Consuming Fire

Scottish Highland #2

by Kathleen Morgan

Set in the Scottish Highlands in 1694, this epic novel tells the gripping story of one woman's struggle to find true freedom and love. Deceived by her father and betrayed by the man she loved, Maggie Robertson must turn to God for refuge. With the help of neighboring clan chief Adam Campbell, Maggie must work against the odds and ultimately find that true love, peace, and safety can be found only in God.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Historical, Christian, Fiction, Scotland

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Kathleen began her career writing contemporary romances and soon moved to historical and futuristic romances. She sold her first book, a futuristic romance, in April 1990 while stationed in Korea as an Army nurse. Additional romances soon followed, until she had sold a total of fifteen books in the general market, establishing a loyal readership along the way.

Since that time, she has received numerous awards for her work, including a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice award and Career Achievement award, and The Literary Times award for Literary Excellence in the Field of Romantic Fiction. She was also a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist.

Kathleen now focuses her writing talents in the area of inspirational fiction, offering readers characters who struggle to redefine their growing faith in everyday life.

Reviews

[R · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel bad about this book. It had so much, it was too much. I can’t explain without giving away, but the heroine has soo many issues on a personal destructive nature its almost odd. I felt more for the sister who was always last in the love-lineup and part-time villain than the heroine.
Did Maggie have so many problems on forgiveness because she was selfish, lost, used in a psychological war fare of her family? I couldn’t figure out what was up. I mean when she thought Lachlan was the one who killed her brother it was almost “well. Ok. I am sorry it happened but my bro does bad and it’s ok”. Then when she hears it was Adam (really, it was gravity) she went all crazy as if her brother was a wonderful person now so let me get angry and hate the man I loved”.
I think the the sister Cora should have had her own story. In her case, being unforgiving, selfish, confused, was explained quickly. Maggie was like an onion with so many layers of messed-up that the beginning of the book really was like a different character to the woman who freaks out after finding out who “killed her brother”...though what killed him was gravity.
Anyway, some statements on forgiveness were good. Just, as a story, blah.
This is all MY opinion. Others may love this work. I give the author credit for the work I know she did and that’s why I give 2 stars instead of just one.

[Kelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picking this one up almost 10 years since I read another book in a series from this author. I didn’t love the sappiness or cultural dialect in 2012 from the one I read and I have to say I had some trouble trudging through this book at the start. But I think I liked the Scottish Slang better this time around, although I think their are times when the slang gets in the way of the story.

The time period and setting are perfect. I will give the book points for this. And I liked the initial way the story was going. It feels very braveheart and epic. But quickly the story switches POV multiple times. To her sister - Cora, back and forth between both the MC’s, and it’s not done in a way the flows well. Plus Maggie is never very likeable. One gets lost in the Scottish way they speak instead. I ended up getting almost half way and feeling bored and done with the story. So mostly I skimmed what I could.

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay... I'm not sure how to rate this one. I did enjoy the story line and I felt like there were a lot of inspiring lessons on forgiveness. But I also feel like it just drug on and on. We visited the same "scenes" countless times and just beat them to death. It took me awhile to get this one finished. And let me just say Maggie is NOT my favorite leading lady, at all.

[Deborah Maselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story line tedious reading

Kathleen Morgan’s Child of the Mist was good. I purchased this book with higher hopes. There was way too much telling in the book. The fill in information was tedious. Character changes due to conversion were overly done to the point that they sounded sainted. I finished the book out of stubbornness to get to the end.

[Carol Duhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently written book!

Romance was interwoven with a solid story and compelling characters. It is the age old struggle to forgive those who have hurt us the most. Paints a solid picture about the enormous power of forgiveness and it’s consequences.

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forgiveness. Forgiveness was but an opening of one's heart to another so that compassion and understanding could flow in. Only then could one forgive in the truest sense of the word. The journey to that destination, however, asked as much of oneself as it did of the one who had injured you. Indeed it asked far more.

This is what Maggie Robertson learns. What she must fight her nature with every breath to embrace. Maggie finds herself used as a pawn in the hands of an unloving father and cruel suitor. Then the one man that she thinks she can trust with her fragile heart has a secret so terrible that she may never be able to forgive him. Will she risk great happiness and true love for the sake of unforgiveness. The journey to that path is long and hard. She faces betrayal of the harshest sort and death of a loved one. In the end, will what she learns on her journey be enough to carry her?

Consuming Fire is a wonderful reflection of forgivness and true, lasting love. I hope you enjoy it as well.

[Anajoy-rusticgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Takes Place: 1694
Reading Level: High school
Content Level: Adult (It could be high school, however it was just meant to be for adults)
Violence: There are mentions of family feuds, several characters are poisoned, one of the main characters is shot, and someone dies when he falls off a cliff.
Swearing: None
Sexual Content: Kissing. One character (the villain) tries to 'take' a girl so she would be shamed into marrying him. (However, this does not TAKE place in the book)

Without looking at the title (from which I received many raised eyebrows) this is just nice, romantic, Christian fluff.

Escaping from a churlish Father and a lubricious suitor, Maggie Robertson sails the across the ocean to enter a convent. Months later a strange man comes, nearly dead, to bring Maggie back to Scotland to say farewell to her dying Father who seems to be asking for forgiveness. But what will happen to Maggie when she arrives there? Will her scheming younger sister have fatal plans for her. Will the prurient man she ran away from still be there, waiting?

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this book almost as much the first in the series, the inadequacies of Kathleen Morgan's writing as a bit more obvious in this one. It's still a guilty pleasure so I'll hold on to it. However, it is not the best example of the genre.

For example, the male protagonist, Adam Campbell, comes across as very feminine, at least in the way he thinks about emotional things. Don't confuse my meaning. I'm not saying that he comes across as effeminante, definitely not. What I am saying is that Mrs. Morgan imparted her own feminine slant on the romance aspect to both protagonists, Adam and Maggie. Even as I write that, I'm not sure that my meaning comes across.

I enjoyed the story, though, despite its flaws and would recommend it to anyone wanting a light, pleasurable read. If one wants any more than that, they'll have to look elsewhere.

[Pam Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good and bad all at the same time. The plot was intricately woven, and there was good character development of more than just the two main characters which I appreciated. However, her writing doesn't flow as easily as it should to me and the main character, Maggie, is unlikeable, which makes the book really frustrating throughout. There were also a couple missed opportunities in my mind to show their building relationship instead of just telling me that it happened. I.e., the trip back to Scotland in the beginning. The book just basically says that they built a relationship which was disappointing because I wanted to see it. I debated heavily between 2 and 3 stars but I did still like the overall plot line.

[Krystal Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

To start, I actually enjoyed this book more than the previous one in the series until near the end. The main character's personality really began to rub me the wrong way by then. At first, I understood her fears, doubts, and struggles.. However, in a story, when there is conflict resolved you usually anticipate it to stay that way and either the story ends or there are remaining conflicts. When the main character lapsed back in to doubt for the third, fourth, hundredth? time, I found myself irritated. Other than that though I really did enjoy the book. I just felt like the same conflict of the main character's doubt was repeated too often.

[Arlet Leno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed

This was a hard read to get into. It seemed to go on forever and was a bit repetitive. Maggie was not the smartest heroin in a book. One minute they were in love forever and the next they were next to hating each other. I would of liked to read more of their love and less of her hate. I really can't recommend this book.

[Aerykah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, though not as good as the first book in the series. It took me a bit to get into the book and several parts seemed to be really slow going. But, it was still interesting and I thought it ended pretty well.

Thanks for the loan, Elizabeth! :)

[Paging_Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good love story and this was by far one of my favorites. I actually went into the book expecting not to like it but goodness was I completely surprised. Excellent story with wonderful lessons.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie has been betrayed her entire life by her parents, finally she leaves to fulfill her dream of becoming a nun. She is fulfilling God's calling for her life... or is she? This was well written and I was surprised by a number of plot twists.

[Court · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, but i just think it didn't quite deserve five stars. It was interesting, but i thought it did drag a little bit at parts.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie has been betrayed by her own father and the man she loves. Will she be able to find peace with Adam Campbell as she searches for peach with knowing God and the man she has married.

[Virna · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book

[Solana Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Marleah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay. I got really frustrated with Maggie though. She seemed to change her mind so frequently that she just annoyed me. The ending was too rushed as well. 2.5 stars.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. I liked the part where Maggie was taking care of her friend after he had arrived in the nunnery infirmary.

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2 of 2

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

ebook contained a lot of editing errors, including editor comments. Not an endearing main character... she's terribly immature and inconsistent.

[Carman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good ending to the series, even though Maggie could be extremely frustrating sometimes. :)

[Strawberry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great story of clans, rivalry and love.