Review: The Secret by Julie Garwood.

Rowena’s review of The Secret by Julie Garwood.

Hero: Iain Maitland
Heroine: Lady Judith
Grade: 4.5 out of 5

Ever since they met as children at the annual summer festival on the border of their two countries, Judith Hampton of England has been fast friends with Frances Catherine Kirkaldy of Scotland. Despite the enmity between the two lands in this period (the late 12th century), Judith is determined to attend the birth of Frances Catherine’s first child and find her father, a Scottish laird she has never seen (when they finally meet, it is not in the fashion she had anticipated). En route to her friend’s Highland home, Judith charms her escort, Frances Catherine’s brother-in-law Iain Maitland. So she is baffled when Iain withdraws into his role of clan laird. Equally confusing is Frances Catherine’s claim that after years with the Maitlands, she is still an outsider. But Judith determinedly forges friendships and reexerts her charms over Iain, leading to a lively, unconventional wedding. Woven into Judith’s story is an intriguing, almost heretical message for a romance novel: a woman needs more than the right man to have a full, happy life.

Each and every time I revisit this book, I fall a little more in love with it. This is the Julie Garwood that I love. This is where my Julie Garwood heart lays. Julie Garwood knows how to write around my heart with her Highlander stories. I love her Highlanders. Each and every single one of them, well except the bad guys anyway. In this story, we’re introduced to a bunch of Highlanders that will always hold a special place in my Highlander loving heart.

Iain Maitland is the newly made Laird over his clan and because he’s new to all of this Laird business, he’s running the clan with a counsel there to assist him. This counsel is going to be the death of him and he’s going to be the reason for his brother Patrick’s death. You see, his brother Patrick made his very pregnant wife a promise and that promise was that he would send for her best friend once her time drew near. It doesn’t sound like much of a promise except for the fact that his wife’s best friend is English. She lives in England. These Highlanders hate the English so Patrick now has to go to England to fetch his wife’s best friend and because his wife’s time to deliver is so near, Patrick won’t leave his wife’s side.

Enter Iain.

Because this is a family matter, Iain takes it upon himself to go himself for Patrick. He selects some of his men and off they go, riding into bloody England to get a woman that they don’t even think is going to come. Iain has prepared to bulldoze his way into England and drag this Judith Elizabeth out of her home by her hair if need be.

He didn’t expect her to be waiting in front for them, ready to go and from the moment they set off back to Scotland with best friend in tow, Iain’s life is changed.

Iain is a favorite hero amongst the Julie Garwood fans and I can totally see why because straight up, Iain is the man! He’s one of those alpha male heroes that make women swoon with delight the world over. He’s the man in charge and he is that dominant hero that people remember. I loved when he realized that he would walk through fire for Judith, it’s one of my favorite moments in the book. Iain was a fantastic hero, one that I’m sure all women everywhere will fall in love with.

Judith was a great heroine too. She was funny, quirky and just flat out great! She was also incredibly strong as well. Her loyalty to Francis Catherine was totally admirable and her interactions with everyone totally won me over. I wanted her to be my best friend and her friendship with Frances Catherine was my absolute favorite part of this book. I mean, they haven’t seen each other for so long and for her very first words to Frances Catherine upon seeing her to be:

“ I specifically remember we both promised never to drink form any man’s goblet of wine. From the looks of you, Frances Catherine, I’m thinking you broke your word.”

It’s frickin’ great! I thought it was hilarious and the perfect thing to break the tension that was evident all over that room. This book is another reason why I was such a huge Julie Garwood fan. It made me laugh, it made me sigh and it even made me tear up a little from time to time. Julie Garwood thrives in writing these Highland tales and I wish she wrote more of them. Iain and Judith’s story is one for the books. It introduced some fabulous characters who went on to get their own stories and really, how could you not like this story with the fantabulousness that is Iain, Judith, Ramsey, Brodick, Patrick, Graham and on and on and on. So much greatness in this book and if you haven’t read this book, what are you waiting for? This book is definitely a keeper of mine and I know that it will definitely be one for you.

Read this book!

This book is available from Simon & Schuster. You can buy it here.

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