Search - Shadow Music (Highlands Lairds, Bk 3)

Shadow Music, Julie Garwood's long awaited next historical set in the Highlands, centers around Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel and Laird Colm MacHugh, two very exaggerated versions of the cliched characters of nearly every Garwood historical. Gabrielle is beautiful, talented in both female and male arts, mischievous, and constantly fretting. Colm is fierce, feared, giant in size, and fiercely protective. Seems okay on paper, but this time, everything fell flat. We're never given examples that showcase each protagonists good and bad flaws, we're just told what they are. It honestly seems as though Ms. Garwood profiled the villains (who are numerous) more than she did the two main characters.

As mentioned in several other reviews, it is almost half-way through the book that Colm and Gabrielle even meet, and this too is missing the little extra spark that Ransom, The Secret, The Bride, etc. had. There's no chemistry and little interaction. Gabrielle is on her way to marry another laird who winds up murdered. When she is ruined by the lies of one of the villains, Brodick Buchanan (her cousin by marriage) persuades his ally Laird MacHugh to marry the girl. Gabrielle, exiled from England, goes to the Highlands with no intention of marrying Colm, but is quickly brought around to his point of view, though the marriage doesn't happen til quite later in the book.

All in all, this novel was mostly an awkward revisit to a place and time that most of us fell in love with, and JG would almost have done better to cut out the central story and written instead about the Buchanans & miscellany.

As many other reviewers have said, Garwood's romantic tale of Gabrielle and Colm seems very rushed and crowded with lots of side characters. I am a big fan of her contemporary novels and decided to try one of her historicals. I guess it was the wrong one to start with.

I love anything set in Scotland, and being a fan of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, I'm not afraid of committing to reading a really long book. But I gave up on this one around page 80. The author threw too many new characters at you too soon, and being in Scotland, half of the names started with Mc or Mac. Too confusing. In addition, I had no interest in the heroine, as she was "Miss Perfect" in every way. I'd rather read about someone who's more realistic. There are too many other books out there I'm waiting to read, so I was more than OK with quitting on this one.

This is a good book for those that enjoy romances that have a sci-fi twist.

Shadow Music by Garwood contains her trademarks for her highland lairds and their women. Humor, love, honor, betrayal with Garwood's special talent for weaving the reader into the threads of the story, make this another keeper. Princess Gabrielle, with the help of her royal guard, save the life of Liam, brother to a fierce laird, Colm MacHugh. Yep, you guessed it the story is about Gabrielle and Colm. Ahh, but there is so much more. Intrigue, murder, deceit. A glimpse of the Buchanan (Ransom) and their alliance with the MacHughs, and of course, readers find out just where the title fits in this story. Truly enjoy this story and have re-read several times over.

Was good.