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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Ended up forcing myself to finish this book. It’s a historical romance that reads more like an old fantasy novel because of just how medieval it is. While I really enjoyed it at first, it became a chore to finish because there was no true motivation to find out how to story would end or anything. Easily could have DNF’d. Should I have? I’m still unsure.
Another formulaic but fun to read book by julie garwood.
medium-paced
Julie Garwood was the first adult book and historical romance I read, maybe at too young of an age, but honestly it was the best thing that ever happened to me.
This one was never a favorite and I remember why after the re-read. The FMC and most of the female characters in this story were just terrible, unrealistic all the way. Every single one could be described as this word I hate, hysterical, 90% of the time. There were some noble MMCs but the whole treating women as belonging to them was frustrating.
The FMC Madelyn, thinks she is freeing the MMC Duncan from dying as her evil creep of a brother's captive. But Duncan allowed himself to be captured so his army could invade the fortress and capture Madelyn, as an act of an eye for eye since Madelyn's brother did something horrible to Duncan's sister. And Madelyn is all for being captured to escape her brother abuse. From there we are taken on the journey of the FMC and MMC finding their HEA with each other. Battles, family dynamics, royal court politics, and so on ensue.
There are of course problematic points but the one that comes to mind is Madelyn's homophobic reaction to her brother possibly being gay, that was so not needed. And this one brings up religion and religious views A LOT. It does take place in England, 1099. So think mostaries and Gregorian chats.
There are many explicit sex scenes.
The major of the story takes place during the winter❄️.
This one was never a favorite and I remember why after the re-read. The FMC and most of the female characters in this story were just terrible, unrealistic all the way. Every single one could be described as this word I hate, hysterical, 90% of the time. There were some noble MMCs but the whole treating women as belonging to them was frustrating.
The FMC Madelyn, thinks she is freeing the MMC Duncan from dying as her evil creep of a brother's captive. But Duncan allowed himself to be captured so his army could invade the fortress and capture Madelyn, as an act of an eye for eye since Madelyn's brother did something horrible to Duncan's sister. And Madelyn is all for being captured to escape her brother abuse. From there we are taken on the journey of the FMC and MMC finding their HEA with each other. Battles, family dynamics, royal court politics, and so on ensue.
There are of course problematic points but the one that comes to mind is Madelyn's homophobic reaction to her brother possibly being gay, that was so not needed. And this one brings up religion and religious views A LOT. It does take place in England, 1099. So think mostaries and Gregorian chats.
There are many explicit sex scenes.
The major of the story takes place during the winter❄️.
adventurous
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Medieval is not usually my thing, but I enjoy the repartee between the main characters and the solid world and character building.
On the 2nd reading I found it just as enjoyable, if not more so. Which netted more stars....
On the 2nd reading I found it just as enjoyable, if not more so. Which netted more stars....
This book had absolutely no plot. I found Madelyn to be weak and annoying, and Duncan totally 1-dimensional. Garwood's books are hit or miss for me, and this one was a miss.
This is one of my favorites by Julie Garwood. I love everything about this couple. Duncan is known as one of the most feared Baron's. He's the strong, silent type with an intense fierceness. That fierceness shows in the way he protects Madelyne, and she brings out a softer side to him as well. She's also pretty intense herself when it comes to protecting others. Both characters are very honorable and likeable. This was my second read of this book and I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time.
So this was an accidental reread for me. I actually didn't recognize the book by the description and thought it was a Garwood book that I somehow managed to miss. As I read it, though, parts came back to me, and now I believe I must have blocked out my memories of it because it's really the worst of Garwood's books.
Generally, Garwood is a master at creating endearingly innocent heroines. They're typically naive in a sweet way and you root for them to get their happy ending. Madelyne, however, is a ditzy moron who seems to have entered her own reality at some point in which her innane ramblings make sense. Over 300 pages, and I still know nothing about this character except that she constantly contradicts herself and completely changes her personality from one moment to the next. For example, she's constantly grumbling about how awful the Wexton's are, but then she'll say that she feels so safe with them. She'll complain about how Duncan treats her, but then she'll ask him to kiss her. She decries the use of violence, but she'll knee Duncan in the crotch to get him to listen to her. One moment she's weeping and trembling because she's terrified of something, and in the next she's yelling at everyone because she wants them to behave better or some other such nonsense. It's just ridiculous. The worst though, is how she treats Duncan's sister, a f*cking rape victim! Show her compassion? Try to befriend her? Nope! Drag her upstairs by her hair, force her to take a bath, and wash her mouth out with soap. Yup, that sounds right. Wtf?
And the number of times Madelyne is referred to as a kitten...bleh. I hate that garbage. Of course, Duncan is always mentioned as being wolf-like in nonsense ways, like "he snuck up quietly, like a wolf". Who says that? No one. It's like Garwood decided to give him the nickname wolf and then felt like she needed to remind us that he was the wolf on every other page.
Why on earth Duncan feels any attraction to Madelyne is beyond me. He seems to go out of his way to show her that he is annoyed with her by sighing as loudly as possible, and he does it every time they interact. I guess Madelyne's beauty makes up for her asinine behavior? Seriously, I don't know. This relationship is a dumpster fire.
I actually just skimmed the second half of the book because the first half was so awful. This book is such a poor representation of what Garwood is capable of. I'll stick with The Secret and The Bride, thank you very much.
Generally, Garwood is a master at creating endearingly innocent heroines. They're typically naive in a sweet way and you root for them to get their happy ending. Madelyne, however, is a ditzy moron who seems to have entered her own reality at some point in which her innane ramblings make sense. Over 300 pages, and I still know nothing about this character except that she constantly contradicts herself and completely changes her personality from one moment to the next. For example, she's constantly grumbling about how awful the Wexton's are, but then she'll say that she feels so safe with them. She'll complain about how Duncan treats her, but then she'll ask him to kiss her. She decries the use of violence, but she'll knee Duncan in the crotch to get him to listen to her. One moment she's weeping and trembling because she's terrified of something, and in the next she's yelling at everyone because she wants them to behave better or some other such nonsense. It's just ridiculous. The worst though, is how she treats Duncan's sister, a f*cking rape victim! Show her compassion? Try to befriend her? Nope! Drag her upstairs by her hair, force her to take a bath, and wash her mouth out with soap. Yup, that sounds right. Wtf?
And the number of times Madelyne is referred to as a kitten...bleh. I hate that garbage. Of course, Duncan is always mentioned as being wolf-like in nonsense ways, like "he snuck up quietly, like a wolf". Who says that? No one. It's like Garwood decided to give him the nickname wolf and then felt like she needed to remind us that he was the wolf on every other page.
Why on earth Duncan feels any attraction to Madelyne is beyond me. He seems to go out of his way to show her that he is annoyed with her by sighing as loudly as possible, and he does it every time they interact. I guess Madelyne's beauty makes up for her asinine behavior? Seriously, I don't know. This relationship is a dumpster fire.
I actually just skimmed the second half of the book because the first half was so awful. This book is such a poor representation of what Garwood is capable of. I'll stick with The Secret and The Bride, thank you very much.
Rating~ 5 stars.
Julie Garwood writes wonderful and very enjoyable historical romances.
Julie Garwood writes wonderful and very enjoyable historical romances.