I don't remember how I stumbled across this book, but the back blurb hinted at time travel, so I went for it. It was.....okay.
I cannot lie, I skimmed a lot of this book. It had an intersting premise, Grace, a married researcher, gets involved in her work with some ancient papers and her husband and brother end up getting killed - by her boss! She goes on the run, and this is where I started skimming. She's on the run, and brought her laptop with her (she had it with her at the time of the murders), so she's continuing to research the papers while running from city to city and changing identities like underwear. It just seemed like a lot of time was focused on her fleeing from her boss, who had trained killers out looking for her.
I know the author had to get across what the papers were, and why her boss was trying to kill everyone who knew about the papers, but it was 2/3 of the way through the book before Grace finally travelled back in time. During the time between her husband's death and her travel through time, she became obsessed with and fell in love with the man in the papers, Black Niall, The Guardian. It seems she was dreaming of him and he was dreaming of her, and it seemed real to both. When she finally got into the 14th century, she was immediately kidnapped by Niall's rival, but she managed to escape and find Niall. Their romance was sort of rushed, and suddenly they were traveling into the 20th century! Then Niall was gone again! How could he leave her?! The end was a satisfying conclusion.
It was an enjoyable story, but I felt like the author could have shortened the first half and spent more time on their getting to know each other in the past. The ending just seemed to be too quick. I did like the characters, and wanted them to have a happy ending. So, I liked it, but it's not going on my keeper shelf.
The premise sounds so good - pity it was so wordy and did not get to the actual story until so late..
ReplyDeleteE.H>
I am getting confused, I like the concept but at the same time I see the flaws you point out...still I would give it a try
ReplyDeleteI have never read Lina Howard. Have heard good things about some of her books though..think I will pass on this. Nice review!
ReplyDeleteGreat review Patti and I can understand your need to skim through some of this novel. I love Linda Howard during this time of her career and this book was no exception. But I too wanted to get more of Niall and Grace together. While it did take forever, at least Howard gave us some smokin' hot lovin' when these characters are finally able to interact.
ReplyDelete;) VFG
I had heard really good things about Linda Howard too, so I am definitely going to give her another try!
ReplyDeleteDarn! I simply lurved this book! I read it a year ago and thought it was great, it reminded me a bit of the Pelican Brief with time travel and a hot Scot - I ate it up - sorry you didn't like it as much, but oh well. So far it's the only Linda Howard I've read as well.
ReplyDeleteI love Linda Howard, to a certain point...one of my pet peeve is the development or build up to her main plot lines. She is a master with suspense, but sometimes I feel she could focus on the character romnace aspect more. I just finsiehd her latest Burn and I noticed the same issue you mentioned w/ Son of the Morning.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the books that made me fall in love with time travel. I haven't read it in forever-I wonder if I'd love it as much today as I did years ago.
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