Beyond the Highland Mist

Highlander, Book 1

By: Karen Marie Moning

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

An alluring laird....

He was known throughout the kingdom as Hawk, legendary predator of the battlefield and the boudoir. No woman could refuse his touch, but no woman ever stirred his heart - until a vengeful fairy tumbled Adrienne de Simone out of modern-day Seattle and into medieval Scotland.

Captive in a century not her own, entirely too bold, too outspoken, she was an irresistible challenge to the 16th-century rogue. Coerced into a marriage with Hawk, Adrienne vowed to keep him at arm's length - but his sweet seduction played havoc with her resolve.

A prisoner in time....

She had a perfect "no" on her perfect lips for the notorious laird, but Hawk swore she would whisper his name with desire, begging for the passion he longed to ignite within her. Not even the barriers of time and space would keep him from winning her love. Despite her uncertainty about following the promptings of her own passionate heart, Adrienne's reservations were no match for Hawk's determination to keep her by his side.

Great Scot! Don't miss our other titles in the Highlander series.

©2007 Karen Marie Moning (P)2007 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Phil Gigante's handling of the prose in Moning's clever paranormal romance is smooth and engaging, but it is his character voicings that truly make this recording one to remember." (AudioFile)

If you loved Gabaldon's Outlander... skip this.

I wanted to like this book, as I have loved Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (and have reread them over and over) But, this was such a ridiclous book. Over the top corny, predicable cheap thrill romance. I was hugely diapponited.

I'm so in love and I'm SO moving to Scotland!

This is great. Morning doesn't keep the angst going too long like she does in fever. This is a fantastic story. Already having read Fever series, I am thrilled by the mention of the Fae, and the King! And Adam...
Wishing on a star for Hawk. Take me to 16th century any day, I'm from new Orleans!

:) love this book. Not disappointed. I can see why fans who read these first would have trouble getting used to Fever. But we all get addicted in the end....

I' was so addicted to JZB from Fever, I had last book depression... Highlander has made me forget the dear beast, and I'm all about a man in a kilt!!!

As for anyone writing bad things on the narrator, I do not understand! Phil Gigante is the voice of gods. He is so shockingly good in last two fever books, I am sorry he didn't read it all.
This is his first romance novel. Give him a chance!! This man is Jericho Barrons for godsake. ;)

Everything I hate about romance novels

Originally posted at FanLit.

Modern Seattle: Ravishingly gorgeous Adrienne de Simone (whose every body part is “perfect,” though she doesn’t know that) hates beautiful men because she just had a bad experience with the gorgeous man who was her fiancé. Never! Never again!

Medieval Scotland: Sidheach James Lyon Douglas, otherwise known as “the Hawk” (even his mother calls him that) or “the King’s Whore,” is the hottest laird on the Highlands, but he’s never met a woman he could love. Every one of his body parts is “perfect” and he knows it.

The Fairy Court: When the fae start to meddle with Adrienne and the Hawk, mischief ensues. Hawk falls in love with Adrienne and she, despite the promises to herself, starts to wonder what might be throbbing under his kilt.

From the beginning I had a feeling that Beyond the Highland Mist wasn’t going to be my book of the year, but I picked it up because I really liked Karen Marie Moning’s FEVER series, I like to occasionally step out of my comfort zone, and Beyond the Highland Mist was on a two-for-one sale at Audible.

I wish I had saved my credit. To put it succinctly, I hated Beyond the Highland Mist. It’s everything about romance novels that I hate, starting with the half-naked guy with the six-pack abs on the cover. Then there’s the story which, honestly, has pretty much the same story and plot devices as every other uninspired romance novel I’ve ever read. You know: they automatically hate each other but there’s some reason they have to spend a lot of time together, one of them (at least) keeps protesting that s/he will never (“NEVER!”) love the other but over the course of the story s/he finds out how awesome the other one is (usually something having to do with how he dotes on his mother or secretly loves children and maybe even secretly supports orphans and/or widows), one of them (at least) gets sick or injured and is nursed back to health by the other one while the sick or injured one never knows the other one is there, they keep having these misunderstandings about their feelings for each other (or maybe they’re mistakenly jealous of a third party) while it’s obvious to everyone else that they’re hot for each other…. It’s so boringly predictable and we all know what’s going to happen at the end. They eventually decide they want to get married though they’ve rarely had a conversation that consists of much more than “I will have you! You will be mine!” and “No! Never!”

Other than the back and forth lusty angst, that’s about all there is to the plot of Beyond the Highland Mist. There’s a little bit of intrigue with the fairy queen, but it barely holds the rest together. The story is all about sexual urges, jealous obsession and love-sickness and, even though I read romance novels very rarely, I have read this plot at least a dozen times before.

But that’s not the worst part of Beyond the Highland Mist. The worst part was the writing, which surprised me because I liked Moning’s style in the FEVER series. But it’s awful here, to the point of hilarity. On every page of Beyond the Highland Mist you’ll find some version of this sort of insipidness: rough velvet tongues, creamy breasts being cupped, nipples being traced, taut bellies, silken nubs, chiseled faces, arching backs, hungry tongues, hot shafts with velvety pink tips, ebony eyes, hot kisses, tiny taut nubs, betraying wetness, plum-ripe mouths, honeyed heat, satiny thighs, ragged breathing, buckling knees, weak knees, traitorous bodies, shattering defenses, velvety friction, throbbing shafts, bodies made of molten steel, velvet lips, husky brandy-rich voice, husky purrs and growls, hot silk tongues, brutal punishing kisses, hot spicy male scent, whimpering against mouths, eyes that are dark pools of shadow, and lots of mouth claiming and deep hot kisses. It sounds like every other over-the-top romance novel I’ve ever accidentally opened.

I can’t even tell you how many times her silvery mane was mentioned, or his chiseled steel body. And Moning actually tells us that he’s hung like a stallion. No, seriously. And I don’t want you to miss these little gems:

* hard arousal rode between her legs
* the raw pulsing steel of his hunger
* the Hawk’s velvet purr had taken on the coldness of smooth polished steel
* the last rays of moonbeam caressing his body with molten silver
* she melted to him like liquid flames
* his desire for her throbbed angrily beneath his kilt
* his voice was like butterscotch

Get it? ButterSCOTCH? I know you think I made that up, but I didn’t!

As I mentioned, I listened to the audio version which was read by Phil Gigante, who sometimes overdoes it a bit and somewhat contributes to the over-the-top feel of Beyond the Highland Mist. All the same, I thought he did well enough with the male voices (even handling the Scottish brogue pretty well), but I didn’t care too much for his female voices (an issue I’ve noted before with Gigante). If you’re thinking about trying Beyond the Highland Mist, I’d suggest listening to a sample at Amazon or Audible. By the way, Audible will return a book you don’t like. I may return this one. There are more books in the HIGHLANDER series and I think they can stand alone. I bought two more at the Audible sale (groan!). I may try them to see if it gets better, or I may decide to return them, too.

Incipid

I wanted to use corny, but along with a lack luster reading the book truely rates a stronger negative. Comparing this author to Dianne Gabaldon is like comparing an NBA star to a highschooler because they both bounce a round rubber ball.

Beyond the Highland Mist

I know from what I read before I purchased this book that there is a following for this story but it is not going to be me. I could not even force myself to listen to it on my trip and ended up listening again to an Odd Thomas book that I had recently finished. I imagine if you are a person who likes to read the "steamy" romance novels .. you know, the ones where the two main characters start out fighting or for one reason or another think they hate each other. Then they find each other irresistible but can't let it show. Later they start to soften up to each other but something happens and they again are at each other's throat ... back and forth, over and over and over. That is pretty much a review of the book, well as much of it as I could stand to listen to. Terribly boring and predictable.

it was OK but not great

I got this one on sale so I have to say it was worth what I paid....which wasn't much. I really did like a lot of this book but the whole fairy aspect didn't work for me. The way the fairy manipulates the fate of the lead characters is annoying and a bit strange. The narrator (who is one of my favorite narrators) falls short with this one. Most of his voices were good....some were just plain weird.

I liked the story enough to listen to the second book in the series if it goes on sale. I hope the rest of the series is better because I love highlander stories. 😀

Cheap Thrills

Fun in concept, but only moderate in delivery. Personally I like a little less explicit disclosure and more subtlety in my romances. Every kiss seems to be a battle of the wills between the love (or sex or power) -starved. Plot offers promising twists and layers but the reader's breathless urgency mixed with the every-touch-a-love scene got old. If you are looking for an ongoing romp between the legs without much intellect, it is quite fun. And don't be lured by the "highlander" motif -- it is a setting, a premise for fairy manipulations of human fates. Gives the author little more than the chance to titilate the reader with worn out bawdy references to what men have under kilts. Depends on what you are looking for, but I think I will pass on the sequels.

Loved It!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which probably means I'm a hopeless romantic. Well so be it, there are worse things. I didn't find the book as predictable as others and loved the ending. Were the characters complex, not really, but they weren't one dimensional either. The author could have improved the motivational fear of the heorine better, and in the end had the hero be a bit more agonized for the right reasons, but she played with male insecurity and ego extremely well. Overall, I would recommend the book and I'm purchasing the next in the series hoping its as good as this one.

Beyond the Highland Mist (Unabridged)

As a fan of the Highlander movies and television series, I thought I would try some of the books in this series. I was terribly disappointed. If the author would have left the cheesy romance part out of it, it might have been an ok story. The writing is so predictable...."throbbing shaft of manhood" and her "sweet honeypot" - it was just laughable. I went through the book because I paid for it, but I will happily delete it forever. Now, if you're into romance novels, you might enjoy it, but this is not what I was expecting.

you will love this book

if you like old world romance with a twist you will like this book it is predictable and fun i love it with the twist of fairies and time travel..I have gotten the next two in the series in the last three days that is how much this book has pleasantly surprised me.