2.5 stars What can I say I found the entire story a little too: Everyone is either roaring, bellowing or wailing through most of the story. There is no middle ground between those three. I'm surprised no one's head fell off from all the 'crystal-shaking' & 'wall trembling' tantrums. RME. The constant quick jumps from different range of emotions is really hard to follow and so hammy. It doesn't translate well. One minute a person is bellowing their demand the next line they are smiling tenderly with happy tears. WTF? And Garwood seriously couldn't find another word to express anguish with Jade besides wailing? Ugh. Why? The dialogue was the most tiring one-dimensional thing of all with it's repetitiveness and operatic style. This read very much like a campy over-the-top bad soap opera. Parts that were supposed to be funny and 'aw isn't that sweet' were so silly and obnoxious. Especially in regards to the heroine. Shrieking is not cute and it will never be cute. Also why does every person's name have to be repeated at the end of every line in the dialogue?? Drove me insane. I know who is talking to who there is no need to insert their name. SMH. It came off very unrealistic. I had a hard time buying the heroine Jade as a sea-surfing pillaging pirate. Besides picking locks, this girl came across like a sheltered haughty naive 15 year old who was very quick to take offense. It took her hours to realize she was shot and refused to be looked at by a doctor and couldn't comprehend the idea of recovery. She didn’t understand why Cain was trying to cover their tracks when they were being followed, loosing a trail was a complete foreign concept to her. Shouldn’t a pirate know these things?? Through half of this she puts on a show of being a timid silly sheltered gentle lady to fool Caine. The problem was I wasn't at all convinced it was an act. She's huffy and demands an apology for every single thing through the entire story. Girl... get off it. Caine as a hero didn't impress me either. I found him flat and ridiculous at times with the overly macho alpha behavior. He was just like every stereotypical bodice-ripper hero you could imagine with the sexist patronizing beliefs. I don't mind alpha jerks but it got to be too much in here and just eye-roll inducing. He's going 'you will be mine!' one DAY after meeting Jade and pretty much forces her hand into marriage. Meh. Wasn't feeling any of it. And was the endearment baby used in English peerage in the 1800s? I highly doubt it. I found this idiosyncrasy entirely out of place and so distracting.The villain in this was even more laughable. "I will have those letters, Jade. They are my proof to the world of all glorious feats I've accomplished. No one's going to deny me now. No one. In years to come, the world will realize what my Tribunal was able to accomplish. We could have ruled England, if I had chosen to continue with my work. Oh yes, I will have the letters back. They will be kept in a safe place until the time is right to reveal my genuis." Seriously? LOL. I just can't. I'm new to Julie Garwood and she seems to be a favorite among many. I've heard her heroines are not for everyone and I'm beginning to see why. If an author has the habit of writing shrewish childish insufferable heroines then see ya! I'm OUT and from what I've gathered this seems to be a scary pattern, which isn't very encouraging. But besides that, the writing for me severely lacks in depth and range. Emotions go from 0 to 100 in a heartbeat with no nuance or finesse. The characters come across like cartoons rather than living breathing characters with zero dimension. Meh. No thanks.
Bagus, kocak, dan aku suka karakter cewek2 disini terutama Christina dan Jade (sang Pagan) yg pura2 lemah tapi ternyata kuat...dan bisa men-drive hero nya jadi termehek2 dan ga sadar kalo mereka di drive hahhahaha....Walaupun bacanya cukup lama karena aku sibuk banget, Caine lumayan juga nih terutama soal taktik nya ngajak uhuk2 dengan alasan ngajarin "dansa"...dansa yang gak bermoral kalo menurut Jade yg lugu ... apalagi pas jade bilang "kita mau belajar dansa lagi ya? apakah aku harus berlutut lagi? " aku langsung ngakak ...dan otak ku yg eroro langsung konek ......hihihiihhiihi.... Awal nya sih Jade a.k.a Pagan ,pirates yang di takuti kaum kaya berusaha melindungi Caine dari bahaya spionase apalah gitu, rumit juga ceritanya sampe aku agak2 bingung....nah mulailah dalam usaha "melindungi" Caine itu mereka jatuh cinta (dalam hal ini si Caine sih yg terang2an)....Jade masih malu2....sampai si Caine jadi karakter alfa male nya keluar buat ngelindungi Jade,makanya kaget dia waktu tau kalo ternyata Pagan itu adalah si Jade...gak nyangka banget....Kaget juga waktu dia tau Colin,adiknya yang sudah di sangka mati,ternyata masih hidup dalam perlindungan Jade dan Nathan kakak jade....yang memang di sembunyikan dari para musuhnya yang menginginkan nyawa Colin yg ternyata bekerja buat pemerintah.Nah, yg bikin aku senyum2 sendiri juga pas baca hubungan yg "luar biasa akrab" nathan dan Colin.... yang membuat diriku sempat curiga kalo antara mereka berdua ada "apa2nya"...huuuffftt...untunglah aku segera sadar kalo ini Julie Garwood yang HR dan urus2 aja,...hihihihihihi...... Abis,gimana coba gak curiga kalo Colin yg saat itu lemah, ga boleh jalan sama nathan, naik ke kamar di gendong kayak pengantin baru gituuuuuuu.....curiga kaaaaan...... Belom lagi adegan uncle Harry sang perompak senior yang mau bawa lari ibu tiri Caine sebagai barter an karena Caine mau bawa Jade keponakan kesayangannya...sampe si tante jejeritan ketakutan di gendong bajak laut ...asli ngakaaaaakkkkk hahahhaha Trus ada Stern , buttler yang gak ngerasa dirinya jd buttler, karena dia bisa memerintah majikannya dan makan se meja sama mereka....seru lah...Chemistry kedua tokoh nya juga di bangun pelan, walaupun menurut hitungan harinya, gak pelan2 amat juga sih, tapi terbangun lah....Caine juga cinta berat sama Jade...aku suka nih tipe hero yg posesif tapi lembek kayak ager2 kalo udah mulai menyangkut hati..... Kalo soal jalan cerita,kali ini aku gak bikin ya...lagi males ngafalin jalan cerita....tapi baca deh kalo mau cerita cinta yang menghibur sekaligus HOT.... hehhehehe
What do You think about Guardian Angel (1990)?
2 bintang ini sebenarnya bukan karena ceritanya jelek. Dari segi cerita malah saya suka kok. Karakter dan chemistry Jade dan Caine tuh bagus. Based on story only, saya bersedia kasi 3 bintang, bahkan 3,5. Tapi saya batalkan setengah bintang itu karena saya gak suka covernya (paling gak suka cover yg ada gambar orangnya).Lalu 3 bintang itu sy turunkan lagi jadi 2 bintang karena buku ini perlu diedit lagi deh. Typo-nya banyaaaakkkk. Sy bukan orang cerewet kok. Penulisan "pantai" jadi "panti" dan "ke rumah" jadi "kerumah" sih masih bisa saya maafkan. Tapi di buku ini yang mengganggu adalah seringnya terjadi kesalahan nama. Saat yg dimaksud Jade, ketulisnya malah Caine. Wkt yang dimaksud Caine, ketulisnya malah Lyon. Pas yg dimaksud Lyon malah yg ketulis Nathan, yaaahh pokoknya gitu lah. Sering banget salah nulis nama dan bikin saya bingung.Gak tau juga ini salah siapa. Salah ketik dari penerjemahkah? Ato kesalahan di editor?Ato ini sebenarnya kekhilafan penerjemah yg salah paham dgn makna "he" yang dimaksud Garwood? (u know...di versi aslinya kan entah Caine ato tokoh lain yg ngomong, ditulisnya tetap "he"). Tapi kalo gitu, masak iya penerjemahnya masih ketukar antara Caine dan Jade? Kan yg satu "he" dan yg satu lagi "she".Aduh gak tau deh salah siapa. gak mo musingin juga.Yang pasti saya terganggu banget dengan typo ini. Dastan, lain kali lebih hati-hati yaaa
—asdewi
***2.5***This was my first Garwood let-down.I truly disliked Caine. Let's be clear: I'm fine with an alpha hero. But you can be alpha without belittling everyone. An alpha personality doesn't automatically make you a misogynistic, autocratic dick bag. Garwood fills her books with alpha heros, and with this one exception, they've all been the good kind of alpha heroes.If the hero is constantly belittling the heroine, disrespecting her ability to be an intelligent human being, and constantly grabbing/shaking/yanking her around in order to just shut her down and get his way, then guess what? He's not a hero, he's an asshole. (view spoiler)[Even worse is that there was no evidence that Jade really was Pagan. In no universe do I believe that this woman had the backbone to hold the loyalty of pirates. She let herself be manhandled, shouted down, and treated as a fucking possession. And that's one thing when she was trying to pretend to be someone else in order to manipulate Caine, but when the truth was outed, she actually got WORSE in this respect. (hide spoiler)]
—Katyana
First let me say that I absolutely love Julie Garwood. I think she is one of the best authors out there in historical and contemporary fiction. However, this was not one of her best. Having read the first in this series and LOVED it, I was hoping for something as wonderful as it was. This just didn't fit the bill.I can't quite put my finger on it, but the story just didn't come together as smoothly as it should. It took forever to get into and even then I was confused about who was who and the reasons behind everything that was happening. I almost put the book down, but I forged on because I already own the other books in the series, so I thought I should make myself finish the book.I'm very glad I did! Around page 175, the story started becoming clear and I was hooked. I flew through the rest of the book and I actually want to move right in to the next one. I was disapointed with this book because it didn't seem characteristically Garwood, but knowing it is one of her earlier books gives me plenty of excuse to overlook it. I suppose everyone is entitled to a dud here and there.
—Jaime Atkins
