Customer Reviews

Morning Light

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

From the back cover:

Born with second sight, Loni MacEwen has vowed to ignore the visions that have brought her so much heartbreak. Then she meets Clint Harrigan and realizes she has no choice but to warn the handsome cowboy that his son is in danger.

A hardworking, no-nonsense rancher, Clint doesn't believe the pretty stranger--especially since he doesn't even have a son. But then he sees the drama Loni predicted unfolding on the local news. An orphaned boy is lost in the dense Oregon wilderness, and according to Loni, only Clint can save him.

Loni and Clint rush into the wood to find the lost boy. As long nights follow exhausting days, their feelings grow stronger, and what began as a race against time becomes a shared journey of trust, understanding, and unexpected love...

And my review:

Okay, first off, I want to state that I am a HUGE fan of Catherine Anderson. I count down the days until another of her books is released. I own every single thing she's ever written, and they are all treasured keepers. But this book is going right in my "trade for credit" box. I cannot believe that this is written by the same author who wrote the moving reads of Annie's Song, Comanche Moon, Seventh Heaven, Baby Love or Phantom Waltz, just to name a few.

People have complained about the heavy-handedness of the Christian (or more specifically Roman Catholic) element in this book. I thought that people were just being oversensitive, as many had said the same about Sun Kissed, and I hadn't agreed. But the religion in this book was so heavy-handed. I'm an actively practicing Roman Catholic, and even I found it horribly preachy and obnoxious. For instance, when the heroine tells the hero that she's a psychic, he says that it "goes against the tenents of his faith". Who talks like that? I've had to tell people that I don't believe in things before (and it's usually because of my faith), and I don't say it like that. What's wrong with saying "it goes against my beliefs" or "I'm not comfortable with that" or "I don't believe in that"?

I've read actual inspirational romances that didn't lay it on as thick as it was in this novel. I started skipping the religious tangents (and there were a lot of them) to try and get back to the story. If I wanted to read about the lives of the saints and what is in the Catechism, then I'd read an entirely different type of book.

I also felt that the romance aspect of this story was rushed. It was developing nicely, when out of nowhere the hero and heroine start talking about getting married. They haven't said "I love you" or anything; they've known each other for less than a week; they'd kissed once! I was left scratching my head, wondering where the heck it had come from. Attraction, sure. Talking about dating, of course. But marriage? After one kiss? What is this, the 1800s? It was as if the author had suddenly realized, "oops! I'm past page 200, better get these two engaged." Never mind if it completely derailed the flow to the story.

Another thing that really bothered me was how hypocritical the characters were about their faith. There was all this talk about being chaste, because of what their faith teaches them. They're both waiting until marriage to have sex (the hero had vowed to never again have sex "outside of the holy bonds of wedlock" to directly quote him), then next thing you know, they're going at it like rabbits. Okay...was the premarital sex put in just so this book wouldn't have an "inspirational romance" label slapped on it? It was completely out of character and very irritating. If your characters are going to be Bible thumpers, than at least make them act like it consistently.

The romance was then put on the back burner so that the author could focus on the suspense/paranormal aspects of the story. While I enjoyed the psychic element, I bought this book expecting a romance. Instead, I got a sermon and a suspense story with a relationship tacked on.

I'm only glad this wasn't the first novel of hers that I tried, or there would never have been another. She is no longer on my auto-buy list; I'm just mad that I can't get my money back. Who is this author, and what has she done with the talented Catherine Anderson? Try just about anything else by her, especially the ones I listed above. She can write FAR better than this. As for MORNING LIGHT, I recommend you save your money--borrow it from the library if you're still determined to read it.

Loni MacEwen has the second sight. She has long tried to fight it, but when she meets Clint Harrigan, she knows that she can't turn her back on her visions. For she sees that Clint's little boy is in grave danger, after an accident on the river, in which his parents drowned and the boy was saved by his loyal dog. When she finally works up the courage to seek Clint out and tell him, he basically turns her away as some mentally unstable person. After all, he doesn't have a son!

But when early next morning the news unfolds on television, and it's the same story that Loni had told Clint the night before, he is shocked. So he seeks Loni out, knowing that whether the little boy is his son or not, he can not turn his back on him. So Clint takes Loni along as they start on a journey through the mountains in Oregon to find Trevor.

First of all, if you are uncomfortable reading about religious/spiritual characters, do not read this book. I personally found it refreshing, and it was one of the things that I liked about this book, me being a Christian though not Catholic, I could relate to a lot that was being said about God and how we should trust in Him. And the power of prayer. It could almost be placed in the inspirational category.

The relationship between Clint and Loni was done in a very good way. There were some memorable, funny, and moving scenes (when Clint found out the Loni was nightblind...the blood transfusion scene in the woods...etc)

Now I don't like paranormal elements in my books, and in this one, the author opted to have strong paranormal elements. In the hands of a less talented author this would have ruined the book for me, but in Catherine's hands, it didn't feel contrived or too unrealistic. Still I would have preferred it much more, if the "second sight, psychic" stuff had been toned down.

I also found the back story of Clint and Sandra, Travor's mother, to be somewhat weak. I didn't completely understand why Clint and Sandra broke up, if they loved each other as friends only, then why did they sleep together? They thought they were in love. I just felt that it was a shaky back story, and that it could have been much stronger and more convincing.

In conclusion, I feel somewhat disappointed, because the author could have easily chosen a different storyline, without all the "psychic" stuff. I felt that this book was a weaker one, in this great series. And while it will not be joining Catherine's other books on my keeper shelf, this was a nice, good read. If you're more open to "paranormal stuff" in your books, you might enjoy it more than I did.

Since there are plenty of reviews that outline the story-line of the book, I'll leave that out of my review. I read most of the reviews on this book before I ordered it. I had really been looking forward to Mrs. Anderson branching off with the Harrigans, and I wasn't disappointed. I admit to being worried about some things, mainly there being too much religion. I'm not against having religion in a book and I read plenty of inspirational romances, but since I'm not a Catholic, I didn't really want to have it dominate the book. After reading this book, I honestly don't see what all the fuss was about. I was just as drawn to the characters as always, and I was so wrapped up in the story that I didn't really notice there being too much of anything in the book. Everything felt believable to me, and after reading the book she almost had me believing in clairvoyants. I'm also a huge paranormal romance fan, and Mrs. Anderson did a wonderful job of making the heroine's psychic powers very believable. You can tell there was a lot of thought and research done for the book and I enjoyed all the information she put in the book. I can't wait for the next book in the series to add to all my other ones.

I read reviews of this book before I bought it and I decided that I would wait to purchase it until I had extra money because most of the reviews were scathing and I found very few intelligent ones that had anything positive to say. Usually that would turn me off completely but I own every single Anderson novel I could get my hands on so I decided to give it a chance. I ended up having the extra money, I bought it and I read it over the next few days.

I should have spent it on something more worthwhile. It's no surprise that Amazon is offering this book for $4.10 now. It's not her strongest and it's a shame because it really should have been good. I liked the concept but the execution was extremely flawed.

The older brother from Sun Kissed's heroine Samantha Harrigan (I just knew as soon as it was clear Sam had older bachelor brothers we'd be seeing them) Clint is the hero here and his counterpart is Loni McEwan, a girl with psychic abilities. She's been dreaming about Clint her whole life and gets a shocking flash of a little boy she's sure is his son lost in the woods and only Clint can save him. Of course, Clint is a stand up Catholic boy and doesn't believe in psychics.

I was looking forward to the idea of having a hero be somewhat religious and unwilling to believe in the heroine at first. I thought it would be refreshing as a lot of authors just don't touch on religion at all but they went from not believing to believing very fast and before you knew it, they were in the woods searching. Two days later, they're engaged.

I have no problem with relationships that move fast. I'm a huge fan of Jennifer Crusie and almost of all her couples get together within a month's time, if not less (two days is also her record I believe) but I guess I just didn't believe that Clint and Loni were in love. I definitely think he wanted to sleep with her but I just didn't get the lifetime love thing that fast.

Of course, that's not the happy ending. Loni, like a lot of Anderson's female protagonists, run off towards the end and the hero has to go after her. It happened in Phantom Waltz, Blue Skies, My Sunshine and probably one or two more I can't think of. I believed it in My Sunshine. It's my second favorite Anderson and in Phantom Waltz, I swallowed it because it made sense. I was tired of it in Blue Skies and by the time this one ran off, I was thinking, Jeez, just let her go. Find someone who doesn't run when things get tough. Seriously.

More Anderson trademarks that have me weary are the old fashioned fathers like Clint's father (I can't remember his name off hand) and interfering families (Loni's mother, sister and grandmother). It's almost a repeat of half the books in the Coulter series and I'm hoping these aren't around for the next ones. It just get olds after a while.

I was so disappointed in this but I hope that the next book from Catherine Anderson will restore my faith in her because she's one of my favorite authors and I suppose everyone has a misstep. The book was still well written and there were pieces I liked like Clint's relationship with his new found son so I didn't hate it. A book with a promising premise but a terribly flawed execution.

Ms Anderson has an amazing talent for making her heroes lovable. She proves it again here by making this preachy, bible spouting hypocrite seem tolerable. He was no worse than most romance novel heroes except that he spent the first 2/3 of the book ranting about the sin of pre-marital sex. The heroine,albiet a 31 year old virgin, did not join his rant but listened to it. Still, she jumped right in and joined him at the drop of his stetson. I never thought of Catholics as Holy Rollers. Apparently, the author does. I agree with other reviewers that the story would have been much improved by editing out the majority of the preaching. Like real life preaching, it wins a lot less converts than good examples do. I gather the Harrigans are to provide a new family saga like the Kendricks and Coulters. Good. She was running out of siblings in those families. Soon she'll need a more complex family tree to keep them all straight.

I purchased this book to read on a long trans-continental flight.... Unfortunately, I started reading the night before the flight and I read most of the novel before stepping foot on the plane -- I couldn't put it down.

I've read all of Ms. Anderson's novels, and this novel doesn't disappoint. If you've enjoyed her books in the past, where her heroines have major obstacles to overcome in her romance with her hero, you'll enjoy this book.

One reviewer made the comment that if you're an athiest, you wouldn't enjoy this book. She believes that simply because the author weaves the characters' Catholicism into the story, if you don't believe in God then you won't enjoy the book. I would hope this isn't the case... The characters have great faith, and Ms. Anderson's development of this faith is part of what ensures that her characters aren't one dimensional.

I would hope that if you're an athiest, you would still be able to enjoy a delightful romantic adventure - even if God is part of the story, too.

While I found this book to be very different from any other Catherine Anderson book, I still found it to be just as refreshing. Readers who have enjoyed her previous work will still find the same thing in this book - a well-written, well-researched story with great characters who are simply trying to find their way and be the best they can be. The religious aspect of this book was not only NOT overdone, but was essential to the heroine's story. I'm a Christian, though not Catholic, and I can appreciate the heroine's battle within herself as she tries to accept her psychic abilities as a gift.

This book will definitely go on my bookshelf along with the rest of my Catherine Anderson collection.

Catherine Anderson's highly anticipated novel Morning Light was a fast paced book and definitely worth your time, but it doesn't rank among her best books like Phantom Waltz, Keegan's Lady or Annie's Song. I thought Anderson wrote the whole psychic aspect of the book really well and as a reader I felt sympathetic to the leading lady's plight. I didn't particularly like Sandra and Clint's back story, I thought it could have been written better, but it's not a huge part of the novel. The chemistry between the two leads, Clint and Loni was excellent. They fell in love a little too quickly for my taste, but at least it was well done. My one gripe about this book is that the religious overtones were a little much. At times it felt like the author was preaching rather than telling a story. I really hope it doesn't become a common theme in Anderson's future novels as it does become distracting after a while. But overall I do recommend this book.

Clairvoyance runs through the maternal genes of her family so in spite of growing up as an accepted norm, Loni MacEwen detests her gift believing it is a curse. Her feelings were recently accentuated when she helped the police on a case that ended badly. Thus she flees to Crystal Falls, Oregon to get away although she knows she cannot completely run from her second sight.

In the rustic small town Loni is stunned when she sees the face of rancher Clint Harrigan for the first time person; he has been the star of her visions forever as he is her soulmate. However, she also envisions his son needing him as Trevor has lost his mom due to a rafting incident that has left him lost in the wilderness; Clint assumes she is a lunatic as he has no children. He revises his opinion when the media runs the story. As the pair travels together to find the child he never knew he sired Clint begins to fall in love with his psychic guide.

The sequel to SUN KISSED starring Clint's younger sister is a delightful contemporary paranormal romantic suspense that brings to life the Oregon wilderness. The story line is fast-paced as Loni insists the time is running out for Trevor forcing the duo to frantically hurry. Readers will feel they have second sight as they will get inside the heroine's head as she panics over being too late again. Although the feelings of love between the lead couple arrives way to fast, the key to MORNING LIGHT is that both heroes keep their passion somewhat in check as saving the lad remains the prime focus of an exciting thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Great book!
I have been a fan of Catherine Anderson for a very long time and she is a 'must buy' when a new one comes out. This story is so like Catherine I just wanted to raise my fist and say 'way to go Catherine'. No matter what her topic, and they do vary greatly I know that she has researched and researched it and every last detail is correct. Where she comes up with some of her ideas I don't understand, but I do know once she starts writing the words just flow. She lets the 'people' she created lead the way, they become her friends and she lets them write their own story.

As for the paranormal and religious aspects in her writing...it worked well. And I am NOT a fan of paranormal but this 'second sight' that Loni has is very believeable and the religon works well with it.

I love the way that each and every book that Catherine writes covers new and different ground...I lose interest in an author who keeps writing the same story just changing names and locations.

GREAT WORK CATHERINE!