Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning

Beautiful and intelligent, Adrienne de Simone is the quintessential 90's woman. She's also the perfect pawn for a fairy with a vengeful scheme. Determined to humble an arrogant 16th-century Scottish rogue, the fairy sweeps Adrienne into a century not her own, and into the arms of Hawk, a sinfully attractive conqueror of female hearts. As Adrienne resists her ardent challenger, Hawk's sweet, timeless seduction plays havoc with her resolve.

Title: Beyond the Highland Mist
Series: First in the Highlander Series
Author: Karen Marie Moning
Publication Info: Bantam Dell Books, 2004 ISBN: 9780440234807
Genre: Historical; Time Travel Romance; Scottish
Our Grade: B-

Adrienne de Simone is busy living life, if living in fear can qualify as a life. Her ex-finance, a gorgeous rich man, used her trust to betray her in horrible ways, and now Adrienne is trying to pick up the pieces. As a result, she hates beautiful gorgeous men. When the dark fairy, Adam Black, hears Adrienne's vow, he can't help but use her in his nefarious scheme.

Enter Sidheach "Hawk" Douglas: slap your mother gorgeous, dads lock up your daughter's, ladies drop the knickers alpha-male. He's sinfully gorgeous and his sexual prowess is widely known (and sampled). When the Fae Queen implies that she's known the bodice ripping pleasure of the Hawk, Adam can't resist in humbling the man who dared touch his Queen. Adam causes Adrienne to stumble back in time to Scotland circa 1513 to give Hawk his comeuppance. This is one woman the legendary Hawk won't be able to seduce...or so he hopes. Adrienne and Hawk have many obstacles to overcome in their quest for happiness, and Adam is only too happy to throw a wrench in those plans.

Hawk is such a sexy beast. He's got the looks, the voice, the moves. And hell, the man wants babies and he sings lullabies. Where do I sign up? After years of being used by King James, the Hawk is now free. He is forced to marry the crazy Janet Comyn, and he sends his best friend and guard, Grimm, to stand in for him during the ceremony. Janet was killed by her father, and how lucky for Adrienne that she landed right in the father's lap? See, miracles do happen folks. Adrienne is married to Hawk, but before she has the chance to meet him, she stumbles upon a sexy blacksmith just pounding away (hehe) at his forge. Picture a man with dark ravishing good looks, a kilt and nothing else, sweaty....you get the picture. Heeelllooo Adam Black. When Hawk sees his surprisingly beautiful bride drooling over the blacksmith, he decides that he'll overlook the crazy part. So begins the witty back and forth between Hawk and Adrienne. Adrienne is determined to keep Hawk at arm's length. She mistrusts him, ignores him, and uses Adam to anger him, all in the hopes that he'll leave her alone. I'll admit, at times this was annoying. I wanted to walk up to Miss Priss and say, "hello, do you even see what you're turning down? The man WANTS babies. Built them a whole damn room WITH HIS HANDS, and he cares for you, treats you good...and you are shitting all over him!" Alas, I can't go around beating everyone who's a complete git...but God bless the imagination. Luckily for this book, Adrienne wakes up and sees that Hawk is the shiz. But, Adam steps in and steals her away. Literally. So, Hawk mans up and sets about getting his woman back.

Some complain that Moning's female characters are annoying. I'm on the fence about this. True, Adrienne was annoying at times...but really. You try getting betrayed by someone you loved, THEN go back in time...and see how you deal. I tend to forgive people when stuff like that happens. Consider me a softy. Hawk was a little too perfect. One of those un-touchable males that never do anything wrong. He needs a little naughty or badboy in him. Funny--I have some waiting on the shelf. Here Hawky-Hawky! The supporting characters were fantastic. Lydia stole the show when she came on the page. She's such a great mother character, and her connection with the tanner, Tavis, was wonderful. I had a love-hate-love relationship with Grimm. Although I understood that he wanted to protect Hawk, he still pissed me off. If you're wondering what I'm talking about....read the book :) Adam--Jury is out on him at this moment. I have a thing for badboy characters so he gets points there...but a big NO-NO for screwing around with humans because he thinks it's 'fun.'

This book is a great read. The story is well written and more importantly it's readable. I hate reading time-travel/historical when nothing makes sense and the author gets so caught up in making every. single. thing. too detailed. Joyfully, that doesn't happen here, and the characters are easy to connect with. The dialogue is pure KMM. It's witty, funny, and full of those great one-liners that she's become known for. The plot was well developed and the pacing was spot on. If you haven't read this series, I suggest you start. This is a great novel and worth your consideration.

BookGeek Reviewer: Ashby