Title: Wild Highland MagicAuthor: Kendra Leigh Castle
Publisher: Sourcebooks
ISBN: 9781402218569
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Available: May 1, 2009
This ARC was provided to me by Sourcebooks - Thanks Danielle!
First sentence: The dungeons stank of death.
Catriona MacInnes, along with her sisters Skye and Poppy, are half werewolves, half witches growing up in sunny California with their father, Freddie. Never taught how to use or control their powers, never knowing they weren't unique - they were surprised when their father announced a family trip to the Scottish Highlands. A trip to meet his brother Duncan, Alpha of the MacInnes Pack.
Upon arriving at Iargail, the ancestral home of the Macinnes', Cat could see that it was going to take some time to mend the rift between Duncan and her father. Uncle Duncan immediately warmed to the three sisters though.
Cat soon runs into Bastian an Morgaine, a wizard prince staying in a cottage on Duncan's land. Hiding out would be how Duncan sees it, but since he is his daughter-in-law's brother, he lets him stay.
Bastian is hiding things though. The first being a narial - this is a shadowy creature that only prowls in the dark and has been tormenting Bastian's family for years. He slowly takes chunks of their soul until they break. Bastian's family had this curse put upon them by the king of the daemons. He is also hiding Lucien Andrakkar, a dragon. Bastian rescued Lucien from the Blighted Kingdom where he had been held and tortured by the daemons for a year. He is hoping that this dragon will help rid him of the narial. If Lucien will just give Bastian some of his blood, by his own free will, Bastian might have a chance to defeat the curse.
Things heat up quickly between Cat and Bastian and their kisses leave "marks" on their bodies - and souls. Unbeknownst to Cat, she has mated with Bastian for life. Bastian soon realizes that by mating with Cat, he has doomed her to his fate.
I adored this book. I loved the way that it was set in the Scottish Highlands, which you immediately think "past-times" - but it is set in the present, so there are different references to pop culture which made it amusing. The characters were werewolves, or dragons, or wizards - but this didn't read like a fantasy novel. The characters were so human, the emotions so strong, that this is who I would expect to run into in the Scottish Highlands! I was 2/3rds of the way through the book, when I mentioned to Danielle that I hoped it was the beginning of a series. She told me it was actually the third book! It read very well as a stand alone. Now I can't wait to get my hands on the first two books of this series - Call of the Highland Moon and Dark Highland Fire!
To meet Kendra and read a little more about the book - please hop on over to Yankee Romance Reviewers where the celebration is just starting!
