"A Paranormal Lover's Dream!"
This story is on my all time keepers list, five stars and
then some! This book was a paranormal lovers dream - three love
stories in one, three to-die-for heroes, one ghost, one
immortal, and one time traveler. This was a truly excellent
tale. If I had one complaint it would be that the third
story was too short. I felt like Alex and Delaney got
together by default. Three centuries ago, Scotland:
Two warring clans, the MacKinnons and the Clarens, make a
desperate bid for peace. Laird MacKinnon has 3 strong
sons, Laird Claren, 3 lovely and mystical daughters. A
wedding is to join them and end the feud. The lads agree
out of a deep sense of duty, but the lasses wish for love.
No wedding takes place. The oldest son, Alex, mysteriously disappears the night
before his wedding. The middle daughter flees to the
colonies to avoid a loveless marriage to Duncan and both
perish in a blizzard, when he attempts to retrieve her. The
youngest Claren daughter is seduced by John Roderick (Rory)
the youngest MacKinnon, but his words of love ring false.
His bride betrays him on their wedding day, claiming rape.
A battle is waged. The Claren's are triumphant, the
surviving MacKinnons are taken in by other
clans. The Claren's victory is short-lived however, as they soon
meet defeat at the hands of clan MacDonald. Rory survives
to see all those that he loved die before him. Worst of all
is the legacy the couples left behind, a curse. From that
moment on, marriages mating MacKinnons and Clarens have
ended in tragedy. Present day:
Lachlan Claren has died, His wife, a MacKinnon, had fallen
victim to the curse years earlier. Lachlan had spent many
years looking for the key that will unlock the curse now
known as the legend MacKinnon. He has failed, but he has
hopes that his heirs will carry on in his stead. His great-nieces; 3 cousins, all orphans and products of
tragic MacKinnon-Claren marriages, meet for the first time
upon receiving their inheritances. To unlock the mystery
they must all work together. All are pleased to find that they have living family but
what would motivate them to drop what they are doing and
pursue Lachlan's quest? Ah that's where those to-die-for
MacKinnon lads come in. Maggie, Cailean, and Delaney Claren
are about to meet their matches. Alex's fiancée had sent him to the future to protect him
from the inevitable clan war and also to teach him a
lesson. Duncan is a ghost who cannot ascend until he atones for his
sins. He has spent the last 3 centuries in Limbo; his
penance is that he must spend one month each year in a
cabin in the Smokey Mountains to contemplate his
errors. Rory's curse was immortality, to wander the earth
having no one to share his life. They all converge on Stonelachen, the former MacKinnon
stronghold in hope that there they will find the key to the
family curse. But what they find is love. Having learned
the lesson their seventeenth century brides meant for them
to learn, Duncan may now ascend and Alex and Rory may
return to the past to change the course of history. Have the Claren cousins found love only to lose it, and
what will become of them if the MacKinnons do indeed change
the past? Would they even be born? This was a lot of fun, and there were lots of twists,
Maggie Claren, is running from her obsessed 20th century
fiancé who's decided if he can't have her no one can, hides
out in Duncan's cabin. Cailean is a Claren Key, a seer. Her premonitions send her
halfway around the world to save Maggie from Duncan
MacKinnon only to find herself in the arms of another
MacKinnon, Rory. Delaney, is one tough lady. She's an anti-terrorist and not
about to let the eldest MacKinnon warrior, Alex, push her
around. Delightful read. I highly recommend it. Copyright © 1999
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted September 7, 2001
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