Highland Guardian by Melissa Mayhue

Title: Highland Guardian
Author: Melissa Mayhue
Release Date: October 30th, 2007
Publisher: Pocket
Pages: 368
Format: iBooks
Acquired: Bought
Interest: Series
Others in the Series: Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband
Age Group: Adult

SARAH DOUGLAS is a successful thirty-eight year old romance novelist with big problems. She's come to Scotland on a three month working vacation hoping to recapture her muse - who's deserted her - and resolve the issue of her strange 'feelings' - the ones which allow her to sense the emotions of everyone she touches. From the moment she arrives, however, her problems only intensify. She's being stalked, but by whom? Is he real or only a figment of her imagination? What about the darkly handsome owner of the cottage she's leasing? How is she ever going to deal with her growing attraction to a man ten years her junior? She knows from bitter experience men - particularly men who look like Ian - aren't interested in women like her.

IAN MCCULLOUGH is neck-deep in troubles of his own. As a half-mortal descendent of Faeries, he's a Guardian, sworn to protect both the mortals of this world and the Portals leading to the Faerie Realm. After six hundred years, he's confident he knows what to expect in just about every situation and exactly how to handle it. But he never counted on a woman like Sarah showing up in his life; a woman who intrigues and charms him. A woman who turns out to be of Faerie descent herself, although she has no idea of her heritage and no belief in any Otherworld beings. When he's assigned to protect her, Ian finds the job is tougher than he could possibly have imagined. Oh, he can handle the stalker and the ex-husband and even the renegade Faeries trying to kidnap her for their own purpose. It's falling in love and forsaking his status as Guardian, a position he swore to honor at his father's deathbed, he's having trouble with.

Both Sarah and Ian struggle to battle the demons of self-doubt and their individual pasts. In the process they learn that healing will take the strongest magic of all, the true love that occurs only between two souls fated to be together

I knew I would love this series and if loving book two is not enough to convince me I don't know what is. This book, I don't really know what to say.

From the moment I started to read the book I knew I would like Sarah. She is the type of character that people can easily identify with. If you were ever an outcast, ever popular for something, ever kept a part of yourself hidden, ever been in a bad marriage, or ever experienced severe self-doubt or had hit that wall, then Sarah and you have a lot in common. She came off as this woman that would not leave her shell and once her life was displayed out people can understand why.

And then there's Ian. I don't know if it's maybe because he's Scottish and at this moment I love Scottish men, or maybe it's because he's that hero that every girl dreams up, or maybe because he's Fae, but something about Ian both irritated me and gave me goosebumps. He is a man,who I feel, is driven a lot by his emotions, and sometimes that can lead to decisions that are not necessarily good ones. I think I liked Ian, though, because for the most part he was a dependable guy and, you know, good.

It was obvious from start that Sarah would be a challenge for him and aside from rubbing my hands together with a wicked smile on my face as I thought about all the heartache he would give her, I was cheering these guys on. There were little moments where Ian did things that brought out the hero persona in him.

Now, the story really starts to develop as the world between Fae and Man are in danger of colliding. And something is going on with the Fae that had been banished from their home, something that is not good at all, but it could be good for some of the descendents. Perspective, I guess.

And Mayhue did an excellent job in bringing back some familiar faces from the first book. I liked how she sneaked that in there and, in a way, it was just a reminder that all of the books are connected, and not just with the same Fae that appear sometimes. I hope she's building it to something really good.

This book was sweet and had a lot of bitter moments and a lot of revelations, which I hope open up a little more as the book series continues.

If there is one series I'm glad I picked up for this summer, it must defiantly is this one.