A Stone in Time (Mordha Stone Chronicles, Book One)

Kim
Allred
Genre: 
Paranormal

AJ Moore is trying to find her bearings, after her father’s recent death.  She was close to him, and she feels the loss keenly.  She climbs on the craggy rocks near her hometown of Bayside, Oregon, and visits nearby tidal pools to feel close to him, because these are special things they used to share, which ignited her love of learning.  While rock climbing one day, she is enveloped by a strange white fog.  Within this fog, she sees a 200-year-old sailing vessel.  When she looks again, the ship and the fog are both gone.  She thinks she is seeing a mirage, but she travels to the rock face again on a subsequent day, and finds the ship anchored in the nearby cove.  Around this time, she meets two new men:  Finn Murphy, the captain of this ship, and Ethan Hughes, a security firm executive. Both men spend time with her, but she is wary of each, because they are both very reticent about themselves.

This is a captivating story!  AJ’s best friend, Stella, keeps her honest, and AJ’s brother, Adam, adds some interesting family dysfunction to the story.  The mystery evolves slowly, and the clues are revealed sparingly.  It’s only fully apparent that this is a paranormal book toward the end, as this book occurs in current time and has a cliffhanger ending.  There are a few places where the pacing slows, but most of the story moves at a consistent pace. The motivations of each character are also revealed sparingly, which adds additional tension to the story.  The atmosphere is richly evocative and well rendered, and the characters are brought to life beautifully!

Carey Sullivan