Night Visitor

Rating:
Summary: Delightful - Magic and Romance
Review: Ghosts, Time Travel, Fairies, Magic and Scotland figure in this delightful story. I liked it. I had one little wish -- I got a bit confused with the love scenes - wish they were a little more detailed and longer.

Rating:
Summary: Melaine Jackson delivers will a fey touch!!!
Review: I am an avid reader of Romance, I owned a small bookstore for three years,lived half of my life in Scotland, I am a writer of Scottish Lore of the Picts, and run a community at MSN dedicated to writers and readers of Romance, so I become rather picky when it comes to dealing with Scottish History in Romance. Melanie Jackon blends her obviously love of Scotland with the fantasy touch of fiction in a bewitching brew. Dead on history is guaranteed when you read Jackson, who writes in a captivating voice and a true understanding and love of the genre. Based upon a true incident in Scottish History about the Piper of Duntrune Castle, Melanie gives you a light touch in fantasy, with very vivid character that leap off the pages. She is one of the brightest stars in romance today and each book is cements that!!!

An Absolute must!!! If you have missed reading her before, don't put it off any longer....

WISE Writers and Readers' BOOK OF THE MONTH for May 2001 and tied for BOOK OF THE YEAR for 2001 (with Always by Lynsay Sands)

Rating:
Summary: Abosultely stunning!!
Review: I am one of the male managers of WISE Writers and Readers, and I generally leave the reviewing to Lady Ashorah, the head of WISE. But I wanted to say the male readers at WISE loved this book!!

Melanie is a super writer, with a haunting, evocative quality that leads the reader into a drama drawn from real historical events. She is one of the strongest historical writers around.

WISE WrIters and Readers Book of the Month for MAY and Book of the Year for 2001

Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding Romance
Review: Night Visitor was absolutly spellbinding. I picked it up and embarked on a new adventure with an author I had not read as of yet. Not only do I like Melaine Jackson's style of writing, but the characters (Tafeline and Malcolm) were extremly real and very convincing. I loved the story line and the fact that fairies were involved. Kudos to Melanie for making the reader believe that the transition from one time to another was simple but to add a believable fairy story line was great. I would highly recommend this book and am going to buy her other two Iona and Manon tonight!

Rating:
Summary: Just not worth it
Review: Ok, I read hundreds of books a year, and in that time frame, there are about 1 to 2 books I just can't finish. Night Visitor is my second one this year (and hopefully my last). There were so many typos and glaring grammatical mistakes (two things I usually read right over) that I just could not get into the story. I got about half way through it, and found that the characters were dull, flat and wholly unrealistic. I tried to suspend my belief because this is a fantasy (fairie story) but nothing I read made me want to continue on.

A female photographer from the late 1800's, with a father who doesn't understand her and is patronizing coupled with a Scottish piper that has farie blood (oh yes, let us not forget the diluted fairie blood in our heroine as well!) sets our story. The piper is killed for warning his allies about a trap set. For this, his hands are cut off and he dies (supposedly bad luck for the killers since you are not supposed to kill a piper). His pipes haunt the castle for 200 years until our heroine touches his newly uncovered bones and makes a connection to him. This is the first few chapters and the most interesting part of the story. Our heroine then goes to the past to rescue our hero. Everything else seems to rush past, with little description or depth.

I rarely do this, but I suggest you steer clear of Night Visitor, there are better stories out there.

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative historical fantasy!
Review: Tafaline Lytoon blithely pedals her bicycle in a sport dress, takes photographs of archeological digs, shoots a gun, and hikes through lonely country -- much to her father's chagrin. Her clothing is more concerned with comfort and indestructibility rather than fashion or appearance -- much like her approach to life. She realizes that most suitors are more attracted to her looks, her fortune, or entree to her father than to her.

Taffy's father asks her to photograph the skeleton of the famous ghost piper of Duntrune, Malcolm MacIntyre. According to legend, Malcolm played the pipes at risk of his own life to warn his clan of impending disaster. His plan worked but in retribution the enemy brutally killed him. Now, on stormy nights, he comes to play his pipes upon the wall. When she touches the piper's bones, a connection is made between Taffy and Malcolm.

The span between the centuries that Malcolm and Taffy occupy soon grows thin as each sights an apparition of the other. The echoes of words carry across the centuries until Taffy finds herself drawn into a journey leading her back through the centuries to the ugly wars between clans and the days when the faerie still held sacred space.

Melanie Jackson deftly weaves a tale that honors the myth, magic and lore of Scotland. Based on the true story of the piper of Duntrune, she masterfully blends fact with fantasy to present a fast paced, riveting tale. Indeed, this spanning of time and history will capture your imagination in a romance that will touch your heart. Very highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: This book can be reread time and again
Review: Taffy and Malcolm are extremely beleivable charactors in a fantastic faerie filled plot. The plot is fey but the Taffy and Malcolm are 3-D humans.
Part of what makes this book so believalbe is that it is based on real historical fact and the resulting ghost story that sprang up around a real life piper/hero. The real Malcolm knowingly gave his life for what he beleived in. Moreover, the death he suffered was not kind.
This books just gets better the more often you read it.

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable
Review: This is the first book I've read by Melanie Jackson and I found it to be a enjoyable book. It was a bit hard to follow in parts but the story line was interesting enough to keep me at it. I liked the fact that the heroine is a strong yet vulnerable woman who can stand on her own but also knows when to lean on her man. The hero is a very sensitive man who probably because of his heritage makes him irresitible to his heroine.

This is a combo of a timeswept/fantasy romance. The heroine, Taffy starts off in the 1880's and ends up in the 1640's. She is helping her father with his archeology by taking photographs of the bones they have discovered of a piper. The piper was killed after warning of a trap. His hands had been cut off and he bled to death. While taking the shot she sees a ghost who happens to be the piper himself. The piper, Malcolm, is our hero. She is sent back in time to save him by the fairies. She and he both are of fairy blood and the fairies need them.

Together they must overcome their human enemies and the fairy dangers which await them. I enjoyed the excitement in this book. You weren't sure what was going to happen next. I plan on reading more of thisd authors works in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Unusual and good book
Review: This is the first book I've read by Ms. Jackson and am pleasantly surprised. Steeped in Scottish history it is an interesting read to boot. Although I will say that I too was confused by the typo at the beginning of chapter two (it gives the year 1964 instead of 1644). But fortunately, I found through reading the reviews here that it was indeed a typo.

Being this was the first book I've read in Scottish history, I felt a bit confused at first, but this only lasts through the first couple of chapters. After Taffy time travels, it is an easy read and enjoyable. It took me a little while to let go and accept the fantasy/fairy tale aspect of the book, but once I did I had no problem following the story line.

My highest praise for the book is its thoroughness. Ms. Jackson leaves no holes and the ending is satisfying as it does not feel rushed as it does in so many books.

So, I'm a little tired today as I couldn't put the book down until I finished it at 1:30 this morning, but it was worth it. I do recommend this book.