"Exciting romantic fantasy"

In the ninth century, women have always loved Celtic Druid Lord Cian MacKeltar, who as the only male in his family (his sire died just before his birth) has always been spoiled by the females. Still he enjoys studying Druid tomes as much as bedding the lasses until Samhain "buried" him alive in an underground library sealed for eternity. Over the centuries Cian became a myth although he still lives in a hellish dark mirror prison.

While Chicago based archaeology graduate student Jessi St. James plans a post PhD life filled with boyfriends, Lucan Trevayne panics over a break and entry. Someone stole the Dark Mirror amongst other "Unseelie" Hallows artifacts at a time when his tithe is due.

Professor Keene asks Jessi to accept a delivery for him. She does and looks at the ancient mirror, but sees a hunk looking back from the glass at her. Cian is freed but knows his powerful and most likely affluent enemy still lives and is coming for him and the mirror. With Jessi at his side to keep the woman he is falling in love with safe, Cian knows he must stop Lucan from regaining what he lost and regain the final fourth Unseelie Hallows object.

This exciting romantic fantasy never slows down from the moment that Cian is trapped inside the Dark Mirror until the final confrontation. The story line is action packed (the first paragraph above is only a few pages) as the ninth century warriors battle in the twenty-first century with Lucan having all the advantages expect the love of a good woman. Karen Marie Mining provides a terrific saga.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 23, 2005

Summary

POWERFUL. SENSUAL. SEDUCTIVE.
Powerful. Sensual. Seductive. He is all that is shamelessly erotic in a man. In her sexiest Highlander novel yet, New York Times bestselling author Karen Moning stirs up a sizzling brew of ancient mystery and modern passion as she brings together a devilishly handsome Celtic warrior trapped in time . . . and the woman who's about to pay the ultimate price for freeing him. Age-old secrets haunt them. Deadly danger and irresistible desire shadow their every move. It's a relationship for the ages. And all that separates them is a mere thirteen hundred years. . . .

Jessi St. James has got to get a life. Too many hours studying ancient artifacts has given the hardworking archaeology student a bad case of sex on the brain. So she figures she must be dreaming when she spies a gorgeous half- naked man staring out at her from inside the silvery glass of an ancient mirror. But when a split-second decision saves her from a terrifying attempt on her life, Jessi suddenly finds herself confronting six and a half feet of smoldering, insatiable alpha male.

Heir to the arcane magic of his Druid ancestors, eleven centuries ago Cian MacKeltar was trapped inside the Dark Glass, one of four coveted Unseelie Hallows, objects of unspeakable power. When the Dark Glass is stolen, an ancient enemy will stop at nothing to reclaim it, destroying everything in his path--including the one woman who may just hold the key to breaking the ninth-century Highlander's dark spell. For Jessi, the muscle-bound sex god in the mirror is not only tantalizingly real, he's offering his protection--from exactly what, Jessi doesn't know. And all he wants in exchange is the exquisite pleasure of sharing her bed.

Yet even as Cian's insatiable hunger begins to work its dark magic on Jessi, his ancient enemy is about to obtain the final and most dangerous of the Unseelie Hallows--and the ninth-century Highlander must stop him from getting it. Nothing less than the very fabric of the universe and two passionately entwined lives are at stake--as Cian and Jessi fight to claim the kind of love that comes along but once in an ice age. . . .