Spell of the Highlander

I have decided that this is the ultimate story in the Highlander series (and I am not going to talk about that excuse of a book Into the Dreaming that came after this one—it'll be like it never existed...) and Cian MacKeltar is truly the dark ancestor of all the boys. But he is also funny, full of quirks and giggles and humor and love. AND, while having the long, silky hair that all the Highlanders seem to be sporting (yum!), his hair is a dark auburn, and not black. His whole coloring spells Autumn to me, with eyes like burned whisky, and it is a true Scottish feel I get from that. I love it.

What to say of his ladylove? *gigglesnort* She is a complete hoot, totally kickass and finally A GIRL WITH A HAIRCUT, not just long pretteh show more hair. No, hers is black and cut short. Brilliant image. (Oh, but she's a virgin, of course, it goes without saying. And that bugs me just as much as with all the other girls. Oh for a new script).

Also, the writing in this book is really Ms Moning coming into her more modern way of writing with humor and fun. She finds ways to express herself in this book that is unequalled in this series, and something I feel is becoming more fully developed in her Fever series. But this? It feels like this is where it started, for her, that she felt she could do both historical romance AND fun. Well done!

Some examples:
"Dageus glowered at the closing door. Christ, his ancestor was a savage!"
Well, well, look who's talking! Because Dageus is such a sweet and tender little man, eh? LOL

"His head was canted down, his hair shielding his face, but she could plainly see his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. The Neanderthal was janking her chain."

"Wee woman, heart of a warrior." Oh, THAT is the way to think about your lady.

"Logic, reason, and awareness of current events had vanished from her mind as abruptly and completely as if somebody had just vacuumed her brain out through her ear."
What an image.

All in all a delightful read, and I have to say I'm sorry it is over. This series has left me both happy and giggly and that doesn't happen very often.

****
Reading from a borrowed copy—but I went ahead and bought this one, because I need it in my bookshelf. Two or three of the others in the series will be purchased too, I believe. show less

Karen Marie Moning creates a dark and tormented alpha Scotsman who is understandably tormented by his imprisonment, his past druid and dark arts mastery, and his thoughts that he has betrayed and perhaps been the cause of the loss of his family. The author creates a totally likable and engaging female character in Jessi, as she is an archaeology Masters student/expert who dreams of having a more exciting life outside of her collegiate world, as she has put everything into her education and love of ancient antiquities to the extent that she has ignored having a life outside of that---including a romantic one, of which she is understandably extremely curious about--and the sensuous Cian is just the man to show her the way. This book show more brings back the breathtaking twins, Druston & Daegus and their wives, Gwen & Chloe, to the delight of the reader, creates another original & inventive scenerio for time travel/immortality and yet again intersperses clever & humorous dialogue, adventure, danger, love, eroticism, romance and also connects Cian's past history with the beloved MacKeltar clan. show less

Huh. Well. This was interesting.

I got hooked on Karen Marie Moning via her FEVER series - wonderful but pretty dark urban fantasies with a romantic core. I love, love, love the FEVER series. I tried one of the Highlander books - THE DARK HIGHLANDER - hoping for a similar reading experience. But THE DARK HIGHLANDER was a very different kind of book, a much mellower, more typical romance. THE DARK HIGHLANDER wasn't half as dark as the more cheerful parts of the FEVER books, if you ask me.

When I read the customer reviews of SPELL OF THE HIGHLANDER a little suspicion formed in my mind. A lot of readers who'd enjoyed other HIGHLANDER books were frustrated by SPELL OF THE HIGHLANDER. Everyone seemed to think that the romance was a little show more more intense, a little less romantic, while simultaneously pointing out that the adventure elements were more dominant than in previous books. Hmmm, I thought. It sounds like SPELL OF THE HIGHLANDER might be a little more like the FEVER series. I snapped it right up and...wow, it is a LOT more like the FEVER books. No wonder the romance fans were frustrated. The book is decidedly a romance, and the relationship between Cian and Jessi is the focus of the book, but its tone and atmosphere are straight out of the FEVER books.

Devoted FEVER readers will be thrilled by the crossovers here. The conclusion of the book is practically a spoiler for the FEVER series (and since it's definitely a spoiler for SPELL OF THE HIGHLANDER, that's all I'll say), and any FEVER readers who want to learn more about the Unseelie Hallows will find plenty of information here, since Cian is trapped inside of one - a mirror - and the villain of the novel is hunting for a certain Dark Book that has been at the center of the FEVER series from the beginning. The mirror aspect also sheds some light on the Sifting Silvers. The Barrons-curious will be pleased to know that we learn more about the difference between Druids and sorcerers, and the purpose of those red-and-black tattoos that sorcerers wear.

Also for the Barrons-curious: the hero of this book, Cian, is enough like him that reading SPELL OF THE HIGHLANDER is almost wickedly enjoyable.

Now, I've managed to get to the end of my review without saying a whole lot about the plot of the book itself. Personally, I loved it. I thought it was deliciously intense, that all the danger complimented the romance and all the romance enhanced the danger. Very steamy. Cian and Jessi are together pretty much 24/7, so they have a lot of time to interact over the course of the novel, building a relationship while the villain sends them on a wild ride. show less

I usually don't like overbearing heroes but the way Marie Moning writes them doesn't bother me as much. This is probably one of my favorites in her Highlander series so far. I loved the plot of Cian being trapped in a mirror. It made for some really interesting troubles to pop up for him and Jessi as they ran from assassins. My only complaint is that the ending felt a little overblown. Also, despite him being trapped in a mirror most of the time, I still wanted to smack Cian when he got too "you will do as I say woman" on Jessi.

Let's be honest. The only reason I'm even reading this series is to try and find any tiny tidbits of clues to exactly who/what Barrons is in the Shadow series while I count down the days and hours left before I can read Shadowfever (that's approximately 105 days 14 hours, give or take). At first, I thought he might be Adam. But then Adam became human. But I digress.

This was not my favorite of the Highlander series. Sure, they had chemistry, but he was a bit too much of a "he-man" for my tastes. As a time-killer, it was an okay read. And it was nice to get the little snippets of background info on the dark hallows, etc. Still not completely sure what Barrons is...

The heroine has no life. Every day she's completely bombarded with schooling, with her full time job and surviving on 5 hours of sleep sometimes. Where in all that tight control was she expected to find a boyfriend? But she's always been extremely driven and devoted to her dream of becoming an archeologist so she knows what she's sacrificing to make her dreams comes true. Once night she's called to the campus by her boss to receive a shipment of an artifact. Instantly the mirror gives off a creepy, I'm watching you sort of vibe and the heroine flees quickly, weirded out by the image of a man which she's sure she imagined. Then the next night, she's attacked by a stranger and to her astonishment, a man appears in the mirror and demands show more she release him so he can save her. After a bit of debate, she figures the hope of this guy actually saving her is 100% better than the knowledge that her attacker will kill her. So she says the magical words and out pops the incredibly large and divesting hansom highlander who chases her attacker off. Like any logical thinking person, she convinces herself she imagined the whole thing. But the 3rd night she comes back and the man in the mirror is present once again. He convinces her that he's her only chance at survival as the sorcerer who locked him away in the mirror all those thousands of years ago is searching for him and now he knows the heroine is involved. Together they flee the city. The heroine is both equally disgusted with the man's primeval manliness and chauvinistic tendencies yet at the same time immensely attracted to him and turned on by his take charge powerful demeanor. The hero is equally at attracted to his new companion and the fact that her lush curves and fantastic breasts are the things a man's dreams are made of. But his Voice, the power to compel others to do as he wants, doesn't work on her. And she is independent, a woman of her own mind even if he admits he respects her smart mind and her cool under pressure character. And very quickly she comes to mean the world to him despite the dark reminder that his time is not his own. But he can't seem to keep away from her and every time they are separated, he threatens to go stark raving mad with the furious need to see her safe and at his side once more. They travel to Scotland and a chance encounter with his descendant sees them at his ancestral home. But when the heroine discovers that there is no way of for him, that his freedom of the mirror means death, she vows to savor every single moment spent in the arms of the man she loves all the while knowing it will never be enough. I adored this book from start to finish. I thought the hero and heroine had mad chemistry and together they has wickedly funny banter and equally as much hot sensual moment on their run from his enemy. I loved the heroine so much. She was resourceful and determined and so funny- always able to find a little humor in every situation. The hero and his arrogance and habit of pushing the heroine's button made him just as endearing as it made his frustrating, at least where the heroine was concerned. You'd feel just as helpless when the sight of the man sent you into a dizzy and kept you in a state of constant arousal, considering that most sexual encounters were interrupted before the good part. Very nice read. I love this author and I really hope she'll eventually write more of this series. show less

Not a bad addition to the Highlander series. I'm not a huge fan of the whole bringing all of the characters together thing that romance novels seem to do so much, but I'm willing to cut this book some slack since it actually seems like it will all add up to something later on. But will it actually? Probably not.

My main feminist issue (I seem to have a lot of those these days) with this romance novel is that near the beginning, Cian tries to use Voice on Jessi to make her have sexy time with him. Her reason for excusing this behavior is that when Voice didn't work, Cian didn't resort to physical force to have sexy time. Why is physical rape worse than mental rape? Why on earth would you trust someone who'd tried to brainwash you into show more having sex with them?

I won't go into the similarities of Voice and date-rape drugs, but just think about it.

On the plus side, the villain for this book is actually pretty cool. Lucan is genuinely scary because he's genuinely insane. I only wish he'd lasted a little longer. show less