If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. It's free and a great way to keep up to date. Thanks for visiting!

Julie Garwood is a staple, a household name, and Wedding is the first book of hers I ever read. Recommended to me by my closest friend, I came to the conclusion that it must go to the top of my TBR pile. I found the Wedding to be a delightful combination of bride stealing, tortured hero, and a quest for justice. The tortured hero was my favorite part, though the heroine was pretty great too. The Wedding is the sequel to The Bride, but I don’t think you miss anything by reading this one first; it is after all what I did first. I also found pieces of text to get choppy when going from scene to scene near the end or from heroine to hero point of view. Overall it wasn’t a bad start to learning about who this fabulous author is. Spoilers ahead…

Wedding focuses heavily on a revenge plot, which in the end I felt could have been wrapped up better. When young Laird Connor McAlister comes to his father’s death bed, he is made to promise to seek justice for the wrongs of his father. At ten, one would not think this would be particularly important or something that would be a driving force in the child’s life but we’re underestimating the loyalty between father and son, the pride of the Highlanders, and of course the time period. Connor seeks protection from Alec, forms a lasting brotherhood with the man and grows up to search for his father’s killers.

The man Connor’s father thought was behind the plotting is getting married. Since he cannot prove his involvement with his father’s death, Connor decides to seek a lesser revenge by stealing his bride, Brenna Haynesworth. Lucky for Connor, his soon to be bride, Brenna, shares a bit of history with him. I’ll give you it’s a relatively brief history, but this history is needed so that Connor can justify his actions to his brother Alec. See, Brenna as a young girl asked Connor to marry her three times during his one and only stay at her childhood home. Brenna is an amusing heroine because she loses her possessions constantly. Hair ribbons, knifes, shoes, it all follows behind her like a trail of bread crumbs.

When the novel focused on the hero and heroine falling in love, it was a very good read but then it drifted back into the revenge plot and stuck there with a few too many clichés. Connor’s stepmother is plainly evil. She affects a loving spirit still in mourning for her dead husband in front of Connor, but sabotages Brenna at every turn and picks on all her fears about herself and Connor whenever the man isn’t looking. And Brenna is so concerned about gaining his stepmother’s favor and love that she doesn’t bring up her problems with Connor or anyone for that matter.

Then when Connor’s stepbrother arrives on the scene he is a lecherous cretin, bent on seducing Brenna as soon as possible, not caring at all if she’s willing or not. While this is going on the man Connor thinks plotted his father’s death is moving his players around and causing mischief so that Connor cannot be near Brenna or observe what is going on in his own household until it’s nearly too late. Then to top it all off is another communication misunderstanding and the happily ever after is almost caput. In the end they have it, but I would have preferred Garwood to draw it out more instead of tacking it on at the end as if she’d forgotten about it.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Originally posted 2008-12-27 09:35:12. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Review: Wolf at the Door by Cindy Harris Wolf at the Door is one of those stories that starts with a pebble falling off the side of a mountain and ends in an avalanche. The pebble is the little white lie Millicent Hyde tells her stepsister about being...
• Highlander Romance- From the Wilds of Scotland and Wales What is highlander romance? Highlander romance is a subgenre of historical romance. Not to be confused with the show, highlander romance is all about those sexy warrior men. The setting for these romances usually takes place in Scotland or Wales....
• Review: Savage Wrongs by Cassie Edwards Forced by her father, Mariah has learned to live like a boy. She dresses like one and shoots like one, but it is not enough. Her father can tell she’s too pretty for her own good and too feminine as...
• Review: Viking Warrior by Connie Mason His world was shattered two summers ago when on a trading voyage his farmstead was ransacked by Danes. His wife and unborn child were slaughtered. When the news reached him Wulf’s heart vowed to make the Danish rue the day...
• Book Review: The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke I generally liked this novel. It revolves around how a marriage once destroyed by infidelity can be healed. I have pretty strong views on this subject so I’ll talk about what ruffled my feathers. I’m like Viola, the heroine, at...

Related Websites

• Last Chance Harvey I saw this movie last week. It was an enjoyable slice of life, well acted by its two veteran actors: Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman. This is not a romantic comedy; rather, I would call it a romantic drama. And...
• My boyfriend's not bringing me to his friend's destination wedding. Why is this? It hurts me.? I feel really left out because my boyfriend (serious) of 10 months isn't bringing me to his friend's destination wedding in Florida. I am friends with the bride and groom and the bride told me from the very beginning that...
• Musician Profile For Mark O'Connor Mark O' Connor was born and brought up in Seattle, Washington. There, while he was growing up and progressing through his teenage years, he entered into and won several national championships on a number of instruments, including but not limited...
• Trafficked children in Nepal Conor Grennan, another hero, backed by a small NGO that he started Next Generation Nepal is walking back roads in Nepal trying to reconnect families with their trafficked children. Here's part of one of his blog entries. Karin He was...

Online Stores

• Julie Ivy American Girl By Brand, Company, Character Dolls Dolls Bears

Categories:

3.5 Stars, Book Review, Bride Stealing, Comedy of Manners, England, Gentry, Highlander, Julie Garwood, Kidnapping, Rape/Abuse, Scarred Hero, Scotland, Virgin Heroine, Warrior

Tags:

alec, brief history, brotherhood, childhood home, closest friend, death bed, delightful combination, driving force, fabulous author, father and son, heroine, highlanders, household name, Julie Garwood, laird, mcalister, revenge plot, staple, tbr pile, young girl