“This author is seriously worrying me...
Three novels deep in her works and I'm still hooked.
When I first encountered a Karen Marie Moning romance (Kiss of the Highlander) and subsequently found myself rating it with 5 stars, I thought it was all nothing but a fluke—probably just my luck that I first happened upon her ONE novel that was any good.
Then there came Beyond the Highland Mist (yes, I am aware that my order of reading is ridiculous), and I was thinking, “okay, this may turn out to be just a so-so story, since series hardly can maintain more than 2 to probably 3 books that are really great...right?” But, no, I had to rate it 5 stars as well—don't take my word for it...just, you know, read it.
Understandably then (on my part, at least), I was well prepared—indeed, highly anticipating—that The Immortal Highlander would be the one to prove the cliché, “third time's the charm,” with the added reasoning in my perverted delusions that this one has, of all men, the sinister Adam Black as the hero (I readily thought he was too cruel and essentially villainous in “Beyond...” to merit his own story).
Either it's a consequence of my un-orderly order and incomplete reading of the series that I totally missed out on something regarding Adam, or, heaven forbid, Moning is THAT good of a writer that, just like the heroine, Gabrielle, I later found myself reevaluating my outlook about this dark Fae, but this novel, rather than affirming my cynical expectations of a dud, just made hanker for the rest of her installments.
As a matter of fact, this third one that I read is the best so far. It had a sassy heroine and a hero who takes the meaning of the word “seduction” to new heights; both of them are outrageously witty, if not outright funny; there was a respectable dose of conflict to get the story going without hampering the chemistry between the pair; and the ending was simply superb that I, against my better judgment, felt the beginnings of being choked up with tears. Truly.
And, that, in the end, is making me one part excited and one part agitated: excited that, unlike most of today's paranormal romance authors who fail to keep their series interesting after only a couple of books, Karen Marie Moning seems to defy the norm and just keeps getting better; on the other hand, agitated that a misstep from such a highly promising writer would topple her from such a steep pedestal down into the unforgivable capriciousness of romance readers.
But, for now, thanks to “Immortal...” I'm definitely shutting up and looking forward instead to the next novel of hers that I can grab...”
ricca wrote this review 3 weeks ago.
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