Customer Reviews

Child of the Mist (These Highland Hills, Book 1)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Romance, faith, history and suspense will keep readers turning the pages of CHILD OF THE MIST, this well-paced first installment of Kathleen Morgan's series "These Highland Hills."

It's 1564, and for eight years there has been bitter feuding between the MacGregor and Campbell clans. To bring about the end of the feud, Anne MacGregor must leave her father's castle in Western Perthshire, Scotland to "handfast" with the brooding, dark-haired Niall Campbell, "Wolf of Cruachan," tanist and successor to the chieftainship. Yet, despite their union, Clan MacGregor (nicknamed "Children of the Mist," from which the book gets its title) may be doomed to lose its lands through the treachery of the Campbells.

Barely 18 years old, Anne is already a wonderful healer, skilled with herbs and in midwifery. Her strange gray eyes and remarkable healing abilities spawn uneasy rumors, and some call her the "Witch of Glenstrae." Yet Anne looks only to Jesus for help and assistance, and refuses to let rumors keep her from her divinely appointed work. "I've a God-given gift to help others. Just because my talents lie in paths different from most women, I cannot serve the Lord by hanging back in fear."

A romantic relationship is the last thing on the mind of the handsome Niall, who still mourns the loss of his wife, also named Anne, and their son in childbirth. But he cares deeply for his clan, and an alliance with the MacGregors seems the best way to bring peace to the land.

The ancient custom of "handfasting," a man and woman pledged to each other and living together without marriage, will be new to many readers. Morgan explains that handfasting was socially acceptable at this time in Scotland --- the woman suffered no loss of reputation if it didn't result in marriage. (Handfasting is still practiced today but mostly associated with non-Christian religions.) Anne insists on chastity during the handfasting, which adds sexual tension to the story, as the widowed Niall strives to keep his promise not to take advantage of Anne (which becomes more and more difficult for him as he spends time in her company). While angry at her situation, Anne also finds herself "stirred" by him....

Well, you can guess the rest. The way the romance will end is telegraphed to readers from the moment Anne curses Niall in the early pages and muses, "even the thought of touching him sickened her, vile, vicious beast that he was..." (Isn't it always the man the protagonist hates who she ends up falling desperately in love with?). Although Niall obviously desires her, right up until the end there is the "he loves me, he loves me not" sort of worries by Anne. No surprises here.

The real suspense comes in discovering who else is working behind the scenes to usurp Niall as leader of the clan. Is it Uncle Duncan, with the cold, steely eyes? Is it Hugh, a cousin of Niall's who everyone believes has gone mad after betrayal by his love, Dora (who is burned at the stake)? Or is it Nelly, the voluptuous serving wench who tempts Niall with her seductiveness? Is it handsome and charming Cousin Iain, who falls in love with Anne and may have designs on becoming chief? Or could it be the harsh clergyman, who is zealous in his persecution of witches? Morgan knows how to spin out the suspense right up until the very end.

Although dialect can be tricky and has been the downfall of more than one good novel set in an exotic historic locale, Morgan uses the Scottish brogue with discretion, enriching the story. There are a few unfortunate moments, such as when Niall compares a man taming Anne's strong spirit with a man taming a spirited filly. It's a tired analogy that crops up in too many romance novels. And occasionally readers will find themselves confronted with unusual Scottish words, such as "clarsach," "murrain" and "tanist," some of which can be figured out from their context in the story, while others are a bit more elusive.

However, CHILD OF THE MIST is a smoothly told historical Scottish romance, complete with clan feuds, interesting characters, historical details, and Christian faith versus superstition. It's a promising start to the series.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby. Contact Cindy at phrelanzer@aol.com.

Child of the Mist is the third book I've read by Kathleen Morgan (I'm not counting the one I couldn't finish). Like the other two, this one is set in the Highlands of 16th century Scotland and focuses on the romance between a gorgeous, hunky Highlander and a beautiful Scottish lassie who is thrown together with him through the actions of her manipulative father. And like in the other two books, there is never any doubt that these two people are going to fall in love and live happily ever after; although the ending is a foregone conclusion, the book is nevertheless a fun-but-fluffy ride through their trials, tribulations and sparring on their road to true happiness.

However, Child of the Mist is the weakest of the three Kathleen Morgan books I've read so far (again, not counting the one I DNF'd). Prior to writing Christian fiction she wrote romances for the general market, and that is evident in this book (as it is in As High As The Heavens). It's probably no coincidence that both of these books were originally published as mainstream romances years ago, then cleaned up and re-published as Christian fiction years later. Although the sex scenes have been removed, so the book is technically clean and appropriate for readers of Christian fiction, the heavy petting and preoccupation of each main character with the other's physical attributes were not removed. The result is a romance based on mutual lust which neverthless remains chaste: a weird combination, and one that many readers of Christian fiction may not be comfortable with. Indeed, I wouldn't be comfortable recommending this book to any of my Christian friends.

Although the basic story idea of Child of the Mist is a good one, it is weakly developed with too much attention given to the aforementioned love scenes between the two main characters and not enough attention given to everything else that was supposed to be going on around them. Outside of the love scenes, the characters' actions and dialogue was handled with a lack of depth and deftness that often descended into downright amateurish writing -- such as when Anne declares "I am a Christian!" (a line that was obviously shoe-horned in as part of the Christianization of the original book) or when she whirls around in circles exclaiming "I love Niall! I love Niall!" The "suspense" over who was the traitor within the Campbell clan was no mystery whatsoever; the author made it obvious from the start that it was one of two people and, although I kept expecting/hoping for a surprise twist to reveal that it was someone else entirely, alas, it was one of those two people.

In spite of all my criticisms this isn't a terrible book -- I've certainly read better but I've also read worse. It is simply a steamy romance that's been cleaned up for the Christian market, and is held together by a weakly-written plotline. But if you are looking for yet another romance set in the Scottish Highlands and want something light, fast and fluffy to read, this should fit the bill.

Had I read this book prior to reading Liz Curtis Higgs trilogy I might have given it a higher rating. But, after reading it on the heels of "Thorn In My Heart", "Fair Is The Rose" and "Whence Came A Prince"...it doesn't compare. The story line is under developed and the characters unbelievable. I enjoyed reading it, but my recommendation would be to spend the money and time on the Liz Curtis Higgs' trilogy.

I loved Child of the Mist. It has a brilliant plot with lots of adventure, action and romance .

The characters are excellent - I fell in love with Anne (the heroine) and I can't wait for the next book in the series to meet her again.

I would like to give it more than five stars and after reading Child of the Mist I'm going to read all Kathleen Morgan's books because she is a special writer.

If you like historical romances you certainly will love this book. Read it.

Excellent, excellent book! I really loved this story. Right from the beginning, almost the very first page the story grips your heart. I just finished it and already i want to read it again. The only thing that i didn't really like was that there wasn't much mention of God, but don't let that discourage you from reading it, make your own opinion first because its definitely worth reading!

The story is about a woman named Anne who uses her skills to heal people. People have superstitions about her a call her a witch which causes obvious trouble right away when she uses her own breath to bring a baby back to life. A man from an enemy clan sees her and accuses her of being a witch, but before she can be burnt at the stake a man comes forward and saves her life.

Because of this she later saves his life and is forced to marry him to stop a feud between their opposing clans. Will love find them before a traitor in the clan kills them both?

Please read this book i promise you will not regret it!

The basic set up of this story is pretty much the same as any Highland romance with a pair of feuding clans (the MacGregors and the Campbells), and a betrothal between the two clans in an effort to restore peace. In this case, it's Anne MacGregor who is hand-fasted for one year to Niall Campbell (Niall's still grieving over his dead wife and not ready for another woman or marriage). Oh, and since Anne's such a great healer, she's got a reputation as a witch and the Campbells jump on that as a reason to hate her - and the evil baddie who plots to become the next chief when Niall's father dies is verra happy to make use of that fact.

*Yawn*

Sound a bit like just about every other Scottish romance on the market? That's because it is, with the exception of being a "Christian" romance. Oh, but that doesn't quite work because the inspirational aspects really didn't hit until about 75% of the way through - before that all I picked up on was what would be normal healthy respect for God and the Church for a woman of that period. The romance itself is rather tepid (really didn't like either one of them), the Big Misunderstanding went on too long (could they just not sit down and talk to each other?), and the baddies were really really bad (and verra easy to guess who he was I might add). As for the writing itself? You be the judge,

"Curse the man, whoever he was!"

"By mountain and sea, the woman could stir him with but the sound of her voice!"

"White-hot anger swelled in Anne. Curse him! He had the soul of a dog!"

"Did ye think ye'd get the key so easily, my beauteous little witch?"

"Mayhap, just mayhap"

Oh, those mayhaps sure got old after a while...

I'd recommend a pass on this one, Kindle freebie or no.

Morgan hooks the reader early on in her story telling. I was excited and anticipated not only the rest of the book but also the rest of the series. However, by trying to cultivate some sort of romance between the main characters, Morgan's story quickly became predictable and dull, at best. I forced myself to finish the novel in order to properly critique it and finishing the story felt like work, instead of enjoyment. I ended up reselling the book at a used book store. Save your money and time- get something else.

I read this book because it was free, and yes I know it sounds cheap. But I have found at least one good series by trying out free ebooks. This wasn't one of those series. The plot and overall story idea were interesting, but the execution had some flaws. I am in no way saying that the author did a poor job because some aspects of the book were well written. I think she struggled to tie everything together properly, and that is why I give this book 2 stars. The characters were relatable, but their speech was a bit interesting to follow. Because the characters were Scottish (if I recall correctly), the author tried to include colloquial language....and in this day it was just a bit too much of a stretch to follow. Nice idea, but just write in plain English. Also, there were way too many calamities and near death experiences to be believable. Suspense is good, but constantly threatening your characters with different calamities it a bit much. Find one or two horrifying experiences that are suspenseful enough to last the entire book. And this last grievance I'll address in the next paragraph because it's a rant that I have with Christian Fiction in general.
In order to have romance in a book, you do not have to have a pervading sensuousness that leads the readers minds right into the bedroom. I'm sorry if that sounds crass at all, but too many times I have found Christian authors putting sensuous material in their books. And it doesn't belong. Falling in love can be a beautiful and pure experience. I love how some people say things like "I'm going to marry my best friend" when they get engaged. But what this author and others have included in their books is not wholesome or lovely in any way. It distorts the beauty of marriage as God has created it. Instead of a girl falling in love with a boy because they are attracted to each other and have developed a relationship with each other (and are okay with each other's weaknesses), we have characters who fall in love with each other because the other is a good kisser (and they've only known each other a few pages) or the man is so strong and forceful with the woman. Really? Is that really why we fall in love? Would you kiss someone that you don't even like? Do men need to make women fear them in order to show their love, or do women need to have a forceful man to show them true love? Why don't we go back to the model of love which is shown by how Christ loves the church. It's in Ephesians 5 if you want to check it out.
Sorry to rant here, but I get frustrated by false ideas being touted as the truth. If you're a writer and you're tired of these kinds of false ideals, please do something. We need good writers to encourage current and future generations in literature. I wish Kathleen Morgan the best as a writer, and hope that she can use her writing to show God to others. I'm just disappointed with running into enough authors such as Ms. Morgan who put unnecessary material in their books. In all fairness, I did want to know what happened and was engaged in the book. In fact, I skimmed parts to hurry onto what would happen next (and I skimmed a scene that I felt was unnecessary). Let me know what you thought, because I could have totally misinterpreted the author's intent. Thanks for reading!

I was thankful to be snowed in today, because once I started this book, I could not put it down. Fabulous read!

I found this as a free Kindle read and thought I would give it a chance since many historically inclined romance novels do well. Reading this book was very confusing, it has all the correct elements of a romance but when a scene would come up it was as if a whole new author had reinvented these scenes into something scoured clean with Christian rhetoric. I only glanced at reviews before reading this book, but after finishing it and feeling mislead I understood what had happened. The original of this story was once mainstream romance plot but was cleaned up to be re-marketed as a Christian romance. I suppose as a religiously focused romance this one does alright, although I felt the plot was weak due to a distraction between developing a restrained sexual tension between the characters while trying to create a rich tapestry of subplot and supporting character motives, which wasn't fulfilled very well.