Not nearly as good as the 1st- doubtful i'll read anymore ( )

If you haven't read the author's first book, Awaken the Highland Warrior, then I highly recommend you run out right now and get a copy along with a copy of Embrace the Highland Warrior!

Anita Clenney has done it again with this second book in the series. You can read Embrace the Highland Warrior without reading the first book; but it is so much better if you are already familiar with the characters and the general theme. I won't go into detail and spoil the goods for anyone who hasn't yet read the books.

The characters are well developed - I feel like they are friends I have known for years. I love how she introduced most of the characters in the first book and then brought them all back in this second book. We get to know some of them even better in Embrace The Highland Warrior... and believe me....you will love them all!!!!

What's not to love about sexy highland warriors fighting evil demons and vampires. Throw in some strong heroines, a little mystery and just the right amount of romance... and you have a winner!

I hope the author doesn't stop at just three books in this series...... please keep writing Anita! ( )

Rating: 3.5

Embrace the Highland Warrior
( Book #2 )
by Anita Clenney

Genre: Paranormal Romance

They were driven apart by a timeless secret...
Cody MacBain let the woman of his destiny slip away. A member of an ancient clan of Scottish warriors, he grew up beside Shay Logan as her secret protector, but his heart compelled him to become more. Until Shay's true identity was revealed, the fated pair's chance was gone...

But danger will drive them back into each others arms...
Shay fell for the boy next door, suspecting nothing of the ancient secrets he guarded. After a stinging betrayal, she's determining to banish the memories of her first love forever. But the past can't let go, and the boy she once loved has returned to her a warrior determined to protect her from the unspeakable evil fate has planned...

When the powerful demon that left Shay for dead discovers her empty grave, he comes seeking retribution, believing she possesses an ancient book he has sought for centuries. Knowing she can’t fight the demon alone, Shay returns to her clan and the Scottish Warrior who betrayed her…the only man she’s ever loved, where she discovers that betrayal isn’t always what it seems. Sometimes it’s far worse.

When a stalker began to haunt Shay in Scotland, she escaped to take sanctuary in a place she had not visited in over 10 years - the Virginia home she ran away from at 18. It became difficult returning to a place that bought to life so many memories from her childhood, becasue the family/friends that concealed secrets from her since birth were still in residence. Yet, upon returning, Shay was bombarded with intense feelings for a man who once was her best friend/first love and as past mistakes slowly became resolved, a much darker force was coming...solely for her.

Honestly, I forgot I read Book #1 by Anita Clenney (which I am satisfied to say the book cover greatly improved with Book #2, hehe) and was presently surprised to catch up with past characters that I was some-what familiar with. Shay and Cody were easy to enjoy as the protagonists, but I was more fond of them earlier on in the story than I was at the end due to their relationship being built on jealousy/mistrust/constant-bickering. Also, their earlier awkward awareness of each other was a lot more exciting and animate, for the reader, than their quick excuse for comforting relations (i.e. sex) in the second half of the book. Thus, I was discontented with the evolvement of romance in this story. Yet, if you like lots of highlander adventures that travel through Scotland and reside in castles - this could be an entertaining read for you, but don't expect a grand epic tale.

Likes: Shay and Cody's childhood memories were some of my favorite parts of the whole story, especially the younger ones that revolved around them innocently playing together.

Dislikes: The story fell a little flat for me half-way through since I was expecting more character development (esp. with the relationship between Shay and Cody as adults) and yet there were many superficial jumps in the tale that left me dissatisfied overall. ( )

From Goodreads:

"Cody MacBain let the woman of his destiny slip away. A member of an ancient clan of Scottish warriors, he grew up beside Shay Logan as her secret protector, but his heart compelled him to become more. Until Shay’s true identity was revealed, and the fated pair’s chance was gone…

But danger will drive them back into each other’s arms…

Shay fell for the boy next door, suspecting nothing of the ancient secrets he guarded. After a stinging betrayal, she’s determined to banish the memories of her first love forever. But the past can’t let go, and the boy she once loved has returned to her a warrior determined to protect her from the unspeakable evil fate has planned…"

My Thoughts:

Embrace the Highland Warrior was a fun read and an interesting take on the paranormal genre. Shay has lived a life filled with secrets which helped to drive a wedge between her and her childhood friend Cody. The chemistry between these two was instant and unrelenting. I started rooting for them to have a happy ever after from the very beginning of the book. I thought that the author took the paranormal genre and gave it a fresh twist with demons, highland warriors (of course), and even vampires. There was a lot of references to an ancient book that made me wonder if it will play a big part in the next book of the series. Shay was an awesome main character as she was both headstrong and tender at different times. She was surrounded for most of her life by both lies and secrets which came into play in the middle of the story. We got to see that she has some special abilities that hopefully we will learn more about as this series goes on. My only problem with this book was that there were so many characters that we didn't get to learn a lot about. I think that if I had read the first book in the series, this book would have been better for me and I would have enjoyed it more.

All in all, I did think that this was a good read that kept me entertained. I wish that I would have started with the first book, but I think that I'll go back and read it before continuing on with this series. That way I'll get the chance to get a better feel for some of the secondary characters. I would recommend this books to fans of paranormal romance but make sure that you start with Awaken the Highland Warrior!

Bottom Line: A good read and a series that I want to read more of.

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book for review from the publisher for review. ( )