Customer Reviews

Shadow Music

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(38)

 

 

Wow, I'd like an Alka Seltzer and a refund, not necessarily in that order. What a huge disappointment, and a hardcover disappointment at that.

Others have covered the plot particulars ad nauseum, and since they weren't worth discussing even once, I won't repeat them. Instead, I'll say this:

IF Julie Garwood indeed wrote this book, is it really the best she thinks her fans deserve? Her strengths in the past have included strong, likeable heroes and heroines, quirky but believable, who fit her historical style to a "T". Even the repetitive storylines (hard to avoid in romance) worked, because of the characters and her ability to make us root for them. And many of her stories were first-rate as well. Her earlier historicals are among my favorites, especially The Secret, The Wedding, The Prize, The Bride and of course, Honour's Splendor.

At some point, Ms. Garwood turned to writing "modern" romance; those books (yes, I actually bought one new based stricly on her name, then another used) were mediocre at best. The snap and vitality of her historical characters just didn't translate to modern times to make those works anything special. At least, not for me.

And now, after all these years, apparently Ms. Garwood has decided to settle for being a mediocre (at best) historical romance novelist as well. I know the "modern" romances didn't do as well (that happens when the work doesn't shine). But really....she just phoned this one in. It doesn't sound like her, doesn't work at any level, and has just become for me an expensive doorstop.

I've complained in earlier reviews of the dreck pumped out this year by so-called "established" historical romance writers; I was counting on Ms. Garwood to pull out an end of the year save (probably not entirely fair, because now I'm even more disgusted). But slogging through this thing has helped crystalize my New Year's resolutions:

1) No more advance orders, PARTICULARLY of established writers (except
Madeline Hunter who has NEVER let me down);
2) No more auto-buys based on "name" and/or "past performance";
3) Everything I read, I'll review and post;
4) Romance authors have websites, they want to hear from their "fans" -
well, they're going to hear from me.

Here's the thing, guys: If you're all happy with what you've been reading from the romance community this year, so be it...not everyone has the same requirements. If you're not (based on what I've read in the reviews here at Amazon, I'd say that's pretty much the case), then you have to be willing to say so in ways the writers and publishers understand. With your buying power.

When an established, admired and trusted romance writer can sell her fans this $18.00 waste of a tree...well, enough said. I'll be interested to see if this review sees the light of day.

Here's to a better 2008; that shouldn't be too hard.

The biggest issue I have with this book is that the voice in this book is not the Julie Garwood of THE PRIZE, SAVING GRACE, THE SECRET ect. I realize it has been a long time since we have had a historical offering from Ms Garwood, and that historical romances have evolved into well researched history as well as character driven stories, but Ms Garwood's voice has disappeared, Gone is the quirky funny heroine and the stern but lovable hero who is leveled by the love he feels for his heroine and her antics- typical Garwood "historical light", where the history is a subtle backdrop with characters who drive the romance.

Colm and Gabrielle, who don't even come together until after page 100, appear one dImensional: she hardly needs him as she is so perfect (Scottish Gaelic, not the language of King Wm's Scottish court, would hardly be a language she would have learned, at least in a previous book she had Jamie learn it from a native speaker adding a spark to the humor of the story) Garwood missed a chance for misunderstanding by having her heroine so perfect, hardly a reflection of real women of the period royal or not. And he is over shadowed by his brother who would have made a better hero. The inaccurate history takes the knowledgeable reader right out of the story in the beginning and could have been avoided as the elements/characters from other books could have been used as the devise to plot the story into the highlands. No fan expects indepth history from a Garwood novel but we do expect the scenarios to at least be believable and this one was flawed from the beginning and so out of character reflecting Ms Garwood's talent to weave a satisfying tale.

Sadly, the story so long anticipated by Garwood fans fell far short of her previous hardcovers and mass market fiction. It seems like this was done quickly to meet a publishing contract and had a feel as if some ghost writer was trying to emulate a Garwood romance but fell far short. Lets hope Ms Garwood doesn't abandon historicals in the future for her more successful romantic suspense. If you must read this book get it from the library or wait for the affordable mass market. This is not a hardcover quality romance and not anywhere near the best Ms Garwood has to offer.

I only started reading Julie Garwood's historical novels this year. I absolutely loved them! I have read and reread "The Bride", "The Prize" "Ransom", "Honor's Splendour" "The Wedding", "Saving Grace" and "The Secret" so many times I practically have them memorized. I couldn't wait for "Shadow Music". Well, I read it the day it came out and NEVER have I been so disappointed in a book! I am not sure Ms. Garwood actually even wrote it. It took half of the book for the hero, Colm to meet the heroine, Gabrielle. They had no chemistry and in fact were never even together very much. I kept waiting for the magic of the other books but it never even got close. It took Ms. Garwood ten years to write this book and if this is what she is going to come up with I would say "Don't bother."!

Shadow Music is the back-story of the feud between the MacKenna's and the Buchanan's that was discovered in her contemporary novel Shadow Dance: A Novel.

Princess Gabrielle's mother was part of the royal family of the Island of St. Biel, before she moved to England to be with her baron husband. The late king of that island was clever and when the Crusaders came he outwitted them, collected tolls, and sent gold to appease the Pope. Since that time rumors have existed about whether or not the king held back some of that gold.

Gabrielle is a great beauty and her physical allure is the cause of a competitive feud between two barons. The two baron's, fueled by empty promises by King John that one of the barons will have her hand in marriage, become obsessed with Gabrielle. When King John dupes the barons and promises Gabrielle to a Scottish Laird, the two baron's become more and more devious in their plans for Gabrielle.

Gabrielle accepts her fate and travels to Scotland only to have her life turned upside down, yet again. Needing protection she takes shelter with the Laird MacHugh and begins a journey of another sort.

I absolutely loved the first half of this story and flipped through the pages rapidly as I got caught up in the characters and intrigue. The romance between the Laird and Gabrielle promised to be explosive and the mystery of the gold and the devious barons added intrigue and excitement. The middle of this book was also great, though it began to plateau a bit. I began to wonder when things were going to start happening. By the end of this book I was wondering what the heck happened, somewhere along the line this book lost the feel and flavor it originally possessed and became lackluster.

Having first discovered Julia Garwood and her historicals, I was so excited for her to return to the genre I feel she mastered, unfortunately she just didn't pull it off like I had hoped she would. While the middle of this book dragged, the wrap up for me felt really hasty. This is not a great read, especially for Julia Garwood, but it's still a good read, I am glad I read it. I am hoping she will give the historicals another shot and revisit the MacHugh clan and give us a story on the Lairds brother, Liam.

In an attempt to ease feuding between clans and keep the Highlanders on his side, King John has arranged for Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel to marry Laird Monroe. Baron Coswald and Baron Percy will be furious. They have coveted Gabrielle and believed John's lies as he played them against each other, convincing them they each had a chance to claim her for themselves.

Laird Owen MacKenna envies and hates Laird Colm MacHugh so he devises a plan to kill Colm's brother Liam. Gabrielle and her guards stumble upon the group of men MacKenna hired to kill Liam. Gabrielle saves him then brings him to safety. After Laird Monroe is mysteriously murdered, Gabrielle's fate hangs in the balance and Colm is forced to come to her defense.

A treasure is believed to be hidden in St. Biel and all those who have heard of it are consumed with finding it. Coswald and MacKenna are no different. Colm soon discovers a treasure as well, one much more valuable than gold.

Strong characters combined with a vivid and interesting storyline create a historical novel rich in romance and sensuality in Shadow Music. Colm's intensity and arrogance are irresistible. Gabrielle is beautiful, sweet and adventurous; they are perfect for each other. I love that some of my favorite characters from Ms. Garwood's previous novels either make an appearance or are mentioned in the story as well. Shadow Music is awonderful historical romance and no one writes them better than Julie Garwood!


Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I hate to say it, but this was absolutely terrible. First, I need to address some of the reviewers who have given this 5 or 4 stars and are angry at the critics, saying that the unhappy fans can't deal with change, can't deal with an author needing to change styles after 20 years. I understand that authors and the publishing world change over time, but I still expect quality work! This is NOT quality work. I teach middle school English, and Shadow Music has the most basic, simple sentence structure, narration, and dialogue that I have ever seen in a novel written for adults. Incredibly weak writing. Page after page of choppy sentences. It was downright painful. The dialogue made me cringe. The word choice was the same. Simple, basic. The whole time I was reading, I was thinking of the lessons I just taught my pull-out group of 6th graders. I was giving them sentences about as simple as the ones in this novel and having them revise the weak sentences into complex, compoud, varied sentences! I kept thinking as I was reading, my struggling 6th graders are writing better sentences than these, and my superior 6th graders are writing circles around Julie Garwood.
You may think that I just don't "get" romance novels and/or Julie Garwood, and that's why I'm so harsh. Not true at all. I've been reading romance novels since I was 14, and I've read a lot of bad ones in my time. I've also bought and read all of Julie Garwood's books, have re-read the historicals many times, and have considered her to be one of my favorite authors.
I am extremely intrigued by many of the comments some reviewers made, speculating that Julie Garwood didn't even write this. I was thinking the exact same thing and even told my sister that. This is not her voice, her style, at all. At first, I was wondering if she was just really rushed and under a deadline, but it would still sound like her! Has she hired a ghost writer? The plot sounds like hers, so I can't help but wonder if she's passed her plots on to a ghost writer, which is what happened when V.C. Andrews died a number of years ago.
I liked the modern romance/suspense novels, like Mercy and Heartbreaker, but after those, each book was a bit more boring, and the quality of each book diminished, until the last few were pretty weak, plot-wise and quality-of-writing-wise (Noah's story was good, but the one before it was almost as bad as this one).
I don't know what has happened, but a great writer has fallen out of favor with this fan. I will still re-read her old novels, but I will not be buying the next unless the quality of writing has returned.
I'm sorry that this is so harsh. I respect writers. I could never write anything that would get published. I hope that my comments, and the comments of other enraged fans, will bring Julie Garwood back!

I have been dreading writing this review, it just doesn't seem right to say anything negative about this author pertaining to her historicals. I own everything she has written, I even limit myself to re-reading the historicals so that I can pretend that I don't know them by heart. As for her new contemporary venture, well, I bought them all because I'm that faithful, but I've only read the first 3, and then prayed that she would just give it up.

Now here we all are, with all our expectations. Well, I read all the reviews so mine were very low, and still I am so sad. I could tell she wrote it, the story was interesting and full of intrigue. The problem is that the main characters, the "Romance" is as engrossing as the back of my cereal box! I have never been so bored and aloof while reading one of her romances. In fact everything else in the story was interesting, more so than when we get to our leading couple. It's impossible to even care much for Colm our "hero." He has no back story. We've come to expect her heroes to be the strong silent type, but Brodick's abruptness in Ransom was 100 times more endearing than this guy's persona. In fact they aren't abrupt and fearsome, they're riding around on they're hunts, chatting each other up on their feelings; it was just so out of character! When he interacts with our heroine, it's literally as interesting as a conversation about the weather, there is absolutely NO magic between these two, NO spark, NOthing! They didn't even meet till p. 160! There were so many characters to keep track of, which was okay if the main characters could have had a story of their own. I don't think her heart was in this, it was a convoluted mish mash of I don't even know what. I actually wanted to cry when I was done, (I am pregnant, but still). Like I said I read all the reviews and knew what I was getting, but I just had to see it for myself. Proceed with caution; it's all I can say at this point.

I almost didn't buy this book because of the bad reviews, and because I normally refuse to buy hardbacks, but I got a coupon so took the plunge, and I'm glad I did. I've loved her previous historicals, and I also like her contemporaries. I thought Shadow Music was perfectly enjoyable. I just spend a happy afternoon curled up reading it. The only complaint I have is that I would have preferred more interaction between Colm and Gabrielle but otherwise I thought it was very similar to her other Highlander historicals. I'm anxiously awaiting her next book.

...to leave a bad review for Julie Garwood. She is one of my favorite romance writers because, although her stories are as preposterous as every other romance, she has amazing character interactions, hilarious scenes, great, evocative love scenes and always a healthy smattering of good suspense. But this book was lacking in all of those areas.

As others have pointed out, Colm and Gabrielle barely see each other. I can't figure out what attracts them to one another. In fact, Colm's brother spends more time with her, owes her his life, and seems like the perfect man for her. But we don't see why she likes Colm instead.

One of the biggest disappointments was the reference to beloved characters: Gillian, Ramsay, the Maitlands, and not even seeing them. Brodick was there but was completely out-of-character and rather boring.

At one point Brodick brings up how he met Gillian and the conversation implies something different than what everyone who has read 'Ransom' knows happened. It may have been too complex to fully reference it, but then it shouldn't have been brought up at all.

The love scene was perfunctory at best. Zero passion. Not like Garwood at all.

She had a great set-up and an outline of the basic plot would point to an amazing story by this usually excellent author. But the execution of this story was incredibly disappointing. I almost gave it 1 star, but I had to give it two for old time's sake. I'm a Garwood fan and I hope her next effort is up to her considerable talents.

I have waited SO LONG to read a new historical romance by Julie Garwood. I read my first JG romance in the early 90's and each time a new book came out, I was ecstatic! I would read through the night and then regret it because I'd finish the book too quickly. I've reread her stories so many times I can quote them on cue. Even when she switched to contemporary romance, disappointed though I was, I happily read her first three.

And then things started to change. I can't explain it even now as I'm typing, it's just something that kind of crept up on me with each new book that she released. There was something different about the writing style. Something just felt very wrong. I refused to give up! I STILL bought each hardcover as it was published and the stories just kept getting worse and the romance between her characters just DIED! I was loyal for so long, just hanging on for that one new beautiful romance that would make it all worth it. I truly thought that Shadow Music was going to be it. So I went to the book store on Dec. 26th and I bought the book with the pretty pink cover and I started to read. And then I stopped.

Before the book even ended, I stopped reading. The truth is that I just don't care how it ends. I feel nothing for these two characters. They are just lifeless nothings on paper. The story feels rushed and predictable. There was nothing between the two characters that would make you believe in romance or happily ever afters. I'm so sorry to say that you would be wasting your time on this book. PLEASE just read Ransom by Julie Garwood instead. That book will make you a believer! As for me, I have a bookshelf full of her TRULY wonderful novels. That's where you'll find me.