THE WATCHER: He smells her. Feels her. Knows she is coming. Chosen by the Fates, she is the one. Only she can lift the curse of darkness. But he will stop her-and he will sacrifice her.
THE WOMAN: Flame-haired and green-eyed, Bryanna looks enchanted but has always felt cursed, plagued by mysterious visions and voices. Bound by destiny to save an innocent life, Bryanna follows her path alone-until she meets a stranger deep in the woods.
THE WARRIOR: Gavyn is a wanted man, as dark and dangerous as the wolf that shadows his footsteps. But his touch is electric, and he has much to teach-if Bryanna is willing to learn...
Lisa Jackson is the number-one New York Times bestselling author of over ninety-five novels, including the Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya Series, the Pescoli and Alvarez Series, the Savannah series, and numerous stand alone novels. She also is the co-author of One Last Breath, Last Girl Standing, and the Colony Series, written with her sister and bestselling author Nancy Bush, as well as the collaborative novels Sinister and Ominous, written with Nancy Bush and Rosalind Noonan. There are over thirty million copies of her novels in print and her writing has been translated into twenty languages.
Before she became a nationally bestselling author, she was a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, hoping against hope that someone would pay her for them. Today, neck deep in murder, her books appear on The New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly national bestseller lists.
With dozens of bestsellers to her name, Lisa Jackson is a master of taking readers to the edge of sanity—and back—in novels that buzz with dangerous secrets and deadly passions. She continues to be fascinated by the minds and motives of both her killers and their pursuers—the personal, the professional, and the downright twisted. As she builds the puzzle of relationships, actions, clues, lies, and personal histories that haunt her protagonists, she must also confront the fear and terror faced by her victims and the harsh and enduring truth that, in the real world, terror and madness touch far too many lives and families.
This book felt older than it is. To me, it read like one from the early 90s, a little overwrought. The hero is the bastard son of a noble who apparently wants the son dead. The heroine is the pampered daughter of another noble on the Welsh border who has visions that have now driven her out to deal with "danger from the north." There's some ominous something coming after her. Of course she hooks up with the hero, and splits from him, and meets the bad guy and is almost fooled. There's magic, and evil and dramatic rescues. Overall, it was a pretty good read.
This was a good book, but I recommend starting with book one because I didn’t feel as big a connection between the characters as I would have if I started at the beginning. Good plot, kept me interested, but less romance as I expected.
Unique Blend of Historical Romance and Fantasy/Paranormal
I read Jackson’s Welsh trilogy (ENCHANTRESS, KISS OF THE MOON and OUTLAW) and loved it, and thought I’d read her second Welsh trilogy. This one's a bit different, but still quite good.
SORCERESS, set in late 13th century Wales, is the third in the trilogy, a medieval romance with strong fantasy/paranormal elements.
It tells of a legend of the Chosen One who was
Sired by Darkness, Born of Light, Protected by the Sacred Dagger, A ruler of all men, all beasts and beings, It is he who shall be born on the Eve of Samhain.
Bryanna of Calon knew she was different, the only one of her siblings with powers and the ability to hear voices others did not. But it wasn’t until she was 16 that she learned her real mother was a woman considered a witch who died at the hands of evil men. Bryanna has the dagger, and has been given a quest to search out the gems that gave the dagger its power, and once she has it, she must use it to save the Chosen One. In her search for the jewels, she will encounter great evil. She will also find love with the warrior Gavyn whose father, a baron, hates and hunts him.
As the treasure hunt progresses, both Bryanna and Gavyn are hunted. They form a bond between them, unaware of the claim evil has staked for Bryanna.
A fascinating, though in some places slow moving tale from old Wales, Jackson has done a great job of weaving fantasy into historical romance. She includes much historic detail on the castle and village life at the time, adding amazing realism. The plot is complex and many characters come together for the dramatic final scene. Though there are a few places where the evil actions of the villain were a bit much and the pagan references a bit repetitive, still I was entertained and happy to read on.
I recommend it, particularly for historical romance fans who like fantasy, too.
I remembered reading this book many years ago and in my memory it was an epic story. Now that I found it and reread it. The book just didn't sit with me the same way. I really enjoyed it but at the same time I didn't find it as good as it had been in my head. There was a lot about Bryanna that super annoyed me. I don't know. It just didn't hit the way it had before. I do have a few of a Jackson's other books. I'm definitely interested in checking them out.
This is one of my favorite books. I have all three of them. This is one of my “go to” books when I can’t find anything else to read. I must have read it a dozen times.
The 16-year-old heroine leaves the safety of her sister’s home because a voice in her head pushes her to meet her destiny and the mystery of her birth. There's also the fact that the heroine fancies herself in love with her sister’s husband which she's disgusted with herself about. So, with only her horse, the heroine travels the wilds of Wales only to meet up with a stranger who's a wanted criminal and also turns out to be a childhood crush.
He's a bastard who is charged with murdering the sheriff who murdered his mother and it on the run from his father who also wants to murder him...wow. From the jump the heroine, though she is frustrating and really stupid at times, is the leader of their gang. She makes the decisions and based on the voice of her dead friend, decides where they are going and the hero is the muscle and the second in command. He truly loves her and though he himself gets angry by some aspects of the heroine’s personality he will do anything for her. It comes to light that they are destined to have a child and that child will be the lord of the magical realm? Sort of confusing and it also turns out that the same night the two characters sleep together, the villain sneaks into the room and sleeps with the heroine first. This was a time when I really hated the heroine because she calls him by the hero's name only to have him tell her he wasn't the hero but the heroine still slept with him anyway.
Later on, in the story when the heroine is pregnant, she doesn't tell the hero of her condition until 4-5 months into the pregnancy and even that information was given in nonchalance like he didn't need to know. This was a sign that the heroine really doesn't think of the hero as an equal and that she was just using him for her own selfish reasons. The heroine is 8 months pregnant and she's still travelling on horseback over the wilds of Wales and the second after the birth, she's literally up and climbing the mountains. This was unbelievable to me and threw me off a little bit. Though there was clearly love from the hero to the heroine through his actions and his protectiveness, I felt little to no return’s feelings on the heroine's side. She was very young is some aspects like falling in love with every guy she meets but on the other hand she was strong enough to endure her mission and fight for the life of her child.
Overall it was a very old book, meaning its ideology and traditions were old fashioned. But I did like the hero's teasing nature and his silent but total strength and control of his life. This was a nice book that I would have no problem reading again.
Wow... Baru kali ini baca buku berasa seperti bermain game RPG. Kesan terakhir selesai baca, nih buku kalau dijadikan film petualangan kayaknya asyik ya... Bagiku semua unsur yg membuatnya asyik tergabung jadi satu dengan baik: petualangan, pertentangan antara kegelapan dan cahaya, perjalanan yg berujung pada pencarian jati diri, benda magis yg diperebutkan, sihir, penyihir cantik, ksatria pelindung, pemburu yg bertobat, hewan pelindung jejadian, kesatria jahat, hingga pertempuran antara kejahatan dan kebaikan.
Semau berawal dari sebuah ramalan kuno tentang kegelapan, cahaya, Belati Suci, dan Yang Terpilih. Untuk melindungi keturunannya dan Belati Suci, Kambria, putri penyihir yg cantik mati ditangan Halyd si pendeta yg tak suci.
Enambelas kemudian, Bryanna of Penbrooke meninggalkan kastil Calon untuk menghindari jatuh cinta pada suami kakak perempuannya Morwenna. Alasan lain yg lebih kuat karena Bryanna mendapat bisikan gaib dari inang pengasuhnya yg telah mati agar Bryanna mencari takdir hidupnya. Dan dalam petualangannya itu Bryanna bertemu Gavyn putra haram Lord Agendor yg menjadi buronan ayahnya sendiri karena satu pembunuhan. Siapa sangka kalau Gavyn ini selalu memimpikan Bryanna yg selalu dikejar kejar kegelapan, dan siapa sangka pula kalau mereka berdua itu pernah terlibat cinta monyet dulunya?
Jadilah petualangan Bryanna ditemani oleh Gavyn yg ingin melindungi Bryanna. Selain itu Bryanna dan Gavyn selalu dibayang bayangi oleh serigala besar abu abu yg melindungi mereka. Pencarian Bryanna membuka rahasia siapa sebenarnya Bryanna yg selama ini tak pernah terbersit kalau dirinya bukanlah putri ibunya. Takdirnya kelahirannya sebagai putri penyihir mengharuskan Bryanna untuk mencari batu permata Belati Suci di empat arah mata angin, dan juga melindungi bayi Sang Terpilih. Sepanjang perjalanan tak pernah ada dalam pemikiran Bryanna kalau Sang Terpilih adalah bayinya sendiri yg diperoleh dari hasil "perkosaan" ksatria kegelapan Halyd (ironis, semula dikira kalau bayi itu hasil hubungan Bryanna dengan Gavyn), pria misterius yg selalu muncul dalam mimpinya.
Klimaks cerita, semua pihak yg terlibat bertemu di malam "Samhain" dan pertempuran antara kejahatan dan kebaikan berlangsung untuk memperebutkan Belati Suci dan juga Sang Terpilih.
This was a departure from the typical historical romance fare! "Sorceress" is more of a Celtic fantasy/adventure novel with a bit of a romantic side story thrown in for good measure, so it may not be received very warmly by fans of traditional romance. There are also some very dark undertones and plot elements that could almost classify as horror, or, at the very least, dark fantasy. It also has some seriously creepy antagonists... I really enjoyed it, but I mostly read fantasy anyway and venture into historical romance every once and a while for a change of pace. I blame Bertrice Small and "Skye O'Malley" for my addiction! This is only my second Lisa Jackson novel, (I read "Lost Souls" a few years ago) and I think I just may have to add some of her other works to my TBR pile. I'm intrigued enough by Bryanna's sister Morwenna and her shady bounty hunter/tracker brother-in-law that I would like to read her story, "Temptress", as well as Kelan's story, "Impostress". I picked this up at my local library on a whim and didn't realize at first that it was a part of a trilogy. Points go to Ms. Jackson for ensuring that it can be read as a stand-alone work.
This was my first of Lisa Jackson's books, and I'll admit it was a gift from my husband. I give the author credit for creating an obvious series of books without each book being dependent on the other. Where this book failed for me was in how it didn't make me want to read the book that evidently came before it.
Without revealing too much, what I will say is I was disappointed that evil in any way succeeded in its efforts. While I know that good and innocence can't always prevail, the way the evil overrode this storyline just ruined it for me. I could tell that the same negative tension and drama played a big part in the first book of the series (again, making me not want to read it).
Thus, while the writing and imagery were good and the characters compelling enough to have me reading to the end...I will probably not ever buy another book in this series.
The maine character is Brianna who is 16 I like her very much her character and personality showed both strength and naive. Gowan was awesome fierce, loyal, loving, and anything you would expect of a hero he isnt the average scarred hero whos moody possessive domineering hes different. Some of the events were so surprising and there was suspense, action and drama. Though I did enjoy tge book the one MAIN reason it didnt get 5 stars is the ending some, the strings were wrapped up too fast for my taste. Plus I was still left questioning stuff which I cant comment on because it would be a spoiler
From the moment I read the first page, I knew I would be hooked. The author is insightful, descriptive, strings her sentences with perfection. There is everything required for an amazing tale in this novel. Love, sadness, fear, magic, desire, blood, light and hope. A young girl leaves the safety of her home and family to fulfill a quest and have the adventure of a lifetime. There is evil out to stop her from succeeding but there is also a man who is determined to make her his and he will literally follow her anywhere. Through the book you will envision her maturing, becoming a mother, a lover and protecting all that is hers. A must read for anyone with a taste for desire and adventure.
On hold. I don't really want to read adult romance right now. Sorry, Ate Billie. I was on page 18 and the villain has a POV - a very perverted POV - and it made me squirmish.
Though maybe I will be finishing this after I finish the other books lent to me. There is a higher probability that I'll reread and finish Wuthering Heights instead. Also, Gone-Away Lake. :)
I felt so bad for Kambria (my daughter's name is Cambria:) but I'm glad she was there as the wolf to help out. I often wished Isa would tell her more. It was as frustrating for me, as it was for Bryanna that Isa wouldn't tell her more. I hate the sexual content in this book though. I always find depraved sexual thought by the bad guys in these books turns my stomach and I skim right over it.
Mystery, love, adventure, unknown, a quest and help from the beyond.
Gak suka buku ini gara2 si heroine ksih respon positip pas d-rape si villain!Pdhal sblm mnginvasi,si villain jelas2 mnegaskn, "Ak bukan Gavyn." Tetep sj si heroine ikut mnikmati n mlah ikut brpartisipasi (edaaaan).Ntah it saking telernya,ato saking begonya,ato saking naifnya,ato saking enaknya,smp gak ad prlawanan sm skli! Bc buku ini mlah jd bete abiiiis!!!
While I love her books, this one was Just OK to me. It dragged a bit and took longer for me to read. I love this kind of story line, but something was missing here. I'm not sure what it was about this book but it wasn't her best. I'm sure it happens to all writers, I wouldn't want to try my hand at it that's for sure. Still will read her books though because Lisa is a wonderful writer.
This is an Epic tale of good vs. evil. It displays the love a mother has for her child and the risks taken to see that he is safe. You will see the gallant love of a warrior as he tries to protect both mother and his child. And all for the sake of a prophesy foretold by a spirit named Isa. This is brilliantly written. Once again I was not disappointed by Lisa Jackson.
I honestly don't remember much about this. I grabbed it in a grocery store before a road trip to read in the car. I didn't know at the time that it was part of a series, although that became evident when I read it. It wasn't a problem as far as being able to understand the story, though. It also obviously didn't make me go out and find the others.
I really liked this book. A friend of mine gave it to me just before Christmas, so of course I started reading it. I had no idea there were two books written before this one. So that's my goal now, I've been looking for copies of the first 2 books. I'm really curious as to how the story started because I loved how it ended.
This book included some sexy scenes and I did enjoy the relationship and banter between the two main characters. In the last quarter of the book, I was skimming the book. I was bored and I had an idea where the plot was heading. There were some characters that were introduced that I did not understand their overall purpose. An overall okay read.
I couldn't get very far into this one. Too much purple prose. In an early chapter, dogs are referred to as "furry sentinels," which cracked me up. I called my dog my "furry sentinel" for weeks. Sadly, I don't remember much else about the book.
I couldn't put it down, I think it was slow at parts but overall good read, felt like I was reading the beginning of a series instead of the end of a trilogy though. It wasn't one of those things where you knew immediately how it was going to end.. I like that about Lisa Jackson..
Seemed like this book was a a concept plan for a long series. There were times when I turned the page and something would happen and I'd have no idea how anything connected.
Ohh this book was awesome. I was caught with the first page. This book had everything, an evil chaseing after the light of a gifted woman and a hero who is her destiny.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.