Ratings Overall: 7 Sensuality: 6 Theme Element: 7

This is an Official Review by a Time Travel Romance Writer Official Reviewer

Review for Awaken the Highland Warrior
Author: Anita Clenney
Date of Review: 03/08/11
Reviewed by: Joyce Greenfield

Reviewer Comments: Historian and Civil War specialist Bree has held a lifelong fascination with the graveyard and crypt that border her family’s property in upstate New York. Intrigued with the map, metal disk and journal that her grandmother had left behind, she determines that the disk is actually a key to the vault that has rested in the crypt for over a century, and sets out to find the treasure that she is certain awaits her in the vault. Little does Bree suspect that by opening the vault she will Awaken the Highland Warrior whom rests within.

Faelan Connor, Scottish warrior, had been sent to the United States in 1850 by the Archangel Michael himself to battle the demon Druan. Druan has been developing a virus that will destroy the world and guarantee absolute power to Satan and his minions. Druan managed to outsmart Faelan and locked him in the vault in 1860, with the proviso that Faelen would not be releasable for 150 years. That time has passed when Bree opens the crypt, and Faelen soon realizes that his mission is still the same as it was 151 years ago: Druan is still very much an active presence in the world and is as determined as ever to release a plague like none other.

Faelan and Bree are immediately attracted to each other, but both realize that they must put their feelings aside in order to find Druan and stop him before the world is destroyed. They travel to Scotland where Faelan finds modern day descendants of his siblings and cousins who are now also warriors in the battle of good versus evil. The clan develops an action plan to thwart Druan’s efforts and kill him, but some members of the group are concerned that Bree may be a demon or Halfling, and even Faelan begins to wonder if Bree is who he initially believed her to be.

Bree returns to the United States and enlists the help of Jared, an archeologist friend, to put the pieces of the puzzle together and help her sort out the good guys from the bad. A former boyfriend, Russell, has been pursuing Bree as well, and she fears that he is in league with Druan and the demons to use her to get to Faelan and his warrior family. Who can Bree trust? Who is the demon that has been watching over her for years and years, waiting for this moment? And whose eyes has she seen in her dreams since childhood, eyes that make her feel safe and secure?

Awaken the Highland Warrior is fast-paced, with sexy warriors and creepy demons abounding. At times the dialog is a bit cumbersome in order to explain the complex back stories of Faelan and Bree, and the cast of characters to keep track of is quite large. The romance between Bree and Faelan takes a back seat behind the war between good and evil, and the balance feels a bit off at times. Faelan is not the “typical” Scottish warrior found in Highland romances, and readers longing for brogue and ancient dialect won’t find much here. With little adjustment, the title could more accurately be “Awaken the Warrior."