The Cave of Ruin Arsa by Andrea Matthews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ciarán Donnelly is back and he is settling into his new life with his wife and unborn twins a bit more each day and is feeling like the hold his past had on him is not as strong as it was, but now his life is in upheaval yet again when he starts having vivid dreams again. This time though, they are visions of his children being kidnapped by the long dead priest who entombed him for his past misdeeds, Ruadhán, but Ciarán knows that this can’t be true, but he is still very unnerved by them. However, the anxiety which these dreams cause Ciarán are affecting his relationship with Caitlin and she is feeling the stress as well, which is no good for her while pregnant with the twins, but Ciarán as usual bottles everything up inside until it becomes too much and he explodes with the pent up emotion and this helps their situation even less.

As Ciarán is learning to deal with his anxieties, the dreams are repeating and are now affecting his ability to both sleep and keep his emotions in check, but when he does finally speak to those around him, they put forward the valid points that it may just be he fears around being a parent coming to he fore and that because Ruadhán was devoted to his goddess, there is little chance that he could have had the same punishment as Ciarán and Aodhán, his brother and Aodhán is keen to support this theory as well. Meanwhile, tensions still rise as the twins near their due date and with everything else going on, Ciarán knows he needs to be there for Caitlin more than ever.

Meanwhile Aodhán is working with the archaeology team again and decides to go and see the tombs in the Hills of ár Sinsear for himself so that he can put Ciarán’s mind at rest about Ruadhán, however, what he finds there just makes their anxieties worse, an unoccupied tomb which has all the calling cards of use, despite being empty. While Aodhán spends more time with his almost adopted family, a surprising piece of history is unearthed and leads to another interpretation of what Ciarán’s dreams could mean and opens a whole host of new complications to an already stressful scenario. Could Ruadhán have survived the fifteen hundred years and come back to haunt the two brothers, if so, what is his plan and can Ciarán and Aodhán stop it before their loved ones are hurt? This is another whirlwind ride in this historical fiction meets modern day romance, in this time travel fantasy which keeps you enthralled as the other books while spinning a yarn you will want to speed through, yet savour at the same time.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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