Rating: 
Summary: 4 1/2 stars Great Book!
Review: Daydreaming while surfing is not a good idea. When this happens to Josie Griffin and she wipes out after hitting something hard in the water, she's shocked to discover an antiquated treasure chest is the culprit. Opening the chest, she discovers a beautiful necklace and puts it on. Now, the fun begins. Enter a wee kilted sprite named Bagan who tells her the necklace is her destiny and that she must travel to Scotland for marriage to a three hundred year-old ghost. Okay, the bump on her head must've been worse than she thought. Josie quickly puts the necklace away, tucks the treasure chest into her Jeep and goes home thinking to save her sanity. Circumstances soon lead Josie on a trip to Scotland for business. When she arrives, Josie is inexplicably pulled to the Isle of Glenmuir, Connal's ancestral home.Connal MacNeil, ghost laird of the MacNeil clan, has been waiting three long centuries to fulfill his bargain of exchanging his soul for the birth of a son to carry on the MacNeil name. When Josie arrives in Glenmuir with the magical charm stone of his clan, Connal wastes no time in explaining that she is his fate and destiny. Now, all he has to do is convince Josie that she isn't halucinating or insane. THE CHARM STONE is an exceptional mix of paranormal, historical and modern day romance. As a strong, independent woman of the twenty-first century, Josie gives Connal a run for his money when he thinks he can dictate to her. Scenes of Connal trying to save Josie from killing herself while surfing are priceless. Bagan is hysterical as the much put upon guardian of the stone and is kept on his toes trying to keep tabs on and protect Josie. The older villagers are in turns humorous and emotional in their quest to learn how to surf and quickly endear themselves to Josie making it almost impossible to leave. Donna Kauffman outdoes herself in this tender, emotional and passionate intriguing tale of a man intent on continuing his line and the woman who teaches him how to live, love and have fun. If you liked THE LEGEND MACKINNON, you'll love THE CHARM STONE. Don't miss it!
Rating: 
Summary: Hauntingly human...
Review: Daydreaming while surfing is not a good idea. When this happens to Josie Griffin and she wipes out after hitting something hard in the water, she's shocked to discover an antiquated treasure chest is the culprit. Opening the chest, she discovers a beautiful necklace and puts it on. Now, the fun begins. Enter a wee kilted sprite named Bagan who tells her the necklace is her destiny and that she must travel to Scotland for marriage to a three hundred year-old ghost. Okay, the bump on her head must've been worse than she thought. Josie quickly puts the necklace away, tucks the treasure chest into her Jeep and goes home thinking to save her sanity. Circumstances soon lead Josie on a trip to Scotland for business. When she arrives, Josie is inexplicably pulled to the Isle of Glenmuir, Connal's ancestral home. Connal MacNeil, ghost laird of the MacNeil clan, has been waiting three long centuries to fulfill his bargain of exchanging his soul for the birth of a son to carry on the MacNeil name. When Josie arrives in Glenmuir with the magical charm stone of his clan, Connal wastes no time in explaining that she is his fate and destiny. Now, all he has to do is convince Josie that she isn't halucinating or insane. THE CHARM STONE is an exceptional mix of paranormal, historical and modern day romance. As a strong, independent woman of the twenty-first century, Josie gives Connal a run for his money when he thinks he can dictate to her. Scenes of Connal trying to save Josie from killing herself while surfing are priceless. Bagan is hysterical as the much put upon guardian of the stone and is kept on his toes trying to keep tabs on and protect Josie. The older villagers are in turns humorous and emotional in their quest to learn how to surf and quickly endear themselves to Josie making it almost impossible to leave. Donna Kauffman outdoes herself in this tender, emotional and passionate intriguing tale of a man intent on continuing his line and the woman who teaches him how to live, love and have fun. If you liked THE LEGEND MACKINNON, you'll love THE CHARM STONE. Don't miss it!
Rating:
Summary: Great Light Read
Review: I have read Donna Kauffman's "Legend of the Sorcerer" and "Royal Hunter," and its obvious that she creates very original plot lines. In "Charm Stone" she has the ability to create very fancinating fantasy like plots. As with her other books, the sexual tension between the hero and the heroine is very amusing and captivating as well. In some ways though, sometimes I feel like the hero and the heroine throughout the 3 books I have read of her are not as 3 dimensional. They're interesting characters and the dialogue can be facinating yet hilarious at times. If I were to wish one thing that her books contained would be for steamier and longer love scenes. Her love scenes remind of Harelquin type of love scenes. Kind of generic. But thing that keeps me reading her books are the interesting plots, the dialogue, and the pre-love sexual tension scenes. Specifically, "Charm Stone" is about the heroine finding a betrothal stone necklace that once beloned to a Scottish clan laird. The stone has a guardian that tries to betroth her to the current laird because those who wear the necklace are betrothed to the laird. Although, she refuses, Fate and Destiny plays a hand and she ends up in Scotland anyways meeting a 300 year old ghost of the current laird. A ghost whose been waiting 300 years for the return of the stone and his betroth and may be the key to returning the clan to its former glory. All in all, it was an entertaining light read of about 3-4 hours. I would recommend it only to those readers who like to read the whimscal fantasy type of plots.
Rating:
Summary: Charmingly Different
Review: I have to admit that when I first picked this book up, I wasn't expecting to be involved. But I was! Who would have thought that a surfer and a ghost would hit it off? Donna Kaufman apparently did. What do you get when you combine leprechauns, surf boards, ghosts? Well, if you throw in a beautiful setting peopled with intriguing secondary characters who act as the perfect foil to the star-crossed lovers, then you get a fun read! Yes, it is a bit of a slow start and not being familiar with the surfing terms threw me, but I would say this one is for my keeper shelf. I fell in love with Josie and Connal. And I plan to read more of Ms. Kaufmann's books too!
Rating: 
Summary: Close but no cigar
Review: I started this book and the first red flag was the Scottish brogue dialogue that some of the characters spoke in. Way too much mental translation. I stayed with it for about 100 pages and just didn't enjoy it much further. I might pick it up later but the formula was obvious and the characters just didn't get my attention. Besides, that brogue accent stuff really got on my nerves.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Way to Kill Time
Review: I thought that this sounded great when I read the back. It started out really well, and I thought quite credibly. Out of this world things were happening, and Josie was in the proper denial. I mean when you are surfing and hit your head, and then see a funny little man in a kilt, you have to wonder if you need to go to a hospital, and she actualy thought this way instead of immediatly buying into the story. I found it to be enjoyable, but once she got to Scotland, I had a little trouble with all of the ghost parts. I thought he and Josie should interact a little more instead of doing so much apart brooding. But all in all a good story worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Good Way to Kill Time
Review: I thought that this sounded great when I read the back. It started out really well, and I thought quite credibly. Out of this world things were happening, and Josie was in the proper denial. I mean when you are surfing and hit your head, and then see a funny little man in a kilt, you have to wonder if you need to go to a hospital, and she actualy thought this way instead of immediatly buying into the story. I found it to be enjoyable, but once she got to Scotland, I had a little trouble with all of the ghost parts. I thought he and Josie should interact a little more instead of doing so much apart brooding. But all in all a good story worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: 4 1/2 stars Great Book!
Review: I would have given this book 5 stars but I felt the beginning was a bit slow to get into but once I did, I could not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Sheer escapism and fairy-tale charm
Review: Sheer escapism and a wispy charming romance lies at the heart of The Charm Stone by Donna Kauffman. The mechanisms of fate and destiny has brought expert surfer Josie Griffin to the isle of Glenmuir, Scotland after she discovers The MacNeil charm stone while surfing in the beaches of South Carolina. Badgered by an elf who mysteriously appears when she puts on the stone, she is most willing to return it to the owner. Her fateful trip starts an intergenerational romance with a three century old apparition Connal MacNeil. He believes that Josie is the chosen one to bear him a bairn to continue the lineage. Yet Josie isn't the submissive woman who bends to his will. He is intrigued by her spirit instead of lust and most unexpectedly surrenders his heart. It is with this pivotal decision that he acknowledges the fact he has failed the gods and his family obligations because he hasn't the heart to compel an offspring from Josie... The Charm Stone with its dash of humour and ensemble of amiable senior citizen surfers makes a splash with the sparklingly original romance. The fusion of magic, passion and legends along with the energetic couple sprouts buoyant fun and unfettered joy.
Rating:
Summary: maybe 3 1/2
Review: The plot of this book sounded interesting, but it didn't quite meet my expectations. I was a little impatient about 3/4 of the way through, thinking, alright already!! Too much waffling back and forth from the characters.Also, I always have a problem with time travel novels wondering how the author is going to twist the plot so that they can stay together. The ending is hurried with little explanation of how he reappears to be with her in the end. Easy to scan and a good pool or beach read.
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