Teresa Medeiros: Touch of Enchantment

MY REVIEW

Touch of Enchantment
Series: The Lennox Family Magic Series, Book 2 (of 2)
Author: Teresa Medeiros
Release Date: June 2, 1997 / August 25, 2009 (reissue)
List Price: $7.50 / $5.99

Read: July 8-9, 2009
Rating:


Author Homepage | Book Page | Excerpt | Amazon.com | Amazon.com reissue

Setting: 1254, England and Scotland (most of the book); not-too-distant future, New York City (briefly at the beginning and end)

SUMMARY (from back cover)

~ A Lovely Scientist With No Taste For Magic ~

Heiress Tabitha Lennox considered her paranormal talents more a curse than a gift. So she dedicated her life to the cold, rational world of science. Until the day she examined the mysterious amulet her mother had left her and found herself catapulted seven centuries into the past - directly into the path of a rearing black charger ridden by a chain-mailed warrior.

~ A Fearless Knight With No Time For Love ~

Sir Colin of Ravenshaw had returned from the Crusades to find his castle in ruins, his enemy poised to overrun the land where generations of Ravenshaws had ruled. The last thing he expected was to half trample a damsel with odd garb and even odder manners. But it is her strange talent that will create trouble beyond Colin's wildest imaginings. For everyone knows that a witch must be burned ... but it is Colin's heart that is aflame, over an enchanting woman he must not love, yet cannot live without.

COMMENTS
An absolute delight to read! I'm not normally a paranormals fan and have never read any involving time travel, however I like Medeiros' HR books and so have read two books she wrote involving vampires (After Midnight and The Vampire Who Loved Me - the two books that make up her Kane/Cabot Vampire Series). I bought the two books involving the Lennox family figuring I'd give them a try.

The first one is set in the present time period, so although I definitely plan on reading it, I skipped to the second book, Touch of Enchantment, which is set in medieval times. Since the heroine is the one going back in time, it creates all these fantastic (and hysterical!!) situations, since, obviously, how women are viewed and treated has changed drastically over the past 700+ years.

I just knew this book was going to be entertaining and funny once I read Tabitha and Colin's first encounter. She finds herself transported to this meadow, has no idea where she is, and after having a little confrontation with Colin on his horse, he basically collapses on top of her (he's been injured and is bleeding from the shoulder):

  "Tabitha blinked. She'd never been the sort of woman to fall for a pair of bedroom eyes. His gruff words reminded her why.
  'Whose woman are you?'
  Her dismay erupted in outrage. 'Why, of all the arrogant, politically incorrect, blatantly chauvanistic---'
  He behaved exactly as she would have expected an arrogant, politically incorrect, blatantly chauvinistic male to behave. He clapped a gauntleted hand over her mouth, stifling her words. She glared at him, tasting leather on her lips.
  'I asked you a simple question, lass. Do you belong to any man?'"
(page 36)

Then, when she says no, "his gaze softened, becoming both tender and predatory" and when he leans in to kiss her and she pushes him off (mostly because a past experience makes her afraid she'll turn him into a frog), his response to her accusation of "'You were going to kiss me!'" is: "'I know,' he muttered, eyeing her warily. 'Delirium must be setting in.'" Lol. Those are just a few of the funny exchanges - some of which had me literally laughing out loud (and had my family asking me what in h*** I was reading that was making me laugh so hard).

MAIN CHARACTERS, Colin (24) and Tabitha (23)
Although it's the Middle Ages, Colin as a character is not written too overbearingly or as an extreme version of the alpha-male. He's actually very sweet, honorable, and just completely sigh-worthy. I just loved every interaction between him and Tabitha, who is just as fantastic a heroine as Colin is a hero. Tabitha has felt an outsider for so much of her life; although her parents are wonderful and have always tried to give her the best, she has felt awkward and unusual ever since she was young. She loses herself in her work and doesn't have much of a social life (or any, really) to speak of. Watching the pair fall in love is an absolute treat, so I suggest you go out and buy a copy or check one out from the library, and settle in for a nice long read.

THE LENNOX FAMILY MAGIC SERIES
Although it's a "series," there are only two books that make it up: this one, and Breath of Magic. Breath of Magic comes first and is the story of Tabitha's (this book's heroine) parents, Tristan and Arian Lennox. Their book is a contemporary romance, with Arian coming forward in time (she was born in 1669).