Beyond the Highland Mist (Highlander, Book 1)

My title says it all. This is the worst book I've ever read. Period.

3.5 Stars-This book was a tad bit better than okay. I felt that the idea of the story was good, but the relationship lacked the soulmate factor. Some of the scenes were a bit choppy and left me wanting more of Scotland's Highlands in the story. I needed a better description of what I was reading. Considering this is KMM's first published book, I'll let a some things slide, especially since my last shelfkeeper was Bloodfever, I know her writing has developed tremendously. I am reading this series mainly because there are glimpses of some characters in the Fever series, which I think just ROCKS!

This is the second time I have read Beyond the Highland Mist and it is still one of my all-time favorites.

Adrienne de Simone lands in the lap of the horrible Red Comyn in 1513 in Scotland and finds herself pretending to be the "Mad Janet" who is betrothed to Hawk Douglas. Her life with Hawk is all brought out through the jealousy of Adam Black, the court fool and the king of faery who did not like that Aoibheal, queen of the fae was satisfied by a mere mortal. Hawk was so legendary that even the queen herself took interest, but she was only jesting when she brought him up to her king. The King and his fool devise a plan to ruin the Hawk using Adrienne who at the time hated all beautiful men because of a man named Eberhard who abused her and tried to kill her. She distrusts all men and especially despises the beautiful ones. Adrienne is scared to let anyone get close to her.

There is major intensity between Adrienne and Hawk because of Adam, the smithy and fool who has forced a bet out of Hawk. Adrienne uses Adam to anger Hawk and to make him jealous therefore making it harder for the love to develop between them. They face many conflicts throughout the book, but their love in the end is strong and pure.

Hawk is the perfect man, gorgeous, strong, caring, posessive, and even wants children. I found that endearing about him. Adrienne is too strong and has a thick protective shield around her, but I like how Hawk uses the technique of Falconing to bring her to heel.

Moning weaves wonderful stories and is a brillant writer. I am never disappointed with her works. You will not be disappointed with Beyond the Highland Mist

I just wasn't thrilled about this book. After seeing the Moning Mania around the web I thought this was going to be great. The whole "I hate beautiful men." plot was way to unbelievable. Based on one bad experience Adrienne had made up her mind to hate all handsome men. Really? How silly.

What was the point of the time travel? Adrienne just took it in stride much too easily without questioning what happened for more than a few paragraphs. If you're going to do a time travel then show the conflicts that arise from it. The story would have been much better off if she had just been a synical woman from that time.

I actually really liked the conflict between Adrienne and Hawk for the first 1/3 of the novel. She was strong and funny and didn't put up with anything. After the first 1/3 of the novel it just seemed cruel and unnecessary. She even knew that she was being horrible and kept on with her behaviour. It just seemed childish and I started to wish for someone better for Hawk.

Most of the dialogue was just too modern. I like a good Scottish burr and this was definitely lacking it. The language just kept taking me back to the current century. There was some witty banter between the two but it was pretty sparce.

The whole faery thing seemed so cartoonish. Like a bad comedy. Snap your fingers and she's back in the 21st centure. Snap again and she's naked in Hawk's arms. Lame. I like a good fantasy but this was just too contrived.

From the reviews I've read this is not her best work so I'll try again with Grimm's story.

It's interesting how one author can depict King James IV as a ruthless cad, and another can portray him as honorable to a fault. In this book, Ms. Moning shows the king to be spoiled and vindictive, almost evil. In a book by Patricia Potter called Beloved Stranger, which is fabulous, by the way, James IV is a great man who loves his wife and is loved and respected by all of the Scots.

Adrienne started out with a fairly good sense of humor, but lost it quickly. And we've all read stories where the hero & heroine kiss and the reader thinks that FINALLY it will lead to more, then the scene abruptly ends - well, it happens here a lot.

Hawk was the perfect hero, very loyal to his family and his people, perfect in looks and personality, and was extremely intelligent, and so it was unfortunate that he suffered so much for so long. He really didn't have a happy adult life and it didn't exactly improve with the arrival of Adrienne. She treated Hawk abominably. It was hard to like her.

The overall story was interesting, though. I adored Grimm, but Adam Black was thoroughly unlikable here.