In Nancy Scanlon's second installment of her time travel series, Mists of Fate, we get to see how a medieval Irish warrior adapts to the modern world in present-day New York City and Boston.

An Enchanted Spring takes place approximately eight years after we left off in The Winter Laird. At the end of book one, Aidan MacWilliam was gravely injured and swept forward in time to save his life. In this book, Aidan has been in the modern world for 8 years. He has adapted well, having earned a fortune by investing, opening authentic Irish restaurants, and purchasing real estate. While he is still a medieval warrior yearning for his own time and clan, he certainly can don an expensive suit and mingle with the upper echelon of society without much pause.

Colin, who took over the Celtics Connections matchmaking service when Brianna traveled back in time, sends Aidan to vet a publicity rep that he wants to hire. Emmaline Perkins loves her job at Price Publicity, fixing messes in rich people's lives. Unfortunately she did a poor job at her own life, having found her fiance in bed with her client, and then having him threaten her life for the insurance payout. When Emma's life goes to hell, she becomes an irresistible damsel in distress for our medieval warrior.

This story had more of a contemporary romance feel than a time travel novel. The majority of the book takes place in modern times, where Aidan has already adapted, so we missed out on all his new experiences. That is really one of the best aspects of the time travel stories for me, seeing the person adapt to a new time and custom. So I was bummed that we missed out on that with Aidan. Then once everyone does travel back in to the 15th Century, it almost seems a non-issue for our heroine. She doesn't believe one minute, then the next scene she seems to be accepting everything without another thought.

While I enjoyed the story, I felt disconnected to the characters. The hot and cold relationship seemed manufactured, and nothing occurred to draw me into a strong tie or emotional connection to any one character. Even the bickering between Aidan and Reilly felt forced. While there was a villain present in the story (Emma's ex-fiance), his character had too much going on to be believable. Originally he seemed to only want her money, but that warped into a weird obsession with her, and finally devolved into a drug addiction which, again, seemed too conveniently contrived.

So I didn't enjoy this one as much as The Winter Laird, but I'm interested enough to continue on with the series and see if Colin and Reilly get their HEA.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Diversion Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 3 stars / 1 flame.

Full review posted at Bambi Unbridled.
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Aidan has been trying to get back to the 1400’s to be with his clan for almost a decade when his “cousin” Colin sends him to New York to vet a new PR candidate for their Celtic Connections matchmaking business. With both Aidan and Emmaline in the Celtic Connections database was Colin REALLY looking for a new PR employee or playing matchmaker? Aidan is intrigued by Emma’s knowledge and wit and there is definitely chemistry between them. But, with Aidan hoping to return to a previous time period and Emma a modern woman living in the present a long term relationship is not likely. When her life is turned upside down by a stalker ex-fiancé with debts arriving back from prison her life is threatened in more ways than one. Aidan takes Emma under his wing as an employee but he does want more and sets out to woo her. Before the end of the novel there is time travel, wooing, a joust, medieval matchmaking and a difficulty to overcome if the two are to have their happily ever after.

I enjoyed this book with its and would like to read the stories of Cian, Colin and Reilly along with any other characters that might show up in future books of the series. This is definitely not a book based in reality but it is a fun read with hunky alpha males and time travel. I would have liked to hear how many children Brianna and Nicolas (book 1) had but finding out that she is happy and thriving was a nice perk to this story, too. Thank you to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the ARC to read in exchange for my honest review. ( )