Review – The Bride (Lairds’ Fiancees, Book 1) by Julie Garwood (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Romance
Length: 353 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 7, 2011
ASIN: B004XFYWNY
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Lairds’ Fiancees series
Source: Bought ebook for Kindle
Rating: 4/5 stars
“By edict of the king, the mighty Scottish laird Alec Kincaid must take an English bride. His choice is Jamie, youngest daughter of Baron Jamison—a feisty, violet-eyed beauty. Alec aches to touch her, to tame her, to possess her…forever. But Jamie has vowed never to surrender to a man she considers a highland barbarian.
Alec is everything Jamie’s heart has warned her against—an arrogant scoundrel whose rough good looks speak of savage pleasures. While Kincaid’s scorching kisses set fire to her blood, she is determined to resist him…until one rapturous moment quells their clash of wills, and something far more dangerous than desire threatens to conquer her senses…”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Lairds’ Fiancees series. There are two books in this series. I bought a copy of this on ebook for my Kindle. I picked this up because it was one of the top books on a list of “top romances” to read.
Thoughts: This was a very well done historical romance with a lot of humor and fun in it. I ended up enjoying it immensely and struggled to put the book down.
The story is fairly standard enemies to lovers romance. Jamie is the spunky youngest daughter of an English baron; she pretty much runs her current household and also is the family healer, hunter and an excellent horsewoman. Meanwhile Scottish laird Alec Kincaide has been commanded by the King to take one of Baron Jamison’s English daughters as a bride to help prolong peace between the two lands. Alec and Jamie hate each other but are hugely attracted to each other too. As they spend more time together they grow to respect each other’s skills.
For the most part I really enjoyed this. The chemistry between Jamie and Alec is very well done and I loved how Jamie quickly proved her worth to Alec’s people. I enjoyed Jamie’s flighty sisters a lot less and thought that at times Jamie also seemed very naive. Additionally, Alec’s initial dismissive attitude about women in general rankled but I supposed was probably historically accurate.
The writing style was easy to read and I loved all the witty banter in here. Garwood’s writing style isn’t super refined or anything, sometimes I found descriptions lacking and the plot as a whole was a bit weak. This is definitely a historical romance first and a book about the Scots and the English second. Which is fine, it was what I was expecting. However, I wasn’t in awe of Garwood’s amazing writing or anything, it was just a fun, decent read. So definitely some mixed feelings about Garwood as an author.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a fun historical romance read and I enjoyed it. It was a quick read with a lot of humor and well done steamy scenes. I liked the main characters well enough. The plot is a bit weak, it definitely focuses on the romance more than anything else. I personally prefer a bit more balance between an interesting plot and romance. However, I am not a huge flat-out romance fan so I am really not the target audience. I don’t plan on picking up more of Garwood’s books. This was a fun enough, easy read but just not my preferred cup of tea so to speak.
