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© 2006, Brynn Chapman Reviews For A CIRCLE OF CROWS by Brynn Chapman "This is an amazingly creative read! This is a story about love and selflessness and offers a little bit of everything for the reader. This is one story that will stay with the reader long after the last page is read. Ms. Chapman is very talented author and one I have no trouble recommending." Kristi Ahlers- Reviewer for Romantic Times, The Best Reviews and Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com "Ms. Chapman leads the reader through intrigue and danger as Raena and Colin find a way to defeat the evil Queen. The reader keeps turning the page in hope that the two will find love. Ms. Chapman does not disappoint." Mary 3 cups, Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance, Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books "A Circle of Crows is a heart-stopping tale that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat and make them wonder what will happen next. Full of twists and turns, Ms. Chapman writes with much depth and flair as the sisters of the Four Seasons Inn gather to find out what happened over 100 years ago. Each page flips from one realm to the other as the tale is told and totally engrosses this reviewer. The characters are multidimensional and deliver a broad range of emotions as each sister deals with the nightmares and whispers they hear in the rain. Each page is a new revelation to the mystery and as one question is answered, another crops up to ensnare the reader. The flow of the book was fast paced at times when it needed it to be and then it would slow down some to keep the reader from having heart palpitations at the pace. It was a wonderful journey to enjoy this new author’s imagination. Highly imaginative yet quite suspenseful, A Circle of Crows delivers the reader to a place where the dark edge of emotions gathers and mysteries abound. From start to finish, Ms. Chapman delivers a story that will keep the reader guessing with the many twists it delivers as well as the multifaceted characters to worm their way into a reader’s heart. This is truly one book that will keep you on the edge of the seat as it races toward its climatic ending. A Circle of Crows is a stunningly told story that will keep you highly entertained from start to finish. Run to grab this engrossing tale and find yourself surprisingly scared at the way the plot curves when you least expect it." Reviewed by Dawn 4 hearts, Love Romances this amazing, highly imaginative, and fully robust tale you meet an incredible cast of characters from both worlds that are so carefully constructed the reader will quickly become immersed in each of their lives. The author takes several of the key characters and with succinct story telling shows and breathes life into their motivations. You’ll get emotionally involved as they battled the evil, revel in the self-sacrifice they make for one another, and finally cheer their hopes and dreams of finding love. The world Ms. Chapman created along with her unforgettable characters will stay with you, as they did with me, long after the last page is turned. A very creative and intriguing read that I highly recommend. Marilyn Rondeau, RIO – Reviewers International Organization **** Author Brynn Chapman gives readers a glimpse into her fantastic imagination. This story includes many magical creatures, some good, most evil. A few of the magical beings I cannot report about, for fear of ruining the tale. However, I feel safe in revealing the "Sepulcher" which are big, black winged creatures whose caw sent shivers down my spine. If you enjoyed the book and/or the movie, "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", then you will LOVE this tale. Oh no, not the same plot; not even close. But I got the same surreal feeling. I plan to keep an eye on Brynn Chapman's career. I see major talent here! Recommended! **** Four Stars HUNTRESS REVIEWS Sample Chapter For A CIRCLE OF CROWS by Brynn Chapman November 1975 She didn’t want to jump. She had three beautiful little girls, and she loved her husband. So why, when she peered out of the window into this gale force wind, did she feel like she wanted to fly into the air, into the heart of the storm? The storm was calling to her, it seemed. She could hear something outside, underneath the thunder and lightening, another layer of sound. It was familiar somehow. What was it? She had to know; she was driven to find out. She flung open the window and crawled precariously onto the window ledge, slick with rain. What did she hear? Locusts? Cicadas? No. It was whispers. Children whispering. She couldn’t make out what they were saying. She cocked her head to the side and leaned toward the sound. Her foot slid off the ledge and she caught herself, clawing at the sides of the old wooden windowpane. Her heart hammering wildly in her chest, she felt dizzy as she looked down into the storm. It looked as if a tempest had appeared directly below the window under her hazardous perch. A black whirlwind spun round and round, making her sick as she watched its progress. She felt as if she wanted to jump, and her foot left the ledge; when somewhere in the back of her mind, her father’s Scottish brogue cautioned her. She replaced her foot. “Anna,” she heard whispered, “help us. We are lost. Please help.” She lifted her foot again. “I must help,” she said matter-of factly into the wind. She bent her knees and prepared to leap, when she heard the decibel of the whispers increase and become more fervent. It seemed as if an unseen hand were pulling her toward the center of the black, whirling circle. She held her breath, and... “Momma, what are you doing?” She placed her foot down and turned around on the sill, slipping as she did so. Her daughter grabbed her hand and helped her down. “The whispers, they were calling me,” she said stupidly, still feeling as if her mind were thick with fog. “You mean the children’s voices? I hear them every time it rains.” * * * * Ten Years Ago The hospital sliding doors opened and the gurney rushed through, precariously missing a corner in the EMTs haste to reach the M.D. on call. “Vitals?” demanded Chris Calhoun, the lead paramedic. “B.P. is sixty over thirty. We’re losing him, Chris.” The patient had been found at the scene of a motor vehicle accident. His body had been retracted from his demolished car by the ‘Jaws of Life.’ Chris began accounting the patient’s status to the nurse who had run out of the sliding doors of the hospital to meet them, he rapid fired his report as he had been trained. “Head trauma, with possible spinal cord injury. We will need a neurology and an orthopedic resident, his tibia is a comminuted fracture as well on the right.” Chris Calhoun hovered over his patient’s head and whispered, “Come on, buddy, hang in there.” * * * * Eleven p.m. Raena sat at her desk with her head in her hands, pouring over the paper due the following morning. She heard a sound outside...one not familiar in this seaside neighborhood. “Are those birds at this hour of night? Those aren’t gulls...” she whispered to the dark. She rose and walked to the window, sucking in her breath at the sight on her front lawn. A murder of crows were distributed all over the moonlit yard, squawking and pecking at one another. “Something is wrong...” she said as a black, ominous feeling, almost palpable descended on her heart. She startled with the ringing of the
phone and her heart began to beat wildly. Running full tilt, she leaped
over the ottoman and ripped receiver off its cradle. Sobbing on the other end—uncontrollable sobbing met her ears. “Bella? Bella, honey, what is it?” Her seventeen-year-old sister attempted to speak, but it comes out as, “RRRRRaaaeee!!” “Bella, get a hold of yourself! What has happened! Where is Rachael? Put her on the phone. It’s not the baby, is it?” “N-N-Noo. She’s here with me. It’s John. Rachael’s gone to the hospital. He was in a car accident and the person who he collided with is already dead.” Raena grabbed tight to the chair next to her and fought the blackness which threatened to engulf her. She could then clearly see a picture of her twin in her mind’s eye, sitting in the hospital alone, over her husband’s bedside and weeping quietly. That thought pushed the darkness away quickly and her iron resolve kicked in. “Bella, I’m coming home. I’ll get the first flight out of here.” * * * * As Raena raced to her gate at the airport, visions came whizzing past her conscious mind like a slideshow...Rachael getting married to John; her mother and Rachael arguing because Rachael was only twenty; Rachael’s brilliant smile as she handed her tiny girl to Raena to hold; the look on her twin’s face as she shut the door to drive to college in Massachusetts; coming home for her parents funeral a year ago and…the inn. The inn had been home forever, and being innkeepers was in their blood for generations; and now, it was Rachael’s job to run the inn. Or it had been her and John’s responsibility. Rae checked her watch and muttered, “Oh please, oh please,” and ran as fast as she thought safe without getting herself tackled by security to her gate. * * * * Bella went into the kitchen and sat shivering at the table. She had to go and sit with Morgana. What if she woke up and found herself all alone? She would be terrified, and rightly so for a three year old, even one as amazingly brilliant as her niece. She entered Rachael’s wing quietly and tiptoed to Morgana’s room. The little girl was sleeping soundly in her new “big girl” bed, surrounded by her Winnie the Pooh™ characters. Bella was overcome with the sight, and sat quietly in the corner of the room and gathered herself into a ball and wept quietly. Her daddy—gone? Her own insecurities from childhood loomed in now. Being adopted, even though no one in the world could have loved her more than her parents and sisters, she still had odd feelings about it at times. Feeling of abandonment, and never really feeling safe anywhere. She looked again at the three year old and shuddered. Unable to resist any longer, Bella crawled over to the bed and slid in between the covers with her niece. She gazed at her ring before drifting
off, a present from her mother; two rubies with a diamond in the middle.
Her mom had gotten the twins identical rings to this one and had told
them one stone for each of their lives. And to always wear them to remind
them that no matter what this life had in store, they would always have
each other. Wishing to have her mother’s arms of comfort more
than ever, she whispered to the dark, “Hurry, Rae.” * * * * Raena buckled into the seat as the stewardess—no, no, flight attendant—went over all the safety procedures. It took all the self-control she could muster not to scream. She nervously twisted her ring as she always did when she was stressed. Not another accident. Her parents had already been taken this way, so what twisted sort of justice could there be in the world if this was to be the fate of her brother-in-law as well? She began to try and plan, as she always did when overwhelming situations arose, what would be her course of action if he didn’t make it. “I’ll have to quit grad school and help her with the inn and Morgana,” she said aloud, and the sound of her voice made her jump. The passenger across the aisle eyed her suspiciously. Rachael’s face swam into view, then Bella’s, followed by Morgana’s. “Oh please,” she murmured, and unable to help herself she began to let the tears flow. * * * * November 30th,1994 Raena made her way up the street after the cab had dropped her off. She stood half a block away looking at the inn while a freezing wind madly whipped her long, auburn hair. Thoughts whizzed past in a slideshow; the funeral, her advisor’s face when she turned in her withdrawal from graduate school, locking the door for the last time at her beachside rental on the cape. How she would miss the sea... She turned to come up the old stone path, which was their version of a sidewalk, and Morgana came bursting through the front door. “Aunt Rae, Aunt Rae, you’re here!” she shrieked. Raena lugged her suitcase up the steps and took a deep breath. Out of the corner of her eye, in a tree barren of leaves, perched a single cardinal which appeared to be observing the business of this homecoming. “Cardinals are a sign of hope,” she attempted to convince herself… Rae smiled for the first time in weeks, and scooping up her niece said, “Hello, butterbean. When do we eat?” |