The Bride (edition 1991)

I have to admit, I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than I thought that I would. I am not a romance reader by nature. I do enjoy romance in the stories I read. I just don't go for books in which the romance is the central plot or point of the story. Give me soul-crushing tear-jerkers about human suffering, or horror, or a classic, or, really just about anything else first. But I agreed to read at least 5 romance books for a friend's blog activity for September, so here I am, reading and surprisingly enjoying romance.

The basic premise here is that a 12th century Scottish laird is ordered to take an English wife by his king, and an English Baron is ordered by HIS king to marry one of his daughters to him. Oh, the atrocity! Those Scottish are barbarians! The English are cowards and weak! Ack! Hiss! Boo!

So the marriage takes place, and all of a sudden Alec Kincaid, Laird of the Kincaid clan, is saddled with a feisty and not at all thrilled to be married Jamie (who has a man's name).

Hilarity ensues (at least to me) when their personalities clash. Oh my goodness, I found their disagreements and misunderstandings and attempts to rile each other extremely funny. In fact, I spent a good 3/4 of the book giggling to myself like a crazy woman. I think that it was this aspect, more than anything else that caused me to like the book. True, the lurvin' was pretty steamy, but it was admittedly a little repetitive too, as were certain conversations disagreements arguments between husband and wife.

On top of this, there was a secondary mystery plotline, which was meant, I'm sure, to ratchet up the suspense: Just when things are getting cozy, there's an attempt on Jamie's life! But the way that it was written felt awkward and out of place. There would just be a random paragraph from the Mystery Murderer at the end of random chapters, in italics, and in 1st person narrative.

So he thinks to take an English wife. Well, she's no match for me. I hope he loves her. It will make it all the sweeter when I watch her die and challenge him. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yep, like that. Well, maybe without the maniacal laughter. That may have been an embellishment on my part. But I did hear it in my head every time I read one of these little sections!

There was very little that was historically accurate in the book. I mean, the big stuff, like the King and the clan feuds and that stuff, sure, but the devil is in the details, and it just felt a bit modern. The dialogue was definitely modern, but after a while I just got used to it. But I still wanted to mention it.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was a quick read and provided me with some laughs, so maybe I'll look into more of Garwood's books in the future. ;) ( )

I’m surprised at the high rating for this book. Compared to other Garwood novels this one ranks quite low for me. I didn’t find the main characters as likeable or as endearing as some of her other novels. Alec Kinkaid is a typical Alpha male who wants a strong courageous woman. He wants her to be subservient and caring of him…even love him although he’s not prepared to reciprocate those feelings for fear that it would make him weak. Jaime is a fiesty and untamed violet-eyed beauty who understandably wants to be her husband’s equal. I found both of the main characters not as likeable as other Garwood novels. I didn’t start liking them till the middle of the book. Jaime came off as being too perfect with her only flaws being her temper and no sense of direction. Alec was just arrogant with old fashion sensibilities. Some of the character interactions were funny, but some parts that were supposed to be witty I found to be annoying. The plot was also predictable and very similar to her other Highland romances. Overall, it was an okay quick read…perfect for a rainy day read or a beach read. ( )

This is the worst kind of storytelling -- cliched, head-hopping, main characters always set to 11, supporting characters not really fleshed out. The h/h spend the entire book purposefully misunderstanding each other, screaming at each other, and having a lot of cliched but unmemorable sex. There's no real tension -- despite what Garwood wants you to think with all the damned shouting -- because there's no POV -- you always know what every character is thinking. Nothing is withheld. Nothing here to recommend a female hero who is presented as the most capable member of her household, but meets the hero and suddenly can't do anything right except make the male hero angry, which seems to equal turned-on. The whole story seems to take place in a few days, in which many improbable little scenarios arise and are resolved, much shouting, huffing and puffing occur, and yet everything turns out ok. And the main characters, if it seems like you've met them before, you have. Nothing about them is presented as unique: Tiny, beautiful spunk and big, lusty hunk. The one subplot that may have differentiated this book is not adequately fleshed out. Not recommended. -cg ( )

I was disappointed in The Bride this time around. I originally read it sometime during high school, and I remember loving it at the time and thinking it was the best book ever. My experience this time (12 years later) is just a taaad different.

Julie Garwood is a great romance writer, one of the "pillars" of the genre. She is famous for melding heart-warming humor with romance in her novels, and her medievals are considered "classics." This is quite the accomplishment and makes for a fun, light and humorous read, right? This book even won the Rita Award in 1990! So why didn't this book do it for me?

First, the set up: Alec, a powerful Scottish Highlander, is forced by edict of the English king to marry an English lass (FYI- the English and the Scottish Highlanders are very different and don't like each other.) He shows up with his buddy, has the hots for the impetuous, violet eyed and beautiful Jamie, marries her, and carts her off with him to the Highlands. And so the drama begins.

First of all, the hero, Alec Kincaid, is kind of an ass. Yes, we get it, he's a warrior and all that, but he treats Jamie like she is an annoying nuisance (which she very well might be) and tried to make her insecure all the time. He also tries to bully and push her around and make her "succumb to his will," whatever that means even though he actually adores the hell out of her. Does he ever apologize? Nope! In the end Jamie "wins," but not because she is an equal partner or anything, but rather because she annoys him into surrender.

In comes Jamie: Beautiful and violet-eyed, impetuous, (as evidenced by the fact that she likes to ride bare-back on her horse,) educated in the healing arts (as all heroines in medievals,) and a little bit of a meddling busy-body (which, in her case, is not supposed to be a bad thing.) She seems unaware of her "place" as Medieval society would dictate it and doesn't understand that she is supposed to be inferior and "obedient" to her husband, so she constantly questions him and badgers him about it. In her first week as wife of the laird, she manages to almost start three (or is it 4?) wars with neighboring clans, saves multiple lives, and earns the love and undying loyalty of nearly everyone in the clan.

I really wish a few things for this book. I wish that Jamie was a little bit less of a well meaning ditz and more of an equal partner to Alec, who I wish was a little bit less of a jerk and a little bit more loving and supportive. I wish that there was more time in the book for Alec to realize that a woman can be an equal partner and a worthy opponent. I wish that Jamie didn't feel like she had to take care of everything and everyone and actually DEALT with the fact that her step-dad treated her like a servant and she feels like she has to be one in order to be accepted/loved. I wish there weren't these long dialogue bits where each of the characters would be talking about nothing (really, nothing!) and lose their train of thought. I wish there were more of the moments of brilliance and fun I found in the text like when Jamie and Alec first meet and their wedding night. This book had a lot of potential, and it was well written, but there was just something missing for me here. ( )

Enjoyed this book, set in early English history during the 1100s. There were interesting adventures and clashes between the Scottish warrior and his English bride. Liked reading about the characters. Listened to this though Audible.com. ( )