Edith Drummond owes her life to Niels Buchanan and his brothers. Waking after an illness to a castle overrun by rugged Highlanders is disconcerting, but so is learning that she’s slowly being poisoned. Niels insists on staying by her side, and Edith soon discovers that even more dangerous is her wild attraction to the fierce warrior.
Niels has never met a more courageous—or enticing—woman than Lady Edith. The idea of such a bonny lass being forced to enter a nunnery is more than any red-blooded Scotsman could bear. He’ll gladly marry her himself. But while sweeping her off her feet is easy, it’ll take all his skill to defeat her family’s relentless enemies, and convince her to surrender to his sweet embrace.
Neils Buchanan and his brothers are sent to check on Edith Drummond. Their sister Saidh had sent several messages to her good friend Edith and hasn’t received word in return, which is not like Edith. When the brothers arrive, they have a tough time gaining entry into the estate but when they hear that Edith is on her deathbed they manage to get in. It appears that Edith’s father and two brothers have already died and Edith has been sick for weeks, just hanging on by a thread. Rory Buchanan, a healer, diagnoses poison and treats accordingly. Soon Edith takes a turn for the better.
The brothers and Edith come to realize that her family has been targeted and they set about trying to figure out who the murderer is, which isn’t easy. While they investigate, Neils protects Edith. She believes her brother Brody, who is now Laird, and his wife will send her to a nunnery as soon as he gets back (he thought the castle had a catching illness so he left to avoid it) but after almost acting on their lust for each other, Neils asks Edith to marry him. They liked each other but never thought they’d fall in love, especially when their fighting for Edith’s life.
This was another great book in the Highlanders series by Sands. I’ve really enjoyed all of the books so far and this was no different. I loved both Edith and Neils and thought they were perfect together.
Edith was an amazing woman. She had been through hell with the deaths in her family and had almost died herself but in the end was looking out for everyone else, not herself. She was kind, giving, thoughtful, smart. I just loved her! Neils was a good man as well and I loved how up front he was with Edith when he proposed. He told her what he admired about her but admitted he didn’t love her. That sounds harsh but I was happy to hear that he didn’t try to trick her in any way. He was just as thoughtful as Edith and I loved watching these two fall in love.
The mystery part of the series was a good one. I didn’t figure out “who-dun-it” until right before the characters started figuring things out. Sands did a great job of making us think it was others and I loved that.
Overall a great book and I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series, which will be Neils’ brother Auley’s book.
Sunday Spotlight is a feature we started in 2016. Each week, we will spotlight a book we’re excited about or love to death. We’ll be posting quotes and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂
This week’s Sunday Spotlight is a book that is near and dear to my heart. It’s also a book that all of my sisters are reading right now and because of that, it’s been on my radar. Each of my sisters have loved this book and they all have good taste so of course this book is going to be featured.
The Dark Highlander is the fifth book in Karen Marie Moning’s Highlanders series and it follows the second MacKeltar twin Dageus MacKeltar. Here’s his book information:
The Dark Highlander (Highlanders #5) by Karen Marie Moning Released on October 1, 2002 by Dell
Journey to a world of ancient magic, breathtaking sensuality, thrilling time-travel…. Journey to the world of The Dark Highlander. Crisscrossing the continents and the centuries, here is a novel as gripping as it is sensual—an electrifying adventure that will leave you breathless….
I am Dageus MacKeltar, a man with one good conscience and thirteen bad ones, driven to sate my darkest desires…
From his penthouse lair high above Manhattan, Dageus looks out over a glittering city that calls to the darkness within him. A sixteenth-century Scot trapped between worlds, he is fighting a losing battle with the thirteen Druids who possess his soul, dooming him to an eternity of sexual pursuit. When Chloe Zanders, student of antiquities, is drawn into his world, she finds the insatiable alpha male an irresistible lure.Before long, she is caught up in an ancient prophecy that will sweep her back into time to medieval Scotland. Plunged into a world of timeless magic and dark seduction, she will soon face the challenge of a lifetime: fighting thirteen evil spirits for the heart of one irresistible man….
It’s been a long time since I read this book for the first time but boy do I remember that first reading experience well. I was obsessed with all things Highlanders and the MacKeltars were my jam. I loved every single book in this series for the sheer escapism it gave me. Time traveling druids who loved big and loved hard.
I didn’t think I’d love anyone more than I loved Drustan (or Thrustin’ Drustan as he’s known in my book club, ha!) but then I got to the end of his book and read his twin brother Dageus’ letter and boy was I a goner. There as no going back for me. I inhaled Drustan’s book and I adored everyone but I loved Dageus. I loved him for his sacrifice, for the love he had for his family. Especially his brother. I can’t imagine giving everything up the way that Dageus did just so his brother can have his shot at true love.
Going into his book, I was curious to see who he’d fall in love with and his Chloe was a pretty great fit for him. She loved her artifacts and damn did she love her some Dageus. His darkness, his struggle, she loved all of him and their story was another passionate and wonderfully romantic story that I fell in love with.
I won’t lie…I’ll never hear this song without thinking of Dageus.
🙂
Memorable Quotes
He even moved like an animal, fluid strength and surety. And all the devil ever wants in exchange, a small voice said warningly, is a soul.
Oh, puh-lease, Chloe rebuked herself sternly. He’s a man, nothing more. A big, beautiful, sometimes scary man, but that’s all.
Graceful as a stalking tiger, the big, beautiful, scary man dropped into a crouch on the ground before her, his dark eyes glinting in the shadowy night. They knelt mere inches apart. When he spoke, his words were painstakingly articulated, as if speaking was an immense effort. His words were carefully spaced, tight, coming in rushes, with pauses between.
“I will give you every artifact I own. If you kiss me and ask no questions.”
“Huh?” Chloe gaped.
“No questions,” he hissed. He shook his head violently, as if trying to scatter something from it.
He can have all of my kisses without question.
“Keltar mates ne’er come easily to their men. Some travel distances too vast and strange to fathom, others travel but a short path, though a far distance in their hearts. Most resist every step of the way, yet for each Keltar, one woman will make that journey. ’Tis up to the Keltar to claim her.”
Oh, to be a Keltars mate.
“He was waiting, one strong hand outstretched. She had no idea what he was doing, or where he thought he was going. He was asking her to say “yes” without knowing. He was asking for that leap of faith Gwen had warned her about. For the second time in less than forty-eight hours, the man was asking her to throw all caution to the wind and leap with him, trusting that he wouldn’t let her fall.”
I’d leap anywhere for Dageus. Ha!
“A woman had to be kissed by Dageus MacKeltar to fully understand how devastating it was. How it could bring a woman to her knees.”
Well…hot damn.
Chloe-lass:
If I’m not here with you now, I’m beyond this life, for ’tis the only way I’ll ever let you go.
…
I hoped I loved you well, sweet, for I know even now that you are my brightest shining star. I knew it the moment I saw you. Ah, lass, you so adore your artifacts. This thief covets but one priceless treasure: You.
Dageus
Gah, his letter writing is second to none. I heart him so dang much.
If you haven’t read this book, you should fix that because there are hot druids, steamy romances and a whole lot of fabulous storytelling going on. It’s not to be missed. Want to try the series, check out the reading order below.
Happy reading!
Highlanders Series
Giveaway: We’re giving one lucky winner their choice of one of our Sunday Spotlight books. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter for one of this month’s features.
a Rafflecopter giveaway Have you read this book? Do you love this book as much as we do? What other books by this author do you love?
Karen Marie Moning is the #1 NYT bestselling author of the Fever Series and Highlander novels.
An alum of the Immaculate Conception Academy, at seventeen she attended Purdue University where she completed a BA in Society & Law, with minors in Philosophy, Creative Writing and Theatre, while working full time as a bartender and computer consultant. She intended to go to law school but after an internship with a firm of Criminal Attorneys, decided against it. For the next decade, she worked in insurance, where she wrote intercompany arbitrations and directed commercial litigation. At the age of thirty, she decided it was time to get serious and do what she’d always wanted to do: write fiction novels.
Beyond the Highland Mist was published in 1999 and nominated for two RITA awards. She then published six more novels in her award-winning HIGHLANDER series, and received the RITA Award in 2001 for The Highlander’s Touch.
In 2004, she began writing the #1 New York Times bestselling FEVER series. The books have been optioned twice for potential franchise development by Twentieth Century Fox and DreamWorks Studios, but the rights are currently held by Moning who has expressed a desire to one day see it as a television series. Her novels have been published in over thirty countries. She divides her time between Ohio and Florida and is working on two future projects for Random House Publishing.
The first in a new historical series set in the Highlands of Scotland, from Lynsay Sands, the New York Times bestselling author of the Argeneau vampire series and countless historical romances.
Annabel was about to take the veil to become a nun when her mother suddenly arrives at the Abbey to take her home… so that she can marry the Scottish laird who is betrothed to her runaway sister! She knows nothing about being a wife, nothing about how to run a household, and definitely nothing about the marriage bed!
But from the moment Ross MacKay sets eyes on Annabel, he is taken with his shy sweet bride… and the fact that she's blessed with lush curves only makes him utter his own prayers of thanks. But when an enemy endangers her life, he'll move the Highlands themselves to save her. For though Annabel's not the bride he planned for, she's the only woman he desires…
Marriage has been a consummate political tool and women the political chattal that fathers and families have used to further selfish ambition. It has also been the source of great concern when the promised bride decides to run off on her own with a groom or lover of her choice. What’s a family to do? Well, in Annabel’s case, they came and “got her” from the convent where she had lived for years, abandoned by her family, forgotten as the “plain Jane” sister who is now the only hope of her parents to salvage the marriage contract that will give them income and standing. The prospective groom has come for his bride, and Annabel is the substitute for her sister who decided she wanted her lover more than she wanted a Scottish aristocrat and laird. However, let it be noted that Annabel’s sister never did do anything anyone else wanted. Spoiled and cosseted to prepare her to be the laird’s lady, this young woman has it in her head that the Universe revolves around her. So when it comes time to wed, she is nowhere to be found.
Ross McKay little realizes that the bride with whom he is presented is not the woman to whom he was promised, but one look and he cares little. He is also unaware that by wedding Annabel he is saving himself a metric ton of upset, screeching disdain over his “poor” and less than lordly home, constant criticism of his provision for her. Instead, he has the companionship of a kind and considerate woman, one who has been given little kindness in her life even by the nuns, is incredibly grateful for every morsel of consideration he gives to her.
This is a warm and winsome love story between two unlikely lovers and the crisis is, of course, precipitated by the selfish and self-centered sister who tires of her lover and seeks to wrest the ladyship from her sister. It’s a fascinating look at life in those times when love within marriage is almost a surprise and where women’s strength is far greater than expected. Annabel does indeed begin to manifest some qualities that have never been allowed to emerge, and it is a book about her journey of discovery about herself, about her desire for this man who has come into her life, and her inward fortitude and grit in the face of her sister’s assault on her life, a life that is still a great surprise and one she considers a great gift from the gods that be.
As always, Lynsay Sands gives her readers a love story that is beautifully written, a story that flows seamlessly from scene to scene, characters that merge and then emerge once again to be individuals of gumption and grit, and stories that are based in the upheavals of which history is made. She is one of my favorite authors and this book and one that I plan to return to and re-read. It deserves to be read and appreciated for it will entertain and educate, engage the mind and satisfy that something in all of us readers that only a good book can satisfy.
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Reviewer: Tracy 
