Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning is a time travel romance set in Scotland.

Gwen Cassidy has decided to take a vacation to Scotland in the hopes of finding herself a man and losing her long held virginity.  She does not realise until she is on the holiday that the tour she is taking does not have any eligible bachelors on it and is in fact for senior citizens.  Taking time away from the rest of the group Gwen heads up onto the hills at the edge of Loch Ness. 

Whilst she is on the hill she inadvertently knocks her backpack into a crevice and when she tries to retrieve it she finds herself falling into a hidden cave and on top of a sleeping highlander.

Strange enough that her falling on him does not wake him when he does rouse from his slumber he claims to be a Highland Laird who had been put under an enchanted sleep.

Drustan MacKeltar is a sixteenth century Scottish Druid charged with keeping the lore of the Tuatha dé Danaan safe.  When he wakes up in the twenty first century he quickly realises that he is no longer in his own time and enlists Gwen's help in making his way to his castle before the Autumn Equinox. 

Arriving at the ruins that were once his home Drustan realises that his disappearing after the recent death of his only brother meant that the Keltar line was at an end and it is up to him to rectify things.

Confiding in Gwen, the intelligent former physicist does not believe that Drustan is a time traveller, more likely he has simply got some health problems but she agrees to help him even as she fights her attraction towards him.  After all Mr Right would not be likely to have mental health issues and it is clear that the enigmatic highlander has.

Drustan decides that he and Gwen will travel back through time using the standing stones.  He knows that they cannot be used for personal gain but continuing the bloodline of his family who are protecting the Lore is one of the exceptions to the rule.

Things go wrong however when Drustan miscalculates the equations and he vanishes from existence leaving Gwen alone in the past with the pre-enchanted Drustan who does not know who she is and is determined that she leave him alone.

Welcomed by his family Gwen enlists their help in winning over the stubborn man she has grown to love.  Time is against her as the date of his enchantment draws nearer and events no longer transpire exactly as he told her they would.  Not to mention they forget one of the basic laws of travelling in time...

This book is as humorous and delightful as the other novels of Ms Moning.  I am struggling to recall what it is that has taken me so long to pick it up and read it.

The humour begins with Drustan discovering the modern world and continues into the past with Gwen's determined pursuit of her man.  In a stark contrast however this novel is also at times very poignant, in particular when the lovers are separated and also when Gwen finally succeeds in getting her stubborn highlander to listen to her story.

Gwen in sharp witted and resourceful and Drustan is sexy and delightfully vulnerable.  Having been the victim of three women breaking off their betrothals to him because of his Druid ways, he takes a long while to realise that Gwen is not like the fearful women of his own time.  But he retains a small degree of vulnerability right through the novel.

The sequel to this book is The Dark Highlander and is the story of Drustan's twin brother.  Kiss of the Highlander leaves you with a small taster of what is to come in the form of a letter.

RATING : 
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Also by Karen Marie Moning:  Beyond the Highland Mist, To Tame a Highland Warrior,

The Highlander's Touch, The Dark Highlander and The Immortal Highlander.

Also Into the Dreaming, part of the Tapestry Anthology

Visit Karen Marie Moning's website

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