Kiss of the Highlander - Karen Marie Moning

Ms. Moning is one of those authors who I will eventually collect every work of hers that I can get my hands on. She has an ability to spin inventive time travel tales wrapped around the fae magic of the Highlands, and the spirit of the Highland warriors. Now I'm a sucker for a good Celtic warrior story, add in the magic, the Highland setting and her ability to create imaginative characters and she has sold me so far with each book.

Enchanted by a powerful spell, Highland Laird Drustan MacKeltar slumbered for nearly five centuries hidden deep in a cave, until an unlikely savior awakened him. The enticing lass who dressed and spoke like no woman he'd ever known was from his distant future, where crumbled ruins were all that remained of his vanished world. Drustan knew he had to return to his own century if he was to save his people from a terrible fate. And he needed the bewitching woman by his side.

Gwen Cassidy had come to Scotland to shake up her life and maybe meet a man. How could she have known that a tumble down a Highland ravine would send her plunging into an underground cavern - to land atop the most devastatingly seductive man she'd ever seen? Or that once he'd kissed her, he wouldn't let her go? Bound to Drustan by a passion stronger than time, Gwen is swept back to sixteenth century Scotland, where a treacherous enemy plots against them... and where a warrior with the power to change history will defy time itself for the woman he loves.

Kiss of the Highlander is set in an area of Scotland I know. For many years I lived only 40 miles south of Inverness and the beauty of the area is well known to me. Loch Ness, where the cave is located, is also an area I explored during my time there and some of that beauty, the raw, wild delights, are described in the book.

Kiss of the Highlander combines a powerful Druid Laird and Scottish Warrior, with a passionate lover. His mate, the woman he binds his soul to, proves to be one that can match him in ways he never imagined possible. The book is a joy to read, with some fantastic sections that made me laugh aloud in the car. When Gwen tells Drustan he can only take one knife with him into the village in modern day Scotland and he strips them all off but for the sword on his back with a comment of "You said one knife. You didn't specify what size it should be" the sparks continue to fly.

The book is well worth the time to read, and I recommend Ms. Moning's work to anyone who enjoys a fire filled, passionate and sharp witted novel.

ISBN 0-440-23655-X