Beyond the highland mist *ACKKK*
Oh, jayzuz, this book was... How can I say it without hurting anyone’s feelings? THIS BOOK WAS PLAIN OLD STUPID.Sure, there were some interesting parts. I liked Lydia (hero’s mother) and Tavis (the cook). I also enjoyed the first couple of chapters when the heroine kicked ass with her witty tongue and the hero seemed yummilicious. But then comes Adam the Smithy, some dim-ass fairy the heroine “likes”, and it all goes downhill till almost the very end. *sigh*
One of my beloved Amazonians had this to say (you know how I love those clever creatures LOL):
While I’m pretty open-minded on differences of opinion in matters of taste, it’s baffling to me that there are actually people who have read and love this book. Are you illiterate? Have you read anything beyond a 4th grade level? Have you been lobotomized so that complete sentences baffle you?
Okay, so that was way too harsh, out of line and not entirely true—but you gotta admit it’s damn funny how upset she seems!
Anyhoodles, this is what I think:
Though I was forced to trudge over 200 pages of the ever boring hero-pining-over-heroine-who-is-bitter-and-childish plot, *UGHH* the writing wasn’t bad, if a little rough. The sentences didn’t always flow into one another and, at times, she changed from paragraph to paragraph as if she were writing entirely different books. Yet, in truth, that didn’t bother me as much as the weak time-travel plot and the lack of chemistry between the main characters.
I love paranormals and I can suspend disbelief as well as the next gal, but the historical inaccuracies and the completely unbelievable actions—and reactions—of the characters in this book were way more than I could take. I think Karen Marie Moning tried to cram too many things in one book; sometimes, keeping it simple works best.
There were a lot of lose ends, things that should have been good plot twists and weren’t used to their full potential: heroine murdering some guy and being tricked into smuggling drugs for him,** King James finding out Adrienne was beautiful and not Mad Jane, that Olivia mistress plotting revenge, those women that Laird Comyn abused, etc.
Then, the trivial things that were made big fusses over. I mean—Adrianne, get the fuck over that ever-hard dude! HONESTLY! The 200 pages worth of
I-hate-beautiful-men-but-kiss-me-and-I’ll-almost-come-in-my-pants-and-
then-I’ll-remember-everhard-and-push-you-away-and-mention-Adam thing got way too old too fast, seeing as KMM did it like 10 times.
Of course, since you know me and my sadistic ways, I’ll keep going with the series if only to torture myself more. Or maybe, if I’m really lucky, it’ll turn out to be like the “Dark Hunter” books which started unbelievably bad with Fantasy Lover and moved on to be very entertaining. Also, I’ve heard nothing but good things about these books so unless they’re like that Mary Balogh whatsis brothers series, or that “Troubled Navy Boys” one by Suzanne Brockmann, I don’t see any reason why I can’t be won over by Ms. Moning’s Highlanders. *g*
**BTW, that was a totally absurd plot development. Heroine kills big-shot drug lord who is being followed by the FBI and not a soul finds out she murdered him? *snort*
Labels: paranormal oh joy, romance baby
Trollop...you're just being a masochist. If you really want to be in pain...start reading those mill and boone printed in the 70s.
Hey, I have a perfect book for you called My Comfort and Joy and From the First. Talk about pain. I really like Jessica Bird though. Just check out my reading list lately.
12/28/2007 04:19:00 PM
You know, the first two books in the series aren't the best, for all the reasons you've highlighted for us. But the series does get better...alright, I'll stop harrasing you now, lol. It's bad I do it elsewhere online. Skip book two, I can't wait to hear what you think of book 3 onwards.
- Amal
12/28/2007 10:40:00 PM
I've read one Moning book, "Spell of the Highlander", but the historical inaccuracies and the terrible sex scene bugged me too much to read any more. (Note: The sex wasn't badly written; I just really didn't like that the heroine loses her virginity to the hero from behind, bent over a desk. Given that the heroine talked about wanting it to be special and romantic, I thought that was really insensitive of the hero. JMO.)
12/31/2007 01:12:00 PM
Trollop, good job, you got everything that was wrong with this book. There were things that annoyed me but I couldn't figure it out until you mentioned it here.
Also, the Dark Hunter series is way better than KMM's Highlanders.
1/01/2008 04:04:00 AM
I had to go read this post after buying the book lol!! It now risks being in my TBR pile forever!!
1/09/2008 01:56:00 PM
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