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Mystic Isle #2
Mystic Rider: A Mystic Isle Novel
Ian Olympus, skilled fighter and visionary, has left the isle of Aelynn for the Outside World to retrieve a sacred chalice. He finds it in the hands of Chantal Deveau, who plans to buy her family out of prison.
But her outrage at his demand that she hand it over is nothing compared to her powerful, sensual response to his presence—and the startling conviction that their lives are irrevocably entwined. And Ian will soon have to choose between duty and desire.
But her outrage at his demand that she hand it over is nothing compared to her powerful, sensual response to his presence—and the startling conviction that their lives are irrevocably entwined. And Ian will soon have to choose between duty and desire.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
9 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Rice
153 books513 followersWith several million books in print and New York Times and USA Today's bestseller lists under her belt, former CPA Patricia Rice writes emotionally-charged contemporary and historical romances which have won numerous awards, including the RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice and Career Achievement Awards.
Her books have also been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA® finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories.
A firm believer in happily-ever-after for good reason, Patricia Rice is married to her high school sweetheart and has two children. A native of Kentucky and New York, a past resident of North Carolina and Missouri, she currently resides in Southern California, and now does accounting only for herself.
She also writes under the pen name Jamie Quaid
Her books have also been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA® finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories.
A firm believer in happily-ever-after for good reason, Patricia Rice is married to her high school sweetheart and has two children. A native of Kentucky and New York, a past resident of North Carolina and Missouri, she currently resides in Southern California, and now does accounting only for herself.
She also writes under the pen name Jamie Quaid
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 19, 2008
Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; Book release July 2008
Opening the cover of a newly released book by a favored author is always an exciting moment. Comfy chair? Check. Chilled beverage (or hot if it’s winter)? Check. Kids and hubby otherwise occupied? Check. AAHHHHHH. Here we go. So I just jumped at the chance to read “Mystic Rider”, the second book in Patricia Rice’s new ‘Mystic Isle’ series. It’s a romance, it’s an historical, and it has magic! I get goosebumps just thinking about it!! Mystic Isle is an invisible island that’s home to a race of people with special talents. They chose to separate themselves from the Outside World in an effort to create a Utopia. But recently, ‘things’ have been happening that seem to be drawing some of their people out to the other world…the most recent being Ian, their Sky Rider, who is the leader of their Council.
Chantal has a ‘gift’ for music. She’s used her voice and her music to ‘influence’ others all her life without even thinking about it. She’s a widow, content to live with her father and teach music in Paris. Her father is a famous orator and has been key in the Glorious Revolution, and Chantal happily supports his views and his cause through her music. Unfortunately, said revolution is becoming less glorious and more dangerous. Into this powder keg drops the most handsome man Chantal has ever seen. His voice enthralls her and his sexual skills awaken a part of her she thought long dead. When he helps to rescue her best friend/sister-in-law and her children from the dungeons, Chantal begins to think he’s her Prince Charming. Then she learns he’s really searching for an artifact that was recently in her possession. And he’s not the only one looking for it…
Ian knows Chantal is his amacara, his physical and spiritual equal, and he also knows she is in possession of ‘the chalice’. Even though Ian has never been off the island of Aelynn, both she and the chalice call to him…so off he goes. The Outside World is painful to him, unless he concentrates, he can hear the thoughts of all those around him. And in the city of Paris, right after the arrest of the royal family, those thoughts are dark indeed. Now he must find a way to save Chantal and her family AND retrieve the chalice, before his childhood friend and current enemy beats him to it.
Magic, suspense, and hot sex…oh my! I do like Patricia Rice’s stories. She does an excellent job of combining history and magic and making it seem mostly believable. Her writing carries you along through the story and her secondary characters are as vividly portrayed, and have almost as much significance to the plot, as her lead characters. Her heroes are not quite larger than life, and come to understand that they need her heroines just as much, if not more, than the heroines need them! Her relationships build to partnerships, even when rank or ability would normally deem otherwise. She has a deft hand as well with sensuous love scenes which add to, rather than jar, the plot.
Although this book can easily be read as a stand-alone, you would probably enjoy it more if you read “Mystic Guardian” first. If you’re looking for an opportunity to escape from this world for a few pleasant hours, and you enjoy magic and mayhem, then “Mystic Rider” by Patricia Rice should definitely be on your summer reading list! I’m waiting (impatiently) for “Mystic Warrior”, the third book, whose release is scheduled for ‘summer 2009’. For more on this author and her books, visit http://www.patriciarice.com/
Til next time…
Opening the cover of a newly released book by a favored author is always an exciting moment. Comfy chair? Check. Chilled beverage (or hot if it’s winter)? Check. Kids and hubby otherwise occupied? Check. AAHHHHHH. Here we go. So I just jumped at the chance to read “Mystic Rider”, the second book in Patricia Rice’s new ‘Mystic Isle’ series. It’s a romance, it’s an historical, and it has magic! I get goosebumps just thinking about it!! Mystic Isle is an invisible island that’s home to a race of people with special talents. They chose to separate themselves from the Outside World in an effort to create a Utopia. But recently, ‘things’ have been happening that seem to be drawing some of their people out to the other world…the most recent being Ian, their Sky Rider, who is the leader of their Council.
Chantal has a ‘gift’ for music. She’s used her voice and her music to ‘influence’ others all her life without even thinking about it. She’s a widow, content to live with her father and teach music in Paris. Her father is a famous orator and has been key in the Glorious Revolution, and Chantal happily supports his views and his cause through her music. Unfortunately, said revolution is becoming less glorious and more dangerous. Into this powder keg drops the most handsome man Chantal has ever seen. His voice enthralls her and his sexual skills awaken a part of her she thought long dead. When he helps to rescue her best friend/sister-in-law and her children from the dungeons, Chantal begins to think he’s her Prince Charming. Then she learns he’s really searching for an artifact that was recently in her possession. And he’s not the only one looking for it…
Ian knows Chantal is his amacara, his physical and spiritual equal, and he also knows she is in possession of ‘the chalice’. Even though Ian has never been off the island of Aelynn, both she and the chalice call to him…so off he goes. The Outside World is painful to him, unless he concentrates, he can hear the thoughts of all those around him. And in the city of Paris, right after the arrest of the royal family, those thoughts are dark indeed. Now he must find a way to save Chantal and her family AND retrieve the chalice, before his childhood friend and current enemy beats him to it.
Magic, suspense, and hot sex…oh my! I do like Patricia Rice’s stories. She does an excellent job of combining history and magic and making it seem mostly believable. Her writing carries you along through the story and her secondary characters are as vividly portrayed, and have almost as much significance to the plot, as her lead characters. Her heroes are not quite larger than life, and come to understand that they need her heroines just as much, if not more, than the heroines need them! Her relationships build to partnerships, even when rank or ability would normally deem otherwise. She has a deft hand as well with sensuous love scenes which add to, rather than jar, the plot.
Although this book can easily be read as a stand-alone, you would probably enjoy it more if you read “Mystic Guardian” first. If you’re looking for an opportunity to escape from this world for a few pleasant hours, and you enjoy magic and mayhem, then “Mystic Rider” by Patricia Rice should definitely be on your summer reading list! I’m waiting (impatiently) for “Mystic Warrior”, the third book, whose release is scheduled for ‘summer 2009’. For more on this author and her books, visit http://www.patriciarice.com/
Til next time…
June 29, 2016
Damn you, Ian, and I was this close to letting this series go unfinished. But now you've put me in a position where I want to see how it ends!
Iason Olympus, Ian for his friends, is one of the two candidates to replace the current Oracle of Aelynn. Gifted with the ability to read stars and the will of the gods, as well as the minds of those not of his race, he sets out on a journey in our world, to find the Chalice of Plenty. His timing could be bad enough since the French Revolution is about to break out - but not all is lost, since not only does he find where the Chalice is, he also meets his amacara, the one fated to be his soulmate, as chosen by the gods. Problem is, Chantal Deveau is more than just a Crossbreed with the ability to use music to her advantage - she could also be bearing the symbol of chaos on her body, and this is the last thing Ian needs when he's trying to secure his place as leader of his people.
I always find the one I like the most from the male leads in a series. Something in me just needs it, I don't know. So Ian was the one guy who clicked. Scholar-like types are a weakness of mine. And Ian was adorable in his attitude, an arrogant know-it-all one moment, and a curious child the next. He was delightfully lovestruck when it came to Chantal, and yet kept his manly charms if the need arose to seduce her. And unlike a certain sailor brute *glares at Trystan* Ian made as much effort as he could to respect his amacara, not force or manipulate her (OK, he failed there, but he takes A for the effort!), and to try to learn her rather than just order her around. A man with brains, brawn, and charm, seriously, Ian, where have you been all my life? And did I mention he also had enough sense to understand what his people needed despite two very irritating and powerful women yapping his ears off?
Chantal was at times a bit annoying. The only thing that excused her was the fear of the times she lived in - up until she acted ignorant, really lady, the ostrich act is outdated, grow up! But when she embraced Ian and all that he was - although the poor guy had to nearly die for her to finally get it - her feisty nature became a pro against all cons. I think what kept her behind from understanding sooner was her father - sorry, dear old man, but your own prejudice was insufferable, despite you talking a good game of fair justice....
With new light being shed on Murdoch and his reason behind most of his actions, I have to admit I really want to see where this is all going. I know, I know, it's that bitch Lissandra as the female lead in the next book, but what the hell, I'm curious now and I need to know!!!! DETAILS, WOMAN, I NEED MORE DETAILS!!! AND ANSWERS!!!!
***I was given a review copy from a LibraryThing Giveaway in exchange for an honest review. The opinion stated in this review is solely mine, and no compensation was given or taken to alter it.***
Read this and other reviews at: http://cupcakesandpopcorn.wordpress.com/
Iason Olympus, Ian for his friends, is one of the two candidates to replace the current Oracle of Aelynn. Gifted with the ability to read stars and the will of the gods, as well as the minds of those not of his race, he sets out on a journey in our world, to find the Chalice of Plenty. His timing could be bad enough since the French Revolution is about to break out - but not all is lost, since not only does he find where the Chalice is, he also meets his amacara, the one fated to be his soulmate, as chosen by the gods. Problem is, Chantal Deveau is more than just a Crossbreed with the ability to use music to her advantage - she could also be bearing the symbol of chaos on her body, and this is the last thing Ian needs when he's trying to secure his place as leader of his people.
I always find the one I like the most from the male leads in a series. Something in me just needs it, I don't know. So Ian was the one guy who clicked. Scholar-like types are a weakness of mine. And Ian was adorable in his attitude, an arrogant know-it-all one moment, and a curious child the next. He was delightfully lovestruck when it came to Chantal, and yet kept his manly charms if the need arose to seduce her. And unlike a certain sailor brute *glares at Trystan* Ian made as much effort as he could to respect his amacara, not force or manipulate her (OK, he failed there, but he takes A for the effort!), and to try to learn her rather than just order her around. A man with brains, brawn, and charm, seriously, Ian, where have you been all my life? And did I mention he also had enough sense to understand what his people needed despite two very irritating and powerful women yapping his ears off?
Chantal was at times a bit annoying. The only thing that excused her was the fear of the times she lived in - up until she acted ignorant, really lady, the ostrich act is outdated, grow up! But when she embraced Ian and all that he was - although the poor guy had to nearly die for her to finally get it - her feisty nature became a pro against all cons. I think what kept her behind from understanding sooner was her father - sorry, dear old man, but your own prejudice was insufferable, despite you talking a good game of fair justice....
With new light being shed on Murdoch and his reason behind most of his actions, I have to admit I really want to see where this is all going. I know, I know, it's that bitch Lissandra as the female lead in the next book, but what the hell, I'm curious now and I need to know!!!! DETAILS, WOMAN, I NEED MORE DETAILS!!! AND ANSWERS!!!!
***I was given a review copy from a LibraryThing Giveaway in exchange for an honest review. The opinion stated in this review is solely mine, and no compensation was given or taken to alter it.***
Read this and other reviews at: http://cupcakesandpopcorn.wordpress.com/
January 7, 2014
*SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS***
OK, I'm not going to bother with the blurb and what it's about, you have probably read that before checking the reviews. It takes a special kind of book for me to want to throw it through a window before finishing reading it. This is one of those books.
I have never read a more oblivious, self centred, idiotic heroine. This 'fiesty and engaging' wonder of modern nature is a widow, so I'm assuming about 20ish. In all this time she has never figured out that she can influece people just by the tone of her voice? Really? Any child I know would have had THAT figured out by age 5, tops.
Living in Revolutionary France with her father Chantal (oh, yes, certainly French) feels perfectly safe in her little world, even though her sister in law, niece and nephew are in jail and people are rioting in the streets, she is editing her daddy's pamphlets and teaching music to little tackers, oblivious to pretty much everything else.
Along comes our hero, Ian, (really? Ian!!) and could he be any more cliched? Tall, muscled, trained from birth to be an extraordinary warrior with super powers, telepathy, the whole lot. Egotistical, arrogant and completely sheltered on his own little invisible island. He tricks her into an 'eternal bond' while they are having sex, in her fathers home, with her father asleep (they were rutting up against a wall before he even introduced himself, and she thought he was a priest earlier in the book)Doesn't bother to tell her they are married, ignores pretty much her every word if he doesn't agree with it and knows that every word he utters and every deed he does is the Right Thing To Do.
So mind numbingly stupid is this woman that she follows him into the biggest jail in Paris, watches him hypnotise the guards into letting EVERYONE in to visit, springs her relative and they all walk out together, and she doesn't even think to herself - hey this is a bit odd. She sees him do his magic, move faster than normal speeds, heal incredibly quickly, read minds and the like, and not a thought crosses her pretty little head that he could be, might possibly be, just a little bit different?
I finally gave up on page 263, where our heroine (for the second time) hears gunfire and races to her lover's rescue, ignoring her sick fathers' whiny pleas to stay put. Did I mention this guy has super powers and was trained from bith in the warriorly arts? She just bops along, unttrained, no skills, no weapon (not even a butter knife)cos he can't possibly do any good without her.
I just couldn't take any more rampant stupidity. I'm even seriously rethinking reading anything from the authors listed on the front and back cover saying how great the writer of this complete drivel
May 26, 2021
I listened to this on audible and I almost stopped it a few times. Narration is good, but the story just drones on and on. Way to much description and not enough depth to the story. It's pretty much a search about the chalice from book 1. The romance? Well they pretty much screw, and it WAS screwing, within 2 minutes of seeing each other. Not meeting mind you, but eye contact. Totally absurd. I finished it because I'm driving long distance, but I wouldn't purchase it on audible or the actual book (it was a free listen for me).
May 11, 2014
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was excited to receive this book, the description sounded interesting. The author has a great style and great descriptions. And while it was interesting in places, there were places it seemed to be drawn out. If this was condensed down to a novella I think the story would be more captivating. That being said - I am looking forward to more from the author and reading more in the series.
I was excited to receive this book, the description sounded interesting. The author has a great style and great descriptions. And while it was interesting in places, there were places it seemed to be drawn out. If this was condensed down to a novella I think the story would be more captivating. That being said - I am looking forward to more from the author and reading more in the series.
February 21, 2020
I'm not a big fan of extra-sensory fantasies, preferring more reality, but this book manages to combine both in a fresh way. It covers the French Revolution after the king and queen were imprisoned but just prior to the Reign of Terror and gives a good explanation of why it happened. I still shudder to think of it. There were many good points made for electing officials rather than having hereditary rulers and a subtle change in perspective for a definition of chaos being change, not just confusion. The two main characters, Ian and Chantal, bond early. The rest of the book is spent working out their differences.
October 10, 2014
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
This book is a fantastical journey into adventure & romance. Patricia Rice pays infinite attention to the development of her characters while painting a vivid picture of their surrounding. I visualize as I read and it was not difficult for me to conjure images of a revolutionary France or a breathtaking Aelynn. Now if i could only get my hands on Mystic Guardian, Mystic Warrior and the novella Mystic Isle, my mental movie would be complete, sequels and all. Thank you for a thrilling slice of literary entertainment.
This book is a fantastical journey into adventure & romance. Patricia Rice pays infinite attention to the development of her characters while painting a vivid picture of their surrounding. I visualize as I read and it was not difficult for me to conjure images of a revolutionary France or a breathtaking Aelynn. Now if i could only get my hands on Mystic Guardian, Mystic Warrior and the novella Mystic Isle, my mental movie would be complete, sequels and all. Thank you for a thrilling slice of literary entertainment.
January 1, 2016
If you are new to this series, that is ok you can read this book first. However, if you are like me then start with the Prequel (Mystic Isle) then read Book 2 (Mystic Guardian) or come back to this one. The prequel will explain some of the harder to understand conversations of the inhabitants of the island. Having said that, this is a good read and really makes an interesting story during a very troubled time.
Like most of Patricia's books, the story has a nice flow and keeps you moving the entire way through.
Like most of Patricia's books, the story has a nice flow and keeps you moving the entire way through.
April 25, 2014
Mystic Rider: A Mystic Isle Novel (Signet Eclipse) by Patricia Rice
Ian Olympus had visions of his soul mate long before he met her. On a mission to find the missing chalice that is vitally important to the survival of his people.
Chantal Deveau is in possession of the cup Ian seeks and she needs the cup to save her family. They become adversaries and the allies.
Ian Olympus had visions of his soul mate long before he met her. On a mission to find the missing chalice that is vitally important to the survival of his people.
Chantal Deveau is in possession of the cup Ian seeks and she needs the cup to save her family. They become adversaries and the allies.
February 20, 2013
Ian is the leader of the Mystic Island and must go the the real world to return the lost chalice and a member of the clan who has been causing trouble but he gets diverted by a woman who is his sole mate.
November 24, 2013
I just ordered Mystic Warrior from Amazon, the third book in this trilogy. Checking my mail everyday. Had to buy paperback. Story not in ebook form. *sigh* Excited to finish. I love Patricia Rice's novels.
June 2, 2014
I was given the opportunity to read this for free in exchange for an honest review from librarything.com.
This book was a little too long, and sometimes seemed to go nowhere, but all in all, it was a good fantasy tale.
This book was a little too long, and sometimes seemed to go nowhere, but all in all, it was a good fantasy tale.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews