The Lion's Lady [Hardcover]

Julie Garwood (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 283 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; Book Club Edition edition (1988)
• ASIN: B0017RLP3Q
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,097,955 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Julie Garwood is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Fire and Ice, Shadow Music, Shadow Dance, Murder List, Killjoy, Mercy, Heartbreaker, Ransom, and Come the Spring. There are more than thirty-six million copies of her books in print.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Rake - The Lying Princess - Best Garwood Romance Yet, May 19, 2003

By 

"readinganddreaming" (Green Country, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lion's Lady (Mass Market Paperback)

Christina Bennett has come to London to avenge her mother's death. She uses her European title of Princess Christina when she is presented to London society. Christina hides many secrets - particularly that she was raised by American Native Indians. At times, her presentation to and acceptance by London society seems a little stretched but it is such a great story that you overlook those little bits of non-reality.

Lyon, The Marquis of Lyonwood, is a cynical and hard man. He has the usually rakish views of English historical romance in that he does not believe in love or even expect to meet a woman that could mean more to him than the physical side of a relationship.

Christina and Lyon meet at a party and from the first glimpse, they know their attraction to each other is certainly unique. Although Lyon doesn't want a relationship with a woman beyond a mistress, he finds himself seeking out Christina again and again. Christina is unlike any woman he has ever met, she is rather blunt and does not fear or hide her fierce attraction to Lyon. Since Lyon has a lot of experience solving mysteries, through his secretive work for the English government, he senses when something is not truthful. And he senses Christina is not being entirely truthful when answering questions about her past. Lyon becomes almost obsessed with finding out about Christina's past and finds himself wildly attracted to her. Christina, in turn, is very attracted to Lyon but will not tell him her secrets because she must maintain her Princess front and knows she will return to America eventually.

This is my third Garwood book. I would have rated them all 5 stars but this is the best one yet. The humor is subtle but at times makes you laugh out loud. The story lines were interesting - even the secondary characters and the mysteries! I usually get easily bored with the mystery portion of a romance novel. More times than not, the mystery is poorly written and is an obvious ploy to extend the novel. But the two mysteries written in The Lion's Lady are just right. They take a page or two here and there but aren't boring when they appear.

The hero, Lyon, as usual, was a hero to dream about. There are never men like this. If there were, their wives would leave them. Dominance in personality is not a favored trait in a husband today. But this image that Lyon exudes is handsome, dominant, protective, yet very caring as a husband AND it is one of fairy tales. Romance writing certainly contains some aspects of a fairy tale and I think that is one reason I love reading well-written romance novels. I can enjoy Lyon just as he is written! He is a well-rounded romance hero with an appreciation for humor and a definite flair for being in charge.

Christina is a very likable heroine. She is a little too sweet at times but I have found that this is typical for Garwood's heroines. But Christina was so ornery and stubborn to boot! She lied - constantly - to Lyon. Fortunately, he considered it endearing because he understood her reason for it. She is only attempting to cover up her background and I think she is mostly truthful at other times.

It is so humorous how Lyon handles Christina's lies and her attempts to hide the truth by giving him vague answers to his specific questions. I love that Christina thinks of Lyon as a warrior. The relationship is certainly unusual for romance writing. There is none of the misunderstandings and bitter words so common in this type of book. We get to see their relationship from the beginning with an unusual twist. From the first moment, they both realize that their attraction to each other is strong and shared. They both attempt to avoid this mutual attraction in their own ways.

As Christina and Lyon's relationship develops, we get to experience many wonderful scenes in which they live out, day to day, their love for each other. It is refreshing to not have fighting and disturbances between the romance leads up until the end of the book. We are given time to relish their relationship.

The sensual scenes are a solid four out of five (see More About Me for rating guidelines) both in occurrence and specifics. These scenes are very well written and just fall in as one of the lovely aspects of the story. They help give the story substance and spice. But this is not a novel that depends on sensual scenes. However, we are happy that they are included.

This book is a keeper. When I pick this one up again for a second read - I will remember that not only is this book well--written, it is also spicy and very humorous.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Garwood, May 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Lion's Lady (Mass Market Paperback)

"Lion's Lady" is my favorite Julie Garwood novel, and I have read them all. The love story is great, the sensuality is charmingly warm, and the various characters just seem to come alive on the page. The humor which constantly arises due the the contrasting cultures made me laugh all through the book. Christina and Lyon are both intelligent, likeable and strong. The lurking sense of danger which threads through the book makes the plot satisfying, and Christina's mother's journal entries (which start each chapter) are very poignant. I just love this book and would encourage anyone who loves the Regency genre to read it.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good, August 2, 2000

By 

"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lion's Lady (Mass Market Paperback)

While I generally enjoy Garwood's Highland-based stories, this one, set in England, was pretty good. Christina has been raised by indians, but is now back in England to claim her heritage. Lyon is the man she marries, to keep her devilish father from getting his hands on the money. This is one of the cases, where the couple is already in love before they marry, but she fears she will lose him, if he knows that she was raised with an indian family. The story and character development wasn't as strong in this book, as they are in other Garwood books. However, the journal entries that begin each chapter, are very interesting, and I found myself looking forward to reading those, more than the actual story.