A-MAZ-ING! The heroine, a gifted healer, sets out on a quest to find the hero who's rumored to possess divine healing powers after she's unable to heal her dying father. The hero, a recluse in self exile, is tortured by his guilt and hunted as a demon by his towns folk. At first he refuses to see her but she's stubborn and desperate and finally she gains audience with him. He has good reason to deny her pleas along with everyone else's, but he's lonely and develops a kinship toward the beautiful woman. He's not selfish, nor evil but his gifts have brought him nothing but loathing and heartache. He agrees to help her and they set off towards her keep. The way the characters spoke to each other and acted around one another was nothing short or brilliance. They possessed such chemistry and spark and balanced each other out so perfectly that I don't think I've read about two characters who I've loved more. I'm a sucker for a man with grey hair and the hero, though young, has peppered silver streaks thanks to his healing gifts. The heroine, though betrothed to another, falls in love with him the first time she's meets him as he poses as a servant, though she doesn't know it. As the reader, you're taken on a spectacular journey as two lost and damaged souls find each other at the most desperate times of their lives and struggle to keep their passions from having dire consequences. I can't even express how much I loved this book and am counting down the days until I can read it again. ( )

This is the third and last of the series about the three young beautiful sisters who are witches and are trying to figure out what is killing their father, who has married them off (or planning to) to different lairds throughout Scotland to keep them safe once he's gone. I was pleasantly surprised with this one, it was much better than I thought it would be. I found the first two to be a little dull, but this one made up for it with an interesting twist. It becomes obvious very soon in this book that this particular daughter, Rose, is not destined to marry the man she has been betrothed to.

http://ktleyed.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-shadow-warrior-by-jen-holling.html ( )

I had high hopes for My Shadow Warrior when I picked it up...And in the end, I wasn't too disappointed. True, it wasn't my favorite book, but it was still pretty good. The story line was perfect-- a historical romance set in Scotland, but with a slight paranormal twist. I love paranormal romances, so when an author is able to weave together both historical and paranormal, I'm very happy. Holling was able to do that in My Shadow Warrior, but I felt like, at times, she wasn't quite reaching it's full potential. Especially in the passion department.

I think that is my only complaint, really. There was amble opportunity to take the love scenes and turn up the heat, not in a straight-forward erotic way, but in a combination of love and lust, both of which the hero and heroine had plenty of. In fact, through out the whole book, the H/H only had one sexual encounter, and it was pretty tame, over in only a few pages and not filled with a whole lot of conversation *Which, depending on the story and the author's writing, can be just as erotic as the actual sex* or, well, sex. I felt disappointed, because even though the main point of a romance book is the romance, the love and connection, I think that, in a way, the intimate connection they share is also important. If she [Jen Holling] had only added a tad bit more passion to Will and Rose's story, I probably would have gave it a perfect rating.

The healing/magic subplot was brillantly done, and I will probably go back to read her previous books about Rose's sisters. Jen may not write very 'hot' romance, as in the love scenes, but she does write a great historical/paranormal romance, set in Scotland, no less, which is one my favorite backdrops for books.

4.5/5 STARS! My Shadow Warrior is a perfect combination of a lush Scotland setting with a paranormal twist. The story is filled with magic and mystery, love and danger, connection and even a few laughs. A great story, though a bit lacking in heat. Still, this is a book I would recommend to any romance fan. ( )