It was a really sweet and romantic book with the natural julie garwood possesive hero. Our heroine killed a pack of wolves ALONE!!!In this book I surprisingly loved Gabriel's possesiveness very much. But the first 6 chapters of the book did not feel too compelling to me. In the beginning I felt something was missing. Given Johanna's past I expected more resistance from her when she was taken to marry Gabriel and I don't know the first few chapters felt like it was dragging by somehow. I wanted m...

From the blurb, you might get the mistaken impression that the heroine is strong and smart. She's not. She's TSTL!Yeah, it's contagious.She never understands anything and is constantly asking for explanations from everyone. Strangely, this stupidity is mistaken often for cunning thinking. The men in her life are often thinking that she is purposely acting dumb in order to achieve her purpose. But, she's not. She's just dumb. That annoyed the crap out of me.The dog in the book was smarter than he...

I've read one other book by Julie Garwood. I wasn't that impressed with it, and after this one, I don't think I'll give her any more chances to wow me. There's a pervading sense of insult throughout this entire story. I feel like it's insulting to abused woman, insulting to alpha males, and insulting to highland Scots. Every single character is a caricature, and the humor relies entirely on the farcical, which gets damned annoying. It's also too long. Garwoood took the thinnest concept for a plo...

Wanted to enjoy a cute HF, this what not it. Full review to come.

3.5 starsim having a jolly time making my way through the entire of Julie Garwoods HR collection, but this one is a little bit on the miss side of the hit or miss scale. i didnt vibe with the h. for some reason, i found her attempts at Englishizing (??) the Highlands people to be a little beyond her place??? i mean, she was just teaching them some manners, and she was the lairds wife, so it was well within her rights, but at the same time i feel like she was trying to change them, and it didnt s...

Listened to the Audio 2/26/18: I enjoyed the narrator, though I wish she'd done a different voice for Gabriel. The story is just as stellar as ever. Re-read 02/08/13 - LOVE!How many times do you suppose I can re-read this and review it by saying LOVE!? Because I feel like this could go on forever. Re-read 11/14/11 - LOVE! This is one of my top 5 favorite Julie Garwood books. I absolutely adore everything about it from the setting to the characters.The overall message - that women are just as imp...

4 StarsGreat story BUT (view spoiler)[I wished the evil bishop had suffered a bit more in the end.He deserved a sorry death for his ideas on woman and their penance.And for some reason it angered me to here his thoughts and ideas were accepted and passed down to the next generation.A broken egg=A broken leg according to him.Disgusting. (hide spoiler)]Other than that I found the female lead to be slightly annoying with her arsenal of white lies,but she kind of made up for it by the end.Great but

Summary Lady Johanna has recently become a widow, and against her wishes King John has commanded that she marry a Scottish Laird Gabriel MacBain. A warrior and leader, a man who has combined the strength of two clans, separate but together in harmony. Johanna knows that she has little choice, but she refuses to be treated the way her previous husband treated her. So in the moment where she meets her future husband, she feels fear, but she also feels an attraction she can’t explain. She senses he...

Having heard such high praise about this book, I had sky-high expectations and expected to be blown away by it. Unfortunately, that didn't happen - not in the firsst half of the story, anyway. It took me a long time to like Gabriel - too arrogant and distant - and Johanna - too ditzy and scared. At one point, I was ready to scream if he told her to rest one more time! That was funny at first, like a recurring joke, but it got old pretty fast - probably because she didn't put a stop to it soon en...

3.5 StarsOverall Opinion: I got this book off the GR list for highlander romances, and it was an enjoyable read. If anyone has any other recommendations for highlander romances -- I'd love to hear them (because the list was kind of lacking)! I really liked both characters and I liked their banter with each other, which are both things that I think Ms. Garwood does well with her HR books. I'm going to drop my rating because of the pacing at first and the lackluster epilogue, but otherwise it was

I wanted to love this one so much. We have a British woman marrying a Scottish laird and it's Julie Garwood! This book has so many rave reviews! But I found it more boring than anything else. The heroine's husband dies and he was very abusive. Because the heroine now has his lands, the hero wants to marry her to have control of those lands for his people. Gabriel is very kind and nothing like Johanna's first husband. I enjoyed the beginning when they got married and Johanna learned to trust Gabr...

Where to begin?In fear of sounding pathetic, I'd have to say that Julie's Saving Grace found me.My aunt works in a hotel, and they always find books left behind (I know, blasphemers!). They store them neatly in shelves and, my guess is, wait for someone to take them home.I was 9 or 10 at the time, when she brought me in to pick something out for myself.English being a foreign language and all, I really didn't know which one to pick, so I reached my hand into the back of the shelf and fished out

One of my favourite books by Julie Garwood.

Definitely not one of my favorite Julie Garwood books. The beginning was depressing and I just didn't liking the heroine. I'm eating my words when I said, in my Ransom review, there wasn't a Julie Garwood heroine I didn't love. The ending, however, saved the book for me. In fact, it's my favorite ending of all the Julie Garwood books I've read. It was beautiful, poignant, and the symbolism of Gabriel placing his hands on Johanna's hands, helping her break the punishment rod, brought tears to my

Old bookie friend reminded me I never reviewed this one even though I've re-read it often so here goes after a recent re-read...One of the best of Garwood’s old historicals- it features a heroine who bravely finds a way out of an abusive situation- and, fortunately, into a lovematch. A hero who is gruff, but noble. And an intrigue plot featuring kings and conspiracies.Okay, okay, it’s a romance novel plot, solved with a perfect Happily Ever After ending, accompanied by men too amazing to be beli...

He leaned down, kissed the top of her head, and then whispered, “’Tis the truth, I am pleased I married you.” Saving Grace has easily become one of my favorite historical romances. I’m pretty sure I had a dorky smile on my face the whole time I was reading this book. It was plot driven, character driven and so humorous! The story begins with the death of Lady Johanna’s piece of CRAP husband and her second marriage to a Scottish warrior, Gabriel MacBain. Throughout the course of the b

This remains an enjoyable light HR, both the main characters are more than likeable - Highland warrior Gabriel McBain, and Johanna, who was married at a young to an abusive turd. So in her second marriage to Gabriel it takes her sometime to find her feet, both hesitantly falling in love. Initially Johanna appears timid but it quickly becomes clear that Garwood has imbuded Johanna with steel. Gabriel is a fab match for her. Garwood has created moments that will have you laughing/smiling, and the

I read this for Romance Book Bingo 2017: Man in a Kilt square.I have to have some happy right now and this book is it. I have been reading this since I was 12 or 13 and still have a copy of it on my shelves. The heroine (Johanna) kicks butt. The hero (Gabriel) kicks butt. We actually have a hero/heroine who thank God do not have any rape scenes between them. They reluctantly fall in love with each other which I thought was hilarious. The little family between Johanna, Gabriel, and Gabriel's son

Classic JG heroine...a little naive, but not as helpless and frail as the men think she is. Endearing, unique secondary characters. A touch of humor, and the ending packs a punch. Especially the last few lines. Glad I finally read this one!

Rating: 4 StarsJulie Garwood is a special author for me because she introduced me to the world of historical romance. Saving Grace was an enjoyable read but not as great as The Wedding which is my favorite. I felt it was a bit too long and dragging in some parts. I love Gabriel and Johanna though and how she likens him to the archangel. The secondary characters were particularly funny and cute, especially Alex and Dumfries. The story and the plot were straightforward and there was no major confl...