Customer Reviews

The Highlander's Touch

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Five years ago a fatal car crash killed her father and crippled her mother, Catherine, forcing Lisa Stone to work two jobs in order to pay cumulative medical bills and support herself and her mother. Adding to their burden, Lisa and her mother have recently been told that Catherine suffers from cervical cancer. Lisa's primary concern is caring for her mother, both emotionally and financially, but she is fast becoming disillusioned and exhausted. Her evening job, cleaning at a local museum, is Lisa's escape from the trials of the real world. While in her boss's office, fatigue overtakes Lisa and she falls asleep only to awaken when he and a colleague arrive early in the morning. Fearing termination, Lisa scrambles to hide under his desk and overhears the two talking about a rare, medieval artifact the museum has recently acquired. After they leave, curiosity gets the better of her and Lisa investigates the intricately designed box left on top of the desk. Upon opening it and touching the strange flask inside, the world shifts beneath Lisa's feet and she feels herself falling...landing at the feet of a giant man stepping from his bath.

Circenn Brodie, laird of Castle Brodie, quickly realizes that the woman, Lisa Stone, who inexplicably materializes at his feet from thin air, is not of his time. Circenn surmises that a long ago curse he cast on a fairy flask has sent this woman to him -- and to her destruction. Circenn is a man of honor, but how can he keep his long ago oath to destroy the bearer of the flask when Lisa appears to be innocent of its power? The longer Circenn delays fulfilling his oath, the more of a temptation Lisa becomes.

Emotions and sexual tension abound between Lisa and Circenn. Both are tormented by circumstances beyond their control. Lisa can only think of returning to her time and her dying mother; Circenn is torn between his attraction to Lisa and the fact that he is honor bound to destroy her. Lisa is spellbound by the mysterious, Scottish warrior and the living history around her, eventually resigning herself to the fact that she may never be able to go home.

Ms. Moning pens a brilliant tapestry of fourteenth century Scotland, bringing to vivid life the tumult of the times, without being overwhelming. Ms. Moning is at the height of her craft bringing all of the elements in this story together smoothly and poetically, while creating very real people faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Karen Marie Moning is a treasure in the Paranormal/Time Travel Romance genre. She entices and delights readers with her third book, THE HIGHLANDER'S TOUCH, introducing new characters, while bringing back the mischievous "black elf", Adam Black, from BEYOND THE HIGHLAND MIST, Ms. Moning's first novel.

I highly recommend THE HIGHLANDER'S TOUCH as Ms. Moning's best work to date, and a story that readers won't soon forget.

This was a fun and light read that I throughly enjoyed. Ms. Moning has a flair for combining romance, laughter, and time travel in such a way that you find yourself drawn into the story and get lost in her world.

Lisa is working two jobs in order to take care of her mother that was dying of cancer. She is young and she feels as if she is missing out on life. One night while she was working as a maid in a museum she finds herself drawn to a relic and when she touches it she is sent back in time 700 years in the past to Scotland and to a very wet, and naked Circenn Laird of Brodie.

Circenn made a promise to kill who ever returned with the cursed flask but when he sees a very beautiful women in the most strange pair of legging he's ever scene, he wants to forget about his sworn promise to destroy her. Circenn is has his own problems he is immortal, has a promise he must keep to the templar knights that he is protecting, and he now finds himself drawn to the very lovely Lisa. Could his life get any more complicated? Why yes, yes it can.

Lisa wants to return home to her sich mother, but she is still finding herself drawn to the handsome Circenn. She is feeling emotions that she never had before. Soon they start getting closer but Lisa still can't forget her obligations that rest in the future. Can she have her happily ever after?

This book was so good I was sad to see it come to the end. I laughed, cried, and yes, fell a little bit in love with Circenn. If you love books that pull you into the story and location then you will love this one!

Ms Moning once again hands us a tale of love that transcends time. Our fiesty heroine--Lisa, finds herself with the weight of the world on her shoulders, when suddenly she's thrown back in time to land literally at the naked feet of the powerful, immortal Circenn Brodie. The differences between the modern woman and the medieval man cause moments of tension and misunderstanding...as well as several scorching scenes between the two. With Circenn, being immortal, and swearing not to go through the pain of losing love again, Lisa finds her way into his heart. The "gift" Circenn gives to Lisa is immeasurable-- his love; but, at what cost to all? You MUST read this book to find out!

From page one, we are swept into the characters lives, and become part of them until the very end. With stong emotions and extrordinary wit and humor, Karen Moning brings her characters to vivid life upon the page. One of Karen Monings finest works to date...I anxiously await her next book!!

Ms. Moning has created another beautiful fairy tale in her Highlander series. Circenn, an immortal Scottish warrior, has placed a binding spell on a flask he is entrusted to keep safe for the Tuatha de Danaan. When the flask winds up lost, Circenn swears to Adam Black he will kill the man who returns with flask. The whereabouts of the flask must be kept a secret. Lisa, a 21st century woman, lets curiosity get the better of her while working as a cleaning lady in a museum. The flask has finally turned up 700 years later and Lisa wants a closer look. Circenn is torn between oaths when Lisa shows up in the 14th century with the flask. He has also sworn to his mother to never to kill a woman. Now Circenn is hard pressed to keep Lisa's arrival from Adam. Little does he know Adam already knows. Lisa's mother, who is crippled and dying from cancer, is Lisa's main concern and she must get back to her time to take care of her.She wants to go home and can't believe Circenn can't send her back. As the love between Circenn and Lisa grows, so does a special bond of unspoken words between them. Circenn is afraid to tell her he's immortal. He's also afraid of loving someone and watching them age and die. Karen Marie Moning has me believing in Fairy Tales again.

This is the story of an immortal Scottish warrior who is entrusted with the care of a flask by the Tuatha de Danaan (the Fairies). Circenn Brodie puts a curse on it when it ends up out of his hands. The curse will bring whomever touches the flask directly to him. Adam Black, "the blackest elf" coerces an oath from him that he will kill the bearer of the flask.

Lisa Stone is a hard working young woman, working two jobs for 5 years to support herself and her mother, who is dying of cancer. Lisa's night job is cleaning a museum and this is where she stumbles upon Circenn's cursed flask. Unsuspecting of the power behind, she touches the flask, captivated by its beauty. Suddenly, the earth shakes beneath her and she feels like she is falling......

Six years after cursing the flask , Circenn is taking a bath when in pops Lisa - flask in hand. He is sworn to kill whomever appears bearing the flask, but the oath given to Adam conflicts with one given to his mother, never to harm a woman. Lisa and Circenn are drawn to each other and he eventually decides she is innocent of any knowledge behind the powerful flask. In an attempt to protect her identity he introduces her to his knights and the Templar's in his group as Robert the Bruce's cousin. When the Bruce himself shows up he goes along with Circenn's lie the furthers it by announcing a betrothal between the two.

Circenn has lived over 500 years and has seen many mortals that he cared for die which has left him bitter and unwilling to risk his heart. Centuries ago, to protect his heart from further losses, he set for himself a number of rules which he was very strict in upholding. He ends up breaking all these rules because of his love for Lisa. She is torn between wanting to stay with Circenn in 1314 and going to her dying mother's side in present day Cincinnati. All works out eventually and the book is a joy to read. Lisa has had a hard time having to suppress her dreams while working hard to care for an ailing parent, she is certainly a heroine that can be related to. Circenn Brodie truly embodies all you think a knight and hero should be. They are a wonderful compliment to each other.

Lisa touches a Celtic artifact while snooping in the museum director's office, and is catapulted back in time to the fourteenth century, into the clutches of Circenn, a warrior laird. Naturally Lisa is a babe, and Circenn a sensual hunk, and they have immediate chemistry, but...there's a problem. Actually Lisa has her impediments in modern time, and Circenn has his own.

Karen Marie Moning's Highlander time travel romances tell varying versions of the familiar fish-out-of-water story: modern women in medieval Scotland, ancient gods running amok in the US Midwest. An aspect that sets them apart is the background story arc of the Fae. The Fae are the faries of old - full-sized human-form beings, no wings, but magical powers. There's a king, a powerful Queen, and Adam Black. Adam Black is Puck, by another of his names. He's Coyote, the trickster, who can also be unexpectedly compassionate. Adam Black is clearly a favorite of the author as he appears in several of the books and is the romantic lead in The Immortal Highlander.

Moning's Highlander novels are good romantic fun, definitely formed from the same mold, but it's a sturdy mold. It's not necessary to read them in order, although after you have read a couple you will be wondering how the characters fit together. There are family relationships among the human and Fae characters that it enhances the experience to be aware of.

If you like non-scholarly historical romances with a supernatural flair and some good bedroom scenes, you will enjoy The Highlander's Touch.

In 1308 Scotland, immortal Circenn Brodie guards several sacred icons including a flask containing the elixir of life. He places a curse on the flask that if anyone touches the flask they will automatically come to Circenn. Elf Adam Black insures that Circenn understands that the bearer of the flask must die even if he or she is an innocent person.

In 2001, Lisa Stone feels her world cannot get any worse. While cleaning at a museum at night, Lisa touches a several centuries old flask. Something strange happens to Lisa and when she next opens her eyes, she is in the fourteenth century, under Circenn's suspicion. As they become acquainted with one another, they fall in love, but she feels a need to return home to care for her dying mother, leaving a permanent relationship in jeopardy.

THE HIGHLANDER'S TOUCH is an entertaining combination of elves interfering with a time travel romance between a modern woman and a medieval immortal Highlander. Between Adam, other mythical interference, and the health of Lisa's mom, Karen Marie Moning freshens up the typical time travel romance. Lisa is a brave soul with the weight of the world on her shoulders. Circenn is more melancholy, especially about immortality and deceased loved ones, which leads to his struggle with a new love. This tale is worth reading by sub-genre fans, but also note that the author is also donating some of the receipts towards cervical cancer, an important element in the tale.

Harriet Klausner

First of all, what was with that mega cop-out ending?! Talk about a cheesy wrap-up for a cheesy book. There's screwing with time, and then there's completely altering the course of history to give your characters everything they want.
I should have just read the end first, because I would have thrown this thing away and been a whole lot happier. I DESPISE it when characters get everything their way in the end - and then some. That what Disney movies are for.
And did Robyn Carr pay a visit to the author or something, because the last thing I expected in a mediaeval story was a women's health lesson given by the Highlander hero of the book!!!! Not only that, but then the book finishes with a health lecture from the author. Geez woman, just let me read my crappy pseudo-Scottish story in peace!

Modern-day American woman Lisa Stone gets zapped seven hundred years into the past (to 1314). Her mother is dying alone in the future and Lisa can't get home. She finds herself stuck in Scotland with some sort of magical, humongous Highlander, Circenn Brodie, who tries to kill her.

Does Lisa faint? Cry? Panic? Go into shock? Not believe it? No, of course not. She's too busy admiring the size of Circenn's penis.
(As you would expect, Circenn is naked when she meets him. And we'll just ignore that he's hung like a rhinoceros and she can't get her hand around that massive manroot, but of course she's a virgin - naturally - and loves sex from the get-go.)

How about when Circenn cuts her throat as he's trying to kill her? Frightened? Traumatised? Of course not! She's turned-on.

When Lisa's not staring at Circenn's giant schlong, she's chatting away with him in in contemporary American English. And he's chatting right back at her - in contemporary American English. (They're literally trading idioms, and reminiscing about the things Lisa says that are similar to what Circenn's mother used to say. Uh huh. The year 800, the year 2000, no real difference there.)
And Ms Moning, it's an ARSE in Britain. An ass is a donkey. While I sure can imagine Circenn sitting on his donkey, I rather think the powerful warrior would prefer a horse.

Our dashing, tall leading couple spend page, after page, after page, after page, after page doing some serious introspection. It was boring. I knew how they felt - Lisa liked Circenn's nether regions, and Circenn wanted to put those nether regions to good use. I got that in the first scene they were together.

It's only a few days before Lisa decides she's in love with war-torn, mediaeval Scotland. She wants to stay because the food is the best she's ever eaten (snort!), the clothes are so great, and the landscape is so pretty. Here's a tip Miss Stone: the landscape in Scotland is pretty these days too, only you get to live with plumbing. And feminism.
To top it off, the author throws in a bizarre speech from our massive hero about how women should be able to have satisfying sex lives before marriage. Way to give your historical characters era-inappropriate attitudes there!

I despair for poor Lisa. Just how many babies is an immortal woman supposed to have if Circenn's mighty seed hits the jackpot every time?!

The book descends into sheer silliness by the end, with talk of magical connections and men feeling births (it's like that movie where Arnie got pregnant!) and communicating across dimensions and being fairies. What, exactly, was the author going for here? A little bit of every genre? So many ideas and characters and points of view, and none of them were covered satisfyingly.

Circenn and his friends are such smart guys they're conversing with words that haven't been invented yet, such as "Oops" (circa 1925-30), "Ditto" (1615-25), "Sarcasm" (1570-80), "Breakfast" (1425-75). I could go on.
I didn't want complete accuracy (no need for a doctorate from Cambridge just to read a book!), but I needed much more than I got. But, "Oops"? Really?!

The worst thing about the whole book is that Lisa takes the concept of Too Stupid To Live to an entirely new level. The plot only - literally only ever - moves along when she does something unbelievably stupid. She gets trapped in the museum because she falls asleep in her boss' office. She gets transported in time because she decides to touch a priceless artefact she wasn't supposed to touch (and don't get me started on how much I hate people who can't keep their hands off the exhibits in galleries and museums!). She is discovered by all the men because she decides to climb out a window even though she was told to stay put. She is forced into a marriage because she was told to stay in her room for her own safety, but no! she just had to have a look at the men.

Following that we have another favourite plot device of mine. Important information is being revealed, but oh no! we're only 80% of the way through the book, we can't learn it all now! So instead of hearing him out, Lisa tells Circenn to stop telling her. Now there's a good way to make sure we can save some more Big Revelations until later in the book. It's especially stupid as Lisa was the one who wanted him to talk in the first place.

Stupidity as a plot device is the worst thing an author can do. Once is bad enough, let alone once every chapter! I don't care that the author writes it off as the endearing character trait `curiosity' about ten thousand times in the book. Curiosity and sheer idiocy are two very different things.

On top of that, Lisa refuses to even try and communicate in a way the people will understand. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that saying things such as:

"You and I have a date with warm water and soap later this afternoon."

And

"She was in a car wreck five years ago...
...After that, all I see are the crushed, jagged pieces of a blue Mercedes."

won't make any sense to these people.

Stupidity aside, neither lead character has a personality to speak of. Circenn is obscenely oversized, stupendously gorgeous and he broods. Lisa is tall, attractive and feisty. But so what? Why should I like them? Why in the world do they love each other? Telling me they're wildly in love isn't enough. You need to show me.

But never fear! Just when you start to feel like you've turned up at a 21st century Trafalgar Tours Scottish theme night instead of the real deal, Moning dumps pages upon pages of unnecessary historical information on us. It's not interwoven with the stories of the characters. At. All. Instead we have characters, characters, characters, HISTORY LESSON. Characters, characters, characters, HISTORY LESSON. Like maybe what you'd get if you pasted huge chunks from Wikipedia into your fan fiction (I'm not accusing her of doing that, it's just the feeling it gave).

And why does everyone have to be so tall - it's 1314, the era where the average man was 5`6''. A 5'10'' woman and a nearly seven foot man wouldn't just be tall, they wouldn't even fit through a doorway!

Moning is one of the guiltiest breakers of the "Show, don't Tell" rule. Additionally, she explains things to us as if we're morons. For example, when Lisa opens the door and Circenn falls into the room, we don't need an entire paragraph explaining that that must mean he'd been leaning on it, and that's why he fell, and that that's why he looked surprised when the door opened!! Come on woman, give us some credit!

I kind of got that this book was supposed to be light-hearted. However, humour only seemed to come in the form of toilet jokes, and it was painful to read. Then we got a Buffy the Vampire Slayer joke immediately before the Battle of Bannockburn (the Braveheart scene again). I cringed.

I am undoubtedly being too picky, but The Highlander's Touch was a massive disappointment, and it felt like a chore to read. It certainly seems the time travel concept works much better when less time is crossed (Outlander is set in the 18th century, and it was much easier to buy the heroine from 1945 and her adjustments to her new existence). Two hundred years would require adjustments, but things could be figured out. Seven hundred years, and Lisa may as well have zapped herself to Endor to live with the Ewoks.

If Moning had chosen to write this with more humour and play up to the fact her story was ridiculous, then I would have been more forgiving and settled in for the ride. However this book is trapped between an attempt to be a serious historical and an attempt to be a romantic romp, and it's not working on either count. I have the next book in the series, but it's really going to have to lift its game if I'm going to find anything to enjoy there.

Swept into a past that Lisa Stone knew little about, was her punishment for putting her hands on a rare artifact sealed tightly within a wooden chest for centuries. Whisked to the past she finds herself face to face with a very powerful and very naked warrior named Circenn or Cin as his friends call him. Unable to kill her as he was ordered to do, since she was the bearer of a the flask, which held untold secrets, he finds himself questioning all his beliefs and falling in love with a very stubborn and stunning woman. Can he lay aside his pride and his oath to be with the woman of his heart, or must he do as duty tells him and kill the one woman he has ever loved?

I found this to be a wonderful story full of plot surprises and terrific dialogue. I really enjoyed it and can't wait to pick up another of Karen's books. I would highly recommend this story to anyone who just loves romance or who loves time-travel stories. I was trully blown away.

Tisha D. Boldery

A very fun and fast read. The book was adorable, beautiful characters and very humerious. Lisa works her self to the bone trying to provide for herself and her mother who is dying of cancer. She is always getting herself in messes and is a crack up. She works two jobs, one in a museum at night cleaning offices. She discovers some old artifacts and being curious as a cat she snoops. She picks up a flask and is immediately transported back in time. Circenn the hunk of the book, has cast a spell or curse on the flask to whoever touches it will be immediately sent to him. I don't want to go into any more details, but if you like paranormal, time travelling books you'll love this one. I fell in love with both of the characters. Lisa was so real, constantly getting herself into trouble, Ms. Moning wrote this character so well I could picture every move she made. Circenn was a dream, a bit unbeleavable, but so what, we can dream can't we? He was wonderful! There is even a life lesson to the book which you find out at the end. It was a great fun story. A little silly but hey, thats what these time travel books are all about. This was a great escape from the everyday romances.