When I finished Raven of the Sea, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the O’Briens. I had fallen for their family, their fierce affection, and the way Stacey Reynolds makes you feel as though there is always room for one more person at the table. So I opened book two, A Lantern in the Dark, eager to see whose story would come next. This time, the sea is still close, but we are far from the cliffs of Ireland. The story takes us to a beach town in North Carolina, where Aidan O’Brien and Alanna Falk find themselves living next door to each other. Aidan is a soldier carrying painful memories from Afghanistan. Alanna works with people experiencing post-traumatic stress, but she has fears of her own and a reason for wanting to feel safe. They are drawn to one another, though neither is quick to reveal what they have been through. I think that is what drew me into their story. They each notice that something is troubling the other, while finding it much harder to speak about their own pain. Aidan has spent so much of his life being strong for other people. He knows how to take charge and how to keep going. But coming home from war does not mean everything that happened there stays behind. Some memories follow you into the quiet. They wait until the day is over and there is nothing left to distract you. Alanna understands that trauma can leave a person feeling unsafe. Yet understanding something through her work does not make her own fear disappear. I liked that she has both knowledge and vulnerability. She can offer compassion to others, even while she is struggling to let anyone see how frightened she feels. There is a particular tenderness in watching two people like that grow close. The attraction is there, of course, and I enjoyed the sparks between them. But I cared just as much about the moments when they began to trust each other. When someone has learned to guard their heart, being honest can feel like a bigger step than falling in love. The title, A Lantern in the Dark, stayed with me as I read. It feels exactly right for a story about people finding their way towards one another while they are still living with fear. A lantern cannot make the whole path visible. It can only show you enough to take the next step. Sometimes that is all you need. I also loved seeing the O’Brien family through Aidan’s story. One of the pleasures of a series like this is that each book lets us come a little closer to another member of a family we have already begun to know. Aidan is Michael’s brother, but he has his own life, his own history and his own heart. His story gave me another reason to care about the people I met in book one. There is more danger in this book than I expected when I first opened it, and Alanna’s fear has a very real cause. I found myself hoping fiercely that she would get the chance to feel safe again. I won’t say more about what happens, because I would rather let you discover the story as I did. What I will say is that I loved A Lantern in the Dark. It made me feel for Aidan and Alanna, separately and together. I wanted them to find comfort, but I also wanted them to be able to tell the truth about what they were carrying. Stacey Reynolds gave me a romance to care about and two people I wanted to see happy. If Raven of the Sea invited me into the world of the O’Briens, this book made me want to stay. I finished it thinking about how lovely it is, in fiction and in life, when someone finds the courage to say, “I’m here,” and the other person believes them. I’m so glad I followed this family across the ocean for book two. There are more O’Brien stories waiting, and I can already feel myself reaching for the next one. Until next time, Toodle pip, Lainey.
