Night Visitor

by Melanie Jackson

All Scots know of the brave piper who gave his life so long ago. Malcolm "the piper" calls to Tafaline so insistently, across the winds of night and time…and looking into her heart, Taffy knows there is naught to do but go to him.

Genres: Time Travel, Romance, Historical Romance, Paranormal, Fiction, Fantasy, Scotland

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Melanie, an award-winning author of more than fifty novels, stories and poems lives with her writer husband in the California Gold Country with their cat (also a writer who has a page on myspace) and their dog (who is hoping to get a page on facebook as soon as she masters typing). Melanie likes gardening but hates the deer who also like her garden, and she volunteers at a local animal shelter.

Reviews

[⋆☆☽ Kriss ☾☆⋆]

The writing itself is very pretty and the author clearly knows her Scottish history and folklore, but the basic plot wasn't established. Taffy is taking pictures then suddenly ghost then suddenly intention time travel and suddenly she saves the man before he becomes a ghost all within 30% of the book and I have no clue as to what the plot is. There was no time establishing a reason for any of the actions. Events just happened without clear purpose. There was nothing developed enough to establish Taffy wanting to try to save Malcolm and nothing established that would make her time-traveling probable (she just finds a door in a tunnel and goes like she always knew how) and then the author is like "oh she can't go back because reasons" and personally, if I don't have at least a basic idea of what a book wants to tell me it's hard to stay interested. The blurbs are 2 lines long and offer no help establishing the basic idea of what to expect outside of "a man and a woman fall in love." Which is so vague that it's not really even helpful. Like I got that much from looking at the genre.

Anyway, it was a free borrow so I'm not out anything but, I'm a bit disappointed that it didn't care to give me anything to work with to keep me interested beyond the 30% mark. I love faeries but simply having them in a story isn't enough to keep me caring.

[Petra Grayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these types of books so rarely now, I forgot how much I enjoy them. For me, this book was not an easy read. The story wasn't hugely complicated, but the language was way up there in the sense that I really had to pay attention while I was reading. Not only was the vocabulary pretty high, there was also a bunch of older Scottish spellings when people were speaking that you have to decipher too.

The book assumes a decent amount of Scottish history knowledge. I wouldn't say I felt lost, but there were times I was probably missing out on some of the motivations of the characters. There was a bunch of pixie-dust magic in the story. It wasn't quite a different world from ours, but the magic was so seamlessly woven into the story that it was, in the best way, hard to pick up what was myth versus true history.

Taffy and Malcolm both have slightly pointy ears, which ends up being a sign of fae descendance. They have certain powers that were somehow able to connect them over the span of hundreds of years separation. But both have to hide their powers to some extent in order to avoid persecution. They were both interesting and compelling. They kept certain parts of themselves locked away even from their own conscious mind and part of this story involves them having to face what they are and what powers they have.

I liked how strong and resilient Taffy was. She was in an uncomfortable spot at home but she still managed to find her passion and pursue it. She takes control of her destiny and doesn't break down when things are rough. She's so confident, she marches off into the darkness to rescue Malcolm. But she's really smart about it and takes her rifle. You can picture her being a early female Rambo with ammo belts criss-crossing her chest and camo paint on her face. She gets things done but does stay true to her time period, wondering what kind of outcast she might become if people find out about her adventure. She also has a few attacks of conscience, especially in regards to her sexuality, but I felt she dealt with them in an authentic way for the story and time period they were living in.

Malcolm is a fine, ancient Scottish hero. He says words like “ken” and “ha” (which I believe roughly translated to “if”). He's strong and brawny, just fine playing the pipes until his fingers are about to fall off, not really in touch with his emotions, but totally comfortable with the idea of fae magic. He was sort-of tough on Taffy, but it never felt overbearing. Maybe because the fae were always invisibly helping them along. He might have felt a bit boarish, marching Taffy all through the night and stuff, if it weren't for finding protected fae groves, cleaned clothes and glamourized meals whenever they needed them.

This book is a good adventure, but not that much of an emotional romance. Possibly because I was busy deciphering the language. I enjoyed the story but I didn't feel like I connected with the characters emotionally. They seemed to be together mostly to drive the story forward (connections forged through sex and babies must be made) and they didn't think or feel too deeply. For how complicated the journey was for these two, I felt their reasons for being together weren't very well explained. Possibly it's just an additional assumption of magic in the story – things that just are, don't need a huge explanation.

I enjoyed the book for the story and even for the fae magic, but I didn't feel the romance was very gripping or well justified. I guess maybe I'd compare it to a forging of alliances with a bit of attraction thrown in, instead of swooping emotions and deep feelings. I will have to remember, next time I need a engrossing adventure with some rich language, Melanie Jackson is a good go-to author.

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

What a pleasant surprise that was! I found this book in the clearance section of my local used bookstore and figured "What the heck? It's only a dollar!" And I would definitely say that I got more than my money's worth! There were some things that were a bit confusing with regards to the timeline and a lot of telling rather than showing, but I thoroughly enjoyed the magically elements of this story. Overall, a very fun read!

[Holly Bargo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unusual and strange

I almost quit reading this book in the early chapters, but an glad I persevered. This lyrical story weaves a mystical tale as twisty, intricate, and uncertain as the fairy realm itself. Beautifully done.

[Jessie]

The language is nice, but there is no plot. I also don't understand the emotional pull of the main couple.

[Akira]

To my friends - Don't have on me too much!

It was pretty good though a little too cliche for my tastes.

[Paranormal Romance · Rating 3 out of 5]

A modern woman who breaks the rules of her society to pursue her dream of being a photographer, the heroine is plagued by dreams of the hero, a man who lived 200 years in the past and who died before his time. She willingly goes back through a time portal to save his life. He's captured during a battle and is sentenced to lose his hands when he warns his clansman about the trap set for them. He too has dreamt about a beautiful woman and is amazing when she arrives just before his sentence is carried out. Together they flee into the woods. As a fairy descendant the hero is quick and possesses uncanny abilities. He guides the heroine, a fae decent herself, through his world as the run from their pursuers. This book was a very odd but sometimes very magical book. There were times when I thought to myself, this is stupid but at times I was captured by the enchantment. I loved the two characters. The hero was amazing. Though he rarely smiles he is teasing and loving and so damn hansom even with his pointed fae ears. The heroine at times could be frustrating, especially with her ease embarrassment and shy virginal demure in bed. I grew a little bored with how much of a prude she could be and was happy to finally have her open herself up to the experience. I was also iffy about the believability of the story because a lot of it was just a little to far fetched. The heroine willingly travels back in time. She's a lady, albeit a modern one, though she's capable enough with a rifle to shoot about 10 men in aid to the hero's escape and she also carries brass knuckles. I did like the fact that the hero didn't question her time traveling story but was rather curious about it and was genuinely interested in the future. It was an ok book but nothing special.

[Kathrynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice Time-Travel! Taffy is taking pictures of Scottish ruins--AKA haunted castle. She hears Malcolm talking to her and she finds his remains (minus his hands) and goes thru time to prevent his grissly death.

I loved that she brought a gun with her and used it!

There are fairies and magic in this one.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get that it was based on very old stories, but this was a bit of a strange one.

Taffy came across as very American, even though she'd only visited, plus she was extremely modern for an 1888 girl! That and the early typo stating she had gone back to...er, 1964 - hope that's been corrected in later editions.

It was the emotions at the end that saved it for me.

[Karen Desmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

2

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book suffered from a pretty good plot idea that was executed poorly. Bad characterization and poor writing means that it was a good thing this had a good plot

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was ok

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good time-travel historical.