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In the rest room next door there was a long, explosive sound of gas releasing, then a contented 'Ahhh.' Grace clapped a hand over her mouth to hold back the hysterical giggle that rose in her throat. She had to finish before he did, or he might hear her. The competition was the strangest in which she'd ever engaged.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with : Fear Peeing. The next time I see a movie in which someone is on the run and afraid for their life, I want this scene in it.
Son
In the rest room next door there was a long, explosive sound of gas releasing, then a contented 'Ahhh.' Grace clapped a hand over her mouth to hold back the hysterical giggle that rose in her throat. She had to finish before he did, or he might hear her. The competition was the strangest in which she'd ever engaged.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with : Fear Peeing. The next time I see a movie in which someone is on the run and afraid for their life, I want this scene in it.
Son of Morning was such a hodgepodge of storytelling, but strangely, it all worked. I liked the contemporary suspense part of the story just as much as I did the Scottish highlander-slash-Guardian of the Knights' Templar-slash-faux bodice ripper-slash whatever was going on here.
It was as if the author decided to put a B-movie suspense plot together with a form of Outlander-light. Throw in a BFF computer hacker, a sketchy pee scene, and voila! We now have a book I'm digging on because it's so wonderfully mashed together with sexual tension, danger, and a little bit of humor.
When she saw Black Niall again, she was going to throttle him, even if she had to climb on a stool to do it.
Niall was your run-of-the-mill highlander alpha type, but his part in the story before the characters actually met up were a great romantic fantasy draw. What woman wouldn't want some mystery man coming to her in her dreams, so much so that she can even hear him whisper at her when she's not fully asleep? Am I right?
She had never met a man like him before, and never would again; he was extraordinary in any century.
The sexual tension was well-played. My buddy readers and I were anxiously wondering how the time-travel was going to happen, and when the two main characters would come face-to-face. However, in the meantime, we were all completely absorbed in Grace's time spent on the run from the "big baddies." When two bizarre halves of a whole are woven together in such a way that keeps you guessing and right there in the story, it's a good thing.
As I've seen before with this author's books, some of the stuff reads a little off from PC norms of today (one ex : crooks generically labeled as "the white guy" and "the black guy"), and I laughed a little at the mention of how it was much easier to find a pay phone than an atm (definitely not true in the past 10 years or so), but I know this book is almost 20 years old now, so I'm guessing we're looking at a snapshot of time past,
This is nothing like the other two Howard books I'd read before, but I enjoyed it all the same. I'm guessing that it won't be long before I am tempted into grabbing the next book of hers I can get my hands on.
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A medieval Templar assigned to protect a secret treasure
A modern woman alone against a powerful sect
An ancient text ties them together before they even meet…
And then Grace came to Creag Dhu.
Read and re-read since the 90's, for some reason, this romance novel always draws me in. Probably because it blends different sub-genres of romance so expertly- and dang, is the hero hot.
A chick book for sure, I will admit I can see it being a hard one to get into because it's so not romance n
Re-read 11/7/12A medieval Templar assigned to protect a secret treasure
A modern woman alone against a powerful sect
An ancient text ties them together before they even meet…
And then Grace came to Creag Dhu.
Read and re-read since the 90's, for some reason, this romance novel always draws me in. Probably because it blends different sub-genres of romance so expertly- and dang, is the hero hot.
A chick book for sure, I will admit I can see it being a hard one to get into because it's so not romance novely for half the book (literally). (Heck, the H/h dont even physically interact until then!) But I happen to enjoy the journey we are taken on while we watch Grace grow and change into a completely different woman.
A romantic-suspense thriller with a paranormal time-traveling twist that ends up in historical romance territory, Son Of The Morning has it all- a fairly predictible mystery plot- (but that's only because The DaVinci code stole a portion of it :P)- a gutsy heroine who reveals her strength through edge of your seat action and a smokin hot, uber-alpha hero like only a romance novel can conjure- as well as the gritty sensual sex he lays down on her- and you have a page turner that stands the test of time, even after all these years....
Black Niall, an ex-communicated Templar Knight from the 1300's turned his back on God when He did nothing to save Niall's brothers in arms. But that didn't stop the Scotsman from taking on the job of being The Guardian of God's secrets. Still, it's his status as the King of Scotland's illegitimate half-brother and self-appointed protector of the throne, that motivates him now. Until the treasure is threatened by wisp of girl who haunts his dreams.
Grace St. John's world is turned upside down when her husband is murdered practically before her eyes- and all because she discovers an ancient secret hidden in old documents she's been translating.
Now she's on the run from a cold killer who wants what she knows. Determined to finish the work they began to avenge her loved ones, in the midst of it, incredibly, she makes contact with a man, a myth, from another time.
It will take more courage than she's ever imagined to stay alive- especially when the secret that's been hidden throughout the centuries leads her to Niall and to an impossible place and time.
Oh they defeat the bad guys but wait to you see how...
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Note, Nov. 13, 2015: I just discovered and corrected a typo I missed earlier; where I meant to say "genre conventions," I'd written "gene conventions." Maybe those are meetings of DNA researchers.... :-) While I'm not changing my assessment, I've also edited it to tone down some language that
Note, April 10, 2018: I just did a slight second edit on this review, to reflect the fact that I did add this book to my "Action Heroines" shelf after all --the kick-butt quotient isn't high, but it's there.Note, Nov. 13, 2015: I just discovered and corrected a typo I missed earlier; where I meant to say "genre conventions," I'd written "gene conventions." Maybe those are meetings of DNA researchers.... :-) While I'm not changing my assessment, I've also edited it to tone down some language that I've decided, in retrospect, was unkind.
Time travel! A smart, strong-inside heroine who learns to kick some butt! Secrets buried in long-lost documents! Medieval knights, and a castle in the Highlands! Action! Danger! Romance (sort of)! What more could one want for a great read? Well --quite a bit, actually, as the merely three-star rating (rounded up from two and a half!) indicates. :-( At one point, I even flirted with a one-star rating, but I thought this one more fairly recognized the genuine positives. (And my wife --we read it together as our "car book"-- has stated that she'd give it four stars, if she were on Goodreads and rating it.)
The positives are real. First, the Goodreads plot summary is accurate, but it doesn't begin to suggest Grace's situation in much of the book. An intellectual, gentle, slightly overweight woman of about 30, who's never been exposed to violence or significant hardship, in the first chapter she witnesses the sudden, brutal murders of both her husband and her brother, who are her only family and the center of her world. Framed for their killings and forced to flee for her life, with no warning and nothing but the clothes on her back and her laptop, she's forced to learn to survive on the street, and off the grid. Driven by a determination to avenge her loved ones, take down the killer, and translate the documents that contain the mystery he's willing to kill for, and needing to stay alive to do that, over time she believably transforms into a street-smart woman who can take care of herself and fight if she has to. She's a very well-drawn, admirable character that the reader readily likes and roots for. All of the other major characters are also vivid and well-developed, including a really hateful villain. The plot is nicely constructed, in the main; some aspects are broadly predictable, but it also included a couple of major surprises I did not see coming. Howard writes well, for the most part; there are a lot of finely-turned phrases, touches of wry humor that balance the serious tone, and effective construction of scenes and evocation of atmosphere. (One reviewer complains about the time devoted to her paralyzing terror, right after the trauma of the killings, over crossing a street to use an ATM machine, and to her problem in finding a place to relieve herself; but to me this was a way of showing the situation she started from, in all its extreme difficulty, and gets us right inside of her head in the midst of it, with no sugarcoating.)
For me, though, the negatives were significant. A major one is the treatment of the Templar angle. Since the 1950s (beginning with a now-discredited hoax which any number of pundits and writers still pass on as fact) a pop-culture mythology has grown up around the Templars as guardians of Deep Dark Secrets that supposedly discredit Christianity. The classical version is that Christ didn't die on the cross, but rather lived on to marry Mary Magdalene and sire the line that became the Merovingian royal family of France. Howard leaves out the Mary Magdalene-Merovingian scenario, but she creates her own wrinkles on the theme. Since my background gives me a strong grounding in both serious historical and biblical studies, I can recognize this as on a par with something you might read in a tabloid sold at the supermarket. It's not helped here by the fact that, even taking the book on its own terms, the Templars' interpretation of the physical evidence that supposedly leads them to their theological revelations is so logically flawed and implausible as to be ludicrous. But this idea isn't introduced until the penultimate chapter. And on the other hand, the author does take the existence of God seriously, and has a relatively high Christology; and Grace, in the same chapter, offers an excellent simple explanation of theodicy in terms of free will. So while Christians will have problems with the book, it won't please die-hard religion-phobic readers either.)
Howard's writing background and credentials are rooted in the romance genre; and though the cover of this edition and the cover copy don't clearly identify this book as a romance, it does embody some of the genre conventions. (It's no spoiler that Grace and Black Niall will be a couple, since the description and cover copy tell us so.) One of these is explicit sex; of course, not all romances feature this, but this one does, to a considerable degree. (Not all the encounters are between Grace and Niall; and not all of them involve intercourse, but most do.) These scenes, of course, can usually be skipped over (so if you want detailed evaluation of those parts, you're reading the wrong review!), except where crucial dialogue is embedded in them. But the problematic elements here go deeper; for a "romance" genre novelist, Howard can be singularly tone-deaf to what makes for real romance.
Grace and Niall, during the course of the book, experience a cross-time psychological connection (at first, just in dreams) that allows them, at times, to experience each other's voice and presence. This is never explained, and doesn't really come across as credible. But it focuses strictly on intense sexual attraction; there's very little if any element of getting to know each other as anything but sex objects. That continues when they meet in person. Given that Grace, at least, is portrayed as a person who takes sex seriously and has never been with any man but her husband, this comes across, as even she recognizes, as out of character. It isn't really plausible either, and rather than making the relationship come across as a "love for all time," as the cover copy bills it, it seems more like a heat period; I didn't feel any kind of personal emotional connection between hero and heroine for most of the book. And while I respect Grace for her past scruples, the juxtaposition with Niall's background of womanizing, and the unspoken implication that this somehow verifies his virility and desirability as a partner, tends, IMO, to reinforce a really unhealthy double standard for males and females.
A couple more quibbles are worth mentioning. Howard has done some historical research, shown by the array of apparently accurate factoids she can muster here and there. But it's apparent that her research consisted of mining for factual snippets in areas where she realizes that she's ignorant; she does not have a general warp-and-woof knowledge of the medieval world, and that allows her to make a few noticeable (to me, at least) errors. I was also frustrated with Grace for (view spoiler)[not taking Niall into her confidence immediately when she went back in time (hide spoiler)]. On balance, I did like the book; but it wasn't the four or five-star read it could have been with different handling.
Note: While this is clearly speculative fiction, I had some difficulty deciding whether to classify it as supernatural or science fiction. In the end, I opted for the former; but a case could be made for the latter.
Quick added note: When I typed the review last night, it was late and I was in a hurry (I'd twice been run off the computer earlier that evening by a thunderstorm), so I forgot to mention the bad language factor. There is some of this, including a number of f-words, which come mostly from the villain(s); but even the good characters cuss some. (Harmony has the saltiest speaking style of these, realistically for her background.) There were enough extenuating factors that this wasn't a big issue for me, but readers with even less tolerance for this kind of thing will want to be warned.
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Most of the Linda Howard books I have read have been solid 4 or 5 stars. This one did not make the grade. Found it a bit too like the Outlander books which cannot be trumped in my opinion. Same premise. Time travel, Highlands of Scotland.
I really cannot muster up much enthusiasm to write a full review.
The human heart had the capacity to love many people ...
Most of the Linda Howard books I have read have been solid 4 or 5 stars. This one did not make the grade. Found it a bit too like the Outlander books which cannot be trumped in my opinion. Same premise. Time travel, Highlands of Scotland.
I really cannot muster up much enthusiasm to write a full review.
The human heart had the capacity to love many people ...
I think I went into this with too high expectations. I was in the mood for a nice romance novel and add in the fact that I love time travel novels I was super interested. I'm also a huge fan of anything relating to the Templar's; however, I was not expecting it to be the focal point of this novel. I wasn't even going to try to compare it to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander time travel novels, because that's just setting any book up for failure as far as I'm concerned. But imagine my surprise
2.5 starsI think I went into this with too high expectations. I was in the mood for a nice romance novel and add in the fact that I love time travel novels I was super interested. I'm also a huge fan of anything relating to the Templar's; however, I was not expecting it to be the focal point of this novel. I wasn't even going to try to compare it to Diana Gabaldon's Outlander time travel novels, because that's just setting any book up for failure as far as I'm concerned. But imagine my surprise when I realize it's mostly this crime novel where the main character Grace basically spends over half the novel running away from bad guys – the time travel stuff doesn't even happen till the last ¾ of the book!! But yes, before the author gets around to the meat of the novel (where the two main characters actually meet) we've got a bunch of running from the bad guys, a few half dozen pages spent with her shopping in Kmart, some wig shopping, working minimum wage jobs…essentially a bunch of filler as far as I could tell.
As for the romance aspect of this book, I found it severely lacking, especially considering that the two main characters did not meet until practically the very end. I like my romances where the two characters meet and build up a believable romance/relationship, rather than this novel where the two characters continue to have… we'll call it 'dream sex', and when they finally do meet it's a 'we were destined to be together' type of thing. The ending, okay, I'll admit… by the end it got me and I really liked those two. Even had a few 'aww' moments… but overall I wasn't satisfied with this story.
Interested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog!
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I was enthralled from page one. Well, let me back up - page one of the first chapter. Someone really needs to tell Ms Howard that prologues aren't normally 13 pages long.
Grace St John is archaeological scholar. Fluent in five ancient languages, married to another archaeologist and the love of her life. She never imagined that a cache of old documents would soon set her on a path of no return, one in which everything she holds dear and everything she has ever believed in will be put to the test.I was enthralled from page one. Well, let me back up - page one of the first chapter. Someone really needs to tell Ms Howard that prologues aren't normally 13 pages long. But I digress. Grace is a scholar, a tad overweight, a bit nerdy. She speaks five ancient languages fluently, she's married to the only man she's ever had sex with, sickeningly in love with him. She doesn't wear makeup and one of her best friends is a teenage Bill Gates. I was truly at a loss as to how this could be a love story but I was so wrong. This entire novel is a love story, in differing degrees and once I had a chance to sleep on it and think about it, I came to the conclusion that Ms Howard truly outdid herself. This is brilliant.
The story starts out with Grace working on translating some ancient Celtic papers that hint at a lost treasure "more priceless than gold". It's written in several languages: Old English, Latin, Old French, ancient Gaelic...right up her alley and area of expertise. But someone wants these papers and they will kill to get them. Grace watches her husband and brother brutally murdered right in front of her eyes, protecting her whereabouts. (love of a husband/family) She goes on the run with nothing more than her laptop, the papers and the clothes on her back. Her teenage hacker friend helps her to clean out her bank account so she can leave the area until she knows whats going on (love of a friend). On the run, scared out of her mind, unable to conceive what's happened so far, she ends up in a series of towns working for cash, living in ratholes but all the while working on deciphering the Celtic papers.
It's while she is in Chicago that she begins her transformation. (love for her husband, brother and self) She discovers that the papers detail the story of one Knight Templar - Black Niall - who is guarding a treasure of untold riches. In shock that her family was slaughtered, that she herself is the target of a madman, for treasure? With the help of a boardinghouse landlady and a scrappy street fighter (love of friends) she begins her change from mousy, nondescript Grace to a woman who will stop at nothing for vengeance. She loses weight, changes her name and appearance and learns a few self defense techniques. Her husband and brother will not have died in vain.
I really loved Grace. This story is as much about her as it is about the treasure. If you've heard the saying that you don't know what you can accomplish until you have no other choice - this is Grace. It's heartbreaking to watch her exist, because that's all she is doing for a good part of the book. Unable to let herself grieve for her lost family, she becomes nearly anorexic, unable to sleep. Surviving but not living. Don't get me wrong, she doesn't turn into some badass chick overnight - or at all - she just does what she has to, when she has to, in order to carry on. Eventually she discovers a way to actually time travel to the era of Black Niall (a spoiler I won't give away) in the hopes she can prevent the killers from locating the Treasure (and yes, that's capitalized for a reason).
The relationship between her and Niall (romantic love) and the position that Niall holds (love of God and mankind) are spoilers which I won't get into but let me just say they are powerful. At this point, I could not have put this book down had I tried. The ending was wonderful. 5 stars and a recommended read
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Grace St. John is a twentieth-century research scholar who has recently begun deciphering some 14th century documents involving the Knights Templar. Then her husband & brother are brutally murdered, and she is on the run, protecting her life and the documents that someone desperately wants. It was interesting
I recently finished another reread of Son of the Morning. This is one of those books that I just have to reread every other year. I give it 5*+, and would rate it 10* if that were possible.Grace St. John is a twentieth-century research scholar who has recently begun deciphering some 14th century documents involving the Knights Templar. Then her husband & brother are brutally murdered, and she is on the run, protecting her life and the documents that someone desperately wants. It was interesting to see her evolve from a very loved and protected wife & sister to a street-smart woman who knows how to fight for what she wants.
Black Niall is a 14th century Scottish warrior who is the Guardian of the Templar Treasure & Power. In the course of a year, Grace discovers just enough to know that she really needs to know more - and that she needs Niall's help, which is where the time travel comes in. I thought the lead-in and preparation for her time-traveling was very well-done.
Readers who picked this up for the romance were somewhat disappointed, but not I. There were numerous little vignettes of Niall and Grace sensing the other & becoming aware of each other through dreams, and their meeting actually didn't take place until well into the book. And even then the romance didn't overpower the story, for which I am grateful, as I think it would have diluted a very powerful suspense tale. Don't get me wrong - I love the love story of Grace and Niall, but I loved this book because it also had a very well-developed plot in both time periods. And reading about the mystique of the Templars & their secrets is always interesting for me.
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I read the paperback several years ago and recently listened to the audiobook. I think the audiobook was even better. The narrator Natalie Ross did a wonderful job.
Grace was living a normal happily married life working as an archaeologist/translator. Then her husband and brother were killed and she became a fugitive fleeing from the powerful people who killed them. How she fled, what she did to get away, stay away, live under other identities and ou
Wonderful. Exciting. I loved the heroine Grace.I read the paperback several years ago and recently listened to the audiobook. I think the audiobook was even better. The narrator Natalie Ross did a wonderful job.
Grace was living a normal happily married life working as an archaeologist/translator. Then her husband and brother were killed and she became a fugitive fleeing from the powerful people who killed them. How she fled, what she did to get away, stay away, live under other identities and outsmart them was exciting and amazing. The author creatively transformed Grace into another type of person. About 70% of the story was about that and it was great. The last part of the story involved time travel and that was a good story too. The characters and events were interesting and creatively well done. I didn't want to stop reading.
There is a little fantasy about magical religious power and time travel.
DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: about 14 hrs. Swearing language: strong but rarely used. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: more than thirteen. Settings: 1309 - 1322 Scotland and 1996 Minneapolis, Eau Claire, and Chicago, US. Copyright: 1997. Genre: romantic suspense with time travel and fantasy.
I could even forgive Grace melting into a besotted puddle when the hero shows all his chauvinistic-ish manliness (let's not forget this was published in 1997).
Seriously, this is a very good romantic suspense novel, so much that I actually read the whole book in one day, keeping my suspension of disbelief in high gear, granted, but one-sitti 3.5 stars, rounded down because Cringe-Worthy Terms in Romance Books but hey, time-travel, historical romance and an interesting heroine? With an actual plot?
I could even forgive Grace melting into a besotted puddle when the hero shows all his chauvinistic-ish manliness (let's not forget this was published in 1997).
Seriously, this is a very good romantic suspense novel, so much that I actually read the whole book in one day, keeping my suspension of disbelief in high gear, granted, but one-sittings always count for something. ...more
This time-travel tale is set in USA 1996 and Scotland 1322, and told in 3rd person. Howard weaves a tall tale involving the Knights Templar, Nazi Germany, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the ominous Foundation, led by a present day fictional villain dubbed Parish.
The historical basis:
On October 13, 1307, King Philip of France — coffers nearly empty — ordered
This time-travel tale is set in USA 1996 and Scotland 1322, and told in 3rd person. Howard weaves a tall tale involving the Knights Templar, Nazi Germany, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the ominous Foundation, led by a present day fictional villain dubbed Parish.
The historical basis:
On October 13, 1307, King Philip of France — coffers nearly empty — ordered the immediate mass arrest of all Knights Templar within French domains in Europe, including the Grand Master. He had them tortured severely until they confessed to heinous blasphemy, sodomy, etc., so he could declare their order heretical and confiscate their vast treasury. Several Knights were burned at the stake. Pope Clement V — living in France at the time, not in Rome — was "persuaded" to support the French king, so in 1312, Catholicism officially abolished the Templar Order. However, King Philip never got his hands on their treasury. (Where did it all go? There's gotta be a story there!)
The first half of the book is not really a romance, it's more like a suspense-thriller, but with dream-sex. I liked the first half best, with Grace running from Parish, trying to survive on the lam. Trying to figure out why Parish is interested in Black Neill of 14C Scotland, who guarded the treasury of the Knights Templar. Howard masterfully transformed Grace from gentle scholar to terrified hare to kick-ass queen of the road. Rarely a dull moment, except the Chicago section went on a little too long (even though I really liked Harmony, and Grace's "teacher" Mateo).
The second half is set in historical Scotland, about 1320, roughly 12 years after the Knights Templar were disbanded. It was implausible and slightly disappointing. The only way through it is to suspend disbelief.
About a dozen sexy scenes throughout the book. Too much for my taste, dilluting the plot. Too much rumination, reflection, internal dialogue ••• totally slowed the pace. I liked Grace but wasn't crazy about Black Neill, but gotta say, he is one hot warrior dude!
Brown's Da Vinci Code (published after SotM) echoes this book, slightly, especially with the (view spoiler)[ focus on the gender of god, "...both Yahweh and Ashara, god and goddess...and then the priests deliberately destroyed all the altars built to Ashara...and tried to erase knowledge of her. Yahweh became Jehovah, the one God." (hide spoiler)].
Quibbles: The speed by which Grace fell for Neill bothered me, given how much she had loved her husband. Sex in her dreams, with Ford dead only two months. Or was it real sex?
Bottom line, I liked Son of the Morning but didn't totally love it. I think The Eight offers a better plot based in alternate history. Not as much earthy sex, granted, but there is an element of romance.
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Son of the Morning is the one Howard's book that has stayed with me ever since I first read it six years ago. It crosses genre lines like a suspense/mystery/highlander with time travel. Grace character makes a convincing transformation from a book smart , shy woman to a street smart heroine with sheer determination to avenge the death of her loved ones. Drawn by dreams and bonded by fate, the love story of Grace and Niall of Scotland is atypical of the standard romance out there. This nov #reread
Son of the Morning is the one Howard's book that has stayed with me ever since I first read it six years ago. It crosses genre lines like a suspense/mystery/highlander with time travel. Grace character makes a convincing transformation from a book smart , shy woman to a street smart heroine with sheer determination to avenge the death of her loved ones. Drawn by dreams and bonded by fate, the love story of Grace and Niall of Scotland is atypical of the standard romance out there. This novel is already 18 years old, and by no means a perfect book. But I totally dig it;) ...more
The plot of this book was all over the place, with a lot of mumbo jumbo about not understanding God, etc. This was just a device so we didn't question the nature of t
It seems to me that Son of the Morning was Linda Howard's attempt to write a book à la Outlander: modern woman with some useful knowledge time travels and find husky Scottish warrior. Like Outlander, there's also a husband in the modern times and a big measure of guilt because she shouldn't feel this attraction to the Scottish hunk.The plot of this book was all over the place, with a lot of mumbo jumbo about not understanding God, etc. This was just a device so we didn't question the nature of the treasure - did it really kept Niall young? etc. The reasons why the villain went to these extremes to get these papers made no sense whatsoever. Why not kill them all once you're sure you have everything in your hands, specially since they had no clue what the papers were about?
The leads met in person for the first time at around the 70% mark - I kid you not. In the meantime, they know about each other via dreams, where they meet to have sex. **eyeroll** Most of the book is about Grace running away from her former boss and finding her inner strength to fight back. After a while, I just got bored of this.
The best parts of the book were the sex scenes, which were scorching (Linda Howard definitely knows how to write those.) Because it took so long for the leads to meet, I didn't believe their romance one little bit.
Natalie Rose was good but her voice for Niall was really bad. Between trying to sound masculine and the Scottish accent, sometimes her voice would sound garbled.
Glad it's out of my TBR but it didn't really deliver.
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This was supposed to be a time-travel romance. But what I actually read was completely unexpected--and so much better! Barring some awkward plot twists towards the end, this was a good read.
The description of the book above is fairly accurate. Grace, an archeologist specializing in medieval languages, stumbles upon a set of documents relating to the great treasure of the Knights of the Templar. Soon after, a mysterious organi
3.5 stars, but rounded up to 4 for a fantastic first 2/3 of the novel.This was supposed to be a time-travel romance. But what I actually read was completely unexpected--and so much better! Barring some awkward plot twists towards the end, this was a good read.
The description of the book above is fairly accurate. Grace, an archeologist specializing in medieval languages, stumbles upon a set of documents relating to the great treasure of the Knights of the Templar. Soon after, a mysterious organization seeking the secrets of the treasure themselves try to kill Grace to steal the documents.
The second part about going to the past to find the Black Niall, not so much.
A majority of the book focused on Grace's development from a sheltered, bookish woman living in the suburbs to a hardened woman more than capable of defending herself on the streets. After the evil organization starts hunting her down, Grace is suddenly on the run with no money and no friends. She must learn to evade seasoned assassins by traveling along the road by night, hiding herself in crowds, and using public restrooms in gas stations to "clean up" after days of not showering. It was fascinating to read about Grace's transformation in a situation in which she had to either adapt quickly or die. The author did an excellent job navigating us through the seedier streets of the cities of the US, where violence and poverty is a part of everyday life.
That was the good part.
But when the time-travel elements started to seep into the story, the story turned awkwardly bizarre.
Grace, while on the run, is driven by her desire for vengeance and using the secret of the documents against the organization. The documents are connected to Black Niall, her main romantic interest. They interact across time through dreams, mostly. Even up until here, the story flowed smoothly.
When the time-travel aspect really started to gain speed, however, I was already 2/3 into the novel, comfortably situated in the story of a desperate woman who was hardening herself to fight against the dark organization that ruined her life. After almost starving to death and narrowly escaping the men hired to kill her, Grace finally finds a comfortable rhythm of moving from city to city, making up false identities, disguising herself, and learning to fight dirty. At this point, I just want to read a story about a woman kicking ass, not a woman falling head-over-heels in
The transition from the survival story to the love story was too quick and jarring, especially since the "survival" part was gritty and suspenseful, and the "love" part was like a regular romance novel. I felt like I was reading two separate novels.
The ending also left me unsatisfied. I won't spoil it, but rather than the kickass woman Grace had become, she was reduced to a damsel in distress, waiting for a big hunk of man to come resolve all her problems. While I don't usually mind damsel-in-distress scenarios, I felt a bit cheated in this case since I had watched Grace grow from a meek woman into one more than capable of fighting her own fights. Why did the author feel compelled to use Black Niall as the crutch? I just don't understand.
If the story had ended better, I would have been surer of my 4-star rating. However, while I hated the end, I loved the first 2/3, bumping my rating to a solid 3.5. Good story, Linda Howard. I just wish you told one story, rather than smooshing two together.
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Well, this is different. Not quite what I expected. I was expecting more romance but this was more suspense with a bit of history thrown in. Both characters didn't get together, as in appeared in the same scene together until way past the 60% mark or was it 70%? Nonetheless, the things that Grace went through kept me interested until Grace and Niall finally met and whew, what a meeting it was. This is not your usual Linda Howard romantic suspense. As I have said, this is more suspense or m
Okay.Well, this is different. Not quite what I expected. I was expecting more romance but this was more suspense with a bit of history thrown in. Both characters didn't get together, as in appeared in the same scene together until way past the 60% mark or was it 70%? Nonetheless, the things that Grace went through kept me interested until Grace and Niall finally met and whew, what a meeting it was. This is not your usual Linda Howard romantic suspense. As I have said, this is more suspense or mystery than romance but Ms. Howard's signature of hot alpha male hero, strong heroine, sizzling chemistry, steamy sex scenes still shines through.
3.5 to 4 stars!
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Son of the Morning caught me by surprise. I didn't expect this kind of emotional roller coaster mixed with time travel. A studious girl on the run who not only doesn't fall down in a crying heap of mush but takes the bull by the horns and survives. I was impressed. Strong female lead, hot highlander, layered mystery and non stop action = great read!
4.5 stars...Son of the Morning caught me by surprise. I didn't expect this kind of emotional roller coaster mixed with time travel. A studious girl on the run who not only doesn't fall down in a crying heap of mush but takes the bull by the horns and survives. I was impressed. Strong female lead, hot highlander, layered mystery and non stop action = great read!
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Even though it took... oh, around 250 pages for the main characters to finally meet, (I kept thinking, OK, get ON with it already! Time travel so you can meet him already! *wink*)however, the build up was interesting in itself and kept me intrigued. And when they DO finally meet, it makes up for the slow, seemingly never-
So, as I was reading this book, I couldn't decide if I loved it, or if I was annoyed with it! Now that I have finally finished it though, I'm going to have to go with loved it.Even though it took... oh, around 250 pages for the main characters to finally meet, (I kept thinking, OK, get ON with it already! Time travel so you can meet him already! *wink*)however, the build up was interesting in itself and kept me intrigued. And when they DO finally meet, it makes up for the slow, seemingly never-ending suspenseful beginning! The chemistry between Niall and Grace is great. And their journey's I found to be heartwarming and endearing. I give it four stars, only because of the slow start.
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Funny little book, plenty of problems, but powerfully gripping too.
If you are looking for a solid world building or logic or even romance, I'm not sure this is the book for you. Still, it was difficult to put it down.
Funny little book, plenty of problems, but powerfully gripping too.
If you are looking for a solid world building or logic or even romance, I'm not sure this is the book for you. Still, it was difficult to put it down.
Previous to this, I only read one book by Linda Howard 
and it had quite a bit of humor. There was no humor in this one - in fact, it was very suspenseful and even a bit violent (nothing too bad, though)
So there's a whole lot of stuff that goes on and I can't even give it an adequate summary. If you like time travel, large doses of crazy villains, lots of history, a super sexy Sco
What a surprise! Can't compare this to anything else I have ever read. It was very different but in a good way.Previous to this, I only read one book by Linda Howard and it had quite a bit of humor. There was no humor in this one - in fact, it was very suspenseful and even a bit violent (nothing too bad, though)
So there's a whole lot of stuff that goes on and I can't even give it an adequate summary. If you like time travel, large doses of crazy villains, lots of history, a super sexy Scotsman (this is kind of rude to say, but can't forget his sizable package!), some great secondary characters (really liked Harmony) and some sizzling love scenes, well, you are going to love this book! Second half moves much faster than the first half, imo.
Something that doesn't generally appeal to me is when the same heroine has two love interests. That's very hard for an author to write. As a reader, my loyalty would generally go to the first love and when the second one was introduced, I'd be kind of upset and not want it to happen. Probably the way I'm explaining this is not very clear but I don't want to give too much away. Let's just say Ms. Howard masterfully wrote this scenario and I loved the way she worked it out. Please do not read this if you don't want to know the ending. (view spoiler)[ When I was younger, I really thought that it would be impossible to love again if my husband died or left. That hasn't happened to me but I do believe it's possible to love again. It doesn't lessen the love that you had for your first husband or lover because you go on with your life and find a new love. In fact, I think if you were very much in love and loyal in your first relationship, you may have an even greater chance at finding a loving and healthy relationship the second time around. Gee, it's hard to explain! So here is a peek into Grace's mind on this matter: The human heart has the capacity to love many people, and none of those loves diminished it for the others. Naill had been in her heart even before Ford died, a tiny burning kernel of interest and respect. Losing Ford hadn't extinguished that spark. Instead it had grown during the long months when she was alone, giving her the strength to go on. At first she loved him as a person, and later she had loved him as a man. It had been a banked fire when she had gone back to his time, and when he stirred the coals the fire had blazed into an inferno. How many women were so lucky as to have two such loves? Plus, I feel that in the face of tremendous loss, a new love can really help you to heal. People bond through trials and painful circumstances. (hide spoiler)]
This was recommended to me - Thank you, Jennifer!
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(view spoiler)[I was so sad about Ford and Bryant. Their ending just seemed so brutal that I couldn't believe it really happened. I kept waiting for it to be corrected. I was really choked up when she said her goodbyes, it just didn't seem fair. (hide spoiler)]
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Although slightly different, this book reminded me of the old Highlander TV series I used to watch as a k
I was kind of going out on the limb with this one. Time travel really isn't something I thought I would be into, but as a read the blurb about this book and the highly popular Outlander books I thought I would give it a try. I figured I would start with this books since I was already familiar with, and have enjoyed, Linda Howard's writing. In turn I am glad I did because I really enjoyed it.Although slightly different, this book reminded me of the old Highlander TV series I used to watch as a kid with my dad. And after putting two and two together I realized this may actually be a genre that I really enjoy.
The book itself was amazing and pulled me in from the beginning. If fact I had a hard time choosing sleep over finishing the book. In the end I chose sleep, but only because I have a 4 year old that doesn't understand the need to sleep in on a Sunday. The only reason I gave it 4 stars rather than 5 was purely selfish... I wanted an epilogue with the baby :-)
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I have to admit at first I didn't particularly like it, though time-travel is one of my favorite genre, but unfortunately the actual time-travel happened in the last fifty pages or so.
The prologue was too long, then, the pacing was a tad too slow for my liking, the heroine was too wimpy for a romantic suspens
This is one of those book that will keep you at the edge of the seat, wishing for the two leads to meet already, while hoping the author would postpone the meeting for a little while longer.I have to admit at first I didn't particularly like it, though time-travel is one of my favorite genre, but unfortunately the actual time-travel happened in the last fifty pages or so.
The prologue was too long, then, the pacing was a tad too slow for my liking, the heroine was too wimpy for a romantic suspense, and the whole conundrum around the Templar treasure and the power it held slowed the pacing even more.
Then, slowly, slowly the story picked up speed and when the heroine underwent her enormous change, metamorphosing from a witing violet of an academic into tough, street-smart chick, determined to take on her husband's and brother's killer, I knew I had quite a little gem in my hand. It took a while, but I started to enjoy the story, and having fun with it.
More than a romance or a suspense novel, this is a story of growth, of maturing, of change a lone woman goes through when everything she knew and loved is gone. Grace grew from a shy little girl (of 30) into a strong, tenacious, resilient woman in front of my eyes. She matured into a woman worthy of a fourteenth-century Scottish warrior. And though the time between the beginning and their actual meeting was quite long, I understood it, and welcomed it.
Because Grace wasn't ready to meet her destiny with Niall at the beginning of the book. First, she was married to another, then she was just a shell of a woman, frightened and alone, incapable of taking care of herself. She needed that journey to grow into the new woman, the woman Niall could love, the woman who was worthy to be with him, to stand at his side, to stand at the Guardian's side.
Sure, the whole in-between plot and story might seem like a cheap trick to prolong "the agony" and fill the pages, but once you get to the end of this book, you'll see the wait for worth it. Grace needed to grow up, to learn, and she did, splendidly.
Though the suspense might not have been the strongest, it still packed quite a punch. The villain was twisted and prepared to do anything to achieve his goal, the tension was palpable, the vise tightening around Grace tangible and frightening. And just when I thought I knew everything, Ms. Howard threw in another curve ball that left me reeling.
This book held just a hint of romance, concentrating mostly on the history and mythos of the Knights of the Temple and the suspense subplot, but I didn't miss the romantic aspect at all. The little vignettes of Niall and Grace getting to "know" each other through dreams, never actually talking to each other or touching until almost the end of the book, kept me satisfied on that front, and when they finally found themselves in the same time frame...Oh, boy, was I happy to have stuck around and waited.
This was a nicely-written, tightly-paced, and well-developped plot with great characters, wonderful suspense and tension, lovely and rather tender romance between a medieval Scottish rogue and a twentieth-century scholar, with that added mystique of the secrets of the Templars.
A wonderful, engaging book.
Description: A scholar specializing in ancient manuscripts, Grace St. John never imagined that a cache of old documents she discovered was the missing link to a lost Celtic treasure. But as soon as she deciphers the legend of the Knights Templar - long fabled to hold the key to unlimited power - Grace becomes the target of a ruthless killer bent on abusing the coveted force. Determined to stop him, Grace needs the help of a warrior bound by duty to uphold the Templar's secret for all eternity. But to find him - and to save herself - she must go back in time to fourteenth-century Scotland and to Black Niall, a fierce man of dark fury and raw, unbridled desire. Audiobook read by Natalie Ross.
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Like most other reviewers, I'm very unsure what to make of this book. To butcher that over-used cliché- it really doesn't do what it says on the tin.
Because on the tin it says it's a romance. A highlander time travel romance to be exact. Well, technically I'm not sure you can really get away with that statement or that classification since the Hero and Heroine DO NOT EVEN MEET UNTIL THE LAST THIRD OF THE BOOK!
It became clear right from the first chapter that it was going to be slightly d
Hmmm...Like most other reviewers, I'm very unsure what to make of this book. To butcher that over-used cliché- it really doesn't do what it says on the tin.
Because on the tin it says it's a romance. A highlander time travel romance to be exact. Well, technically I'm not sure you can really get away with that statement or that classification since the Hero and Heroine DO NOT EVEN MEET UNTIL THE LAST THIRD OF THE BOOK!
It became clear right from the first chapter that it was going to be slightly different from the various other Time Travel Romances I've read in that the heroine is already married at the start of the book. So I figured because of this and everything that happens in chapter one, it might take slightly longer than usual for her to jump back in time. But two thirds of the book before it happens? Really?
It's a shame because the suspenseful on-the-run-from-a-psycho-killer plot probably would have kept me entertained quite well had it not been for the fact that I was waiting all the time for the time jump to happen. So that sense of impatience really ruined by enjoyment. So then I thought, okay this last third better be EXTREMELY good to make up for it....well, they had some hot sex, but I'm looking for love and romance and you can't accomplish that with any sort of credibility squidged into the last few pages, almost as an afterthought.
Oh, and this part of the blurb "....enlists this brazen knight to join her in a modern-day search for a killer" is just an out and out lie! There is NO hunt for a killer. AT ALL! Let alone a "modern-day search" with forensics and evidence and stuff. It begs the question has the blurb writer even read the book?
So, essentially this is like two separate books made into one with some enjoyable elements and a lot of potential, that unfortunately fails miserably in the execution.
3 stars :/
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The major part of the book centers around Grace, a sweet, pretty, bookish
This book is a hard one to review. The books seems to contain two completely different stories in one. Unfortunately, they don't slide smoothly together like intended. If one is looking for a good romance, this will probably disappoint. The H/h don't even meet until the last third of the book. I was one who approached it as a romance and spent the best part of the book frustrated, almost missing the importance of the story.The major part of the book centers around Grace, a sweet, pretty, bookish type, who inadvertently witnesses the murder of both her husband and her brother. What follows is a deftly written semi-suspenseful look at how Grace is forced to grow from a naive, secure homebody to a street-wise, intelligent fugitive as she works to uncover the mystery that holds the reason for the murders and the proof of the murderer. If I had given up trying to figure out when our Hero would appear, I would have thoroughly enjoyed this part of the story. Grace is a wonderful character who is both believable, lovable and honest in her growth.
The last third of the book centers around her being transported back in time to FINALLY meet the man all the mystery centers on. This is where the story falls completely apart. This newly strong, independent woman sees our hero and instantly melts into a puddle of mush! He kisses her one time and she automatically climaxes (literally). From there it's only downhill. If one is looking for a relationship here, skip the story. If one likes only sex without the cumbersome "getting to know you" scenes, this is your book - well, your end of a book. Everything else is glossed over quickly until what started out as a 5 star read becomes a confusing and disappointing stretch for a 3 star.
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BUT. But. It's SO FUN! I mean, her flight from the villains, is actually really tense and thrilling. Her frantic research, conducted on the run, is kind of awesomely interesting - made even cuter by the 1990s technology of modems, etc. And she has smoking hot dreams about Black Niall, who is described like our favorite Mohican:
These two don't get together til late in the book, but it's so smoking hot that it's totally worth the wait.
I don't know. This will always be one of my favorites. It's just unapologetically bananas.
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This book is more like a suspense, action story with the majority of the story finding Grace on the run from the bad guys. She buys disguises, she learns how to fight dirty, she moves from city to city changing her name. All the while she is translating documents that lead her to "the treasure".
This book reminded me of
Any issues I have with this book are due to the fact that it was nothing like I was expecting. The tone was so very different than the time travel romance I was expecting to read.This book is more like a suspense, action story with the majority of the story finding Grace on the run from the bad guys. She buys disguises, she learns how to fight dirty, she moves from city to city changing her name. All the while she is translating documents that lead her to "the treasure".
This book reminded me of the Da Vinci Code with all the religious secrets, the Foundation trying to steal the treasure and a bunch of weird hooey about "The Church" and conspiracy theory stuff at the end.
The romance was secondary to everything else. We hear endlessly (in Niall's time) about all of the many, many, many women he beds. Grace and Niall have dream sex or she watches him with his many, many, many women in her dreams. They don't even meet until the last 25% of the book. That was when the story really took off and got interesting.
So, as with all Linda Howard books the writing was excellent. And the story as a whole was a cracklin' good read. But it just wasn't what I expected or was in the mood for. Reading about Niall and his many, many, many women for the majority of the book didn't really put me in a romantic mood. So, read it but know what you are getting.
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Linda S. Howington is an American best-selling romance author writing under the pseudonym Linda Howard. After 21 years of penning stories for her own enjoyment, she submitted a novel for publication which was very successful. Her first work was published by Silhouette in 1982. She is a charter member of Romance
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.Linda S. Howington is an American best-selling romance author writing under the pseudonym Linda Howard. After 21 years of penning stories for her own enjoyment, she submitted a novel for publication which was very successful. Her first work was published by Silhouette in 1982. She is a charter member of Romance Writers of America and in 2005 Howard was awarded their Career Achievement Award.
Linda Howard lives in Gadsden, Alabama with her husband, Gary F. Howington, and two golden retrievers. She has three grown stepchildren and three grandchildren.
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