by: Margaret Izard
Series: Stones of Iona
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: March 17, 2025
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
In the absence of doubt, only faith is found.
A human with Fae powers living like an oddball has its ups and downs until Evie MacDougall’s dream Fae boy pops back into her life after she thought another was “the one.”
One dark and devilish, the other her long-lost love. Evil forces trap her for a magic Fae stone, but which man can she trust? As a teen prophesied to be Fae king, Aodhán viewed the girl of his dreams through an Eye of Ra.
Once, he risked all to help Evie MacDougall find a magic Fae stone, only to end up imprisoned. Kept from his true love for years, he finds her at risk from an evil Fae hunting a magic stone.
Is a single vow strong enough to save true love, to save the human and Fae realms?
The world of the Stone of Iona Series
Human emotion powers the magic stones. Apart, they are strong; together, they are all-powerful. In the wrong hands, the stones could destroy the world. Travel to parts of the world in the present and the past as we follow multiple characters on the quest to restore the Stones of Iona.
Fall in love over and over with the new series, Stones of Iona. For centuries, the Fae charged the MacDougall family with guarding the magic Fae stones. In one fateful moment, the monarchs of the family die in a horrible accident. In a panic, the Good Fae cast the handheld gems across space and time to protect them from the Evil Fae. The current generation of the MacDougalls must seek the lost stones and return them to the Chapel in the Woods at Dunstaffnage Castle in Scotland for safekeeping for all mankind.
Where did the idea of magic stones come from?
Some believe that the Culdees and the priests of Columba on Iona cared for the Stone of Destiny. King Kenneth MacAlpine moved the Stone in 850 CE from Saint Columba’s monastery to safer locations after Iona experienced many Viking raids. The Stone was safe until 1296 CE when Edward the First moved it to England. In one accounting of the stone’s movement, the sacred stone stayed at Dunstaffnage Castle, Oban, Scotland. At this point, I asked myself, what if the stone was magic, and what if there was more than one stone. Thus, the Stones of Iona Series became a story.
Which Stones Are Which?
In my books, the Tuatha Dé Danann, the good Fae, keep and protect the good Fae stones, Hope, Faith, and Love. After the first Stone Wars in the Fae realm, around the 11th-century human realm, they entrusted the magic Fae stones to the MacDougall clan at Dunstaffnage Castle, hidden there from the evil Fae, the Fomoire.
Recently, the evil Fae King, Balor, ruler of the Fomoire from his prison in the Fae realm, created three evil Fae stones to hunt the good stones to gain possession and control both realms. Fear hunts Love, Lust hunts Faith, and Doubt hunts Hope. Together, the six stones show the Stone of Destiny (not the coronation stone but a magic Iona Stone that holds immense power). Human will and emotion power the stones. In the wrong hands, both realms could fall into chaos.
What is some of the Magical Realism in the books?
The Fae coexist with the human realm. At one time, very long ago, they interacted often. But after dark times and betrayal from the humans, the Fae retreated to their own realm for safety and protection. However, the realms are codependent, forcing interaction. The Fae realm has ruling laws, and there are many kingdoms that a Fae Council governs over the realm.
Some highlights of Fae laws and powers…
The Fae Council forbid the Fae to mate with humans since their offspring are unpredictable.
One of their prisons is purgatory, a dimension that can freeze a Fae in space and time.
A good Fae cannot undo spells cast by an evil Fae since one must be evil to understand evil spells.
Fae law forbids them from killing another, yet each holds the power to do so.
There are portals between the Fae and human realms. Some are used often, and some are dormant. Some travel time.
Time travel to the past is easy, while time travel to the future compounds time, resulting in consequences.
Time bends differently in the Fae realm than in the human.
Some Fae use mind speak, a telepathy of dialogue in another’s head without speaking aloud. Others can write on paper without being there in person.
Some Fae have wings, pointed ears, and different clothing, and they possess the ability to hide their Fae form to appear more human.
Some Fae can teleport from one location to another.
The Fae practice spells, and they train warriors for Fae battles.
Books written by the Fae carry and echo the powers and spells used to create them. Example: Along with the magic Fae stones, the Fae gives a Fae Fable Book to the humans. The book’s purpose is to guide humans via fables about each stone. Within the Series, when the book flips to the fable, it is the human’s duty to search for that stone with the fable as a guide.
Who are your characters in the Series?
(The Fae)
Dagda – King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the good Fae. His wife is Thetra. His daughters Brigid serve the MacDougalls, and Morrigan serves the MacArthurs in their duty to protect and search for the Iona Stones.
Balor, King of the Fomoire Fae, started the Stone Wars by cursing his three dragon-shape-shifting sons to search for the three sacred Stones of Iona, Hope, Faith, and Love, for his evil plot to rule the realms. The three sons find the stones and betray their father by giving the good stones to Dagda, King of the good Fae. The Fae Council sentences their evil father to life in purgatory. The three sons, Dameon, Tiberius, and Magnus, are the main characters in the next series, Dragons of Tantallon, which I hope to release in 2026. Bres is Balor’s wife, who he betrayed and murdered during a Stone War before the books.
The Main Characters from Stones of Iona and their books:
Stone of Love, Book 1. Colin MacDougall and Brielle DeVolt’s love story. Colin is the Laird of the MacDougall clan and guardian of the Stones of Iona. Brielle, an American takes the job to renovate the Dunstaffnage Castle Chapel in the Woods. Colin must travel to the past to assume his ancestor’s identity and find the evil Fae searching for the Stone of Love. Bree trips back in time and falls for Roderick, who is Colin. (Note by the end of this book, the reader is introduced to most of the characters in this series and the next series, Dragons of Tantallon.)
Stone of Fear, Book 2. John MacArthur and Marie Murray’s love story. John is the hereditary captain of Dunstaffnage Castle and is pretty much the castle keeper. Marie assists Brielle with the chapel renovation. Marie and John fall in love while Colin and Bree are in the past, and their love story is told in flashbacks after Marie becomes kidnapped. John must chase her across Scotland in the present and the past to rescue her.
Stone of Lust, book 3. Ainslie MacDougall and Rannick MacRaghnaill’s story. Ainslie is Colin’s sister who grabs Bree, her sister-in-law’s hand as Bree is kidnapped and forced into a time portal to the Viking times. Separated from her sister-in-law, Ainslie, a modern woman trained in Viking warfare, must team up with Rannick, a jarl serving her ancestor, Lord of Lorne, to rescue Bree.
Thistle in the Mistletoe features a couple from the past in Stone of Love. This book tells how Mary Comyn and Roderick MacDougall must navigate a forced marriage to bring peace to warring clans. This book takes place shortly before Colin’s time travels in Stone of Love, where he assumes Roderick’s identity to find the evil Fae searching for the Iona stone, love.
Stone of Hope, book 4. Dominic Devolt, Bree’s Air Force, adrenaline junkie brother, attempts to save his niece and nephew, Evie and Ewan MacDougall, Colin, and Bree’s twins, when Evie accidentally opens a portal in an Eye of Ra. All three find themselves transported from a museum in Miami to Egypt in the 1930s and into Moira White’s archeological dig, where Uncle Dom and Moira fall for each other while battling the mystic forces of the Egyptians.
Stone of Doubt, book 5. Evie MacDougall, Colin and Bree’s daughter, is a human with Fae powers. Years ago, in Egypt, she met her mysterious Fae love, Aodhán. Now a college grad, she meets the handsome, mysterious Manix Skene, and they start a relationship only to have her Fae crush, Aodhán, return, begging to take her to his Fae realm. She’s a human with Fae powers—and two men want her. One dark and devilish, the other her long-lost love. Which path will Evie choose?
Next in the Series:
Stone of Faith, book 6 Ewan MacDougall’s Evie’s twin brother with Fae powers love story. As Ewan shifts his antique ship in time to the Caribbean during the height of pirating raids to rescue enslaved people, he encounters a Fae Siren of the Sea, Lorilai, who is held captive for the power her voice carries that sends men to their deaths. Coming 2025.
Stone of Destiny, book 7. Katherine MacArthur, Evie’s BFF love story and Marie and John MacArthur’s daughter. Kat, an expert in physics finds herself reunited with her crush, Ceallach, Aodhán’s Fae cousin, when Ceallach is sent to the human realm to assist with the destiny of the Stones of Iona. Coming 2025.
Evergreen Evermore, a Christmas Companion book in Viking times when the magic stones first arrive in the human realm, features Ewan MacDougall, Ewan of the future’s namesake, who builds Dunstaffnage Castle. His father, Lord of Lorne, tasks him to oversee the delivery of the magic Iona Stones from the Fae via the Isle of Iona. He must protect the stone carrier, Lady Anne Olavsson, till her duty is complete. Coming 2026
Following this series is Dragons of Tantallon, which features Balor’s three sons, Dameon, Tiberius, and Magnus, introduced in Stone of Love, book 1, Stones of Iona, which I hope to release in 2026.
Her head shot up, and he stood before her. “Hello, Evie.”
Her hand lifted as she moved it toward him, expecting it to pass through. When she touched his warm chest, she jerked back.
He captured it in his hand. “Aye, I’m real, Evie.”
He brought her hand to his lips and brushed the back, kissing her. Tingles shot from her hand to her heart. Only one person affected her that way. Aodhán.
His grin grew as he lowered her hand. “I’ve been away, and for that, I am sorry. But I’m finally freed. Free to revisit the human realm.”
Tears gathered in her eyes as he gazed into her eyes, her heart. Her Fae love, Aodhán, stood before her and held her hand.
“Evie, please let me make up my absence to ye. Let me show ye new hope and erase all doubt about yer feelings for me.”
She whimpered as a tear fell. “Aodhán?”
His hand came up and caught her tear. He rotated his palm and held it open, presenting a clear gemstone shaped like a teardrop.
Handing it to her, he whispered, “I can only stay a moment, but tomorrow I shall come to ye. I’m glad ye kept the sphere. I heard yer call every time. No more tears, Evie.”
He brushed a kiss on her lips. “Look for me tomorrow night in yer dreams. Don’t lose hope.”
Aodhán faded from her view.
Evie blinked. She turned around once, scanning the area. No one was about.
She turned again, calling out, “Hello?”
No one appeared on the street.
She pulled her camera up and pressed the button. Aodhán’s smiling face and ethereal glow came into view. Proof he’d visited and she’d not seen a ghost.
Her fingers brushed her tingling lips at the promise of tomorrow night.
Her hand lifted as she moved it toward him, expecting it to pass through. When she touched his warm chest, she jerked back.
He captured it in his hand. “Aye, I’m real, Evie.”
He brought her hand to his lips and brushed the back, kissing her. Tingles shot from her hand to her heart. Only one person affected her that way. Aodhán.
His grin grew as he lowered her hand. “I’ve been away, and for that, I am sorry. But I’m finally freed. Free to revisit the human realm.”
Tears gathered in her eyes as he gazed into her eyes, her heart. Her Fae love, Aodhán, stood before her and held her hand.
“Evie, please let me make up my absence to ye. Let me show ye new hope and erase all doubt about yer feelings for me.”
She whimpered as a tear fell. “Aodhán?”
His hand came up and caught her tear. He rotated his palm and held it open, presenting a clear gemstone shaped like a teardrop.
Handing it to her, he whispered, “I can only stay a moment, but tomorrow I shall come to ye. I’m glad ye kept the sphere. I heard yer call every time. No more tears, Evie.”
He brushed a kiss on her lips. “Look for me tomorrow night in yer dreams. Don’t lose hope.”
Aodhán faded from her view.
Evie blinked. She turned around once, scanning the area. No one was about.
She turned again, calling out, “Hello?”
No one appeared on the street.
She pulled her camera up and pressed the button. Aodhán’s smiling face and ethereal glow came into view. Proof he’d visited and she’d not seen a ghost.
Her fingers brushed her tingling lips at the promise of tomorrow night.
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