(Beyond the Faerie Rath Book 1)
By Hanna Park
Review - Five Stars
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Scald Crow is a richly atmospheric read that blends folklore, mystery, and romance into something that feels both grounded and quietly otherworldly. From the beginning, there’s a strong sense that something just beneath the surface is waiting to be uncovered, and that tension carries the story beautifully.
Calla is an easy character to connect with. She arrives in Ireland uncertain and carrying more than she quite understands, and there’s something very human about the way she reacts to everything that begins to unfold around her. She isn’t immediately confident or in control, which makes her journey feel all the more real as she gradually starts to piece things together.
Colm was probably the character who stood out most for me. There’s a steadiness to him, but also a sense of weight from his past that gives his character depth. I really enjoyed the dynamic between him and Calla — it’s intense, but it also feels rooted in something deeper than simple attraction.
The setting is one of the book’s strongest elements. The Irish landscape and folklore are woven into the story in a way that feels natural rather than decorative. There’s a constant sense that the past and present are overlapping, and that the world the characters are moving through is far older — and far stranger — than it first appears.
I also appreciated how the story balances its elements. There’s romance, certainly, but also mystery, family history, and a gradual unfolding of something much larger. The plot builds steadily, with each new discovery adding another layer rather than simply resolving what came before.
This was a very engaging and immersive read with a strong sense of atmosphere and character. It feels like the beginning of something bigger, and I’d be very interested to see where the story goes next.
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Hanna Park
I began my writing career in the pre-dawn of a winter morning while my husband snored like a train. We could call my husband the catalyst. If it weren’t for him, I would never have gone to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, feed the cat, and sit on the loveseat in front of the fire. It was there, in those moments of wondrous quiet, that I did something I had never thought possible. I opened my laptop, and while the coffee went cold, I wrote a story. My husband had no idea that these sojourns to the loveseat in front of the fire would become a daily occurrence, that writing would become an obsession, but the cat knew. She knows everything.
I write stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you love. Thank you, friends, for reading!
In the beginning, there was an empty page.
I am a writer who lives in Muskoka, Canada, with a husband who snores, a hungry cat, and an almost perfect canine––he’s an adorable little shit.
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