Wow, heart wrenching.

A Mystical Embrace is Emma and Y, their affair and the child they have. In this story the human encounters are so intimate that they can unravel every texture of one’s being and even, at times, illuminate the heart.

Sad and great at the same time. Well written with well-crafted characters.

Mystical Embrace: Our Rekindled Bond
Marlene F Cheng
Independently Published
Paper: 978-1-7752477-0-8 $14.99
eBook: 978-1-7752477-1-5 $ 3.99
Author Website: https://marlenecheng.wordpress.com
Ordering Link: https://www.amazon.com/author/marlenecheng


Mystical Embrace: Our Rekindled Bond is the third book in the "Bond" series. Prior fans familiar with the characters and setting of its predecessors will find that this new addition vastly expands the story, adding further developments that profile the results of a romance between NHL hockey player Y, who has a family in Sweden but tours the world, and Geneva, an emergency room doctor who falls in love with him.

Now Y has two families—and when the media exposes his affair and the child which has resulted, lives are changed and hearts are broken. Can love emerge victorious from such adversity?

Mystical Embrace's special talent lies in its ability to closely examine not just the choices of its characters and the consequences they face on many fronts, but the added challenges of a health crisis and the social issues that swirl around them.

It should also be noted that events and mysticism are steeped in First Nation references right from the start, from Cloud's crushing grief and discovery of a farewell note from Raven Sings to Geneva's 'mystical home' and connections to not just her child and lover, but the world.

Marlene Cheng's voice is evocative throughout as the characters view their world, return to their roots, and steep themselves in their chosen lives and cultural inheritances: "...in keeping with Island ways, I shared with them what had happened to Krys and how I was handling it, in bits and pieces, at opportune moments: while walking the beach, keeping an eye for interesting drift-wood garden statues; over warm, buttered, lemony scones and lattes while waiting for the moon to be eclipsed, hoping for the clear night to hold; when thoughts were triggered. They never pushed, realizing that some details were difficult in their coming. Some were even too sensitive for their empathetic ears."

With her slow, lazy prowess at painting scenes with words, Cheng draws readers into lives unexpectedly entwined not just by life circumstance and choice, but by mysticism and fate.

Because multiple lives are explored in the first person, Cheng is careful to include the names of each character when changing perspective. This makes it easy for readers to follow their evolution and changes.

Warm, psychologically introspective, culturally and spiritually revealing, and filled with the gentle flow of interconnected lives, Mystical Embrace: Our Rekindled Bond enhances the series by pursing the threads of previous books as it contrasts the life and adrenaline rush of a NHL hockey star with the gentler perspective of characters who move beyond the lure of considering life as either a win or lose proposition.

Under Marlene Cheng's hand, everyone wins in different ways. And so does the reader, for pursuing an evocative story of magic, change, and the concurrent challenges of ALS and a legacy of love. -- Diane Donovan, Author/Editor, California Bookwatch