Into the Dreaming by Karen Marie Moning

Aspiring romance novelist Jane Sillee was completely in love with her fantasy man - the hot and strapping dark-haired Highlander who'd been coming to her in her dreams for years and inspired her sensual flights of literary fancy.

But it was more than her imagination that conjured up the brilliantly woven tapestry sporting the spitting image of her magnificently arrogant warrior. It was more than a dream that transported her to medieval Scotland to break an evil spell. And it was more than she could handle when she found herself wrapped in the muscular arms of Aeden MacKinnon, who had his won fantasies to fulfill.

This novella was originally published in the Tapestry anthology that also featured Lynn Kurland, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Madeline Hunter. It was recently rereleased as a kind of standalone novella and at only about 100 pages long it is a very quick read. I'm not really sure what I think of the format, and I'm not sure that I have seen too many others around in this format. As someone who came a bit later to this author, it is good to be able to easily locate this story that means that I have read most of what have been published. Just waiting for her latest, Darkfever, to come in at the library. Can't wait!!

As the first piece of writing that KMM had published, you can definitely see the bare bones of what became her really successful Highlander books. There is time travel, hot men in kilts, feisty virgin heroine, and the fae are there as well.

Well worth reading if you are a KMM fan!

Rating 4/5

Return of the Warrior by Kinley MacGregor

The next book in the Brotherhood of the Sword series after A Dark Champion.

Fearless men, their allegiance is to each other, to the oppressed, and to the secret society known as the Brotherhood of the Sword -- and they must never surrender to the passionate yearnings of their noble hearts.

Fiercely devoted to her people and her land, Queen Adara refuses to let a power-mad usurper steal her crown. But the only way to protect what is hers is to seek out the man she married in childhood.

A proud, tormented warrior, Christian of Acre owes allegiance only to the mysterious Brotherhood -- and has no wish to be king over anyone but himself. Now a bold and beautiful stranger has appeared in his rooms, tempting him with an irresistible seduction and demanding he accompany her back to their kingdoms ... or, at the very least, provide her with an heir to her throne. Though he cannot abandon the brave regal lady to her enemies, Christian dares not give in to his traitorous body's desires. Yet how can he deny the passion that is rightfully his and the ecstasy that awaits him in Adara's kiss?

Another enjoyable entry in the Brotherhood of the Sword series, this time with the story of The Abbott. A man who provided spiritual comfort to the prisoners during their time of captivity, even though he apparently no longer has any faith of his own (is this even possible??). Like other men of The Brotherhood, Christian believes that it his fate to live alone, wandering from place to place, meeting the needs of other members of the Brotherhood, providing assistance in any way possible, but without giving any real thought to what his own needs are.

Christian is a prince, heir to a throne which has been usurped by a man of exceedingly questionable morals and values...a man who it seems has been trying to kill Christian for quite some time to be rid of the threat of a return to his rightful throne. He believes he was betrothed as a young boy when in actuality he was married, but he has given this matter no further thought to his supposed betrothed, that is until she turns up naked in his room one night advising him that he is her husband, and she offering herself to him either to fulfill that role, or at the very least to impregnate her to provide a legitimate heir to the throne and remove the threat to her own rule by the same man who is ruling Christian's country.

After inadvertently leading his enemies to him, Christian and Adara escape, along with her fool Lutian, and are heading to the sanctuary offered by other members of the Brotherhood, when they are once again attacked. This time they are saved by The Phantom (no not the comic book hero...another member of the Brotherhood) but Christian is injured severely. At first Christian is insistent that he has no desire at all to be either husband or king to Adara, but as time passes and circumstances continue to draw them together, gradually Christian begins to find himself unable to resist Adara's charms.

As a hero, Christian was okay - he was no Sin or Stryder or even Simon, but you did feel his struggle as he tried to work out how to keep both his vows to his Brotherhood but to have a chance at happiness. Adara was a strong but lonely woman, who had the burdens of Queenship in addition to trying to chase her dreams of a happy and fulfilling marriage full of love.

I have to say I admire the ability of the men of the Brotherhood who seem to have an unfailing ability to have sex even when they have been severely wounded. It seems to be some sort of trial that they all have to go through in order to gain some form of happiness!!

Another interesting development in this book is the fact that the countries that Christian and Adara are royalty of are made up countries, moving the action away from Scotland, England and France that have featured in the other books. I am not exactly sure that I like this as a development as it feels a bit like it is moving away from the historical context, but I guess I can live with it!

From the epilogue it appears that The Phantom's book is next, and I do look forward to it! The book I am most looking forward to the most is that of The Scot (who I presume is the missing MacAllister brother from Taming the Scotsman and the other Macallister brother books).

Guess I just have to sit and wait now.

Rating 3.5/5

A Dark Champion by Kinley MacGregor

I have to admit to being a little confused as to how the MacAllister books and the Brotherhood series all fit together, but I'll get to that later! All I know is that this book follows the events of Simon's story in Where's My Hero.

Fearless men, their allegiance is to one another, to the oppressed, and to the secret society known as the Brotherhood of the Sword -- and they must never surrender to the passionate yearnings of their noble hearts.

A Lady of Love

Beautiful, peace-loving Rowena knows that Stryder of Blackmoor is a warrior, and is therefore a man to be shunned.

But something burns in the eyes of this powerful knight that she has never seen in others of his kind: a tenderness, and a need to love and be loved. Yet to enter his world would be madness -- against every principle by which she has lived her life -- so she must resist the yearning that would draw her into his arms.

A Man of War

Duty bound to battle for right, Stryder has never desired the comforts of home and hearth-- until he gazed upon the exquisite face and form of the incomparable Rowena. He dares not succumb to her sensuous charms, for Stryder is a man sworn to know no love. But when treachery and danger threaten, the noble knight must stand as the unsuspecting lady's champion -- though his actions could cost him his honor, his heart. . . and his forbidden dream of happiness.

We first met Stryder in Where's My Hero, where he was the target of many a fair maiden who wanted nothing more than to spend time in the arms of one of the greatest knights of their day. This pattern continues in this book, with the lengths that Stryder needs to go to avoid any of the maidens being almost slapstick comedy at times. Whilst Stryder is not averse to the pleasures of the flesh, he is not looking for any kind of commitment, and he most certainly is not looking for a wife.

Lady Rowena is a young heiress who holds for her husband to be a great amount of lands, with key importance to the safety of the crown of Henry and Eleanor. Rowena knows what she wants in a husband - she wants a peace loving troubadour who will sing her ballads of love...and mean them. She would prefer not to marry but if she is going to, she wants more than a marriage for political reasons or convenience. She wants love.

When King Henry sets them up to be married (somewhat implausibly it must be said!) Rowena and Stryder both resist, but when a murderer starts killing people, and attempting to blame Stryder, Rowena proves to be more than just a friend. She also starts to see that beneath the knight there is a man with a good and noble heart who only does what he does so that he can help others.

I liked Stryder...Rowena I wasn't quite so keen on but that's okay. It felt that there was quite a bit of background happening in this book - a lot of setting the scene for future books as well as explaining why Stryder is the way he is and whilst that is fine it did kind of take me away from the book at various points. The various other characters that are introduced are all presented in such a way as to make me want to read their stories. I'm not quite sure how many Brotherhood stories MacGregor is planning to right as she has a LOT of profiles up on the pages on her website!

One thing I can't get my head around is the series order of these books. On this page on the author's website, the reading order for the Brotherhood books is Born in Sin, Taming the Scotsman, Where's My Hero, A Dark Champion and then Return of the Warrior, whilst on this page the order is that the tie in books are Master of Desire then Where's My Hero, and then the actual Brotherhood books are Where's My Hero and then A Dark Champion and Return of the Warrior. So it seems that even the author is even confused about which books are part of the series and which are not!! I guess either way I just have Return of the Warrior to go at this point in time.

Why does that bother me so much....just does!! Okay?? I'm not pedantic about many things but reading a series in order is one of them!

Rating 3.5/5

Master of Desire by Kinley MacGregor

Another series that I have been reading out of order, this is the first book in the MacAllister series by Kinley MacGregor, and comes before Claiming the Highlander in the series.

A Dream of Desire Awakened

Beautiful Lady Emily dreams of the rapture of love and the joys of marriage. The youngest daughter of an English lord at war, she is shaken by the arrival of a mysterious stranger to her father's castle. Could this breathtaking man be Emily's yearned-for lover? Indeed, Draven de Montague, Earl of Ravenswood, has come for Emily...but romance has nothing to do with it. In the Tender Embrace of an Enemy

Draven would never have entered the home of his most hated adversary had not the King himself ordered him to take in his foe's daughter for a year to forge bonds of peace between their two feuding houses. Worse still, here is a lass whose exquisite
loveliness could tempt Draven to betray his sworn vow never to let anther close to his heart. Emily knows the searing heat of her passion could burn down the defenses of this proud warrior. But will the surrender of the sweet nectar of his lips and his bold, sensuous caress ignite a blaze so hot it consumes them both?

When Henry orders that Draven must become the guardian of his enemies daughter there is only one proviso - at the end of the year Lady Emily must be in the same virgin state as she was at the beginning of the twelve months - which would be fine except Lady Emily has her own agenda and it's not necessarily the same as the King's.

Emily sees this as a chance for her to escape. Her father is no ogre, but since her mother and sister's died her father has basically smothered her with kindness, not allowing her any freedom, and most certainly not encouraging any young men to call on her.

Draven, on the other hand, had a terrible background that is gradually revealed through the book. His mother was murdered in front of him, his father was an extremely brutal man as well as a man who goes back on his promises. Because Emily's father sees him as being his father's son Emily's father will not accept Draven as an honourable man, especially as there is evidence to say that Draven has broken his word to the King by attacking villages.

Will Emily and Draven get to be married and live happily ever after? Will Emily's father realise which of his new son-in-laws is the man of honour? Well of course he will, but the journey was quite enjoyable!

Draven's brother is Simon who is the best friend of Sin MacAllister in Born in Sin, and who features in his own story in the Where's My Hero anthology.

What I don't get is that this book is written by the same author who wrote A Pirate of her Own. It must be the Scottish setting as opposed to the pirate one that mean that I was able to immerse myself completely in this book, and to enjoy it so much! I had none of the issues with the writing that I had in the pirate book!

Rating 4/5

Master of Seduction by Kinley MacGregor

So it's been ages since I read a pirate romance. I read all three of Jennifer Ashley's books last year, and figured that since I enjoyed them that I may enjoy Kinley MacGregor's pirate book when I picked it up by mistake from the library. I thought I was getting Master of Desire, another Scottish romance, not this one!

No Man Could Master Her

All lovely Lorelei Dupree had in mind was helping her fiance and the city of Charleston by setting a trap for the infamous pirate Black Jack Rhys. She certainly never intended to let him kidnap her. And she most definitely had no intention of losing her heart to a man so skilled in the arts of love that they called him the master of seduction.

Black Jack Rhys had a score to settle with an old enemy. Kidnapping his adversary's fiancee seemed liked the perfect answer. But the man who'd won the hearts of a thousand women hadn't counted on falling in love himself.

This book was unbelievable, and no I don't mean that in a this was truly amazing and awesome way...just that it was completely unbelievable.

I'll skip the preamble and get to what should have been the meaty bit of the story. Jack had kidnapped Lorelei, taken her on board his ship and was sailing off over the horizon. So far, so good. Within pages of this event, we discover that every single pirate on board is a gentleman and no harm will come of to Lorelei at the Captains behest. Some of the pirates even have their wives on board with them who spend time mending clothes, doing laundry, and in the evening the crew provide romantic music as the sun sets on another glorious day on the ocean. O-k-a-y.

At first Lorelei is put in a cabin that has lovely large windows (??), but when there is a battle (or rather a few cannonballs fired in anger) she is put into a different, dingy room. Queue the Captain's son to ask her favourite colour, and voila..a whole room full of lovely furniture including yellow bed coverings, lace, you name it! Oh, and do you have a secret desire to paint Lorelei? Why yes I do...voila....easels, paints of every possible colour. What shall we have for dinner? Roast chicken, no, roast duck perhaps? A touch of playfulness turns into a pillow fight turns into a sword fight between the hero and heroine. Lucky she is such a talented swordsperson. Well of course, her Granny taught her!! The list of things that were unlikely are endless.

So what about Lorelei and Jack. Aside from the fact that pirates named Jack will forever look like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean to me, Jack was okay. So he paid people to say how badly he had treated them, but freely admitted that if backed into a corner he would fight tooth and nail to escape. There's nothing wrong with having a good publicity machine! And Lorelei was likeable enough..I guess. Well she was there at least!

Overall this was a lackluster book that I thought about putting down and not picking up again on more than one occasion. At some stage, I will probably read the other pirate book by Kinley MacGregor called A Pirate of Her Own, but I definitely will not be spending good money on it!

Rating 3/5

Taming the Scotsman by Kinley McGregor

After the way I enjoyed Born in Sin, I was really hoping to have the same reaction to Taming the Scotsman, the story of Ewan MacAllister.

Ewan has been blaming himself for his brother Kieran's death ever since he returned from his ill fated trip to England. You see, Ewan had run off to England with Isabel MacKaid, Kieran's love, and Kieran had left his possession on the banks of the loch and walked into it, never to be seen again, presumed drowned. Because Ewan blamed himself, he has made a promise to his dead brother that he will not allow himself pleasure, and he lives in a very well furnished cave overlooking the loch as a reminder. Even before this happened, Ewan was the quietest of the MacAllister brothers, not as good looking or charming and therefore left behind, always wanting approval from his parents, but not really ever receiving what he needed.

Into his cave comes Nora, niece to two kings who is about to be wed to a man who finds her extremely irritating, and who she knows she will be miserable with. Nora comes to Ewan as she has been told that he has the fiercest reputation in the land and that he will assist her in her quest to get to England to the sanctuary of her aunt's home. Of course, her timing is completely off, arriving as she does on the anniversary of his brother's death and she find him completely drunk and asleep naked!

He agrees to take her to his brother. Whilst Ewan is used to solitude and initially Nora's chattiness also drove him to distraction, but it is not long before he gets used to that and begins to value her. The fact that they are kidnapped by gypsy's, and then by others more dastardly certainly don't hurt. Whilst being held hostage by the gypsies, who were being paid to just delay Ewan, not to hurt either of them, the young gypsy girl Catarina teaches Nora a dance of love which she uses to great effect. Without giving too much away, it seems that there are some who believed that Nora and Ewan would make a perfect couple and have engineered it so that they would spend time together. There are others trying to stop Ewan from spending any time with Nora, and there are still others who want their revenge on the MacAllisters for the perceived slight. Of course, Nora should have realised that something was up when the two servants she bought with her left her alone with Ewan, in effect forcing her into a compromising situation.

In the end, this book was readable but nowhere near as enjoyable as Born in Sin. Whilst the author was trying very hard to make Ewan a very tortured hero, it seemed to be more sullen to me, and that he was wallowing in his self pity - an understandable self pity to a degree certainly, but still wallowing nonetheless.

The end of the book leaves space for more sequels, especially when it seems that Kieran may in fact not be dead after all, which would mean that that was a wasted two years of wallowing anyway!! Who knows, as far as I am aware that mystery has not yet been solved in any of the books of this series.

Rating 3.5/5

Born in Sin by Kinley Macgregor

The second of the MacAllister brothers books by Kinley Macgregor, Born in Sin is the story of Sin MacAllister. Sin is dark and brooding, both inside and out, having lived a life filled with rejection and pain. The illegitimate eldest MacAllister brother, Sin was shuffled between his parents, with neither of them actually wanting him. When the MacAllisters were required to provide the English king with hostages, Sin was the one who was sent, and when he was to be released his father told them not to bother. Eventually through a series of events, he ended up being enslaved to Saracens, and trained as a highly effective assassin. He ended up being sent to kill King Henry but instead he asked Henry to save him, and eventually he became one of the kings closest advisors.

The book opens with King Henry trying to convince a very reluctant Sin that he must marry Callie, daughter of a powerful Scottish family, and bring an end to the land raids that have been ongoing. Callie has been captured along with her brother and has tried unsuccessfully to escape on numerous escapes. After Sin has had to rescue her a couple of times she realises that she is not immune to his charms. Sin agrees to the marriage only if the King can find a priest willing to do so, thinking that as he has been excommunicated several times there is no way that this can happen. The king however outsmarts him and Callie and Sin are married.

Callie realises early on that her husbands aloofness results from the painful childhood and the fact that he is still treated as a pariah nearly everywhere he goes, but it doesn't take her too long to break through the tough exterior to find the gentle and loving man underneath. Sin too comes to realise that his pretty young wife is one of the few people who he can relax around.

As a character, Sin is a painfully tortured and tormented man. The process of drawing him away from that darkness within is very touching and very well written. Another point of difference for this man, was that not only was Callie a virgin, but he was also, meaning that there exploration of each other was something new to both of them.

I loved Sin as a character - tall, dark, handsome and brooding, but with a good man lurking beneath, a man who needed someone to show him the love and affection that he needed to reveal his true self. Sigh!!!

I am on a bit of a glom now with Kinley MacGregor's books and have already finished the next book in the series. I am definitely looking forward to reading more!

Rating 4.5/5

Claiming the Highlander by Kinley MacGregor

I'll start this by saying that I have never quite got around to reading any Sherrilyn Kenyon or Kinley MacGregor books so this was a new author to me, and I am really glad that I have read some now!

Maggie has decided to take a stand. The women of the village will provide their men with any services until such time as the feud between the MacAllister's and the MacDouglases is ended. They are sick of their men folk being killed and injured in a silly feud that initially started because of a woman. Fortunately the MacDouglas women have taken a similar stand, driving the men of both clans to distraction, with no edible food and certainly no comfort.

The head of the MacAllister's, Lochlan, is desperate for anything to break the stranglehold when his younger brother Braden returns home from adventures in England. If any man were to melt the women's hearts and make them stop this foolishness then it is Braden, for he is a man that no woman can resist. Maggie is however going to make a determined effort at it. Unfortunately for her though, she has been half in love with Braden for many years, waiting for him to take notice of her. After deciding to go to the MacDouglases to make an offer for peace, Braden, Maggie and his brother Sin set off to go the enemies stronghold, and Braden does finally notice Maggie!

I really enjoyed this book, although I will admit to being more than a bit partial to a Scotsman, especially a brawny lad like Braden. Having said that, the details of how irresistible he was to any woman were a bit much, but overall he was likeable, and once he noticed Maggie, there was no doubting that his wandering days were over! Maggie was headstrong and capable and no doubt able to keep hold of Braden.

This is the first in the MacAllister brothers series, and I really wanted to read more about them, especially the dark and brooding Sin MacAllister.

Rating 4/5

Spell of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning

For me Spell of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning was a welcome return to form. I have read all of her books and love Kiss of the Highlander and then The Dark Highlander. When I read The Immortal Highlander a little while ago I wasn't quite so impressed and was thinking that maybe I had read enough Monings. However I borrowed Spell from the library and was really glad that I did so! It hasn't replaced Kiss as my favourite, but it was a darn site better than The Immortal Highlander in my opinion.

Cian MacKeltar was one of the most powerful Druids of his time..only problem is his time was in the 9th Century. As a result of his enormous ego in relation to his powers he ends up being tricked into a situation which results in him being trapped inside of one of the great Unseelie relics, The Dark Glass for the last 1100 years. The Dark Glass offers immortality to the holder, as long as the tithe of pure gold is paid every 100 years at Samhain.

Jessica St James is an archeology student who is struggling to make ends meet. One of the ways she does this is to assist her professor. One night her professor asks her to make sure that a crate is received safely. What she doesn't know is that the crate has The Dark Glass in it. It is something of a surprise when she sees Cian, preserved 9th century alpha male, looking back at her through the glass.

There are however quite a few people who want to get hold of the treasure, not least of all Lucan Trevayne, the man who captured, and kept Cian in his cell for hundreds of years. Lucan has managed to track the glass down, and now Jessi is in mortal danger. Cian needs to get them somewhere safe and soon. After Cian gives Jessi the words to enable her to release him, at least temporarily, from his cell they are forced to go into hiding, until Cian can work out a way to protect them both for the next 20 days, as that is when the next tithe is due to be paid. If Lucan is not able to pay the tithe, then Cian's imprisonment will be over. One of Cian's most useful powers is The Voice, which enables him to ensure that people will do exactly as he says which enables them to get hotel rooms, flights and provisions.

The only problem for Cian and Jessi is that whilst Cian can be released at least every day they do not know how long he will be free before he simply disappears back into the mirror. This leads to several comical scenes such as when he disappears as they are grocery shopping.

Cian is alpha male through and through, but still very likeable, and willing to do anything to protect Jessi. Jessi is probably one of the more likeable heroines that the author has written. Whilst she is a struggling student working two jobs to get by, she is not an orphan, and she does maintain family ties, something that was missing with a couple of the more recent heroines.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, and there was enough room left over at the end of the book to show loyal readers that there will be more books in this series.

Rating 4 out of 5

The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning

Adam Black is back, but to say that things aren't all that great for him is a bit of an understatement. He meddled one too many times in human affairs and has managed to incur the wrath of Queen Aoibheal, Queen of the Tuatha de Danaan also known as the Fae. As punishment, the Queen has made him human, but unfortunately he is invisible to humans, or at least he thinks he is until he is sitting on a bench in Cincinnati and sees Gabrielle O'Callaghan watching him.

Gabrielle is the last in a line of Sidhe-seers - people who have always been able to see the fae. She is also a lonely and broke student, studying to become a lawyer whilst maintaining a job as an intern in a less than stellar law firm.

Adam Black has made appearances in previous books by Karen Marie Moning, where he has been portrayed as quite a negative presence, but in this book we meet the real Adam Black. He willingly admits that he is no angel, but he does live by his own code of conduct. Amongst his standards include rules that he will never force a woman to come to him, and he is loyal to the Queen.

Adam needs to contact the Queen to get her to reverse his state back to that of fae, but first he needs to escape from ruthless enemies who would love to kill Adam whilst he is in his human state. After meeting Gabrielle, Adam begins a slow and steady seduction, wining and dining her as only Adam Black knows how. Eventually though, it becomes a frantic race across time and place to get to where Adam can gain the attention of the Queen and save her from betrayal by those closest to her.

I have read all of Karen Marie Moning's books before this, and really enjoyed them. In fact I would go so far as to say that she was my first autobuy romance author, although I do still wait for the books to come out in paperback before I buy them. I also enjoyed this one, but not as much as I have some of the others, in particular Kiss of the Highlander and The Dark Highlander. Having said that, I actually preferred Gabrielle as a heroine, particularly to Gwen. She was smart and relatively grounded for a woman who sees fae wherever she goes.

However, after all the anticipation to read Adam's story, it was ultimately not as satisfying as I wanted it to be. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, but I think maybe the idea of Adam just taking whatever he wanted, whenever he needed it kind of irritated me...How many pairs of designer leather trousers does one man need after all..and also that there seemed to be a lot of information about the fae and sidhe-seers. Whilst this information was interesting and may even have been necessary, it isn't what keeps me engrossed in a story. Whatever it was, it meant that I wasn't fully engaged in the story, to the point that I actually had time to wonder about things like the mechanics of the sexual shenanigans and does anyone really look that great in leather trousers?

It was great to catch up with Drustan and Gwen, and Dageus and Chloe who play a pivotal role in this book, and to find out what they have been up to since we last met them.

Overall this wasn't the best book I've read from the author, although it was still enjoyable. I have already put a request in for the newest Highlander book by her, called Spell of the Highlander, so hopefully that won't take too long to come in at the library!

Rating 3.5/5