Customer Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Her books are awsome! She is one of the top romance writter in my book I have read 17 of Julie Garwood's novels and she astounds me every time I read a new one. I suggest if you want to read this book start with the book "For the Roses" then go onto read "One Pink Rose", "One white Rose", and "One Red Rose" and then read "Come the Spring" These books are all about the Claybourne family and how they strived to survive raising an abandoned baby that they found in New York and turning her into a lady. After their little Mary Rose is grown up and Married to a highland Lawyer named Harrison each brother is tempted by women into settling down will the brothers run or face the destiny that MAMA Rose tricks them into.

I thoroughly enjoyed For The Roses- and went straight to the library to find these 3 smaller books. Their length did not bother me. But they seemed a little shallow. I did enjoy the story for One White Rose the best out of the 3. The others were silly and unrealistic, especially One Red Rose. The story for Adam- a black African American but the 1800's was too unrealistic for me to enjoy. I do think the idea of the 3 smaller books was a great idea, though!

ISBN 0671010107 - There seems to be a few reviewers here who expected - or hoped for - more than a shallow romance novel in One Red Rose and were disappointed. Since I think all romance novels are shallow romance novels, no disappointment here! Let's get the negatives out of the way first: the West (as opposed to today's "the west") is often said, historically speaking, to have been more open-minded about race, hard work and honesty being more important than color. However... the fact that race was an absolute NON-issue in this book was a little hard to accept. I admit I haven't yet read any of the others in the series, so perhaps they covered that sort of ground and Garwood didn't want to beat the topic to death. Still, the book only had two clues to the fact that the characters were black. One was the reference to a couple people being former slaves and since not all slaves were black, that was kind of vague. The other was when Genevieve was asked to pose as Ruby Leigh Diamond, formerly Alice O'Reilly, and she pointed out that her ancestors came here from Africa, "Surely you noticed."

That aside, romance novels are generally fluff, and this one is no more or less fluffy than any other I've read. Adam Clayborne lives in a now-empty house on the family ranch in Montana. His brothers have married and moved away and Mama Rose has it in mind to get Adam married, too. She's even picked the woman out for him, AND invited her to the ranch for the family celebration of Mama Rose's birthday. Genevieve is beautiful enough, but Adam is happy as a bachelor. Luckily for him, she doesn't want to marry him, either. Or so she says - but she says a lot of things that aren't true. For one thing, she says she's not in trouble. If that were true, why does she run off when a telegram arrives, without even saying good-bye? Adam is determined to find out and chases after her.

Standard romance novel ending, with the usual formula along the way. One highlight (or disappointment, depending on why you read this genre) was the lack of heaving and aching, et al, that generally takes up several pages and makes it possible for the author to get away with less storytelling work. Sadly, that took One Red Rose out of the running for my "worst line in the world" contest. There was a funny moment to me when, having run away into the woods with a night's lead at least, Genevieve is caught up to by Adam. She cuddles up against him and the line "She smelled so good to him..." cracked me up. A full day of riding hard to get away and she smells good? Please.

IF I come across another book by Garwood, I'll read it because I'll read anything, but I wouldn't expend any energy trying to find the rest of this series.

- AnnaLovesBooks

I enjoyed the series books up until this one. I thoroughly disliked the heroine. She seemed flighty, not really connected to reality. Yes she can sing, that was the only redeeming quality she had. I wanted Adam to have a stronger heroine than the one that was presented. She was a silly little girl and totally not worthy of Adam IMHO. I've read the others, the heroines seem to have that fine balance between being able to rough it and keeping their feminine sides in check. This one didn't come close. Would not recommend it and hopefully if Ms. Garwood ever decides to re-write, this is close to the top of the list.

Here's what I think.

This story had so much potential, the characters had apparent history with each other, and there was so much that wasn't explained. I think this story was too strong to be the short length it was. It should have been a longer book, then it would have been easier to get into and feel more connected to the characters.

Actually, I gave this book 2 Stars only because I think that Ms. Garwood's heart is in a good place. This book is futuristic...it is where we hope we'll be at sometime in the future. We are not there yet and we certainly weren't there in the 19th century.
I also felt quite cheated with this book. I was so looking forward to reading about Adam's story and it could have been an awesome and insightful read. I do hope that some other author will "borrow" this idea and do a better job with it. Or maybe Ms. Garwood will revisit and revise the whole series. I don't know that there is a way to present the black experience as it was in the 19th century, In a light and fluffy format but it is most insulting to have it be totally glossed over. Tho to Ms. Garwood's credit, there is nothing light and fluffy about abandoned children in that era either and she did do an adequate job of making you laugh with them.
I know that I am not really reviewing the book, but really folks there is nothing to review. The book is that shallow and unfulfilling. There was a moment of laughter tho: The black heroine was actually explaining to these most respectful white men with guns (they actually called her "miss" and this set in Texas)that she could not be named O'Malley (think that was the name) as that name was Irish and she is not Irish as her ancestors were from Africa. Oh My Gawd!!! LOL! That was how unbelievable the book was.
I have started reading Cole's story... Started reading it 2 days ago and still in the second chapter. It already makes me feel tired. Can't wait for Mary Balogh Simply Love to be released.

Adam Clayborne is a loner who likes his life just the way it is. However, he does not got a prayer of keeping it that way when he crosses paths with the beautiful Genevieve Perry, who he finds lying in his bed. She is his mother's choice to become Adam's bride, but when she makes it plain to Adam that she cannot marry him, Adam goes berserk. When Genevieve sneaks off in the middle of the night, Adam hunts her down, only to discover that she is running away from three men who want to hurt her. .....The Clayborne protective nature is aroused in Adam with a ferocity that astounds even him. He vows no harm will come to his lovely lady, even if it means fighting the vermin who are after her by himself. It is when Adam sees Genevieve in a situation that could leave her dead,that he realize how deep his feelings for her truly go. .....This is the last of the three novellas starring the Clayborne siblings and just like the two previous tales (ONE PINK ROSE AND ONE WHITE ROSE), ONE RED ROSE is an exquisite treat for the senses. Julie Garwood delivers an entertaining and fun filled tale that will satisfy her myriad of fans. She also brilliantly sets the stage for her next full length novel (due out in December), starring the last Clayborne brother Cole and this relationship with the mysterious Marshall that has starred in the three novellas. ....Harriet Klausner