This is my second Garwood romance read in less than a week. This is unheard of for me... I very, very rarely read romance, but as I'm participating in a blog activity with a friend, I'm going for it and reading 5 of them this month. I read this one in place of a different one that my friend had sent me, because that one was about rippling abs in kilts and the Garwood I just read featured the same theme... sort of. So I went for something a little different and went for Feudal England over Scotland. Other than those differences though, there was a LOT that was similar in this book. Having read the newer of the two, The Bride, first (although I didn't know it at the time), this book felt a bit shallow. Neither one was really plumbing the depths of humanity, although they certainly went for SOME sort of depth-plumbing, ha ha ha. The characters here didn't really have the same spark that they had in The Bride, and after finishing the book and thinking back on them both, I can really see the difference and improvement in the writing and characterizations in just the four years that separated these. Elizabeth is very, very much like Jamie from The Bride. Both are spirited, skilled in ways that women usually weren't way back then, such as hunting and use of weaponry and defense. They both have problems with authority, both have knowledge of healing, both caretakers of their family, both beloved youngest daughters, etc. I could go on. But in truth, Jamie just had something MORE. I didn't really understand a lot of Elizabeth's reasoning and logic or her actions. She just seemed contradictory to me. But they were very similar in exterior facets... probably their most striking similarity is the fact that they are both innate sex-goddesses. Their first time brings out the cougar in them both, which is just unrealistic. Maybe Garwood is a few years past her first time at the rodeo, or maybe she's just really enthusiastically romantic, but let me clarify: It hurts. Virginal women don't go from "OMG WHAT THE HELL DID YOU STICK IN THERE?! A BASEBALL BAT? GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!" to "I know! Let's see if we can get a table leg in too, dear. That'll be fun!" in the span of 5 minutes. Yet both of these girls did. Like I said, unrealistic. More similarities abound in the male side of the relationship. Big, hulking menfolk, who are just gentle giants and don't realize that they love their little wifey until they almost lose her 567,118 times because she's such a little uncontrollable firecracker. These men have no subtlety when it comes to the horizontal mambo. True, they aren't just "Wham, Bam, Thank You, Ma'am" guys, they each make sure that she gets hers too, but the actual deed consists of much whamming and much bamming. Which is fine, but again... virgins and the recently deflowered don't like this tactic in real life. One thing that the guys do have going for them in the sexy-time realm is their willingness and enthusiasm to please. This book had quite a few trips downtown, and while that sounds fun, it was actually quite a bit like a paint by number... 1-brown: play with boobies, 2-beige: tongue action on boobies, 3-off white: kisses down the belly, 4-green: circle navel with tongue, 5-blue: VICTORY!(That picture makes a puppy frolicking in the grass under a blue sky.)These complaints don't mean that I didn't enjoy the story... I did for the most part, and there was one part that really tugged at my heart, so despite the predictability of the story and the characters and the sex, I still liked it. I can't say that I would really recommend it, because I'm sure that there is better out there in this type, but it's not terrible. Well, except for when Garwood refers to Elizabeth's mare as "him". I cringed a bit at that, I admit.
Yet another winner by Julie Garwood! SummaryAs with all of her historical romances, we have strong, arrogant, hunky heroes who know all there is to know about... well, about everything. Or so Baron Geoffrey Berkley thinks.Enter Elizabeth Montwright, a woman as equally sure of herself and set in her ways. Having survived the massacre of her family and being exiled from her family's castle, Elizabeth makes it her mission to gain revenge on the man who destroyed her family and regain possession of her ancestral home.When Geoffrey sees Elizabeth, he vows to make her his. It doesn't take long and the two are wed, and now the real battle begins.My thoughts on the charactersWhile I really enjoyed this books, Geoffrey is one of the more frustrating characters I have found in Julie Garwood's novels. He is loud - constantly yelling at Elizabeth, and insensitive - repeatedly saying demeaning things to her, intentionally to hurt her and to force her to see things his way. That got very old by the time he saw the light, a mere 40 pages before the book ended. Elizabeth was a patient soul. I think I would have packed up and left somewhere around page 82. But then there wouldn't have been a story! I liked her gumption and her devotion to her family. The writing Something interesting about this book that I had never really noticed before, and something that made it a little more difficult to read than most of Garwood's novels, was the way she wrote the characters' silent thoughts.Most authors will make it clear that a character is thinking something, perhaps putting their thoughts in italics, so you know what is going on in their head. In this book, however, Garwood didn't do that and it made for some confusing reading. Many, many times I had to go back and re-read to see what was thought and what was actual dialogue. While it shouldn't be a big deal, it came across as "unpolished writing" to me. Bottom line: I really love all of Garwood's historicals and while this is not a favorite read, it was still good!
What do You think about Gentle Warrior (1990)?
Loved this one. About Elizabeth and Geoffrey (aka the Hawk). He has come to protect her home. She has just lost most of her family. She is unsure who to trust for she fears her uncle may be behind the massacre that destroyed most of her family. She is afraid for her brother, the heir, and that if her uncle becomes his guardian there will be no "guarding" of him. Geoffrey is the the Baron in charge of the land her family lives on. He has been gravely injured and she has been called upon to try to heal him. Her uncle has been summoned and will arrive in a weeks time. She has only that time to heal Geoffrey in the hopes he will awaken and believe her concerns or try to flee to safety with her brother. The story really takes off at this point. Strongly recommend this one. *sigh* I just love a good love story.
—Lisarenee
I hate Geoffrey. I hate him with every breath that I take. I just can't conceive in my mind how Julie Garwood could have written such an atrocious character. God, but I hated him. I know that I've said that a lot, but he was just so incredibly horrible. He was cruel, pig-headed, and downright idiotic.In the beginning, I thought this book was going to be fabulous, because Garwood is without a doubt one of my favourite romance authors, and in the first few chapters, I was so sure. So damn sure. But because of Geoffrey, all because of Geoffrey, I have taken away a star or two (I haven't fully decided my hate for Elizabeth).As I was saying, in the beginning I thought I was in love. This beautiful lady with wolfhounds for pets and a hawk that is gentle with her, living in a cottage in the woods, but a vision on the hill with the lightning reigning around her. And then when she heals the Hawk (bloody Geoffrey), who turns out to be the Baron and the man who originally saw her on the hill, atop her horse, wolfhounds by her sides.Why it seemed the perfect setup, and it was, if you could just IGNORE GEOFFREY EVERY TIME HE OPENED HIS GOD DAMNED MOUTH. I just still cannot believe it. I thought my rant would help, but I still have a headache after reading this fabulous seeming book with the most atrocious character in history. Garwood, what have you put me through?P.S I still adore you and the rest of your books (excluding the ones I am yet to read), so don't worry, I will remain an ever-loyal fan.SCREW YOU, GEOFFREY!
—Hayley
Garwood's romances are pretty much all the same, so this one was not really special.Beautiful woman marries man she barely knows, they fight, they clash, they have amazing sex, he is dominant and arrogant and in the end they are both completely in love with each other. There were however, several problems with this book.First of all Garwood's writing is at times almost painful. When I read things as "he was totally serious" or things alike I cringed - it felt more like a teenager writing this th
—Larajoline
