I'm currently reading Forbidden Highlander by Donna Grant. This Scottish Highlands paranormal romance is the second book in the Dark Sword series. I don't usually read historical romance novels, but I'll make an exception for a PNR. I also have a fondness for books set in the remote parts of the U.K., whether it be the Scottish Highlands, rural Wales, Cornwall, or the Isle of Man. All the Celtic parts, basically.
The blurb from Goodreads:
Fallon McLeod has gifts any warrior would covet—fierce strength, unmatched skill, even immortality. But those gifts have come at a price that puts everyone he loves at risk. Only when his brother, Quinn, is taken captive does Fallon leave the seclusion of his Highland home to seek the king's aid. And though every woman at court would gladly be his for the asking, one alone causes desire to roar to life within him: beautiful, mysterious Larena Monroe.
Rumors swirl around the castle about "The McLeod" but Larena knows the truth. Like Fallon, Larena is searching for a way to vanquish the evil Druid who wants to wreak havoc on earth. Drawn to Fallon in spite of her fear, she surrenders to a passion that shocks them both with its raw intensity. But Larena dares not hope for more—not when she holds a secret that could turn her fiery Highland love against her forever…
"Totally Captivating" (RT Book Reviews), Forbidden Highlander is a stunning historical and paranormal romance, book two in Donna Grant's bestselling Dark Sword series.
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I read the first book, Dangerous Highlander, all the way back in 2010. You can read my review here. I kind of got sidetracked from my intentions of reading a rotation of my favorite PNR authors, which should go:
- Kate Douglas's DemonSlayer series (1 of 4 read so far)
- J.R. Wards's Fallen Angels series (1 of 5 read so far)
- Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series (2 of 12 read so far)
- Donna Grant's Dark Sword series (1 of 6 finished so far)
Donna Grant also writes two "spin-off" series from Dark Sword: the Dark Warrior series, an additional 9 novels with a contemporary setting; and the 4 Dark King novels. Whew! That's a lot. But they're a fairly quick read, and Forbidden Highlander is fun because the female protagonist is a warrior woman who literally has a goddess inside her. A happy ending for Larena and Fallon is almost guaranteed, since it's a romance novel. I hope to have it done by Hogmanay (that's what the New Year is called in Scotland).
According to the receipt stuck inside the cover, I purchased Forbidden Highlander at Borders on October 2, 2010.
Then, I intend to read Mitzi Szereto's erotic Oscar Wilde mash-up, The Wilde Passions of Dorian Gray. I hope it's as entertaining as Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts. When I finish that, I'll read the next Kate Douglas on my list, then attempt to tackle George Eliot's thick classic (the original, not a mash-up this time!) Middlemarch. I read The Count of Monte Cristo in January 2013, so it's almost time for another brick of a classic.
Then, perhaps The Casual Vacancy. We'll see - that's getting pretty far ahead of myself.
