Guardian: Warriors for the Light #6

Guardian
Lindsay McKenna
Warriors for the Light, book six
Mass Market Paperback, 288 pages
Published June 1st 2010 by Harlequin

A Templar knight in a past life, Nicholas de Beaufort has no desire to inhabit his former human body again. But when he's ordered to return to his human form to guard Mary Anderson, a woman with a special purpose, he has no choice. Unsure of his new mission, Nicholas is only certain of the scorching lust Mary ignites in him.

Mary needs to find the two magical emeralds that could restore harmony to the planet. But when an unexpected threat surfaces, Nicholas's mission becomes clear. He must protect the woman he can't live without--and battle the evil that could destroy the Earth.

Nicholas was once a Templar knight who suffered death by burning at the stake. The trauma of that lifetime has left him reluctant to reincarnate, and so he has remained within the fourth dimension of the Village of the Clouds for centuries-until Alaria and Adair require him to guard Mary Anderson as she quests for the two remaining emerald spheres.

I had a number of problems with this book. So much effort is exhausted on explanations and teachings of this world that there's very little expense made toward actually *living* it. At times it felt like I was hearing a lecture on religious histories and philosophies when all I really wanted was a tale of two people on crusade. Can understand the desire and necessity to set a stage but, damn, McKenna knows how to suffocate a reader.

Nicholas and Mary have an instant attraction to one another and come very quickly to discover that they are soulmates and have shared many lifetimes together. Then, despite Nicholas' vow of fidelity to his wife in his last existence, their goddess demands that he and Mary sleep together. And apparently all it takes to get around breaking a vow is to allow yourself to let the promise go. I call bullshyt. He literally gave himself permission to ignore that one aspect of his former life. There was no symbolic moment of separating the two existences, no- He wouldn't allow himself the opportunity to be cleansed and set free from that life, as with any reincarnation, but he was all up for picking and choosing when it suited him. And that, for ranting purposes, is just another thing that's wrong with the world today.

Then there were the battle scenes, and I use that description lightly. Though there was some force applied, the blow of defeat was delivered via a "loving light"... So my mind goes all Care Bear Stare with this crap and I'm rolling my eyes from there. No more Warriors for the Light for me. 2 out of 5 stars.