Kiss of the Highlander

After I blazed through the Outlander quartet twenty years ago (and yes, I know there are 4 more than that now as well as another two planned), I added a lot of Scotland set books to my collection. In fact, I probably added Karen Marie Moning's The Kiss of the Highlander specifically because the jacket copy on my mass market paperback sounds an awful lot like Outlander. There's time travel and romance and danger, a more modern heroine and an historical hero. In fact, while these elements are all there, this is a significantly different book than Outlander, more firmly in the romance genre and with the addition of magic and druids.

Gwen Cassidy's life is pretty dull. She works for an insurance company processing claims and she has no show more personal life to speak of. The tour around Scotland that she's signed up for is populated by senior citizens instead of potential love interests. She's never going to lose her virginity at this rate. When she heads into the Highland hills to have some time to be alone and think, she ends up falling into a hidden cave, landing smack dab on top of a braw, sleeping Highlander. When Drustan awakens, he tells her that he is The MacKeltar, that he's from 500 years in the past, and that he needs to get back to his own century to save his clan. She thinks it's possible he's a mental patient but she agrees to help him get back to his castle, thinking that she can then give over care of this strange but compelling man to his family. As she sees his reaction to the 20th century along the way to his castle, she starts to wonder if he is indeed telling the truth and, of course, to fall for him as he is falling for her in return. When she sees who he really is and what he is capable of, history, the present, and everything around them will change for the two of them.

Gwen as the heroine is an interesting character. She is incredibly smart (a gifted physicist) but she's also rather pitiful and not great interpersonally thanks to her late, unfeeling parents who only valued her for her potential contributions to science. Drustan is very much a stereotypical sixteenth century hero. He's ridiculously chauvinistic, even when at the mercy of Gwen's time period and her continued goodwill. Of course, he is also chiseled and delicious looking so despite his overbearing high-handedness, Gwen's hormones cannot wait to tango with him. Her intelligence challenges him, something that he quickly learns to appreciate in the present day but that his past persona really struggles with, keeping them apart despite their white hot lust for each other. The plot is quite involved given the time travel aspect but everything is explained quite well and easily enough so that each part of the story is as believable as something predicated on magic and time travel can be. The ending was amazing and incredibly inventive and although there are more books in the series (and three prior to this one as well), this felt complete in its primary plot line. If you are a historical romance reader, a fan of sexy time travel, want to read an inversion of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, or just like the idea of a man in a plaid, this will absolutely be your guilty pleasure and I'm happy to say that although this was published in 2001, it holds up just fine in 2017. show less

Drustan MacKeltar has been taking a long rest, 500 years worth of long, and is thrilled when he awakens to having a wee lass sitting directly over his...Well you'll have to read that for yourself. Really he has more important things to do like getting back to his own century than worrying about this stange girl or trying to figure out what she is saying. She certainly is not speaking any English that he's ever heard!

Together they get Drustan back to his home or where his home should be only to find out it didn't survive, and now they have to go back in time. Problem is Gwen still thinks he's insane (time travel... oh yeah, right all the time!) so she is dumbfounded when she arrives naked and wet in Scotland 500 years earlier.

Problem is show more the new Drustan does not know who Gwen is and has serious doubts about her sanity.

There's enough humor and heartache to satisfy every reader. The setting is very romantic and the time travel and "magical/mystical" elements adds to the intensity of the love story. The ending was surprising. show less

"I love you. I adore you. I will cherish you all the days of my life. I knew even back in your century that you were the one for me, the one I'd longed for all my life." - Drustan MacKeltar

If there's one thing that any respectable Highlander romance reader would feel nice about, it would be finding and reading a really awesome book of this genre. With a hot, hot, hot Highlander hunk making her swoon, and all the gist. So, wanna know what would sweeten the deal even more?

IF THAT HIGHLANDER HUNK HAD A TWIN BROTHER!!!!

As expected from KMM, Drustan MacKeltar, the fourth Highlander of her series, fits the category I just described perfectly. Hot, with the tall and muscular body covered only by the kilt - for most of the book - and that show more freaking accent that makes us all lose our minds and forget our names! You know, the one that turns smart girls into blabbering idiots? And guess what, he has a TWIN! (more of that later)

So, yeah, that "smart to idiot" feature? It apparently works, because Gwen Cassidy is surely a female genius, and yet the poor girl had to catch herself for the majority of this story before she all but climbed up on that man like he was the sacred apple tree! The good thing is, despite how much and fast she fell in love with the guy, she kept her level-headedness and smarts as much as she could, and she succeeded in such a way, she made me proud to call myself a woman!

See, Gwen went to Scotland to find herself a man to be her first - love the way you're thinking, girl - and ended up accidentally finding a Highlander laird who had been sleeping for five hundred years. She wakes him up, and the infuriatingly hot man wants her to help him get back to his time. At first she doesn't believe him, but when she ends up in his place back in his century, oh, she believes alright! But by now she's already in love with him, which is good, except his "future" memories are not with him, so he thinks she's trying to trick him into marriage, he believes her to be crazy, and, oh, yeah, he's engaged to a fifteen-year-old!

I already love KMM and her amazing hunks - and stories, obviously (Hawk's book shall forever be excepted, sorry). Did she have to put the "twin factor" in there, too?! Now I'm even more hooked! Plus, a heroine with a ridiculouly high IQ, who knows what she wants and chases after it brutally, and a stubborn man who's delicious in his denial and his hilarious effort to keep control over his need - what more could a gal ask for? Except, this is Moning we're talking about, so of course she makes it even better - because, what kind of awesome story would it be, without the magic and the lore and the suspense?

Want my advice? Start reading the series if you haven't already, you don't know what you're missing! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go drool over Dageus - I think I found my IT man of this series!!! show less

You know how you feel when you've erroneously entered the wrong ride on the fairground, and you're strapped in tight, heart beating a desperate tattoo... You realize that you are way out of your league, and just want to get off the ride?

Yeah, that one. I've been on that ride all day today, and boy what a ride it was! I cannot fathom a better way to spend a Sunday than in the company of Drustan and Gwen. I have screamed with laughter when she locked him in the garderobe? Who does a thing like that? *giggles* and cried bitter tears when suddenly Gwen turns around and is back on the stone slab in the sunshine above Loch Ness.. that broke my heart.

And with all the paradoxes up in the air, Ms Moning suddenly catches each and every one of show more them, and prettily folds them into reasonable little pieces of loving fluff. And it just worked, even for me, even though I despise time travel paradoxes. She just made them all pretteh.

And then she goes on to crash some hard shit on us at the end, oh Dageus, you noble soul, to make sure we'd run as fast as we possibly can toward the next book in the series.

Well now. Here's me running!------------------

****
Reading from a borrowed copy. show less

Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning
Book #4: Highlander Series
Source: Purchase
My Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:

Gwen Cassidy is well above average in many, many areas of her life. Her love life isn’t one of those areas and it certainly isn’t going to get any better if she keeps inadvertently signing herself up for overseas tours with large groups of senior citizens. One would think her chances wouldn’t get anywhere near better when she falls into a cave while out on a hike but . . . .

For five centuries, Drustan MacKeltar has lain in a hidden cave waiting for the right combination of sunlight and blood to bring him back to the world of the living. One sunny afternoon, he is brought back to consciousness by a scantily clad show more young woman who, like Drustan has no idea what in hell is going on. Though Gwen knows how she got into the cave Drustan has no way to explain his presence nor how he could have possibly been there for five centuries. The modern world is no place for Drustan MacKeltar and the bits of he his memory that he does has tells him has to get back to his time and place if he is to save his brother, his home, and his entire clan.

Gwen is certain the stunningly gorgeous man she landed on top of is bat-shit crazy. He keeps going on and on about needing to get to the stones so that he can get back to his time and place and make things right, keep himself from being spelled, and save all that he loves and holds dear. He seemingly has no clue about the modern world (cars, pants, fast food), his speech patterns are weird, and he won’t let her go until he gets to the stones. Even more disconcerting, the longer she stays with Drustan the less she wants him to let her go. What’s more, if this tall tale he’s spinning is at all true, Gwen would love to see Scotland 500 years in the past. Wait, what????

As one thing needs to another, Drustan’s story turns out to be true and after a little bending of the laws of physics, Gwen finds herself smack in the middle of 16th century Scotland with a man who doesn’t recognize her. Yeah, Gwen is in all kinds of trouble and now she is the one telling everyone a tall tale and if she can’t get them to listen to her, the whole damn process is going to start again and she will lose everything and everyone she has come to love and hold dear. My, my how the tables have turned.

The Bottom Line: As I continue through this series, I find it is getting stronger the deeper in I get. From start to finish I was all up in this read in large part because of how completely delightful Gwen, Drustan, and all of Drustan’s family are. Kiss of the Highlander is by far the strongest character driven read of the series and I truly wanted this one to go on longer than it did. Even the time hopping - which I’m not particularly fond of unless there’s a Tardis involved – didn’t bother me. Though there is a lot of drama in this read there is also a great deal of humor and witty banter between pretty much everyone. There’s not a character in this story I didn’t like and I immediately jumped into book five which is about, lo and behold, Drustan’s brother  show less

Drustan MacKeltar is the epitome of a gorgeous brawny Highland laird; and if that isn’t enough to make you (me) swoon, he’s also a powerful Druid. But after spending five hundred years in an enchanted sleep to awaken in the twenty-first century, anyone would be a little confused and determined to make his way home - geographically and temporally.

Gwen Cassidy, brilliant physicist turned insurance saleswoman, came to Scotland to change her life, to find out if she had a heart worth giving, and - hopefully - to be divested of her twenty-five year old virginity. Unfortunately the only one, on the senior citizen bus tour she unwittingly signed up for, that is a likely candidate is the mentally unstable, incredible scrumptious guy she show more discovers - who thinks he’s a five hundred year old displaced Highland laird.

This is absolutely one of my favorite novels, a must read (and reread and reread, in my case), an incredible time travel romance full of magic, wonder, and heart. I love the passion, the quirks, the time period, and the hot sexy guys with swords riding horses….*sigh* There are great secondary characters, comedic scenes, and a little quantum theory thrown in for good measure. I can’t recommend it highly enough! Moning never fails to deliver in this series. And there is a great hook at the end to lead you right into the sequel “The Dark Highlander”. show less

What a fun book! I really had no idea how they would get an HEA, and just when thought I did, I got a smack to the forehead and a "Wait for it..." I loved Drustan to bits and thought Gwen a formidable partner for him. The time travel was handled well, not an afterthought or a flimsy excuse for a costume party. Can't wait to finish the series.