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A Dark Guardian - The Druid's Glen
Donna Grant
ISBN: 1-58608-968-4
New Concepts, September 2006
Historical: Fantasy / Paranormal
Ebook-$5.50 (US)
Reviewed by Marilyn Rondeau
October 2006
Mina was a beautiful young maid trapped and about to be killed by an evil creature that had appeared in her village. A creature seemingly unstoppable and killing and toying at will with the inhabitants. Suddenly, coming to her rescue was a stranger, awarrior more handsome than any she had ever known. Hugh, along with his five comrades carried weapons and were dressed as no other Knights she had ever met. They called themselves The Shields, dispatched by the Fae, and they had come to kill the creature. Mina had long ago learned never to count on anyone but herself, nor to trust, but somehow knew; if anyone could save the village, this man Hugh and his comrades would be the ones to do it.
Hugh, as the leader of the Shields, is very much attracted to Mina -- lusts after her far more than he ever has for a woman. Yet somehow, Hugh instinctively begins to feel that it is Mina who controls the beast and fights his attraction not wanting to fail and make a costly mistake that might endanger another innocent's life.
With A DARK GUARDIAN, Grant has launched what promises to be a remarkable new series that will hold you captive with her passionate, sensual well-written prose as well as her thoroughly exciting characters and plots. In this first installment she carefully lays some of the background of the members of the Shields focusing more on the lead protagonists of Mina and Hugh.
The author develops Mina as the sister of the Baron of the castle, who has suffered his and her sister's abusive taunts for as long as she could remember. So subjugated by their taunts that she actually comes to believe that she is the cause of the evil creature that has come to destroy them, therefore she feels it is up to her to slay the evil. Hugh also was a complex character driven by guilt over once before lowering his defenses for a woman who had turned out to be the controller of the evil creature. He was torn between believing his heart and not wanting to endanger another comrade if he was wrong.
The secondary characters were plentiful, all well-drawn with just enough detail to whet one's appetite for the next volumes to this fully robust adventure. Donna Grant's star should not only continue to rise but sky-rocket with this dynamite new series.
Marilyn Rondeau also reviews for RIO - Reviewers International Organization