The Slump Report – Part Deux

Yes, faithful reader, sadly I remain mired in The Land of Slump.  I haven’t read an historical romance since November – I can’t even re-read old faves.  :*(  I have so many highly anticipated historicals waiting for me in Mt. TBR!  And I have tried to read them…I’ve picked up countless books, read about 20 pages, been completely distracted and uninterested, put them aside and picked up something I’ve read before – or just not read anything.  I hate it when that happens!

So what have I been re-reading?  I’ve been prowling through the latter part of Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander series, mostly.  I was looking for foreshadowing/clues that might help unravel the mysteries of her Fever series.  I didn’t have much luck on the clues (maybe I’m just dumb), but the foreshadowing is there, as is Darroc’s backstory – something I had completely forgotten.

Lightning reviews:
Kiss of the Highlander :

This is Drustan’s book.  It had been so long since I read it, I had forgotten most of the plot.  Drustan has never been my favorite of KMM’s Highlanders – I remembered him being kind of bland – but he had a bit more appeal during this reading.  He’s so sweet and romantic…sometimes that’s nice to read, yes?
My grade: B

Spell of the Highlander :

Cian’s book.  I had forgotten about Cian, poor guy.  Trapped in a dark mirror by an evil sorcerer and only freed for brief periods of time, to do the sorcerer’s evil bidding.  There is a good bit of Fever foreshadowing in this book, plus Cian is hot in an I’m-almost-evil-but-not-quite kind of way. Will he break the curse and defeat his captor?
My grade: B+

The Dark Highlander :

This is Dageus’s book…ah yes, Dageus has always been my favorite.  *drifts briefly*   Sorry…where was I?  Oh right – Dageus!  Cursed to house the souls of 13 evil Druids inside him, he is looking for a way to break the curse before he succumbs to their horrible influence and becomes irredeemably evil.  Or gives in to despair and ends things (if the 13 will let him).  Dageus is beyond hot…he’s HAWT!  As the 13 exert more and more influence over him, practically the only time he feels like himself is when he is with a woman.  So he is with a lot of women.  Not that we see it in the book – that would be icky – but we’re told and see just enough to get an idea of his attempts to feel human.  Of course, when he meets Chloe (our heroine), he finds out just being in the same room with her and talking makes him feel pretty human, too.  Aww…I adore Dageus!  *sappy sigh*
My grade: A

The Immortal Highlander:

Adam Black’s book.  Adam is a Fae prince who likes to take human form and pops up (in person or in passing mention) in most of the earlier Highlander books.  As a result of some happenings in Dageus’s book, Adam is cursed to the human realm where he cannot be seen by humans and cannot see other Faes.  When he finds someone who can see him, he torments her until she agrees to help him find a way out of the curse.  Lots of Fever foreshadowing in this book – including Darroc’s backstory – plus Adam is fun.  I think he is my second favorite after Dageus.  Even when he is annoying poor Gabby, trying to wear her down so she will help him, he’s still taking care of her and bringing her treats.  <3
My grade: A-

Do the books stand alone?  Well, sort of, but you get much more out of the story if you read them all.

What’s next in Slumpville?  Well, I might go back and read the earlier Highlander books that I skipped – Beyond the Highland Mist, To Tame a Highland Warrior, and Highlander’s Touch – I have no memory of them at all, but I know I read them and they still are lingering in the Keeper Shelves.  Plus, I’m going to try another historical or two and see if anything keeps my interest.  If worse comes to worst, I’m going to re-read the Fever books and try to find bits of information that I missed…I wanted to wait until closer to the release of Shadow Fever (January?! *cries*), but I might be forced to start early.

So tell me, faithful reader, what are you reading?  And what’s coming up that you can’t wait to get your paws on?

Highlander series (in order – Amazon has them numbered wrong, by the way):

Fever series (in order):