Rating:  Summary: Definitely recommend this book!! Review: As Linda Howard fans know, there is very little this author can write that isn't good. Well, in this, her first time travel novel, she's outdone herself. Gone are the early heroines who were weak and depended on their men. Grace St. John, a young woman who had everything, a loving husband and a fun loving brother, is in the twinkling of an eye turned into a grieving widow hell-bent on revenge. Through friends she meets while on the run from the men who killed her family she learns how to fight dirty and this sweet, mild mannered woman turns into a woman with nothing to lose. She figures out why her husband and brother are killed, something that is linked to a 12th century Templar knight called Black Niall. She devotes herself to translating parchaments documenting his struggles, and as her obsession grows so does the vividness of her dreams of this elusive knight. Time is running out for her when she takes matters into her own hands and tries a desperate maneuver that could give her the power to destroy the men who destroyed her life and closer to the man in her dreams, or kill her. This book is definitely a keeper, with steamy love scenes Mrs. Howard is well known for and an arrogant, virile, intelligent, and dangerous hero all her fans love. Well written, with wonderful side characters who added to the story as well as vivid history lessons about the Knights Templar. I'd recommend this book to anyone who love stories about dangerous men and equally dangerous women. Sarah Pearson
Rating:  Summary: An Incredible Story Review: Linda Howard's Son of the Morning is a book that I will keep and no doubt read again, which I don't often do. Having just completed the series by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander, and wondering what I would read while waiting for the next book in the series, I decided to read Son of the Morning. Once I read the first few pages I was hooked on this book. For those of you not familiar with the Outlander series it's a time-travel Scottish romance and Son of the Morning is also a time-travel Scottish romance. That is where the similarity ends because Linda Howard has written a book that stands on it's own merit. The main character is a woman, Grace St. John, who translates ancient manuscripts for Parrish Sawyer the head of an archaeological foundation. Grace is currently translating documents from the 14th century concerning a group of monks called the Knights of the Templar and their mysterious treasure. They were monks but they were also warriors, the best and most fierce warriors in the land. Thus far Grace has translated enough of the documents to know that King Philip and Pope Clement executed and tortured many of the Knights of the Templar in 1307 to find and gain control of their gold and the legendary treasure. The Grand Master of the Knights ordains that the best warrior of the Order, Niall of Scotland, will watch over and protect the treasures. Niall, or Black Niall as he is called, establishes a strong hold in Creag Dhu, a castle in Scotland to hide and protect the treasure and he is known as The Guardian. Grace's life suddenly and violently changes when she witnesses Parrish Sawyer murder her husband Ford and her brother Bryant. She over hears Sawyer's plan to find and murder her as well to get the documents she is translating. Grace begins a year of running for her life from Parrish Sawyer and his hired assassins. While Grace is struggling to survive in the street and hide from her pursuers she knows she must finish translating the documents so she can discover what is in them that Sawyer was willing to kill for. Grace goes through a major transformation while she is in hiding and struggling to survive. After Grace completes the translation and learns the secret of the documents she knows she must travel back in time to the 14th century to Creag Dhu and Niall of Scotland in order to stop the Foundation from finding the secret treasure and using it for their evil ends. Since time travel was one of the secret powers of the Knights of the Templar, the documents contained detail instructions on how to travel back in time. I literally could not put this book down. It's exciting, intriguing and adventurous. The reader is taken back and forth between the 14th century with Niall and present day with Grace's hair-raising narrow escapes from the killers. I highly recommend Son of the Morning to anyone who enjoys time travel stories, adventure, and romance. And especially to readers who are fans of the Outlander series, I promise you'll love this book!
Rating:  Summary: Okay... Review: This is one of Linda Howard's boks that I like but not one of the best. I would rate this book 4 and 3/4 a star but since they don't have that option I chose five. In this Book the heroine, Grace St. Jone, she is well rounded and lives in a comfertable life. But that changes in a blink of an eye. First her husband and brouther are killed in front of her. Her boss sends goons after her to kill her and steel her work...that her boss gave her! Running for her life, and translating her work she runs into some unexpected friends. Hiding from your evil boss, and his friends, while tring to translate, would be hard. But going through a strang flash back to vist a sexy man called the Black Niell. Who also seenms to be writting to you from the past. I enjoyed this book. With all of Linda Howard's classic writting and awsome supportive characters. The ending was okay, the reason behind the last 1/4 missing of a star. But still worth recommending. Enjoy!
Rating:  Summary: I am obsessed with this book!! Review: I have read this book seven times in a year, too much time on my hands you ask? Why do I keep going back? The character Black Niall is so real to me. When I'm reading I can feel his passion, his presence. I haven't found a way to get to the 13th century like Grace St. John does, and like the heroine in this book, I'm obsessed with Black Niall. So where can I find a man like Black Niall in this century? Big, beautiful, passionate, dangerous, mysterious, and gentle. Wouldn't it be great if Linda Howard wrote a sequel? I'm sure all of her fans would love to see how Grace and Niall are faring in Scotland's 13th century. Don't you just love that accent? Son of the Morning has everything: time-travel, action, adventure, steamy love scenes, bloody 13th century battles. All of her character's are colorful and realistic, right down to Grace's street-smart friend, Harmony. Linda Howard made me an addict, I've read almost all of her many many novels, and won't stop until I've read them all. YOU'VE GOT TO READ THIS BOOK!!
Rating:  Summary: One of the best books I've ever read! Review: As a long-time fan of Linda Howard and an avid reader, I consider "Son of the Morning" to be one of the best books I've ever read. In fact, I've reread the book numerous times for the simple pleasure of enjoying a truly great story. "Son of the Morning" crosses a number of romance genre boundary lines in a single story to give the reader a little of everything. The time-travel segments are utterly unique (as well as potentially hazardous ). The suspense is edge-of-your-seat category typical of Ms. Howard work. The paranormal elements (dare I say, character?) are surprising and unlike any I've read. The historic settings and events are well researched, highly informative and richly illustrated. It's here we meet the main male protagonist, Black Niall, a larger-than-life character and former Templar who's not your typical hero. In the contemporary setting, Ms. Howard's main female character, Grace St. John, a rather unassuming academic, must run from and continuously evade the bad guys while learning how to live "on the lam" after her husband and brother are murdered. Some of her best lessons come from a street-wise bad boy and a former prostitute who teach her how to "disappear", how to get a false ID and great tips on how to protect herself from attackers (I took notes here). Howard's characters are so richly characterized they live in your mind and become real. I found myself rooting for the good guys, hoping the bad guys meet a very ugly end, and was surprised by a few. And I'm very hard to surprise. The romance between the main protagonists grabs your heart and you pray they'll find a way to be together forever. And finally, you just wish the book didn't have to end...or there would be a true sequel.
Rating:  Summary: Fabulous! Review: If I could rate this book higher than 5 stars, I definately would. This was one of Howard's greater books! I could not put it down. From the first page to the last, I would hang on her every word. I wish there had been more for me to read about Grace and Black Niall. Their chemistry was simply amazing. I would like to see another book by Howard along these lines, perhaps incorporating this story. It is a keeper for me, I plan to read it again, soon.
Rating:  Summary: FABULOUS COMBO OF INTELLIGENCE & SENSUALTIY!! Review: I read this book because of the time travel after reading another similar romance theme. WOW! My only disappointment was that there wasn't more book. Linda Howard amazed me with Grace's authentic struggles to stay one step ahead of her pursuers. Grace's character made me proud to be a woman. I loved her because she wasn't particularly beautiful or helpless, instead she more like us ordinary human females. What made her so extraordinary was her intelligence and willingness to do and learn anything necessary to survive and extract vengeance. Black Niall was a terrific hero. He can haunt my dreams anytime. I liked him rough, very masculine, and just slightly barbaric. Linda Howard did an excellent job of creating in Niall a hidden sensitivity and vulnerability that made him irrisistible. You realize very quickly that he loved and needed Grace passionately when he chose not to kill her, as his duty demanded, for discovering the "treasure". I understand Niall's anger with God for the destruction of the Templars not only because they had been in God's service for so long, but also, because they had become Niall's friends and "brothers". I think it was important to Niall to have family because he couldn't claim his own. It was a bit ironic that as the "Guardian", Niall could travel through time but he couldn't see far enough into the future realized that his God had provided for him. For the reader in San Diego, if you wanted something that dealt with only fact and truth, look for your next book in NON-FICTION. Don't pick out a book whose excerpt reads: heroine travels back in time to meet hero. You'll be sadly disapointed. I take my own religion quite seriously but I also realize that fiction is just that: fiction. To enjoy you must "suspend your disbelief". By the way, Niall never wanted to become a monk, he was forced to in order to live. However, he never broke any of the vows he took while they were invoked. Remember that once the Templars were disbanded and he became the "guardian", all vows were revoked except that to protect the treasure with his life for as long as he lived. Niall was a lusty fellow, but then again, in those times, most men were.
Rating:  Summary: Son of the Morning Kept Me up all night Review: This is a wonderful time travel romance. The heroine, Grace, is fiesty and develops streets smarts with the help of some interesting characters. The historical aspects of the story were fascinating. The characters do not meet throughout about 3/4s of the book. Grace finally meets Niall, the hero, in medieval Scotland and details of that time seem quite accurate to me. The books ends a little too quickly. Maybe there will be another book. Would love to read more about Grace, Niall, Kris and the others. This is my first review, but because this book was soooo good I wanted to let others know.
Rating:  Summary: Two Words - THE BEST Review: This is one of the top 5 books that I've read in the past 10 years - and I read a lot! I started this book at 8:00 in the evening and finished it in time to start getting ready for work the next morning. It takes quite a book to keep me awake all night. Understand, I read this book about 3 years ago and it is still with me at time even now.
Rating:  Summary: Her best ever Review: This is the best book Howard has written so far. I have read all of her books and none compare to this one. Some have been downright disappointing. This is a definite must read. I've read it several times already.
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