Review: The Highlander’s Touch by Karen Marie Moning

I received this book for free from Purchased in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
 
This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

 

If a cursed flask holding an immortal elixir is what it takes to travel back in time to find a Highlander hottie like Circenn, then I’m getting my butt on the next train to the museum!

Lisa Stone is twenty-three years old. Her mother, Catherine is sick with cancer and solely relies on her daughter to provide for her in her dying days. Instead of attending college with her friends, Lisa works two jobs, one of which is at a museum. Little does Lisa know that the ancient flask before her is cursed to be returned to its owner once it is found. Unfortunately, Circenn didn’t anticipate that the person who touches it will also be transported to him. Back to the 1300’s.

Circenn is an honourable man, driven by rules and vows. But when this woman tells him she is from the future, Circenn doesn’t know how to deal with her. He is obligated to kill her by his vow with Adam Black, but when he puts his blade to her throat, his steady hands shakes.

It is Lisa’s presence in Circenn’s world that causes him to question himself. I found that I instantly had a connection with Lisa. The life she leaves in the twenty-first century isn’t really hers. Instead, she lives for the benefit of others. Here, in the 1300’s she has a chance to be herself and live the life she had always dreamed of having.

“I can’t die now,” she whispered. “I haven’t even lived yet.”

Moning has a knack for writing witty dialogue. Not only was the bitter back-and-forth banter between Lisa and Circenn amusing, it worked in slowly building up sexual tension that was combustible by the end. I found myself grinning from ear-to-ear while reading this book and laughing out loud at other parts. A book that can evoke any kind of emotion is one that is special.

“The gown was too small,” she managed.
“I see. And you astutely concluded this would cover more of you?”
“I was just about to put my j-jeans back on,” she informed his chest.
“I think not.”

I wondered how Moning would overcome the obstacles she has placed before her heroine. With this time-travel romance, Lisa must choose to either go back to the twenty-first century to care for her mother or remain in medieval Scotland to be with Circenn. The question is, what can’t she live without? Her family or Circenn?

Moning drapes a rich background with the historical facts she has incorporated into this story and paired with a hero and heroine that are to die for, I found myself wishing the end never came.

Now I really must find a cursed flask!

About Karen Marie Moning

“The only other calling I ever felt was an irrepressible desire to be Captain of my own Starship. I was born in the wrong century and it wasn’t possible, so I chose to explore the universe by writing fiction instead. Books are doors to endless adventure.” -KMM

Karen Marie Moning was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1964, the daughter of Anthony R. and Janet L. Moning. The family moved to a self-sustaining farm in Indiana when she was six years old, where she spent her youth raising cows, horses, tobacco, corn and other crops with her sisters and brother.

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 thirty-five countries and are performed on audio by Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross. She divides her time between Ohio and Florida and is working on two future projects for Random House Publishing.

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” – Jorge Luis Borges

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

• About
• Latest Posts

Follow me

Annie

Blogger/Reviewer at Under the Covers Book Blog

I’m an obsessive makeup junkie and a compulsive reader. I like to call Under the Covers Book Blog my stomping ground, but when I’m not talking about books with my girls, I write New Adult Dystopian and Contemporary Romance under the pen name Ana Jolene (http://www.anajolene.com). I also work as a virtual assistant for authors. You also can find me as a reviewer and columnist for FreshFiction.com.

When it comes to books I’m pretty adventurous. I read everything from Paranormal Romance to Urban Fantasy, New Adult, BDSM, LGBT fiction, Cozy Mysteries and even YA. If it’s got the littlest trace of romance in it, then I’ll probably read it. That being said, my all-time favorite authors are J.R. Ward and Karen Marie Moning.

When I’m not submerged in a good book, you can find me musing about makeup and planners or dreaming about Kpop boys and beaches. Until then, check out my reviews and let’s talk books!

Follow me

Latest posts by Annie (see all)

• ARC Review: Little Black Book by Kate Carlisle - July 7, 2021
• ARC Review: Death of an Italian Chef by Lee Hollis - July 7, 2021
• ARC Review: To Sir With Love by Lauren Layne - July 6, 2021