I was pretty psyched to start reading this book by Ms Moning. As you know I absolutely adored her Fever series, so I had pretty high expectations for this book. But, sadly, I found myself kinda let down.
I liked the idea behind the story and I initially liked both the hero and heroine. However, the further I got into the book, the more annoyed I got.
We start off meeting the Hawk. He is a Scottish laird living in the 1500s, and he is a complete and utter manwhore. He loves the ladies and they love him. His conquests aren't limited to the human realm either. He's also gone there with the Seelie queen (I don't think he knew who she was, to be fair). His best friend, Grimm, finds this both really funny and totally unfair. He wishes on a falling star for the Hawk to meet a woman who is the embodiment of perfection, but who has absolutely no interest in him. The guys laugh it off as a big joke, but little do they know that a jealous fae has been listening in and decides that that isn't a bad idea.
Enter Adrienne.
Adrienne has sworn off beautiful men. She's been burned badly and she has no desire to repeat the experience. She's also living in the year 1997 so she's pretty independent and isn't prone to panic attacks. Which actually comes in handy when she's transported from her life in modern Seattle to ancient Scotland where men rock kilts and live in castles.
Circumstances throw Adrienne and the Hawk together, and the pair find themselves married. Neither party is what you'd call "thrilled" about this marriage. That is, until they get proper look at one another. The Hawk decides that maybe being married won't be so bad after all; Adrienne is all about the "hell, no!" The Hawk makes the guy who broke her heart in the past look like a troll.
Lots of potential, right? Except I didn't feel it. As the book progressed, I found myself disliking Adrienne to the point where I wished the fae would just dump her back in Seattle, in the middle of a busy road, so she could be hit by a bus. She was so mean to the Hawk. I get self-preservation, and I know that the Hawk wasn't exactly a saint either, but Adrienne was just being a bitch. She keeps flaunting the blacksmith, Adam Black (who I'll get to in a minute), in the Hawk's face. And Hawk just takes it. He just wants to win his wife over and he steadily falls for her. This also annoyed me to no end. I liked Hawk while he was this devil-may-care playboy, not this whipped puppy who just took Adrienne's abuse.
All round, I was annoyed with the two leads. But not all was lost. We had Adam Black, who made a pretty good villain. Adam isn't actually human. He's a member of the Seelie Court and he was all kinds of jealous about the fact that a mere human made such a big impression on his queen. Then we have Grimm, my favourite character of the lot. He sees how miserable Adrienne has made the Hawk and he does what he can to keep them apart. He feels supremely guilty for making that stupid wish and tells Adrienne to her face that she's a frigid bitch. While things did work out eventually, I'm glad that someone had the nerve to tell Adrienne that.
Happily, Grimm's book is next in the series. Hopefully we'll get a heroine that I won't want to maim.
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