Silent Vows

MacCoinnich Time Travel Series, Book 2

By: Catherine Bybee

Narrated by: David Monteath

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

Myra, a medieval virgin druidess, flees five hundred years into the future in order to escape death at the hands of a cursed witch, landing in the arms of a handsome but cynical twenty-first century cop.

Officer Todd Blakely knows Myra is hiding something, but he can't resist her innocent charms. Destiny throws them both into a world of intrigue and mysticism. Can Todd be the true white knight she needs? Or will magic and the winds of time tear them apart?

©2010 Catherine Bybee (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Narrator almost ruins this story

This is wonderfully written and creative story when it comes to this kind of book, I’m not just listening to fill the time but I am invested in the characters and what “happens next”. The storyline is original which is hard to do in the world of paranormal romance. But my goodness David Monteaths narration isn’t only lacking but cheesy/fake to the point of distraction. When he reads in his normal narration voice it’s fine, but when he voices different characters lines it sound like he’s mocking them, like a exaggerated joke of how woman or an American man talks. If the story wasn’t so good I would have tuned out after the first book

Great Highlander Series - Modern Meets Medieval

This is book 2 in a series. Audible isn't showing the series properly and book 4 came out first and confused many buyers which is a shame as I'm sure that affected the love of these stories to unexpectedly plop late into the series, so the books come in this order.

#1 Binding Vows
#2 Silent Vows
#3 Redeeming Vows
#4 Highland Shifter
#5 Highland Protector (not out in Audiobook yet)

This is a GREAT series, funny, serious, lots of twists and turns, and parts will make you cry. Love the books. AND the narration by David Monteath is PERFECT and frankly that alone is worth the listen. It's great to hear a Scottish man read for the male characters for a change as it really adds to those characters in an addictive sexy way. He's now one of my favorite "readers" (and I've heard many).

The books blend time travel, history, battles, humor, suspense, magick and romance (and some sex) in just the right blend. Each book picks up pretty much where the previous book leaves off and you'll want to go through the next all as soon as each one. It's more a tale of all these great characters, so it's a great family tale not just a romance based on "where can we insert plenty of sex scenes".

While some argue there's enough explanation in each to have them stand alone, since characters' histories and actions span multiple books, do yourself a favor and read them in order!!

Love these books, hope this series continues on and on....

Love these characters

Gosh 16th century men were such male chauvinists’. Love how the characters play off of one another. Could not put this one or the first in the series down. Totally captivated by this story. Great romance, exciting action, Scottish history, time travel; what is not to love. So glad others wrote reviews or I probably would not have taken the chance on trying this one.

Former fan

I'm just expressing disappointment that after spending hours reading 5 novels we're left hanging for years. It would've been kinder to wrap up the story at the end of #5, or continue after a couple of years at most. Expressing disappointment on the author's website, her assistant said I was being rude, but NO... it's very rude for an author to do a series & leave readers hanging! Wasn't #5 published in 2013? That's 8 years ago!

Mediocre escapist romantic fantasy - Part Deux

(parts of this review are cloned from my review of the first book in the series)
There seems to be a massive spate of time-travel romances involving modern girls who somehow wind up in the past. Somehow it's always Scotland. Yeah, clearly inspired by the Outlander series but why ALWAYS Scotland?

So - getting past that: the tale is reasonably readable (er, listenable). The narrator does a pretty decent job, even with the love scenes (which I've usually found a bit cringe-worthy in an audiobook). The occasional failing in how the American characters pronounce things: a California girl who had just consumed some food would say "ate" (to rhyme with "eight") versus "et", and would demand pry-vacy rather than privv-acy.

The constant virgin, virgin, virgin refrain got to be kind of old. Yeah, it's a plot element, but it felt like it was harped-on more than needed, and got to be a bit creepy. Interestingly, this was SOMEWHAT less harped-on in this book than in the first one.

And, the writer needs an editor. Aside from examples of 16th century Scots using modern slang (which could just be a stylistic choice that I found jarring), there are numerous examples of words simply being used wrong.

A few things struck me as unrealistic even in the fantasy context:
- Why was Todd's department involved in the missing-person case dealing with Tara's disappearance (book 1)? She disappeared from the Renaissance Fair, in a completely different part of the state. The part of California where Anaheim is found consists of one medium-sized town after another. The author can certainly decide that Tara had lived in Anaheim. which was the same town that contained "Magic Land" (or whatever it was called), but the local police department would not have been as involved in the case as seems to be implied here.
- Why wouldn't Todd have also contacted Cassie (Tara's friend from book 1) when he began to connect Myra to Tara's disappearance?
- If someone shows up with a valuable antique worth half a million dollars, any reputable auction house is going to do a bit more due diligence than simply taking the seller's word that the item was obtained legally. And how would Tara receive the proceeds of such a sale, not having any ability to cash a check? This is somewhat handled, but if I were the person at the auction house, I'd be smelling something fishy going on.

Todd's disbelief of Myra's tale, and his gradual acceptance that she must be telling at least some of the truth, was fairly well told and credible.

If you've gotten this book as part of Audible's new "included in the membership" program, go ahead and enjoy - that's the reason I grabbed it, and have also listened to the 1st and 3rd books in the series. I wouldn't waste money on it, however

Myra & Todd

WARNING! -- If you're the type of person that likes to binge listen to a series - STOP! This series is incomplete after book 5 and there are several trails that leave you with a cliff hanger questions -

Myra, a medieval virgin druidess moves to the future in order to escape from a cursed witch, feigning amnesia in order to survive in the 21st century. Myra meets Todd Blakely a cop investigating her unusual situation which sounds far fetched to the everyday human.

This is a light - time travel book with romance and focuses on magick, druids and how to survive in a time and culture that isn't your own.

A nice escape

This series is by no means a literary masterpiece. But if you are looking for an easy listen, with some likeable characters and a bit of magic, this series checks all those boxes. The narration was excellent.

Predictable but fun

The narrator is completely annoying as he speaks the parts of the women. It is the only true downfall of this series. He makes them sound either like wimps or shrews, and nothing in between.
If you can put up with that, the story is delightful and lighthearted.

I liked this one a lot!

Couldn't wait to get started on book 2! Book 1 was so good and it left on a cliffie of sorts.

We now follow Myra who was sent to the future to hide from the evil witch who wants her virgin druid blood. Also, Myra needs to find her sister-in-law's sister, Liz, and nephew to warn them and let them know that Tara is okay. She finds herself in the path of Officer Todd Blakely who knows Myra is hiding something and may know where the missing Tara is. But he is oddly also attracted to her and wants to help her.

I am loving this series so far. I can't wait for book 3.

This was good and again slightly different than the a-typical time travel books. We get to see the aftermath of book 1 when Tara left the modern age all of a sudden. The cops are looking for her and Liz is a mess. I am bummed we didn't get to re-meet up with Tara's old friend. Poor thing must be a mess too. We rarely see the ramifications and it made me worried for Myra because the cops know she knows something but she won't say.

I was a little unsure of Todd at first and it took me near to the end when he finally man's up and admits he loves Myra. I don't blame her brothers for wanting to knock his head off. LOL. But yes - he does finally man up when things get really real.

This does add more of a witch element. Yes, we have the time travel element, but there is also a lot more magic used in this one. I liked it. I am curious to see how far it goes.

That evil witch, Grainna, really is true evil and she worries me. She is getting stronger. Oh boy. We get a better look into her powers. I feel bad for her followers who are mind-controlled for sure and/or severely lied to.

The narrator is the same as before. I like him even though his young American voice still needs a touch of work, but I feel like it was a hair better this time around.

Overall, I liked this one a lot. I am itching to get a start on book 3! Everything is coming to a head and I need to know what will happen next. Plus we get to see Liz's story with Fin. They have a lot of chemistry but a LOT of differences they will need to settle. I'll give this 4 stars.

WTF- Romanticizing sexual harassment

So it was okay up until the third chapter. Homie grabs and kisses a woman he just met ( someone who he thinks may be some kind of victim btw) then has the nerve to blame her for it. Saying you make me do things I wouldn’t normally do!!! WTF!!! I can’t listen to anymore of this!!! Romanticizing sexual harassment isn’t what I look for in a good book!!!

More time travelling exploits

Despite my rather hesitant approach to book 1, I found myself quite enjoying book 2 and Myra and Todd's story.

With witch Grainna still determined to break the curse placed on her by the ancient druids and in need of a virgin in order to regain her youth etc, the MacCoinnich's know that they must keep Myra safe. With only one option open to her, the family prepare Myra to travel to the present day with instructions to meet up with Tara's sister and nephew. With a plan to fake amnesia, Myra is questioned by the police following her mysterious appearance and that's when Officer Todd Blakely's life steps into preternatural realms as he becomes close to Myra and finds a need to protect her.

Todd and Myra soon fall for each other and with love comes trust and slowly Myra reveals her story to Todd. Todd, understandably, finds Myra' story impossible to believe but as he continues to investigate the disappearance of Tara and Gwen (as she is known in the present day), he comes to realise that Myra's story is true, if still unbelievable.

When Myra returns home Todd is devastated but her return is not the end of the story or their romance. With Grainna still on a mission to return to Rennaisance Scotland, Todd finds himself once again fighting to protect Myra and her family and this fight takes him to Scotland and once again into the arms of Myra.

I have come to love the characters in this series and I will definitely be reading on further in order to see what happens to the playboy brother, Finlay, and his explosive connection with Tara's sister, Lizzie.