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

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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.

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Have you read this book? Do you love this book as much as we do? What other books by this author do you love?

About the Author

Karen Marie Moning

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.