In this sequel of sorts to Garwood's Ransom, Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel, a daughter of an English Baron, is sent by King John to marry an older highland Laird to keep peace between the borders (??!! more on this later). Two of John's scheming Barons with their nefarious (and ridiculous) schemes get involved and Gabrielle's intended is murdered, she is disgraced as a wanton woman and disinherited and banned from England (this from one woman accusing her of entering a wounded man's bedroom??). She meets up with Laird Brodick Buchanan who is her cousin by marriage, as Brodick is married to Gillian a distant cousin of Gabrielle's father. Accompanying Brodick is the fearsome Laird MacHugh who takes her into protection after her banishment. There is also a big mystery about the search for some missing gold that is all too predictable, I figured where that was at the first mention of.... well I won't be a spoiler but trust me you'll spot that one a mile away.

Sound exciting? No, it's not, it's actually quite awful and I'm having a hard time believing Garwood wrote this. Although her older historicals are not high fiction, the healthy dose of humor she throws in along with the romance usually makes for an entertaining read. Unfortunately, along with an embarrassingly bad plot Garwood forgot to throw in the humor that might have saved a story that's predictable from the first page to the last. Even worse, there is little description of the sights, sounds, clothes, etc. to give the reader a good sense of the time period. I don't think I heard mention of any Scott wearing a kilt until well towards the end of the book, Gabrielle's clothing was only noted by the color of the dress she was wearing, etc. I won't even get started on the way Brodick was ruined -- without the banter between he, Gillian, Ramsey and Ian what was an awesome hero in Ransom is reduced to nothing but mush. We don't even get a glimpse of Gillian, only occasional mentions of her being home and pregnant. And worst of all, there is absolutely no chemistry between our two main protagonists, an absolute death knell for any romance book.

And finally, although I don't expect an historical romance to be historically accurate, I appreciate it when an author makes some effort to have knowledge of the period they're writing in. I wish I'd taken notes, because I'm not able to remember all the boners in this book to recount them here. Examples, and since I'm not a history major anyone may correct me if I'm wrong:

* Gabrielle's native country St Biel (somewhere in Europe where the crusaders passed through), is invaded and occupied by King John !!??? John Lackland who couldn't even hold on to Normandy?
* What is it with the women running around with their long hair flowing loose? No woman in medieval times, especially a noblewoman would be seen in public without a proper head covering.
* Gabrielle's original marriage was to settle the border disputes between England and Scotland. Hellooooo, if I recall correctly John was too busy trying to subdue the Welsh to be bothered with Scotland. And what help does a marriage to a highland Laird have to do with any border wars? The borders are in the lowlands - you'd think a marriage to someone with closer ties to the border would make more political sense.

All in all, this is pretty close to one of the worst books I've ever read - not quite but almost. Boring, predictable and downright silly. Garwood would have done much better by making her sequel to Ransom writing about the Buchanans, Ramsey and Sinclairs and putting those people together into her story. Better yet, put their grown children together into a tightly woven story with that sadly missing dose of humor and she might have had something here. As it is, this is a bad way to spend $18 on a hardback and a serious waste of a tree. If you are dead set on reading it, get it from the library (as I did) or wait for the mass market paperback.

Last complaint - what the heck is with the book cover? The man and woman in the bottom corner are in evening dress and the building with the onion dome looks like something out of the Far East, and certainly not a castle that one would find in Scotland. It's all just stupid, stupid, stupid and doesn't even deserve one star. ( )

This book was not one of Garwood's best. That being said it was still enjoyable, a bit slow to start but enjoyable. I had a sense of deja vu reading it as it is very similar to the Bride; however, the characters are not as well developed. ( )

Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel, a remarkably independent young woman with four staunch bodyguards, a quick wit, sharp tongue, and fair talent with a bow, comes crossways (through no fault of her own) with Highland laird Colm McHugh. And of course, she has to marry him. Plotting counter-suitors, murder, hidden treasure and, of course, Highland pride complicate things, but true love conquers all.

It's a nice enough book. The plot is a bit heavy on historical detail and evil characters, and if you haven't read the rest of Garwood's Highland novels, you're probably wondering just who Brodick and a few of the others are and why they're important. My problem? This felt like a watered-down retelling of The Secret, Saving Graceor one of Garwood's other, earlier Highland novels. Not bad, exactly, just re-hashed. ( )

The reviews on Amazon weren't all flattering; in fact, some were down right crude. I've never read a book by Garwood and wanted to give it a try, especially since our library had this for my MP3 player.

Personally, I loved the book. Maybe if I'd read the book instead of listening, there would have been dry spots. I can only guess though. I found the story engaging enough to forget about exercising and that says a lot!

For more about this book and others, go to http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/... ( )

At first I wasn't too sure about this book. I got lost in the beginning, but started to engage myself in the
story line. The narrator read the story so well that I was lost in invsioning the story. The era that the book took place in and in her descriptions and her different voices, was what made me enjoy this book. I am looking forward to reading more works of Julie Garwood ( )