A Streak of Lightning (ARC review) – Raibeart does much more than streaking!

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The following review is part of my being in the author’s review team, which ensures that you can read it before the book comes out.

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I have never made a mystery of it: Michelle M. Pillow’s Warlocks MacGregor is one of my favourite series. It’s funny, it’s full of love, it’s hot (as in hawt), there are Scotsmen in kilts, there is a lot of magick… and there’s Uncle Raibeart. The same Uncle Raibeart to whom I dedicated a complete character spotlight some time ago, because he is Raibeart MacGregor, he’s crazy, he’s hilarious, and he’s impossible not to love.

That same Uncle Raibeart whose turn it is to have his own love story told in A Streak of Lightning, the tenth (but not last – thank the Maker!) book of Michelle’s popular paranormal series.

What the book is about

Synopsis:

Lightning isn’t the only thing streaking in small-town Wisconsin.

Warlock Raibeart MacGregor is on the prowl and looking for his true love. He has only one question for any lassie he meets, “Will ya marry me?” With his sanity often questioned by those who know him best, Raibeart believes there is a method to his madness. At least he hopes so. He’s convinced his true love exists, but he just can’t seem to find her.

Tormented by nightmares, he’s compelled to run himself to exhaustion each night to keep them at bay. The fact that he prefers to drop the kilt while doing so is just a bonus. But when those nightmares begin to bleed into reality, he realizes the woman he’s been searching for is literally the one tormenting his dreams.

Katherine Galbraith has been imprisoned by magick for so long that she can’t even remember what her crime was beyond the vague impression that she once loved a warlock. Bound to a world that never changes, she spends her days wishing for an end. But when prison walls begin to crack, she must decide if she wants a second chance at lost love or if that love is the reason for all her suffering.

Much more than meets the eye

Let’s start by getting one thing completely out in the open, without spoiling anything: there is much more to Raibeart MacGregor than meets the eye!

Yes, he is known for his crazy antics. Yes, he is known for his constant streaking just about anywhere in Green Vallis. Yes, he is a drunkard.

However, as we have started to see in the past few books, there is much more to him than all those characteristics, and the great part is that we get to see them all in A Streak of Lightning (and did you see the pun in the title?).

I will also put this in the open, again without spoiling anything (well, I never spoil, as you know): this fan favourite character’s book does “crazy Uncle Raibeart” justice, from start to finish, Gremians included!

A broken heroine

Katherine Galbraith is a broken heroine, and when you meet her, it will break your heart, and that is all I will tell.

Her prison tore my heart out, even though we do get to see some characters from past books that we might have wanted to keep in the “forgotten” category, although their presence is more than hilarious (like stomach aching hilarious).

Overall, it is impossible not to love her, and not to see and realise quickly how perfect she is for Raibeart.

Why Raibeart is Raibeart

As I mentioned earlier, we will see in A Streak of Lightning that there is much more to Raibeart MacGregor than meets the eye, from his propensity to drinking to his streaking and his love of running naked, from his relationship with the Gremians (for lack of another word to describe it) to his proposing to every woman he sets his eyes on, from what he does in his spare time to his real love for his family.

All of this intertwined with a few surprises!

And when you see all that he does for “his ladies”, I double dare you not to fall head over heels in love with him, if you haven’t already, or more so if you already have!

The worst villain of the series

Any good story needs a villain, and the one in A Streak of Lightning is probably the most terrible villain in the whole series, one who will make you angry and make you feel. A lot.

I mean it: this villain is the worst of the series.

My verdict

Knowing why Raibeart is Raibeart is as heart-breaking as it is beautiful and heart-warming. A Streak of Lightning is a very deserved tribute to an all-time fan favourite, one that will leave the readers happy and content, even though, I admit, I would’ve taken much more of the book, because it is just so, so good!

This time, however, I do not recommend reading this book as a standalone. If you are new to the MacGregors, I highly recommend that you start from Love Potions, which is still free so no excuse, and make your way through the other previous books, so you get to really know Raibeart before jumping into his story. I give you my word that you won’t regret it.

The next book is not scheduled to be released until 2023, and it will be Bruce’s story, Magickal Trouble. I couldn’t have Rory, so I am asking Michelle: can I have his twin, then, pretty please?

For now, however, I will give Raibeart the last word and tell you that his story is worth, for lack of being able to give it thousands of them,

A streaking, buzzing five stars!

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Featured quote

“Broken things can be fixed. It’s demolished things that ya have to be wary of.”

Raibeart