Fate's Monolith

MacLomain #1

by Sky Purington

Arianna Broun, a Scottish born colonial American has been haunted by the reoccurring dream of a phantom Scottish warrior. Her infatuation with the dream intensifies until All Hallows' Eve, when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. After several bizarre encounters she runs to her safe haven deep in the woods. When dawn comes too early, Arianna is eager to go home. But fate has other plans.

Laird Iain Mac'Lomain has long awaited the arrival of his promised bride. She claims to not be the woman intended for him but she fits the description given him of her, all fire and defiance. That defiance will end up costing them everything and rips them apart. However, a Scottish Chieftain with magic at his disposal is capable of most anything. Will he hold Arianna in his arms again or is she lost to him forever? Only time will tell.

Genres: Time Travel, Romance, Historical Romance, Fantasy, Historical, Magic, Paranormal

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Sky Purington is the bestselling author of over ninety novels and novellas. A New Englander born and bred who recently moved to Virginia, Purington married her hero, has an amazing son who inspires her daily, and two ultra-lovable husky shepherd mixes. Passionate for variety, Sky's vivid imagination spans several romance genres, including historical, time travel, paranormal, and fantasy. Expect steamy stories teeming with protective alpha heroes and strong-minded heroines.

Purington loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at Sky@SkyPurington.com. Interested in keeping up with Sky's latest news and releases? Visit Sky’s website, www.SkyPurington.com or sign up for personalized text message alerts. Simply text 'skypurington' (no quotes, one word, all lowercase) to 74121

Reviews

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite a couple less than necessary scenes this is now one of my favorite books! It is amazing! Emotional enough to get me into their heads, historically accurate enough to get me hooked on the facts in addition to the story, taught me about the culture and added in a taste of magic. It is as if this book was written FOR me... i approve and cant wait to read the next one

[jD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't recall how I came across this series but it was either free or very cheap for Kindle so I took a chance. I have not read Ms. Purington's work before so I did not have any idea about her style or range of creativity. Overall, I really enjoyed the story.

This is book one of The MacLomain Series. The main character is a young woman named Arianna who lives in Salem, MA in 1799. She and her family have immigrated from England by way of Scotland. She has a happy life although she is plagued by visions of a beautiful Highlander. She had dreamed of him since she was 10 and now at age 19 she finds herself in love with a man she has never seen outside of sleeping and waking dreams. As fate would have it, she finds herself alone in the woods where she cries against a rock jutting from the ground. When the fog clears, she is 600 years in the past, in the highlands, and being shot by an arrow. When she awakens, she is in the castle of one Iain MacLomain. He is waiting for his wayward promised bride who has somehow run off with another man. He mistakes Arianna for the woman he was promised and doesn't believe she is from the future. As these tales often go, they marry and don't exactly live happily ever after without some serious obstacles.

It's those obstacles that made the book for me. Ms. Purington kept a brisk pace with layers of drama and surprises. I found the Arianna and Iain to be engaging characters. The supporting cast of characters was large but not cumbersome. The worldbuilding was visually and historically detailed. I had no problems picturing the world and the characters in technicolor. There was a nice balance of funny to dramatic interactions amongst the characters.

This is a love story with magic and time travel. This is not YA due to a couple of smoking hot love scenes. There are kilts and swords galore. Although this is a series, this book was comprehensive and complete. All of which makes it a five star read for me. I am going with four stars because it really needed the brogue. It was unforgivable that the characters would speak with broken intermitten 'ayes', 'lass', dinnae', and the likes. It took something from the story for me. Don't get me wrong, there is some brogue but it was not consistant or frequent enough for the setting and historical timeframe. I will read the next books at some point since they are already out and on my Kindle. Actually, I am looking forward to it.

[E_lovesbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Thought it might be similar to Outlander which I loved. The only similarity was the time travel to the Highlands. Thankfully it was on Kindle Unlimited otherwise I’d feel cheated. This is my first review as I never thought to write one but the blatant similarities with the idea of Outlander coupled with appalling dialogue and characters really irritated me. Simply Dreadful.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

although a time travel book, I found this book very enjoyable. The time travel was in the past, from 1700's back to much earlier in Scotland.

[Rosemary Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young girl is pulled from 1800's America, to 8th Century Scotland. As her name was the same as the Laird's promised bride, after her rescue on arrival all sorts of confusion developes.
It is a good story, again with Bourn and MacLomain connection.
I reviewed this book after reading this episode as part of The MacLomain Series 1-4.

[Michelle Tetzke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg!!!! If you haven't read Sky's series of sexy Highlander, beyond hot Vikings ( who are related to said sexy Highlanders) you are sadly missing out! So much intrigue. Descriptive writing. And love stories. You NEED to read these books!
Enjoy. I know you will. 💜

[Sasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor proofreading and grammar.

If you can get over the poor formatting, grammatic errors, and predictable storyline, this will do. However, for the price, one can't really complain.

[Willow Salix · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into this at all, really slow start and I just couldn't dredge up the enthusiasm to keep going. I might come back to it another time and try again but for now it's a no.

[Cary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it

[MARY · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished with this book and it was very interesting. I will be going on to the next one.

[Love Me A Romance · Rating 2 out of 5]

What to say about this book? The story had merit but honestly, the delivery was a bit of a hot mess. I picked up the MacLomain series after reading the Viking Ancestors trilogy by the same author. I loved those books and thought they were well written. Fate's Monolith was written well before the Viking Ancestors and I think what I experienced here was a representation of an author's undeveloped skill. I will continue with the MacLomain series as I expect to see the writing improve but, ya, this one wasn't well delivered.

[Chandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

SYNOPSIS – Arianna lives in Salem, 18th century. “I will find you” comes a voice in her dreams from a voice of the past; the 12th century. That voice comes to life as she finds herself in a marriage ceremony with Iain, laird of the MacLomain clan. This world is full of mystical adventures and attempts on Arianna being captured. This is a story of clans joining forces and world where Arianna belongs.

(5 out of 5) Stars. Elements of a Romance Book TEST =
2 central characters, 1 male, 1 female.......................YES;
One or both of the main characters are in peril....... YES;
They work together to resolve the situation.............YES;
Some amount of conflict and resistance in working together.....YES;
The perilous situation brings them together………………………......YES.

FAVORITE PART: Arianna is rescued while on trial for witchcraft. The way she was rescued was totally unexpected.

YOU WILL LIKE THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE: Historical Romance

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well at least this was an inexpensive read. Kindle bargain! It also has some of the oddest word usage that I've encountered. I shouldn't really criticise, as that's great for my vocabulary, but I'm trying to work out how to get fructify into a sentence in everyday English, and it was used at least two times in this not overly long novel!! So many words had me hitting the dictionary function on my kindle as they were used in very odd ways, the kindle dictionary and I were luckily in agreement on pretty much all! A week and a bit after reading, I'm scraping for an example! But this heroine never puts on her clothes she always adorns them. Ok you adorn yourself with clothes but the usage just was overly odd and at times clumsy and annoying.



All in all, an underwhelming read, but worth a dollar.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well thought out story of love, and time travel. Adrianna goes back in time to find the highlander she has dreamed of. He is the Laird of his people, handsome, rugged, fair, fierce, sexy, and he wants her for a wife. She has no idea how long,she can stay, and he will not believe her tale of living in another time. I liked the characters, and the well constructed plot. If you like a yummy highlander, and a lass that has spirit, and sass, then this book is for you. This story also takes place when magic is very much alive.
I totally enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the next one in this series.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't read any of the series and so started with the prologue- the King's Druidess. Some things were confusing, but as I don't often read time travel I plowed on with Fate's Monolith. Once I got into the style of it I started to tie elements of Arianna's story together, though I found some aspects were not gelling (eg. the role of the old wizard) I'm glad I finished it, though, since I have like the next book in the series much better (Destiny's Denial) and intend to read the third of the trilogy at the next opportunity.

[Erin Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book 3 stars because a lot of it seemed to be really ill-defined. The magic, especially, was thrown hither and yon with little to no framework or perspective. No real explanation, so the fact that magic just kept cropping up was never really explained.

It made for a bit of a rubbernecking ride as I tried to keep up with something I didn't really understand. That's my main concern. I didn't understand the way magic was supposed to work in this world, so I had a hard time integrating it.

[Breana Chan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Purington did a great job tying the whole series together with numerous twists and turns along the way. I am very impressed with her ability to keep the multiple stories, relationships, generations, and centuries separate and yet, very well unified.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars because it was a little choppy and confusing. Magic was mentioned and powerful at times, but there was little explanation for it. Iain is a heart throb and Arianna wasn't an idiot, so it had that going for them. Overall, it was a tasty treat.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. A few questions were left unanswered but discovered in the other books in the series which I loved. All and all, this is worth the read!

[Heron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather...bad? Yes. That's what it was. Bad.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish we had half stars. This is a 3.5. Very cool historical, time travel romance. Fun quick read.

[Vanessa Lucido · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a story! Loved it!

[Jennifer Skelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome!!!! If you love Historical time travel!!

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, but I found myself wishing it was over quicker than it was.

[Tiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars. It wasn't horrible but I'm glad it was a cheap kindle deal. I have the next book in the series, I will give it a shot.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Time travel, romance, and Scotland. If you liked Outlander, you'll like this series.