Another great entry in series. Great twist at the end.

Lark Collinson is struggling, her husband died a few years ago, and she hasn't found another partner. Yet. Holm Holly appears in her life, attempting to seduce her. What to do?

Family connections and conflict threaten the emerging fragile relationship.

How does it end? ( )

Owens has created an amazing world in her Celta series. I'm always truly impressed by how flawless her world-building is when I pick up one of her novels.

Generally the characters capture me as much as the world they live in, but that wasn't the case for the heroine of this book. Lark was selfish and bitter for 99% of this story. I didn't connect with her and, to be totally honest, had a hard time even tolerating her for most of the story.

The fact that she hurt Holm again and again without thought was bad enough, but she was a Healer. It didn't speak well of her, IMO, that she could be so callous in disregarding his feelings for her.

I did love Holm, though I think he took too much upon himself and should have let go of his guilt sooner than he did. Also? He should have held out longer against Lark in the end. She deserved more punishment than she got. ( )

Yay! Holm finds his HeartMate! And then the interesting part starts...The class distinctions start to be firmly displayed here - not just marrying between classes, but really how the other classes are thought of. And Lark is great - torn between her family and her chosen career, and then with Holm too. It's a good thing her father does jump in like that! The switch between the families is amazing, and has effects in the next book and beyond. And I cried reading it, as usual - they do suffer, on many levels. Very rich. ( )

In Hear Duel, Robin Owens continues the saga of the residents of Druida and returns the emphasis to the "flair" of its residents.

With a slight Romeo & Juliet undertone, Heart Duel reflects the struggle between choosing family or love. Of course, love wins out. Charming characters and a vulnerable hero make Heart Duel an interesting read. ( )

In her first novel, HeartMate, Robin D. Owens introduced us to the planet Celta. It was settled around 400 years ago by colonists from Earth. While I cannot remember if it is clearly stated, the colonists were primarily from the Celtic countries and left an increasingly technological Earth for a place where they could develop their psi talents, now known as "Flair".

Some very lucky Celtan couples find that they are HeartMates. This means they have a deep, life-long, flaired connection the binds them more strongly than what a couple that is simply in love can share. In the books so far, it has been the man who has first found his HeartMate and set to win her over, although on her website Owens states that it can also be the other way around. There are firm rules about wooing one's HeartMate, the most important one being that the fact the couple are, in fact, HeartMates must not be revealed until a gift and the union have already been accepted.

We first met Holm Holly, the hero of Heart Duel back in the original in the series. He was young, impulsive and the heir to a Noble House famous for its fighting skills. Now he is a little less young, a little less impulsive, a little more mature and still the heir to his House. He never discovered he had a HeartMate at the appropriate time and now he is being pressured to marry to provide his family with an heir of his own. Then, as the book begins, he discovers to his amazement that he does have a HeartMate after all; he had to mature enough to match her own, older soul.

Whether or not Holm has reached that point, and how he deals with the complications of his love are the main components of the book. There are a lot of complications. For starters, his lady - Lark Collinson - doesn't believe either of them has a HeartMate and that any relationship would be temporary. She is still getting over the death of her husband, three years ago. She is a Healer and Holm a Fighter, not exactly compatible callings. But the real kicker is that Holm's family is involved in a escalating feud with Lark's family. Winning her is not going to be easy.

As I reread what I've written so far, this all sounds very Romeo and Juliet, but I never once thought of that while I was reading the book, which tells me Owens has neatly avoided the risk of falling into cliché. Holm is an engaging hero as he tries his hardest to develop parts of his personality that he has either never uncovered or left long abandoned. The man he is at the end of the book is very different from who he was at the beginning and his development is both well-handled and occasionally painful. Lark's progress though the book is more gentle but still very real. She is a Healer to her fingertips and finding herself so attracted to a man trained to fight goes against everything she believes in.

An added bonus in each Celtan story is the presence of Owens' wonderful "Fam" cats. Intelligent, telepathic and superior, they can easily steal a scene if the rest of the characters are not careful. These books are lovely stories set in their own unique location. I love a mix of technology and magic and these fit that bill perfectly. ( )