" Lately, I've been on a Julie Garwood kick. I've been devouring her books like a bag of chips. I love her books so much that I've started to admit liking historical romances. She can write Highlander books without having things become cheesy or lame. Since I've only read her Highlander books, I was a bit hesitant to read a regency sort of book by her. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stomach this book. The prologue definitely threw me for a loop. I have nothing against native americans, but I find that in books they make me laugh. I know it sounds terrible of me, but there's something that is corny about it all. Mostly it's just me, not being into the culture. The whole thing with the shaman was ridiculously funny to me and I found myself laughing at the names they had. To be honest, I'd probably laugh my face off if I had to read a romance novel where the hero was named White Eagle. Also, it seemed like a majority of the people had similar names and I ended up being confused as to who was the grandson and who was the chief man. It wasn't that it was bad exactly. I just wasn't expecting the book to start like that.
Christina was amazing to me. I just loved her. At first, I thought she was a certified crazy. She said the strangest things and nothing that came out of her mouth made any sense. As the book went on, she definitely grew on me. Since english wasn't her first language, there were many instances where she'd say the wrong phrases or mistake what others said to her. Overall, she was just hilarious and I liked how she seemed like a fish out of water in the english world.
Lyon was interesting to read as well. Unlike many of Julie Garwood's heroes, Lyon fell in love with the heroine before she did. Most of JG's books have the heroine spending the whole book trying to get the hero to admit he loves her. In this book, Lyon spent a major chunk of time trying to get Christina to say 'I love you' back. His behavior in the beginning was hilarious and he acted more like a smitten schoolboy than a titled englishman. At times, he even bordered on stalkerish because he was so obsessed with finding out more about Christina. Their relationship on the whole was really cute! Especially in the first half. Their first few conversations were really funny. Lyon thought he was being very clever and wanted to get answers about this mysterious girl, but the poor man never got anywhere. They had the type of relationship where they drive each other crazy, but it's obvious that they're meant for one another.
Overall, aside from my bad judgement towards the prologue, I actually really enjoyed this book. Christina and Lyon were a fun couple and I loved watching their bickering. The romance felt believable and I loved the way they ended up becoming engaged. I laughed my face off when Lyon did the whole waving at the carriage thing. Aside from the romance, there was a legit plot. It wasn't super heavy, but it was enough to give some substance to the book. Thankfully, this was a good book that didn't suffer from a mass of the typical historical romance cliches. "
— Shannon, 2/18/2014