Mountain Laurel

Rating:
Summary: A comedic masterpiece
Review: Although the heroin is a little self righteous, Jude Deveraux creates a world of excitement and suspense. I laughed out loud through many of the passages, and cried where you would expect to in a great book - the happiest parts. I loved this book, and would recommend it to all romance enthusiasts. Judging from the other reviews, it looks like you either love it or hate it - very strange.

Rating:
Summary: I liked it, but not all that much.
Review: For me, the story was a bit confusing, but I plan to read it again to get a better understanding. It was funny and romantic, but I've read better books from Jude Deveraux.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, and funny
Review: I have read every single one of Jude Deveraux's books, and I can honestly say that the humor in this book is some of her greatest. From captivating twists, and "shaking shakes" this is undoubtedly one of my favorite books.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, and funny
Review: I have read every single one of Jude Deveraux's books, and I can honestly say that the humor in this book is some of her greatest. From captivating twists, and "shaking shakes" this is undoubtedly one of my favorite books.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't even finish it
Review: I love Jude Deveraux's other books, but this one was so hard to relate to, I couldn't even finish it. Pompous opera singers are just not people I run across or care about. Sorry. Give us more like "Wishes" or "Knight in Shining Armor".

Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!
Review: I was positively charmed by 'Ring! I put him up there along with William Mongomery and Mike Taggert as far as being the perfect man to fall in love with. As for the rest of the book, the comedy was so great, I laughed out loud most of it! Jaime's ('Ring's brother) little prank left Maddie and 'Ring in handcuffs for a couple of days with no horse or anything to get them into town, and that gave her time to trust him with her problems, and it gave him time to make her see him as something other than captain. 'Ring is a little prankster himself, and poor Maddie is victim! She can hold her own, though! That isn't all there is to the book, but it really is just so freakin' hilarious! Every page they are in together is full of humor! This book is perfect if you are in the mood for a book that will lighten your spirit and make you smile.

Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!
Review: I was positively charmed by 'Ring! I put him up there along with William Mongomery and Mike Taggert as far as being the perfect man to fall in love with. As for the rest of the book, the comedy was so great, I laughed out loud most of it! Jaime's ('Ring's brother) little prank left Maddie and 'Ring in handcuffs for a couple of days with no horse or anything to get them into town, and that gave her time to trust him with her problems, and it gave him time to make her see him as something other than captain. 'Ring is a little prankster himself, and poor Maddie is victim! She can hold her own, though! That isn't all there is to the book, but it really is just so freakin' hilarious! Every page they are in together is full of humor! This book is perfect if you are in the mood for a book that will lighten your spirit and make you smile.

Rating:
Summary: Ring was great, Maddie not-so-great!
Review: I wasn't really expecting to like this book based on some of the other customer reviews I had read, but it was much better than I anticipated. I agree with some of the other reviewers about their opinion of the heroine - she was just a little too vain. (And what in the world was the little sister all about? - she was creepy). The most redeeming part of the book was Ring. He was great. I never saw him as the heroine did. I thought everything he did was to protect her. At least in the end everything worked out enough to leave me satisfied - unlike some other of Ms. Deveraux's books.

Rating:
Summary: A voice to remember
Review: It's been 10 years since I read Mountain Laurel for the first time, and since then I have read too many many romances to remember. However Mountain Laurel has stayed with me - the one reason for that is simply Maddie and her voice. Yes `Ring is a great hero (he really is) but the whole framework of the novel revolves around the fact that Maddie is the greatest singer in the world. Her voice, her talent, is a character in itself with a past, history and progression all its own. Maddie's voice plays an integral part of Maddie's life, shaping her past and her present, her current quest, even `Rings love for her. Her voice has such influence because it is a voice better than any the world has ever known. Maddie herself is not extraordinary but her voice is and she acknowledges this not with conceit or with vanity, but simply as fact. Without this fact, Mountain Laurel would be just another western-type romance - a good, funny, witty love-story yes, but not one that forces you remember it 10 years after you've read it, and definitely not one that makes you yearn for another heroine with an extraordinary talent that you just cannot forget - even if that talent is only fiction.

Rating:
Summary: A voice to remember
Review: It's been 10 years since I read Mountain Laurel for the first time, and since then I have read too many many romances to remember. However Mountain Laurel has stayed with me - the one reason for that is simply Maddie and her voice. Yes 'Ring is a great hero (he really is) but the whole framework of the novel revolves around the fact that Maddie is the greatest singer in the world. Her voice, her talent, is a character in itself with a past, history and progression all its own. Maddie's voice plays an integral part of Maddie's life, shaping her past and her present, her current quest, even 'Rings love for her. Her voice has such influence because it is a voice better than any the world has ever known. Maddie herself is not extraordinary but her voice is and she acknowledges this not with conceit or with vanity, but simply as fact. Without this fact, Mountain Laurel would be just another western-type romance - a good, funny, witty love-story yes, but not one that forces you remember it 10 years after you've read it, and definitely not one that makes you yearn for another heroine with an extraordinary talent that you just cannot forget - even if that talent is only fiction.