Title: The Skrying Glass

Author: Penelope Neri

In: The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance (Trisha Telep)

Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)

My Bookshelves: Celtic, Fae, Romance, Shapeshifters

Pace: Medium

Format: Short story

Publisher: Running Press

Year: 2010

5th sentence, 74th page: Dagger in hand, he strode across the clearing.

Siobhan saw something in the skrying mirror when she was twelve that made her want to never get married. Now that she’s eighteen, she might have met the man of her dreams. But does falling in love with him mean that he is about to die?

I loved this story. It mixes fate in with all of the romantic entanglements and scenery that I am used to from this collection. Siobhan and Colm have the whole love at first sight, push and shove kind of romance that’s fun to read about in a short story. But, because of what Siobhan sees in her own skrying mirror, she is terrified of losing him and finds it hard to make her commitment.

I love that, in a way, the prediction seen when Siobhan was twelve comes true. But, as always, romance finds it way in the end, and Siobhan and Colm are able to run off into the sunset together. It’s simple, it’s sweet and it has a woman with an attitude problem in the lead. Everything that you could want in a nice, short and sweet tale of Irish romance.

Image source: Goodreads