time travel

This author seems to be quite popular and highly praised so I bought a couple of her books. I seem to be in the minority here because I found Beyond The Highland Mist to be a very tedious read.

After a very traumatic fallout with the man she thought she would marry, Adrienne de Simone swears to have nothing to do with beautiful men when she suddenly finds herself catapulted from her Seattle home into 16th century Scotland where she is forced to marry Laird Hawk Douglas. Hawk is everything she doesn't want in a man: he is absolutely gorgeous and pretty arrogant and she is determined to have nothing to do with him.

I'll start with the first aspect of this story I disliked. I had to read over two hundred pages of Hawk trying to get to know his wife and her just being incredibly nasty to him because she doesn't trust beautiful men. Nothing else goes on, and by the time they start falling in love I just didn't care anymore. The second thing that ruined the story for me was Adrienne herself. She is supposed to be this intelligent modern woman, and she acted like a nasty, petty, mean little girl. It was beyond me what Hawk saw in her, and towards the end I didn't have a lot of respect for him either.

This author is highly rated so I will give her another try. I just hope Kiss Of The Highlander is better.

Karen Moning with Beyond the Highland Mist brings a romance novel back to Romance. I loved this book. The kind of novel romance readers thrive on. A book to curl up with and takes you away from the everyday. The characters were well developed, the struggle between the hero and heroine compelling and the added touch of fantasy makes Beyond the Highland Mist a story you can dream on. I found BTHM witty, funny and touching. Hawk is an example of the true alpha-male, so handsome, strong and masculine in every way, but with a past that makes him vulnerable. Adrienne is not only beautiful but strong and independent. Badly hurt in the present she finds it hard to trust in the past. The catalyst for conflict is an amazing character called Adam Black, beautiful but sinister. This book has it all. Fantasy, fun and drama. Karen Moning has created with words a mind painting of romance of old. This is her first book and I for one am eagerly looking forward to her next book. I read approximately 300 romances a year and this one is a keeper.

I think if I had skipped the first 3/4 of this book I would have loved it. You have to get beyond Adrienne's annoying and nasty character and the problem of why Hawk loves her almost at first sight even though he has bedded many more beautiful women. Adrienne was so mean to Hawk that I was hoping the poison or the arrow would actually kill her. Aside from that the last few chapters were great and the love making when it occurred near the end was also terrific. If you like the Highlander series, you should read this, but I would not recommend it as a first read in the series or you might not want to continue.