"magical time travel fantasy romance"

American Navy pilot Lieutenant Alexander MacNeil is interviewed by London Times reporter Lindsay Pawlowski on their way to Lossiemouth Air Base on the northeast coast of Scotland. A hole opens in the air, ringed with fire with two red eyes looking at them. They pass through the opening and find themselves in Scotland of 1306 where they meet Robert the Bruce who knights Alex after he kills an Englishman loyal to the English king.

Alex and Lindsay meet the elf whose enchantment transported them to the past and he tells them that they ruined his spell and his only goal now is to make them suffer. He transports them seven years in the future where Alex befriends his ancestor Hector, the Laird of Barra. He fights, under the banner of Edward, Robert's brother and is so successful he is awarded ownership of an inhabited island. Alex takes pride in his prowess as a warrior and the wealth and status he earned but Lindsay fears that the man she loves is adapting too well to his new environment and doesn't want to return home even if the elf shows them the way.

Fans of James Henley will thoroughly enjoy this magical time travel fantasy romance. Readers get a good look at the Scottish culture, values, and living conditions of medieval times. Perhaps because Alex was a warrior in the twenty-first century he adapts to his new life but Lindsay wants to go home, because she notes the way the Scottish men treat their women. Julianne Lee has a beautiful voice and if KNIGHT TENEBRAE is any indication, she has a great future ahead of her.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 22, 2006

Summary

Trapped in a time and place not their own, two strangers find the only thing they can count on is one another...

It begins when an American fighter jet is discovered submerged in Scotland's Firth of Clyde. Clearly it has been there for centuries. Clearly, that is impossible...

British reporter Lindsay Palowski is sent to cover the story. But Alex MacNeil, the arrogant American pilot she interviews, dismisses it—and her—out of hand.

Then McNeil's jet, with Lindsay aboard, crashes into the water after passing through a fiery vortex that appears out of nowhere. The plane goes under but Lindsay and Alex swim to shore—and encounter a group of mounted men, wearing armor, bearing swords.

To stay alive, Alex and Lindsay must tread carefully: The Scotland of Robert the Bruce is a dangerous place, particularly for a woman alone. So Lindsay plays squire to Alex's knight as they slowly adjust to their fate.

But they come to realize that they have far more to worry about than their daily survival in a brutal past. They have a powerful enemy, an inhuman enemy. He caused the vortex, he hates them—and all of mankind—and he plans to use their growing love for one another to destroy them...