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Book Review By Debbie
The Enchantment by Pam Binder

Conor MacCloud returned from the Crusades a bitter and slightly broken man. Most of his fellow clansmen were dead and the small band that was left had barely escaped the vile dungeons of the East. Conor wanted nothing more than to return home and try to let his native Scotland heal his wounds. But Conor was not destined to have peace for quite some time. Conor returned home to his beloved Inverness, Scotland, but he returned to find his mad Uncle Simon ruling as laird of the area. Conor and his small band valiantly tried to take the castle from him, but failed. Conor had refused to take the witch Magdah's advice, but he swore to his dying kinsman that he would seek out the Peacemaker. Little did he know that the ring's magic would hurl him into modern-day Seattle where Eilan Dougan would be waiting...

Eilan was an empath and could feel what people were thinking when she touched them, but she wasn't comfortable using this power and preferred to avoid intimacy. Eilan had done her best to hide from mankind by living in a sparsely populated area of Colorado, but she agreed to return home to Seattle to run her parents' antique shop while they were on vacation. When a wild man wearing a bloody kilt suddenly appeared in the shop waving his sword and calling for the Peacemaker, Eilan was terrified and immediately called the police. Conor realized that he had frightened Eilan and tried to make her listen to him, but it was too late, Conor was carted off to jail.

Eilan instantly regretted sending Conor off with the police and knew that she needed to talk to Conor and to try and see what he wanted. Before she knew it, she had gotten Conor out of jail and was stuck with him. She spent some time introducing Conor to the wide variety of food available and the convenience of showers, but Conor chafed at the delay. He was all too aware of time passing for his people while he delayed in this wonderland. Conor knew that Eilan had to come with him willingly, but he began to despair that she would never agree...

This book started off really well and I enjoyed getting to know Conor and Eilan while they explored Seattle. This part of the book was well developed and nicely paced, but when Eilan finally agreed to return to Conor's time, the author just rushed through the past and it turned out to be only about 1/3 of the book. Eilan resisted using her powers and had no idea how to use them, but she was just suddenly able to dive in and solve everyone's problems within a few weeks of her arrival. I wish the author had spent some more time writing the latter part of the book because this could have been a wonderful story, but it just ended way too abruptly and I did not enjoy the part in Scotland. If you can find this book on sale or borrow it from your library, it is worth reading, but it is still a disappointment.


Plot & Themes
Time/era of story
Action/suspense subplot? Yes
Action:
If one lover chases another... - he chases after her
Time Travel Yes
Type of time travel - present to past
Fantasy/Magic Yes
Fantasy/Magical Lover Yes

Main Male Character
Profession/status:
Age/status: - 20's-30's
Sex makes him
Unusual characteristics?

Main Female Character
Age/status: - 20's-30's
Profession/status:
Effect of sexing
Unusual characteristics:

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - California
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK
Forest Yes
Misc setting - castle

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
What % of story is romance related? - 70%
How explicit is the sex? - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - actual description of sex
Focus of story - equally on him and her
How much dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
How much sexing? - 1-2 sex acts
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