I listened to the audio book and the sexy times were really embarrassing. :)

I liked the storyline and the characters. The first half of the book was amazing, the second half was just good (there were some tstl moments and my favourite character wasn't part of the book anymore). Still, great romance.

I'm not surprised at all that this book has been among 100 best romance books for years. 
It's a very humorous story about a Scottish laird who is forced to marry with an Englishwoman. Alec and Jamie were both wonderful characters. Sure, Jamie was almost too perfect, but Julie Garwood used her few flaws to make me laugh all the time. I loved her banter with Alec and the way her husband tried to make her angry, when he saw her sad or worried, was hilarious.
The story also had a little bit of suspense and danger. But actually it's an amazing "feel good" book and it just made me happy.

I am still in search of a gripping contemporary romantic suspense novel/series. 

Now here's the thing.  Julie Garwood is much beloved in Romancelandia so I felt pretty confident in trying her contemporary thrillers out.  And it didn't seem like they HAD to be read in order, so that was a plus as well, seeing as I got volumes 3 and 4 on sale.  Well... I was hoping for more.

In the beginning, it felt like one of Nora Roberts' suspense romances and I'm totally down with that.  But you know what?  It was written in 2002 and it sorta shows its age.  I'm not talking about the flip phones or anything like that, but more an underlying whisper of an attitude?  I dunno, but it bugged me. I never really warmed up to Avery, the heroine and I didn't fell like I saw enough of the hero, John Paul, to really gt to know him.  And I wanted to!  He was far more intriguing.

There were a lot of little things that I found bugged me, things that could have been fixed with a good editor.  For instance, the couple is travelling over a rough back road in their car, windows up, heater blowing and oops... Avery hears the very faint noise of running water - and it's very faint when they pull off the road, roll down the windows and turn off the heater, then the car.  COME ON! 

Now there was a nifty twist at the end that I didn't figure on.  The rest of the twists were pretty much obvious, but, okay, if the book is well written, the characters intriguing, I can live with that. But other than that, the ending was very non-satisfying because Avery and John Paul were NOT TOGETHER when the vanquishing of the bad guys happened.  Talk about a lunchbag letdown! 

Anyway, I'll read the other one I have and probably more in the series if they go on sale, but this sure didn't satisfy my itch for a gripping contemporary romantic suspense read. 

Company salad turned out to be a square of lime Jell-O nestled on a bed of iceberg lettuce with a dab of mayonnaise on top. He hated Jell-O, but he ate it anyway so he wouldn’t hurt their feelings,

The Jell-O is what he hates here?!? Is, is this a thing, Company salad??? It can't be. Mayonnaise, iceberg lettuce AND Jell-O????? 

This story involves a serial killer but learning about Company salad has terrified me more than him.

The Bride

by Julie Garwood
Book 1 of Lairds' Fiancées

Because there's an almost ridiculously comedic vibe to Julie Garwood's writing style, I couldn't find it in me to give this book less than a very average rating of 2.5 Stars.  I remember coming across a review while perusing Historical Romance novels that described this book as rather shallow and really only good for the "lols", but not much else.  And I feel like it's pretty spot on.

Mind you, I went back and forth on my like and dislike of everything in this book, starting with the 'Angelic Mary Sue' character of Jamie Jamison, to the arrogant and always angry, yet has a heart of gold hero, Alec Kincaid.  The book also didn't lend itself any help when I came to the realization of what Medieval Romance and Highlander Romance entailed...  I mean, it wasn't like it totally slipped my mind just how terrible women were treated during that era in history, but I guess it sort of DID slip my mind, if that makes any sense.

The forced marriages, the forced consummation of the marriages, the fact that women were treated like property...  There were more than one reference implying that women were no better than sheep or horses, and one of the lairds even got more offended his horse had been abused by our heroine, screaming about how "It's one thing to insult the wife, but, oh no, you did NOT just slap my horse!"

I fully admit it--I needed to adjust my mindset.  I know history was never kind to women.  I've admitted this before when I was reading a Chinese historical by Jeannie Lin.  I get it.  But I don't have to like it.  Maybe that's why I tend to lean more towards historical fiction where the women (and sometimes the men) are maybe too modern for their era.  Maybe it's not as historically accurate, but it doesn't turn me all ragey.

Except that I'm of the impression that things can still be handled MUCH better.  Which, in a way, Julie Garwood kind of manages to do... sort of... maybe... I don't know.

Because, as I'd stated earlier, there's a strange comedic charm to Julie Garwood's writing style, which, when you set aside everything I didn't like about this book, kind of shines through rather well.  There were moments when I thought the book was definitely getting a little bit better.  There were moments when I did find it in myself to give a light chuckle.

But those moments are so random and so out-shined by the things I didn't like.

I would say that Jamie was the most cliched Mary Sue I've ever read about, but that wouldn't be true, because I've encountered worse.  But she's definitely a top ten contender.  I mean, basically Jamie is everything from self-sacrificing, to hard working, to beautiful, to kind, to forgiving, to knowing how to ride a horse bareback, being able to heal, having the ability to make everyone fall in love with her, and also manages to run around saving children from rampant wild boar.  She can also, apparently, shoot an arrow dead center at a target from miles away, as well as throw a dagger with super human accuracy.

Did I also mention that she's angelic and beautiful?  Even though SHE doesn't think she's beautiful... and deliberately fishes for compliments on at least two occasions.

The one and ONLY flaw that Garwood gives her is that she has a terrible sense of direction.

And in my personal opinion, I also find her extremely clueless and easily distracted.  The fact that her common sense and her comprehensive skills were drastically diminished after her first sexual intercourse encounter did not escape my notice.  And why is it that so many stories MUST turn so many women into idiots after they fall in love or have sex?  Those first two or three chapters had a rather agreeably sensible and intelligent Jamie, to be honest.  Then her thinking capacity dwindles as the book progresses.

And somehow her fragile emotions kept being brought up again and again.  So now, aside from being a Mary Sue, she's also a speshul snowflake with thin skin and easily disturbed emotions?  Or are the men just treating her like a baby, because it kind of seems more that way, really.  If it's one thing I've noted about Jamie, it's that she doesn't have as sensitive and easy to hurt feelings as every one of the men are making her out to have.  Men are strange...

I could probably go back through and count how many times someone states that he doesn't want her sensitive feelings to be hurt, and so doesn't bother telling her the truth about a lot of things.  Especially about the fact that her life is in danger and someone's trying to kill her.  THAT NEVER WORKS IN ANY PLOT!  If someone was trying to kill me, I would like to know so that I can take the proper precautions, ya know?  Rather than cluelessly stumbling into a freakin' bear cave 'cause no one wanted to scare me with the knowledge of it's being there.

Just sayin'.

Meanwhile, I only have one thing to say about Alec.  He's arrogant, annoying, violent, and has no sense of personal boundaries.  He's apparently super sensitive to Jamie's feelings and understands that when she says "no," she actually means "yes."  Oooh... Heaven help me from arrogant fools.  That stuff might have been fly during the 1100s in Scotland, but I'm kicking shins, calling 911, and running if I ever run into anyone like that in my lifetime.

On a side note, I think I'm going to give it some time before coming back to the second book in this duology, The Wedding... if at all.  It was written a few years after this first book, so maybe there's been some... difference in ideals?  I get that The Bride is considered a classic romance of some sort, but it looks like I'm destined to be a dissenter on this one.  Oh well, you can't please everyone, I guess.