MIDNIGHT'S PROMISE- Donna Grant
Dark Warriors , Book 8
St. Martin's Paperbacks
ISBN: 978-1-250-01729-1
November 2013
Fantasy

Scotland - The Present

Immortal Dark Warrior Malcolm has wandered emotionless, physically scarred, and hopeless for centuries. The drough (evil) Druid Deidre had her minions attack him when he tried to protect his cousin Larena, leaving him damaged. Unable to live with himself and ready to end his existence, Malcolm changes his mind when he gets a whiff of clean, pure magic from a mie (good) Druid. He follows her.

In her search to find another Druid, Evangeline (Evie) Walker stupidly put a photo of a necklace her grandmother gave her on her website, never dreaming it would lead to extreme danger. She discovered her site hacked and someone tracing all her information, wanting the necklace. Evie doesn't even know the magic spell the necklace contains, but she is now on the run. She has to protect herself to protect her mute brother Brian. He depends on her. When she has an auto accident, she hears nearby stone cliffs talking to her and goes to them. There she encounters the enigmatic Malcolm.

Slowly, as Malcolm continually saves naively innocent Evie from herself, she makes an impact on Malcolm's withered emotions. However, another very powerful drough druid, Jason Walker, stalks Evie. He wants not only the necklace, but also Evie and Malcolm to carry out his evil calling.

MIDNIGHT'S PROMISE was the first in this series I've read, so the beginning was rather daunting with its history, and later the many Warriors, Dragon Kings, and Druids involved in previous stories led to some confusion. The Scottish brogue dialect was a little difficult, but added historical color and sense of place even in the 'now' setting of this story, especially when the Warriors are so many centuries old. Once into the love story between Evie and Malcolm, however, the story became hard to put down. Many twists and turns keep the story unpredictable while the hero and heroine's attraction grows with many tantalizing scenes. Jason's evil puts both Malcolm and Evie in deadly jeopardy where they will need every friend and ally to have even a slim possibility of survival.

Robin Lee