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serpentskirtt 's review for:

The Prize by Julie Garwood
4.0

This was much better than the other Garwood book I read, The Bride, which I had a really hard time getting through and found very frustrating. A reviewer I follow pointed out that this novel straddles the old-school/new-school romance line. There's a lot of "obeying" here, but none of the forcing-the-heroine-into-submission.

The MMC was absolutely delightful in that, while he was autocratic, he always decided to talk to the FMC about what he felt was bothering her. He was a gentle warrior, and she, while inclined to be a shrew, knew when she needed to pull back on that. Basically, Garwood took the tropes typical to a historical romance (particularly a medieval historical romance), and modernized them in a way that felt believable.

Something this did share with [b:The Bride|107779|The Bride (Lairds' Fiancées, #1)|Julie Garwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334369134l/107779._SY75_.jpg|2642843] is that the characters would change perspectives during a conversation, only it was more authentic this time, since they "logic'd" their way through it. While I found the back-and-forth a little tiring, it was nowhere near the level of annoyance from The Bride. Overall, this was very solid, and I'm open to maybe reading more of Garwood's more recent books.