The Secret by Julie Garwood - Includes review of Audio Version

Bloody brilliant, hot, hunky Highlanders!

Audio/Kindle/Paperback Review

Very rarely do I have the opportunity to read a book that isn't a review required read, but I needed something familiar, something comforting this past week, and so I chose to re-read/listen to this story.

I am so, so very glad I did!

I had read The Secret (paperback) years ago and never reviewed because I was on a Julie Garwood binge. Book after book, I didn't have time to stop and write down my thoughts because I couldn't stop reading long enough to do so. This story will always be a favorite read, but as a listen? It's amazing!

Description...

New York Times best-selling author Julie Garwood captures the Highland splendor of medieval Scotland in this breathtaking love story. The inspiration for her acclaimed bestseller Ransom, this classic tale is a passionate masterpiece from one of the best-loved storytellers of all time.

Judith Hampton was as beautiful as she was proud and loyal. Her dear Scottish friend from childhood was about to give birth, and Judith had promised to be at her side. But there was another reason for the journey from her bleak English home to the Highlands: to meet the father she had never known, the Laird Maclean. Nothing prepared her, however, for the sight of the Scottish barbarian who was to escort her into his land...Iain Maitland, laird of his clan, a man more powerfully compelling than any she had ever encountered.

In a spirited clash of wills and customs, Judith reveled in the melting bliss of Iain's searching kisses, his passionate caresses. Perplexed by her sprightly defiance, bemused by her tender nature, Iain felt his soul growing into the light and warmth of her love. Surely nothing would wrench her from the affection and trust of Iain and his clan...not even the truth about her father, a devastating secret that could shatter the boldest alliance, and the most glorious of loves!

My review...

Julie Garwood was my first venture into Historical Romance, and the genre became an instant favorite. I grabbed every single Garwood HR I could get my hands on, and wept when I learned she wasn't writing HR anymore.

Okay, maybe "wept" is a bit of an exaggeration, but not much!

When people ask what my favorite HR novel is, I always think of Garwood's books. The Prize, The Bride, The Wedding... it's hard to pick an all time favorite. But I can honestly say, The Secret is right up there on the list.

And I've fallen in love with it, all over again.

This past weekend I listened (and read along - Kindle) to Susan Duerden not just read the book, but perform it. Her incredible ability to let each character's unique personality shine through made this an absolute delight to experience.

The prologue is one of the best I had ever read, and now listening to Ms. Duerden bring the wee little girls, Judith and Frances Catherine to life... then bring them together again as grown women whose friendship passed the test of time and will inspire Lairds and clansmen... truly, I can't put into words how much I enjoyed this story. No, how much I LOVE this story! Every page, every sentence, every word...

The bottom line...

As I said, my reading time is precious to me and there isn't enough of it, but when I needed something familiar and comforting, I chose this book. That in itself should bear testament to how much I adore The Secret.

I sighed, I smiled, I laughed... the witty dialog and laugh out loud banter, the sexual chemistry... it captured my heart and made me fall in love with the obstinate Laird Iain Maitland and the adorable, equally obstinate Lady Judith, all over again.

Pursuing the Times by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

 

All that popular Chick-Lit author Mercury Lauren wants is to have one of her books reviewed by the New York Times Book Review - just one - and she'll do almost anything to get it. In this contemporary romantic comedy, with a nod toward Pride and Prejudice she crosses swords and hearts with the Editor-in-Chief of the NYTBR in a madcap adventure that takes her from her home in Westport to a yoga retreat to a golf course in Florida. Will she get what she wants and will she finally be happy if she does? Only one thing's for certain: nothing will stop her from Pursuing the Times.

*****

From Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of the laugh-out-loud novel, The Bro-Magnet, comes the laugh-out-louder novel, Pursuing the Times. I haven’t smiled, snickered, giggled or…well, laughed out loud… this much while reading a story in a very long time.

Our heroine, Mercury Lauren, would likely cringe if she heard what I’m about to say, but Chick-Lit really isn’t my cuppa. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the female friendships and their love life ups and downs that are a part of the stories in this genre, but too often there’s not enough time given to romantic relationships to suit my need for a solid happily ever after in my reading. That said, while Chick-Lit isn’t my genre of choice, if more authors wrote it the way Ms. Baratz-Logsted does, it most definitely would be.

Rarely do I find myself enjoying the heroine of a story as much as I do the hero, but this is another something this author managed to pull off. Mercury is intelligent, insightful, dedicated and self deprecating – in a denial-esque kind of way and I loved her outspoken defense of herself and her writing. There’s just something so outrageous about her that, while watching a certain scene unfold on a golf course, had me thinking how much more exciting my own life would be if I had that kind of chutzpah!

Frank D’Arcangelo is a great hero! You may - or may not - have heard that this book at times mimics Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Well, one of my favorite things about Frank is just how “Mr. Darcy” he is, in a thoroughly obnoxious, modern sort of way. But like our beloved Mr. Darcy of old, Frank isn’t completely irredeemable, and even well before the conclusion of the story, I adored him! In fact, even when he was being an utter ass, I was still grinning and cheering him on in the direction I wanted him to go: into Mercury’s arms.

The bottom line: Pursuing the Times is an absolute pleasure to read. It’s light, romantic, funny, steamy… a truly feel good story. Fans of any romance genre will completely relate to Mercury Lauren and her desperation to become recognized as a legitimate author, and you'll laugh at the lengths she'll go to to achieve her goal. I’m looking forward to reading more by this talented author. Even if it is Chick-Lit ;)

My thanks to Ms. Baratz-Logsted for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review. And for her patience during the months it took me to actually pick it up and read it.

I loved this quote:

Of course, by now I'd been branded as an author of Chick-Lit -- well, actually, the first book had served to do that -- even though I thought of what I wrote as satire. Surely, if a man wrote the same things, they wouldn't call it Dick Lit... would they?

Dancing on Coals by Ellen O'Connell

After escaping robbers intent on murder, Katherine Grant says, "I jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Before long I'll be dancing on the coals." The highwaymen were the frying pan; the handsome young Apache who saved her from them was the fire; and the coals? Gaetan.

Rage against the enemies of his people has consumed Gaetan from boyhood. The only use he ever found for any white was to test the sharpness of his knife. Forced by his brother to endure Katherine's company, Gaetan tries to deny what he sees—the white woman has a man's temper and a lion's courage. She has an Apache heart.

In spite of hate, distrust and fear, surviving in the rugged country of southern Arizona and northern Mexico forges a strange bond between Katherine and Gaetan. When the bond turns to love, can they admit it? Can they bear the consequences?

*****

Well, as usual, I’m late the game. So many of my friends have read this book and raved about it. They’ve nudged me, telling me it’s amazing and that I had to read it. Every so often I’d get a reminder that I had it sitting here, just waiting for me to pick it up… and still, I put it off. But, I finally did it and, as usual, my friends were right.

I’m just going to share a few thoughts with you, since there are already so many wonderful reviews on this book.

When I read a book I want the time I spend to be worthwhile, so I’m always looking for stories that make me forget that I’m just reading a book. I love it when I’m swept away to another time and place, living a life very different from my own, a life I’d never otherwise get to experience. That’s what Dancing on Coals was like for me.

For the few days I spent reading this story, I’d close my eyes and try to imagine what it was like to be a lone woman in an unfamiliar land, finding myself living with a people whose traditions and ways of life were completely foreign to me. What it was like to have the wind whipping through my hair while on horseback, riding faster and faster, as if my very life depended on it, because it did. Seeing the ocean for the very first time. Falling in love with someone I had every reason to hate, and being thankful for all the horrible things that happened to me because without them, I would never have met him.

This is a tale that is, at the same time, both ugly and beautiful. It took me places I’ve never been, made me feel things I’ve never felt. And most importantly, it's a beautiful love story, and I can’t ask for more than that.

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

 Lady Philippa Marbury is odd. The bespectacled, brilliant fourth daughter of the Marquess of Needham and Dolby cares more for books than balls, flora than fashion and science than the season. Nearly engaged to Lord Castleton, Pippa wants to explore the scandalous parts of London she's never seen before marriage. And she knows just who to ask: the tall, charming, quick-witted bookkeeper of The Fallen Angel, London's most notorious and coveted gaming hell, known only as Cross.

Like any good scientist, Pippa's done her research and Cross's reputation makes him perfect for her scheme. She wants science without emotion - the experience of ruination without the repercussions of ruination. And who better to provide her with the experience than this legendary man? But when this odd, unexpected female propositions Cross, it's more than tempting . . . and it will take everything he has to resist following his instincts - and giving the lady precisely what she wants.

********

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover is the second book in Sarah MacLean’s The Rules of Scoundrels and from the first page to the last, simply wonderful! It’s witty, poignant, romantic, and sexy, and a story I simply couldn’t put down!

I don’t know where to begin when sharing with you the many things I love about this book! The story is amazing - fast paced, sensual, deliciously sexy and very romantic. It's the perfect backdrop for our hero and heroine who are also amazing. They are vulnerable yet strong, stubborn but yielding, flawed yet in a word, perfect!

Lady Phillipa Marbury, with her black and white, scientific way of thinking, drew me in and had me loving her early on. At times I laughed at how naive her ideas were, and at other times, I almost cried because of the same. I wanted to protect her from the harsh world of The Fallen Angel and Cross's life, and at other times I wanted to push her right into the middle of it - right into his arms! Pippa, like all of Sarah MacLean's heroines, is wonderful! The kind of woman I would like to be if I were living in her era.

And then there's Cross. Cross is such an interesting character! A man of many contradictions. He's got secrets, demons that torment and eat away at him. At times he's oppressive and bleak, yet at other times he's compassionate and determined to protect those he loves. He's devoted, exciting, sexy... a truly perfect hero!

And as if all that weren't enough, toss in an incredible supporting cast of characters, people whose stories I want to learn and whose lives I wish I had a place in... there's nothing more I can ask for.

The bottom line: This book has everything I look for in my historical romance reads. It’s funny, romantic, heartwarming, sexy… indeed, it has everything I want, everything I’ve come to expect from Sarah MacLean’s stories.

Many thanks to Avon Books for providing me with a paperback ARC of this story. It was a true pleasure to read!