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The Scald Crow is one of those books where the atmosphere and the romance are so closely tied together that you can’t really separate them. The setting doesn’t just sit in the background—it shapes everything, especially the relationships.
From early on, there’s a strong sense of place. The rural Irish setting feels grounded and familiar, but there’s always something slightly off about it. Nothing is overly explained, but you get the feeling that the land holds more than it lets on. Even in quieter moments, there’s a low, steady tension running through everything—like something isn’t quite right, even if you can’t immediately say why.
That same feeling carries into the romance between Calla and Colm. This isn’t a soft or easy relationship—it’s intense, immediate, and sometimes overwhelming. There’s a pull between them from the start, but it doesn’t feel entirely comfortable or controlled. When things build between them, they don’t do it gradually—they spill over, often in moments that feel impulsive and hard to rein in. It gives their connection a raw, consuming edge that makes it really hard to look away from.
What makes it even more interesting is how that intensity never quite feels safe. Not in a dramatic or extreme way, but in a quieter sense—like something is always slightly unbalanced. You’re not watching a relationship settle, you’re watching it unfold in real time, without guarantees, and that unpredictability keeps you hooked.
The fae elements add to this without taking over. They’re not loud or heavily explained—they sit just at the edges, shaping the tone rather than dominating the plot. It’s more about the feeling they create than anything else, and that subtle presence adds to the unease that runs through the whole story.
I wouldn’t call this dark in a heavy or brutal way, but it definitely has a darker edge to it, especially later in the novel when the reader gets a glimpse inside the fae world.
It leans more towards a mood-driven, emotionally intense romantasy rather than something action-heavy. If you like stories where the romance is messy, the tension builds slowly, and the atmosphere does a lot of the work, this is well worth picking up.
It’s the kind of book that lingers—not because of big dramatic moments, but because of the feeling it leaves behind.
Publisher: Baisong Press
Print Length: 260 Pages
Genre: Fantasy / Romance
Hanna Park
`I began my writing career in the pre-dawn of a winter morning while my husband snored like a train. We could call my husband the catalyst. If it weren’t for him, I would never have gone to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, feed the cat, and sit on the loveseat in front of the fire. It was there, in those moments of wondrous quiet, that I did something I had never thought possible. I opened my laptop, and while the coffee went cold, I wrote a story. My husband had no idea that these sojourns to the loveseat in front of the fire would become a daily occurrence, that writing would become an obsession, but the cat knew. She knows everything.
I write stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you love. Thank you, friends, for reading!
In the beginning, there was an empty page.
I am a writer who lives in Muskoka, Canada, with a husband who snores, a hungry cat, and an almost perfect canine––he’s an adorable little shit.
