Customer Reviews

Laird of the Mist (Warner Forever)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

He was like an angel sent from heaven. In the midst of a losing battle with death imminent, Kate Campbell is rescued. But her rescuer is not what he seems, not an angel but ironically her enemy -a MacGregor. And he is the worst sort. The one they call The Devil. The one who killed her family. The one who is now her abductor.

Callum MacGregor is the Laird of the persecuted Clan MacGregor. Revenge is all he lives for. Revenge for the deaths in his family. Revenge for taking away his Clan name. Revenge for losing his lands. And revenge for the years of torture at the hands of the Campbell's. They will suffer and die for their deeds. He'll do whatever is necessary, even kidnap an innocent Campbell woman to ferret out her uncle (Earl of Argyll) -his sworn enemy.

But Kate is no ordinary woman and Callum is no ordinary man. Soon these enemies find that love knows no barriers, not even revenge and hate.

Great book. Not a boiler plate Scottish-hero-kidnaps-heroine at all. An engaging plot with some twists and turns made this a one sitting read for me. Plenty of sexual tension and love scenes (Ohhhh.....steamy!) with a to die for hero and a spunky heroine who knows her way around a sword.

I really love how Quinn portrays Callum. A mentally and physically scarred man who has essentially lost all hope for love. He lives and dies for revenge, if fact he doesn't expect to live very long at all. And he certainly doesn't expect to fall in love, so he's caught by surprise. Kate is just the sort of woman he needs. A strong take charge type thats tough as nails and at the same time living with her own scars. Kate is one of the few that understands Callum, as a man and as a Laird of a persecuted people. Its very heartwarming to see the love grow between these two. Really an impossible love of two enemies.

I also have to mention the wonderful secondary characters (which unfortunately I find sorely lacking in some romances). They include the belching and brawling Angus, the posy picking Jamie (I had to wonder about him and his flowers for awhile -lol!), gorgeous ladies man Graham and Maggie with her menagerie. Those characters made me love H/H even more. They were at times hilarious and at others well...*sniff* inducing would be the right word.

So an all around great read. This is why I read Scottish romance. and if you like this genre, check out Quinn's other books as well as Garwood, Sands, Cole, Macgregor, Howell and McCarty.

My recommendation if you are interested in purchasing this book is to read the first few chapters in a book store and then decide whether you still want to buy it. If you like well written believable romance novels that feature fully developed characters and situations then this is definitely not the book for you. This is one of the most absurd stories I've read in quite a while. Let's start with the first couple of chapters. Our heroine actually fights in a vicous battle weilding either a sword or an axe against seasoned warriors and is able to hold them off for a quarter of an hour without even a scratch or breaking a sweat. Either she's one tough amazonian woman or the men she fought were total wimps, but by the time our hero charges in to rescue her he is struck by her beautiful visage and glorious hair and is instantly smitten. When the carnage is over, there are fifty bodies strewn about but just a few hours later our feisty spitfire of a heroine forgets all about this while verbally sparring with the hero. But let's go back to the bit when she is shot in the shoulder with an arrow and instead of being violently thrown from her horse she just simply swoons gracefully into the hero's arms. And absurdity after absurdity continue with this novel. The hero was imprisoned as a child in a dungeon and yet manages to escape years later and also kills all the guards. How is that possible? People imprisoned in dungeons for years would have been suffering from serious ill health and feats of strength would have been impossible. I know this is fiction but seriously you have to suspend a lot of disberlief to take this silly book at face value. Also it's supposed to takes place during seventeenth century Scotland but honestly you'd never know it as there is never a sense of history or place. The charcaters are nothing more than caricatures and never feel like real people. Oh and the romance itself which is why we are all here after all is tepid and boring. If you still want to read this book then check it out from the library and don't waste your money like I did.

I would give this book a grade of D, but honestly it's almost an F. It's that bad:(

Paula Quinn breaks away from her Risande Family trilogy with this masterfully written 17th Century Scottish Historical Romance. It is a time in Scotland where the name of MacGregor has been declared under proscription; wiped out from the name of all Scottish clans. The strong and handsome highlander Callum MacGregor and his darling of a sister Maggie grow up as small children surrounded in evil as they are imprisoned and shackled deep in the Campbell's dungeon, after their family was killed, their lands taken away, and their very name wiped away as a Scottish clan. Callum never gives up and his hatred grows as he continues to grow up in the dungeon. One day he finally escapes with Maggie by killing his captors and becoming known as the evil MacGregor.

With the help of other sympathetic clans he refuses to drop away and hide as anything but a MacGregor and instead becomes their laird. But the evil Duke of Argyll has made it his life's work to destroy all MacGregors, especially Callum and Maggie. As Argyll rides across the Scottish lands killing any and doing evil to those who harbor or claim to have helped the MacGregors, his beautiful niece Kate Campbell and her brother Robert, unbeknownst to them, live on Callum's previous lands, have been told that the MacGregors are considered evil, but do not understand the full effects until one day the large handsome Callum kidnaps her in order to use her as a lure to bring Argyll to him so he can finally kill him and earn his final vengeance. As Kate lives amongst Callum, Maggie and the MacGregor people, she not only falls in love with the highlands and its people, but deeply for Callum. Maggie and many other MacGregors want peace as well and fear for their handsome and strong leader and his continued thirst for vengeance. Can the deep, passionate and sensual love Kate feels for Callum, as well as the love of his sister Maggie and his people, make him realize the true meaning of life and happiness and overcome this severe vengeance and bloodshed?

As Kate becomes possessed by Callum, the reader will become possessed by the story as well as the main and secondary characters, unable to put the book down. Laird of the Mist is a beautiful love story that will touch the deepest parts of your heart. It is masterfully written and will make you laugh and cry, with an ending that will not disappoint. If you loved Paula Quinn's other medieval romances, you will not want to miss this one and if you haven't had the pleasure of reading one of her books before Laird of the Mist, you will want to purchase them all to add to your collection. Her masterfully written medieval historical stories are a reader's joy!

This book was exciting from beggining to end and I couldn't put it down! Quinn did a great job writting this book,with characters you cant help but fall in love with. Kate is strong,yet vulnerable.She's smart,witty,passionat,and proud. Callum is strong yet he has "demons" that have haunted him for years. He's proud, passionate,loyal to those he cares for,and fiercely protects his family and friends. "to the death" if need be. He's the ultimate alpha male. I loved both characters and really enjoyed following thier romance as it blossomed. I also cant say enough about several of the secondary characters! Too funny! There are Callums four closest friends; Graham the "heartthrob" who's always got a smile and a lass waitin for him. Jamie,the youngest and most "innocent" of the group,who's always picking flowers(lol),but you dont know why untill later on in the book. Brodie,the only one married but still just "one of the guys". Then theres Angus..... who likes to brawl and doesn't need much of a reason to,and he doesn't go anywhere without a pouch of "Gillis's Brew" on hand,and a belch in his gut to prove it(lol). They remind me of a group of buddies from "our time",only in a rougher,highlander kinda way. The humor and the banter that goes on between them is a hoot! Then theres Maggie(margaret),Callum's sister who's just as haunted as he is but instead of anger and violence she deals with it by being a little......off. Her friends are a collection of misfit animals; Bertrid the Cat,Henry the Pig,Matilda the Goose,Sarah the baby Lamb,and Ahern, Callums old Warhorse. This book has everything in it but a scorned mistress. It's an all around great book to read and I would love for there to be more books on the other characters.I highly recommend reading
'Laird Of The Mist'.

Despite a few low ratings and some misgivings felt when reading the sample, I bought this because of the generally high customer ratings, reasoning that a book that won 4.5 out of 5 from more than 40 reviews must at least have something worth $0.99.
I don't write reviews often but the current price of $7.99 and the ratings are goading me to do so. I am pretty lenient about historical romances, but am genuinely baffled by the high ratings for this book. Are these the same people who rate, say, Amanda Quick/Loretta Chase/Gabaldon/Marsha Canham at 4 stars??
OK, let's put the stream of consciousness style of writing aside (by which I mean narratives where, when there is no dialogue, you still follow each characters' thought processes with no room for ambiguity - I think Julie Garwood does this in her medievals too, so it must have its fans. Garwood's heroines don't belch and burp more than her heroes, though, whilst this book's does). There are a few points I'd like to throw out to those who are wondering whether the few naysayers could offer more insights. Here are the points that bothered me:
1. Another reviewer has already pointed out the ludicrous situations, e.g. slim heroine fights claymore-wielding hero, actually wounds him and then is instantly "dreadfully sorry that she'd wounded him - again". Eyes looking into each other communicate complex thoughts perfectly well. Transitions are abrupt - Kate suddenly winds up walking along a seashore alone in her thoughts, for example.
2. Poor writing - the same words and expressions are used repeatedly, often in the space of a few pages. The word "never" is used 127 TIMES in this book. Descriptions are used repeatedly in the space of a few pages e.g. 'slanting' a smile or a grin.
3. The heroine is, sadly, just plain dim, slow to grasp situations (perhaps the writer wanted to create ironic tension for the reader, but it's done too many times) and her emotional ups and downs are irritating. One minute, her eyes flash with anger, exclamations like Och/Nae/Good God/Mother Mary/God's teeth peppering her thoughts; the next, she moans in panic or pales in fright; followed by worshipful adoration of the hero ('mesmerized by the perfect image of some battle-hardened king of old returning home to his kingdom').
In sum - there are some potentially interesting setups in this book (Capulet vs Montague style feud, proscribed clans, scars from past traumas, redemption, etc), but the unpolished writing and immature characters keep disappointing. Not worth the new price - I just kept reading, believing the positive reviews, until I gave up (after 3/4 of the book).

I actually tossed this book aside after reading a few chapters as it was boring, but decided to pick it up again when I had nothing else to read. Should have left it, the hero is just your stereotypical character, where we have to hear about how amazing he is every second. The heroine is a lovely young lady able to cut down men much bigger than she is, even when she is hurt. The love scenes are boring, the fight scenes are not done at all, we just have to go with it that a few men )or a woman) can cut down so many enemies at once. The hero's amazing escape with his sister from where they were jailed for so long isn't told in much description, probably because it's ridiculous. I gave it two stars since I was able to get through it but that's about it.

Callum MacGregor, clan chieftain of the MacGregors has lived his entire life with such a fierce hatred and a single minded, driving purpose that it has consumed him night and day. He had to destroy the Campbell's and specifically ruin Duncan Campbell who he feels has created the hell that his life and family has become. Kate Campbell knows this feeling all too well because she possesses the same one toward the MacGregor's built up over years of tales of horror about the MacGregor's and specifically "the Devil" Callum. This hatred has consumed them both since childhood and driven every step they have taken their entire adult lives. Everything seemed well defined and the plan destined until they meet one another on the battlefield and then all the missions they had set out to conquer were obscured but a burning desire and love even the deepest hatred could not contain.

When Callum's attacks the keep of Duncan Campbell and finds instead his niece Kate he devises a plan to draw Duncan out to finally face Callum's sword. Callum takes Kate to his home the Isle of Skye to await Duncan's arrival and while there he discovers that Kate is a woman of deep passion and love that Callum never saw coming emotionally and physically. He has to fight her with his sword to keep her satisfied that she is his physical equal and with a kiss to prove that in every way she is his emotional match and perhaps the one woman who will be able to tear down the wall around his heart.

What Callum did not expect is for Kate to be warm, caring and so attentive to the needs of his sister and family. While all this attracts him on every level he knows that he cannot love her or keep her and fights this with everything he has and tries to have her removed to prevent hurting her. He believes she will never know peace being associated with his clan but Kate does not care that he is wrong for her or that his family name is a curse upon the land all Kate knows and desires is to be with Callum and make him see that this is the best that life has to offer.

This story is so wonderful from page one that is impossible to put down and you are almost sad to put it away on the shelf once it is. The main story between Kate and Callum drives the story but the additional character development on a number of levels especially with the innocent love between Jamie and Maggie is sweet enough to make you cry. Both Kate and Callum are strong without being overbearing and do not consume the story with too much history or plot lines but provide just the perfect amount of the mix to keep it interesting and moving forward. Enjoy this one because it is amazing!

Once again I was taken in by the 5 star reviews. I've been on the look out for new authors and thought I would give this book a try because of the reviews - I should have known better. This is not a 5 star book. At best I would give it 2 stars only because I've picked up worse. If you want to read a true 5 star Scottish book, try either author Diana Galbaldon or Marsha Canham.

Things that annoyed me about this book:

1 - Kate was shot in the shoulder with an arrow but the next day she was able to shrug her shoulders with no mention of pain.

2 - Apparently the only way to kill your enemy is to separate his head from his body.

3 - Kate's brother Robert seemed just plain stupid. It took him the whole book to finally see how evil his uncle was - never mind the mutilations and beheadings going on around him.

4 - How can one man, carrying his sister on his back, hack his way out of the dungeon killing all the guards? I believe they were imprisoned as children so where did Callum learn to fight with a sword? Maybe I skipped over the parts where he was allowed to practice with a sword and fed Wheaties. The author reached way to high here.

I sure would like my money back.

If you're not big on historical accuracy and don't mind when an author forgets she's writing about the 17th century, you'll be fine. The author's characterization of the gender roles of this era are not spot on, and her over use of the Highland brogue reads less like authentic dialogue than as affected and difficult at times to read. In some places it is so badly done as to be incomprehensible. I do believe every fourth word of dialogue is "bonny", "braw", or "dinna".

Overall it is a ridiculously predictable little read for those who don't want to think. I don't have a problem, as some have, with the hero being too much of a nasty murdering fellow to be forgiven. At the time, life was brutal. But you can't make him a hero just by making the bad guy even worse than he is, not letting him kill the heroine or her brother and having him say "I love you." This guy is too brutal for that and the author doesn't give the reader enough to overcome that.

Loved it! What a great story. Adored the brave heroine. A definite re-read. My first PQuinn but a page turner for sure!