her life in peace instead of constantly picking through the rubble of of other peoples mistakes to find answers. She’s been betrayed over and over in a series of events that leaves me both wanting more and just wishing Quinn could finally settle down into the simple life she’s trying to build. And as far as her biggest problem, the person I blame for it all? Well I hope the chart below makes things clear.
The War of the Roses is the beginning of one of my favorite times in history. Bloody, wrought with scandals, and focused on a cast of real people placed in almost otherworldly situations, Shapiro touches on that in her book. She slips slivers of historical events into conversations and passing news from riders to intertwines Kate’s life with real events and keeps the reader, or in my case the listener, gently reminded of what’s going on in the wider world.
When it comes to narration, Wendy Wolfson consistently knocks it out of the park. Her silky smooth voice can highlight the southern drawl of a business man, the low brow accent of a 15th century stable boy, and the gentle tones of a well born lady pining for her knight in shining armor. It’s always a pleasure to listen to her read a story so wonderful.
I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this book to lovers of historical, romances, dramas, general fiction, reading, history, air, basically everyone. Lovers of the Outlander series and works by Philippa Gregory will be particularly enthralled, but I really mean it when I say all readers should give this series a try.
Irina Shapiro masterfully weaves past and present together with two stories in this Echoes of the Past series. With each book I am more in love with this series. There is no one else who writes like her pulling me in to not one story but two. There is no doubt that this is one of my all time favorites series and Irina Shapiro is by far my favorite author. I really wish this series would be made in to a Master Piece Theater movie