Ransom

Rating:
Summary: Ransom
Review: Ransom is the first Julie Garwood book I have read but definitely not the last. A friend left it on my desk at work and said I'd love it! I certainly wasn't disappointed. I fell in love with the characters and the beautiful scottish highlands. As for the two main chacaters, Gillian; firey, beautiful and determined. And Brodick, honourable, handsome, equally firey himself. The two - what a combination! It was fast paced and kept me turning the pages way into the wee small hours. I can't wait to get my hands on more of Julie Garwoods books now.

Rating:
Summary: Saying it is the Best doesn't even come close!
Review: I have loved the writings of Julie Garwood since I was about 20 years old. I started reading her and couldn't get enough. I have since had two children and gotten behind in my reading. By chance I picked up Ransom at Christmas to give my mother as a gift for her to read and hopefully like as much as I had in the past. She, at 67 years old, has lost her husband (my dad) and I had hopes of giving her something to do to keep her mind off the loneliness. She loves this book! She told me she read several parts over again and again. After she finished, I borrowed the book from her and I couldn't stop reading it. I had to wait until the children were in the bed to read without any interruption and read into the wee hours of the morning. Gillian and Broderick are great! I loved how they just fit together. Reading about the whole group was like reading about someone you know personally because you know about them from reading The Secret. This book held me spellbound. I can't wait to go back and re-read The Secret over again to refresh my mind on the characters and their lives during that time. Well done to Julie Garwood. I, for one, hope to see more and my mom is just getting started! She has already started looking for more! She has her nose buried in For the Roses right now! Thanks Ms. Garwood for that excited feeling we get when we see one of your new releases on the shelf!

Rating:
Summary: Simply Wonderful!!
Review: Ransom by Julie Garwood is only my second book by this author (the first being Heartbreaker which is more contemporary but nonetheless very good). Overall this book is simply wonderful, heartwarming, romantic, exciting... I could go on forever. I would recommend this book to any mystery, romance, historical fiction lovers out there. Judging from my first two Julie Garwood novels, she is a very talented author and I look forward to enjoying much more of her work. I have already placed three of her novels on order at my local library.

Ransom is the story of Lady Gillian, whose father is killed and family destroyed when she is only five and Baron Alford invades her home. She is separated from her sister Christen, who flees into Scotland for protection. Gillian remains in England with her Uncle Morgan. When she grows up, her uncle is held for ransom until Gillian can find Arriana's box, King John's missing treasure that holds the clue to who killed his one true love. Gillian has reason to believe that her sister has the box, so she escapes the baron with a kidnapped Scottish boy, Alec. They head to Scotland to find Christen, and fall together with the laird and a few soldiers of the Buchanan clan. Gillian falls in love with the laird, Brodick.

Also included included in the storyline is the romance of Ramsey Sinclair and Bridgid, although it plays a disappointingly secondary role to the main romance between Brodick and Gillian. Between searching for her sister, finding a traitor in the midst of the Sinclair clan whom only Gillian can recognize, and falling in love, the plot is amazing in its complexity. The setting feels utterly real and the dialogue is witty and entertaining. (I especially love the conversations between Alec and Gillian because it makes Alec innocently lovable while being realistic - hey, all five year olds talk practically nonstop about the most mundane things and then say all the things they shouldn't!

After all my praise, I must add one tiny complaint. The first few chapters are very hard to get through. I was completely confused as to what was going on with Gillian and Alec (why was he hanging off a cliff, why was Gillian chasing him, how did Gillian come to know about Alec being held prisoner, etc.). Maybe I missed a few hidden clues about what was happening, but it took me a few chapters for everything to make sense and at the time I was getting very frustrated. Perhaps Julie Garwood was attempting to try something different by plunging right into the action, but I feel she could have started at the beginning and the effect could have been the same if not better. This might also have prevented a few readers from giving up in the beginning. However, once everything clicks into place, this book is awesome. I loved it and stayed up till 2 in the morning reading.

*****Also, I shall be going back to read The Secret, which I have discovered is the prequel to this, centering on Iann and Judith, who are the parents of Alec and minor characters in Ransom. I look forward to it!

Rating:
Summary: No SECRET that Ms. Garwood has another winner.......
Review: As usual with Julie Garwood's books, I had to make time to sit down and read it in one sitting. I was a little disappointed with Come The Spring, but Ransom is fabulous.

What fun to read Brodick's and Ramsey's stories. Everyone I know has been clamoring for this book from the instant they realized Brodick and Ramsey from The Secret had gone to England to find brides as perfect as Judith. How wonderful to revisit with Iain and Judith Maitland, Frances Catherine and Patrick, Winslow and Isabelle,etc. It's a tribute to Ms. Garwood's writing ability how sad you feel when it's mentioned in passing that one of the older characters from The Secret had died; these characters are alive.

I would've liked Ramsey and Bridgid to have had their own book, but you can't have everything. If you haven't read The Secret, you don't know what you're missing. Read it immediately and then read Ransom; both are on my "keeper" shelf.

Rating:
Summary: Love this book!
Review: This book is one of my all time favorite Garwood novels because it features one of my all time favorite characters - Brodich Buchanan. Brodich is most definitely an alpha male with a wry sense of humor. The supporting characters add to the fun. The only downside to the book was the rushed treatment that Ramsey received. The secondary romance was a bit weak for my taste. Even so, I gave the review 5 stars because Brodich is that good.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Wonderful!!
Review: Ransom by Julie Garwood is only my second book by this author (the first being Heartbreaker which is more contemporary but nonetheless very good). Overall this book is simply wonderful, heartwarming, romantic, exciting... I could go on forever. I would recommend this book to any mystery, romance, historical fiction lovers out there. Judging from my first two Julie Garwood novels, she is a very talented author and I look forward to enjoying much more of her work. I have already placed three of her novels on order at my local library.

Ransom is the story of Lady Gillian, whose father is killed and family destroyed when she is only five and Baron Alford invades her home. She is separated from her sister Christen, who flees into Scotland for protection. Gillian remains in England with her Uncle Morgan. When she grows up, her uncle is held for ransom until Gillian can find Arriana's box, King John's missing treasure that holds the clue to who killed his one true love. Gillian has reason to believe that her sister has the box, so she escapes the baron with a kidnapped Scottish boy, Alec. They head to Scotland to find Christen, and fall together with the laird and a few soldiers of the Buchanan clan. Gillian falls in love with the laird, Brodick.

Also included included in the storyline is the romance of Ramsey Sinclair and Bridgid, although it plays a disappointingly secondary role to the main romance between Brodick and Gillian. Between searching for her sister, finding a traitor in the midst of the Sinclair clan whom only Gillian can recognize, and falling in love, the plot is amazing in its complexity. The setting feels utterly real and the dialogue is witty and entertaining. (I especially love the conversations between Alec and Gillian because it makes Alec innocently lovable while being realistic - hey, all five year olds talk practically nonstop about the most mundane things and then say all the things they shouldn't!

After all my praise, I must add one tiny complaint. The first few chapters are very hard to get through. I was completely confused as to what was going on with Gillian and Alec (why was he hanging off a cliff, why was Gillian chasing him, how did Gillian come to know about Alec being held prisoner, etc.). Maybe I missed a few hidden clues about what was happening, but it took me a few chapters for everything to make sense and at the time I was getting very frustrated. Perhaps Julie Garwood was attempting to try something different by plunging right into the action, but I feel she could have started at the beginning and the effect could have been the same if not better. This might also have prevented a few readers from giving up in the beginning. However, once everything clicks into place, this book is awesome. I loved it and stayed up till 2 in the morning reading.

*****Also, I shall be going back to read The Secret, which I have discovered is the prequel to this, centering on Iann and Judith, who are the parents of Alec and minor characters in Ransom. I look forward to it!

Rating:
Summary: Go get it
Review: If you like historical romance novels, read this book. It's one of the best I've read of this genre.

Rating:
Summary: Too many characters
Review: I got this book by accident, I was in a group of books that a coworker left for to look through. And after reading it I was just captivated by it all and wanted to read more of julie garwoods book. The story was just wonderful and all that I love to see in stories.

I loved how ms garwood told the story about guillans father and his death and how her and her sister were talken away. It was wonderful and helped later in the book to already understand things and not have to wait to find out why this or that was going to happen.

My favorite part of this book was when guillan finds out that she was married on a horse. " A horse, I was married on a horse"? It was just perfect..

I look forward to reading all of Ms. garwoods book and hope that she will be writing for a long time to come.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite!
Review: I have read all of Julie Garwood's books - several times and this is one of my absolute favorites! I had to go out and buy them all!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Highland Romance!
Review: Gillian was just a small child when she saw her father murdered by the vicious Baron Alford. Claimed as Baron Alford's ward, Gillian was fortunate enough to be raised by her beloved Uncle Morgan, but Baron Alford soon called her back to his castle. For the Baron needed to produce Arianna's Box, a bejeweled golden box commissioned by King John, or King John would kill him. King John had never forgiven Gillian's father for murdering his great love, his beautiful Arianna, but he was convinced that Gillian would know where the box was hidden. Unfortunately, Gillian had no idea, but she knew that they would carry through their threat of torturing and killing her Uncle Morgan if she didn't find the box. She also knew that they would kill the young child, Alec, the son of a Highland chieftain, as soon as they discovered that they had kidnapped the wrong child. Left with no choice, Gillian took Alec and fled for the Highlands to find her long-lost older sister and to return Alec to his home and parents.

Gillian knew that she needed help to find her sister and she knew that she would need a strong champion to help her save her Uncle Morgan. When Alec waxed eloquent about his protector, Brodick Buchanan, Gillian knew that she had found her champion. By pretending to be Brodick's bride, Gillian ensured that Brodick would find her quickly and she could see his skills with her own eyes. When Gillian first spotted Brodick, she knew she was in trouble. The man was so stubborn and exasperating, but she found herself falling in love with him regardless. Brodick knew that Gillian was English, which was a pretty big flaw, but he had never seen anyone so lovely and she didn't seem to be afraid of him, which was a first. As he escorted Gillian and Alec to Iain's land to return the lad and then took Gillian to Ramsey Sinclair's land to find her sister, he found himself falling in love with her. However, just because he loved her and married her didn't mean that Gillian would obey him...

Many of Ransom's characters come from Garwood's book, The Secret, which introduced Laird Iain and his bride. Brodrick and Ramsey were Iain's commanders at the time and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them again in this book as they sought out their own happiness. I thought that the romance between Brigid KirkConnell and Ramsey Sinclair was too rushed and would have liked to have seen them have a book of their own, but their plot was integral to Brodick and Gillian's story so I understand why it was a subplot instead of a full story. However, I still would have liked a separate story as Ramsey was such a handsome devil that he deserved a woman who would give him a bit of trouble! Other than that complaint, I would have to say that the story is thoroughly enjoyable and fast paced. I appreciate Garwood's efforts to actually create a story with memorable characters and historical background and detailing, rather than a shallow book with small links between sex scenes. I liked the characters and thought that it was a fun, fast read. If you enjoy historical romances, especially those set in the Scottish highlands, then don't miss Garwood's excellent romances based there!