Review: Kiss of the Highlander

Reviewed by Jen
 

After finishing up Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series, I decided to give a re-read to MacKeltar Highlander books –and I had almost forgotten how much I love them.  And Drustan’s story has got to be one of my favorites.

Back in the 16th century Scotland, an old woman gets a vision that links her son’s death to the laird of the MacKeltar clan. So she pays off some gypsies to enchant him in a deep sleep.  In the present day, American Gwen Cassidy stumbles upon his body during her Scottish vacation and inadvertently wakens him from his long sleep. When he realizes that he is centuries ahead of his time, he convinces the virginal Gwen to help him get back to the site of his family’s castle.  During their journey, sparks fly. And when Drustan realizes his family line has died off, he decides that he will use his Druid powers to take him and Gwen back in time to avert the attack on him.  Unfortunately, he sends them too far back, to a time before he was enchanted. He can’t share space with the former version of himself, so the Drustan that Gwen knows, disappears, leaving her to convince a Drustan she has never met, that are supposed to be together.

Moning is a fantastic urban fantasy writer, but before that, she was a master at romance.  The love scenes between Drustan and Gwen are sooo hot.  Goodness gracious… hot enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if they inspired mass bookings of “vacations” in Scotland, on the off-chance another MacKeltar is somewhere in the Highlands, waiting to be found. Och!

And for a little bit of lagniappe, know that the MacKeltar story continues with Dageus’ book The Dark Highlander. And the MacKeltar clan is back, making cameos throughout the Fever series, with their biggest impact in Shadowfever.

Yum. 5 stars.