I read this book many years ago but yet I still remember the plot which means it stuck with me after all this time. Although I'm not a die hard fan of romance I found this book interesting. ( )

Great standard Highlander romance. It's a formula, but I like that formula. Sweet girl with a secret falls for dashing laird and despairs that he doesn't love her (he does). She's outgoing and smart, but shy and troubled by a past of neglect and abuse. It was adorable. I'll read the rest of this trilogy, for sure. (4 stars)

Re-read seven years later, and I still like it. There are less of the abused-heroine elements than I initially thought, and it's less angsty than I recall as well, but my original review is still accurate. ( )

Judith was an adorable heroine. She was sweet but spunky. I don't usually like such nice female characters but Judith won me over.

Judith and Frances Catherine met at a festival on the border of England and Scotland when they were four and five years old. Frances Catherine was Scottish and Judith was English but they became best friends for life.

Frances Catherine’s mother and grandmother had died in childbirth so she was frightened the same would happen to her so Judith promised her that she would be there with her when or if she ever had a child. Frances Catherine knew Judith was too stubborn to let her die. So when Frances Catherine married and became pregnant, she sent her brother-in-law to escort Judith to the Highlands.

The people in each country hate the people of the other country. Judith knows she will face prejudices but doesn't care as long as she is there for her friend. She was not prepared to be attracted to the warrior who came to escort her though.

It wasn't all light reading because there were some darker problems but I enjoyed it. ( )

I absolutely loved this book! It's one of my all time faves of Julie Garwood. The characters were strong and real and easy to like. It took me from laughter to tears and everything in between. ( )

I liked several aspects of this and thought at a few points that it might end up being 4 stars for me, but ultimately the things I liked and the things I didn't sort of balanced each other out to a 3. I enjoyed the road trip portion (heroes trying to resist heroines and utterly failing at it always tickles me) =D. And I liked the strong female friendship(s) and the midwifery. I think the take on gender roles feels very traditional (not so much as in 'men were protectors and women were nurturers' which I would expect from this time period, but more in 'man speaks solely in orders and can't communicate to save his soul, woman is childlike-naive and entirely run by her emotions'... =/ ). I don't have as much experience with those more traditional romances and they're just not really my thing. This wasn't excruciating or anything, but it was a bit much for my preference. Despite that the characters were largely likable, and I'll go ahead and read the second one which also seems to be a particular favorite with people. ( )