Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A shadow of Julie Garwood earlier historicals, 11 Jan 2008
Gabrielle grows up in the loving embrace of her family and 4 guards, though her mother is sick and bound to her bed she still manages to tell Gabrielle all about her inheritance. She is after al a princess, it may be a small country but St.Biel is a content place to live and its history is rich. For when the crusades started it was St.Biel that needed to be traveled through to get to the Holy Lands, and with the wise King at the time made a pact with the crusaders. Crossing the country will cost gold but it will be send to the pope as a gift of devotion. But as the crusades died a rumor toke root, not all gold was given to the pope and a treassure was buried...
How Gabrielle was familiar with all these stories of treasures, the battle between St. Biel and England, the marriage between her mother, the princes and her father, the Baron. Though her mother died Gabrielle's love for St.Biel shined bright within her heart and her four guards from St.Biel where an ever reminder. When her father tells her she is to be married to Laird Monroe she prepares herself for the life as the wife of a Laird, little did she know that the journey to Scotland is the beginning of something unexpected.....
I think anyone who has ever read Julie Garwood's earlier historical novels will recognize my initial outburst of utter joy and excitement which I felt upon discovery that she has returned to her roots. Not only a historical but also a highlander to boot, for me it is a much treasured theme and time period and nostalgia of my youth rode me in waves as I received my copy of Shadow music.
I took my time with it, wanting to savor every page, every character and every storyline. How did I get lost in the feelings of confusion? Because from the first page this story had a different vibe, which is not to say that that is a bad thing of course and was set on giving it all my attention and time. I enjoyed getting to know Gabrielle, her guards and the history of her mother's country only I got a bit restless at a certain point, when would the hero and heroine meet, when would the love story commence?? For me it felt like Julie Garwood took way too much time to set up this story taking away time and pages from the main couple creating an almost stale and unconvincing romance.
The background story of the treasure was interesting, Gabrielle's four guards: Christien, Lucien, Stephen and Faust were a joy to read and fabulous secondary characters. The greedy Barons with their own plans are a convincing lot and the woman in the shades one to watch out for. Colm MacHugh as the hero came across as this big gruff bear of a highlander with pride to match his build and a thundering voice to lure you in to Scotland. He is an unadulterated highlander that I just crave to read about and especially the interaction with his brother and his neighboring Laird Buchannan made me smile.
The separate threads of this novel sometimes gave me that hint of Garwood skill I enjoyed in all her other historicals,it was holding a promise but never truly giving it to me. When Gabrielle was exiled and Colm tried to do the chivalrous thing was for me the only true moment I could feel the talent of Julie Garwood as she once was. Colm and Gabrielle lack enough depth together, lack creating a delighted friction of two strong characters that sizzle into a passionate love which grabs me and makes me a part of the story. For me it felt that the background story and the secondary characters demanded so much time from them as the main characters, that there wasn't enough left. And when I read a Julie Garwood historical I want a romance that can rival with all the legendary lovers of the past, endearing, passionate, bold and within their own way have a gripping punch to it.
Maybe it is unfair to Julie Garwood that I compare Shadow Music to her other historical novels and I did try as best as I could to judge this book solely on its own. But when I closed the book I just thought: `Where did the awesome talent of Garwood go for the historical genre?' The plot holds very little surprises, each character does play its part in the grant scheme of things that makes me interested enough to keep reading but all in all it is that Julie Garwood didn't change for the better in my opinion, Shadow Music is at its best mediocre and at its worst a disappointment for those who've read other novels by her hand like: Ransom, The Wedding, The Secret and so on.
In the end, as I look back on reading this novel, I would say what I missed the most was the romance, the plot and the secondary characters held potential and they were meant to make the romance story of Colm and Gabrielle shine and this is something I just didn't get nor feel.
Sometimes it just isn't meant to happen and Julie Garwood just couldn't create the sparkle of an endearing historical that nurtures the tale of a heart rendering love.
reviewed by Leontine
Courtesy of Realms on our Bookshelves
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
not her finest, 20 Jan 2008
I have loved Julie Garwood's previous historical romances as they are full of humour, have excellent story lines, gorgeous heroes and heroines that are actually likeable. I was very excited when I saw that she had returned to writing historical romances after her more recent contemporary novels. Unfortunately, I was hugely disappointed. The basic plot was fine but the hero and heroine don't actually meet until about 100 pages into the book and hardly spend any time together during the story. The romance felt rushed and underdeveloped and I just didn't get involved in the story as I normally do with her stories. Perhaps if this book was written by anyone else, I would be more generous with my rating but I had expected more from this author. I would recommend reading The Bride, Honor's Splendour or Lyon's Lady instead.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
disappointed, 15 Feb 2008
I have read all of Julie Garwood books, enjoying her historical books the most and was very excited to see when another historical book was to be published. Unfortunatly the book was very disappointing. It started ok but over the pages the book dragged,the story didnt flow and it was very difficult to finish.i got very bored by the slow pace and lack of humour which i have always found in JG's books. It wasnt the same kind of writing that i have come to love from JG and infact felt like it was written by someone entirely different.It was such a shame because this should have been such a great book.
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