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A review by chelseaj91
Guardian Angel by Julie Garwood
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
So this wasn't a bad story at all, but I just couldn't quite get hooked. I ended up skimming a lot of the last 35-40% because I was trying to return this to the library and I'm honestly not worried about having missed something.
Caine was okay. A little more macho/caveman-y than I normally like, but it fit the characterization that Julie Garwood set up with Lyon. Since this is only my second Garwood, I don't know if that's typical of all her MMCs or just this series. I did feel like he roared and bellowed a lot and I'm surprised there weren't more comments about people being deaf/ringing in their ears. I did like the way he cared for his staff and even his parents and Colin. And Jade once she showed up; I'll admit that I felt like there was too much "She's going to run and I'll just go after her" followed by that actually happening (but that was mostly because Jade was frustrating, but I'll get to that in a minute). And I don't mind a good "If you run, I'll follow" comment/scene, but it only needs to happen once or twice, it shouldn't happen every time a new conversation starts.
Jade frustrated me. It felt like the author was trying for a tough/strong FMC but Jade came across as arrogant and honestly naïve. Her comments/thoughts about "Oh, I'm such a great actress! I just had to pretend to be weak and Caine did my bidding" were kind of weird, especially since all her crying was ridiculous. Even when he was still trying to figure her out, the crying didn't do any good. There were also a lot of hints that she was clearly not doing this for all the aboveboard reasons, but I figured out her secret from the freaking summary. Although the way that her fear of sharks was used to get her to kind of walk away was a little o.O to me. Especially since she basically resisted up until the very last second because "that's who she was". I did like how protective she was of Nathan and Colin, even if her methods left a little to be desired.
Caine was okay. A little more macho/caveman-y than I normally like, but it fit the characterization that Julie Garwood set up with Lyon. Since this is only my second Garwood, I don't know if that's typical of all her MMCs or just this series. I did feel like he roared and bellowed a lot and I'm surprised there weren't more comments about people being deaf/ringing in their ears. I did like the way he cared for his staff and even his parents and Colin. And Jade once she showed up; I'll admit that I felt like there was too much "She's going to run and I'll just go after her" followed by that actually happening (but that was mostly because Jade was frustrating, but I'll get to that in a minute). And I don't mind a good "If you run, I'll follow" comment/scene, but it only needs to happen once or twice, it shouldn't happen every time a new conversation starts.
Jade frustrated me. It felt like the author was trying for a tough/strong FMC but Jade came across as arrogant and honestly naïve. Her comments/thoughts about "Oh, I'm such a great actress! I just had to pretend to be weak and Caine did my bidding" were kind of weird, especially since all her crying was ridiculous. Even when he was still trying to figure her out, the crying didn't do any good. There were also a lot of hints that she was clearly not doing this for all the aboveboard reasons, but I figured out her secret from the freaking summary. Although the way that her fear of sharks was used to get her to kind of walk away was a little o.O to me. Especially since she basically resisted up until the very last second because "that's who she was". I did like how protective she was of Nathan and Colin, even if her methods left a little to be desired.