Customer Reviews

Castles

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Before reading Castles, I suggest to start with the Lion's Lady, then The Guardian Angel, The Gift and lastly, read Castles. The characters in all 4 books are friends/related to each other. It is more fitting if you know each character before reading the next book. If you read it in this order, I think it will bring more excitement as some questions are answered on the later book. Some secrets are also revealed beforehence.

Castle is a story of Colin, who is the younger brother of Caine (in The Guardian Angel) and a troubled Princess Alesandra, who is the ward of the Duke of Williamshire, Colin and Caine's father. Alesandra was searching for a good husband in three weeks time, to save her from marrying a ruthless General, who wanted to marry her only for the throne. I find the search very enjoyable. The list of every noble and available earls and Dukes names... and of course, the dipping of ink to cross each one off, as Colin finds each name in the list horrobly inappropriate. This is my favorite part. I find the herione funny yet unselfsih, charming and regal. Even in her frustrations and anger, mostly of Colin, she manage to remind herself "Dignity & Decorum". She is afterall a princess. Her obsession of LISTING everything in a notecard is also quite amusing. Colin is a proud yet somewhat a sensitive man. The best way to describe him is to compare him to a wild horse that needed to be tamed. Alesandra did just that with love and patience. Flannagan, the butler, is also one of my favorite character in this book. The Romance between the two is perfectly match. There are just so many interesting and funny scenes. I don't want to give it all away so you have to pick up the book to find out yourself. It is worth your time. The whole family helping each other to solve a mystery crime is also thrilling and heart warming. Although, i wished Nathan and Jade (in the Gift), Lyon and Christina (in The Lion's Lady) are mentioned more in this book, I still love it and will keep it in my collection. I have reread it more than once and still have the same reactions.

Julie Garwood's Castles is my favorite romance novel. It's also the first Garwood romance I ever read (several years ago). What makes it shine so bright? Incredible humor, fabulous love scenes, and characters so very easy to love. All that, and a princess too!

Some readers find Garwood's heroines too stupid to live, but I never have. I do, however, find each's quirks to be lovable, and when I interviewed the author back in 1997 and she revealed their flaws are based on her own, I marveled at how she could turn personal weaknesses into delightful quirks of character.

The heroine is not only wonderful in this book, though - the hero is to-die-for. As I wrote in my Desert Isle Keeper Review at All About Romance, "While he doesn't want to marry her himself, he finds something wrong with every single bachelor he, his father, his brother, and Alesandra discuss. One has bow-legs, another gambles, and still another has a case of 'bad humours'."

This is truly a delightful and charming romance and I encourage one and all to read it. If you are like me, you'll end up with two copies - one to keep and one to lend out to friends.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

Publisher, All About Romance

I found this book in the trash and it looked somewhat intriguing so I decided to see what it was all about. I started reading it and could not put it down until I finished it. The character were cleverly written and Julie's incredible gift for writing shined throughout the entire novel. I fell in love with her from that moment on and did not rest until I owned every single Julie Garwood title that was available! Sure enough I also loved every single other book that shes written and I can never seem to wait until she writes another. I reread everyone of her books at least once a month and her books have enriched my life ten-fold. Julie you are surely a treasure that needs to be better appreciated!

Thank you for everything that you have inadverantly done for me!

Rarely have I ever met a book so god-awful I wanted to shoot myself in the face before I could finish. This one takes the proverbial cake. After page 190 (halfway?) when the hero and heroine talk through their first sexual encounter (and I finally stopped deluding myself that the story would pick up)-- I just had to go online to see what other people thought of it. I was fully prepare to relish the cutthroat reviews I was sure this book deserved, so you can imagine my suprise at finding pages and pages of "this book is great!"

....

I don't understand this phenomenon. Can someone please explain? Because I certainly have a "list" of grievances.

For starters, Julie Garwood's prose is terrible. Her ENTIRE book is comprised of "she did this," "then he did that," "and she said this." "then he said that." The result is a dialogue that is so painfully dull, it makes me wince everytime someone calls her characters "witty."

Not to mention the slew of the words "certainly," "terribly," "at all," slathered liberally across every other page. And while the word 'too' is great for including an extra thought, the author should probably be introduced to the words 'also,' 'moreover,' 'thus' etc.-- which might have saved the reader the complusion to slam their head on the table everytime the sentence structure "She was angry-- and furious too," came up. Either that, or Garwood should stop adding extra thoughts. In fact, it would probably refine her writing.

While most books can skate by poor writing with a decent plot. The book lacks even that. Besides for the confusion of genres incurred by opening the novel from a psycopath's narrative-- this psycopath pops up randomly throughout the continuing chapters as if to remind the reader "oh hey! i'm still here! Be terrified~! I just killed someone." then leave again after his pointless update. I have yet to find out how he matters to the story in anyway-shape or form. Other than the fact he obviously has to due with the "dissapearances" throughout the story of minor characters. And by minor I mean-- undeveloped, sometimes nameless people. But that's ok, because the family of these victims are perfectly content to write off their loved one's "dissapearance" as an elopement they've obviously developed. They are so ashamed of it, that they never want to bring it up again. (as opposed to finding out what really happened to them, elopement or otherwise.)

Alesandra and Colin may have been remotely interesting if Garwood had done a better job developing their characters. She introduces Alesandra as a rebellious, troublesome imp-- only to continue the story with Alesandra being a perfect angel of a woman. One has to wonder how the words "dignity and decorum" could render such a deep change in a character's personality. And Colin? He was an ogre.

I do not find ogre's attractive.

If you're interesting in something witty, with loveable and believable characters-- Julia Quinn is, hands down, the most witty author I've ever had the pleasure to read.

I read Guardian Angel and The Gift before I read this one and I really liked Colin more than the lead heroes in those books. I was really glad that he has his own story.

Colin's a real charmer (and I mean that in a good way) but underneath that is his vulnerable side, the man who thinks he's not worthy of the princess because he doesn't have much to offer her.. not land, title, inheritance or a good and sound body. But he has ambition, determination, and pride to accomplish what he wants. He's far from perfect (unlike some other invincible heroes that has perfect everything) but his imperfections make him more lovable and endearing to me.

Alessandra's very intelligent. I think she's the only heroine who knows anything about business. Other heroines show intelligence by knowing philosophy, literature, poetry, sports, marksmanship, etc. but she's the only I have read that knows anything about investment, book keeping and finance. Her knowledge makes her very useful to Colin and I think this is the closest thing to a job that a titled Regency lady ever had.

The plot for me is OK, the mystery's something I can do without, but I really like the characters and their interaction with one another and that makes Castles a very good romance novel for me.

This is probably my favorite Julie Garwood book. It is the 3rd book of a series. The first book, Guardian Angel, is about Colin's brother Caine. The second book, The Gift, about Colin's partner Nathan. But this book surpasses both of them. Colin is afraid to love Alessandra because he feels he is not good enough for her because she is a princess. He marries her out of family obligation and because there is a cruel man after Alessandra's title and fortune. Only after he almost loses her, does he realize how much he loves her and how deserving he is of her love. You will read this book over and over. It is definitely a keeper.

This was the book that I've been waiting for ever since I read Lion's Lady, Guardian's Angel and The Gift. Without a doubt, Julie Garwood has outdone herself once again. Alesandra and Colin are such adorable characters. The scenes spun from Garwood's words leaped out from the book and surrounded me as I quickly turned the pages. If you enjoy passion, fire, and tender moments, this book, along with all Julie Garwood books, is definitely a wonderful, unregretable investment!

"Let me get understand this, a princess just decided to take up residence with us?"

The hero is a hardworking second son determined to build an empire for himself without the aid of his loving father (a duke) and protective brother (a marquess). He's a kind sort, decent fellow who's been betrayed before yet isn't bitter... just determined to prove himself even if it means living his days as a solitary workhorse.

But one night he comes home, finds guards in his home and his young butler telling him his father has sent a beautiful princess to his home, sleep in his bed, and become his temporary ward.

Allesandra is all alone in the world since her mother died and left her to be raised by nuns in a convent bordering her home. She aspired to be dignified and what a princess should be, but despite being a dutiful ward and sweet soul she has a head for business and a heap of political intrigue.

This is a marriage of convenience story but one driven by a sweet desire, a bond of family honor, and two people who are so goodhearted they deserve a fairytale ending.

Now the mystery elements are lacking. It pretty much exists as the villain's thoughts sprinkled throughout in obtrusive ways to the main story. The political intrigue is allowed to just dry up midway through the story. At the very least there could have been a followup on that insurance policy.

Yet it's pleasant to see the other sequel characters in this story. I just wish Garwood hadn't made so many niggly mistakes with her own story facts. (First it is the Frenchman and his daughter who are killed and then it is the Frenchman and his sister.)

I am unabashedly a Julie Garwood fan. I have read this little gem before and loved it ~~ and when I found it at the local book exchange, I had to read it again. And while it's sweetly predictable ~~ I still enjoyed it.

This one focuses on Colin, the Duke's younger son, partner with Nathan in a shipping business and younger brother of Caine (of the famous Jade romance)and on Alessandra, a princess of an unnamed country. Alessandra was told to leave the convent where she had lived since her mother died to England to be with her guardian since the general of her country will try to kidnap her. The Duke, Colin's father, was sick and sent her to live with Colin and appointed him to be the guardian. And of course, sparks fly and soon, the princess and Colin were falling in love.

There is mystery & intrigue as well as gentle romance (which I really like!) and witty repartee between the two lovers. It's a gentle read ~~ perfect for any time especially when you just want to relax. I have always loved Garwood's books since college years ~~ and this one is no exception.

7-17-06

I have been reading Julie Garwood's novels for the past six years, and I love escaping with her books. They are always fun, unique, and they never let me down. Castles remains my number-one favorite of all her books. It's clever and funny, and the relationship between Colin and Alesandra is so romantic and endearing. And I love that Julie Garwood puts such strong emphasis in all her books on having morals, values, honor and loyalty. Her characters are always "flawed to perfection", as Colin describes his princess in Castles. I especially love the fact, that unlike so many other romance novels I have unfortuneatly read, the relationship between Colin and Alesandra isn't soley based on lust. They have a real connection that the reader can actually feel, which is Amazing!