Gentle Warrior

When I ordered - it was suggested that to order in 3 would be more cost effective, however, one of the items (Gentle Warrior) was sent to me in MP3 which I do not know what that is and cannot listen to it in my car or anything else for that fact. So I spent money on something I cannot use!!!

I have loved all of the previous Julie Garwood books that I have read, with that being said I was very disappointed in this book! I'm not sure how it got such good reviews?? It started off good with a strong male and female lead but got off track and boring by the last 1/4 of the book. I had a hard time finishing it but I trudged through to the end (speed reading and skipping pages at times) and to my utter disappointment the evil uncle goes unpunished. What the heck!!? I would not recommend this book to a friend.

I'm giving this book four stars only because Julie Garwood wrote it, and I am comparing Garwood to Garwood. Any other author, I would have given it less.

I know it is very difficult for an author to come up with different types of characters that don't mimic others that they have already written; but I think that Ms Garwood did not delve far enough into Geoffrey's past to let us see why he was such an arrogant, self centered male. He showed no heart or warmth in her portrayal of him.

The book stated that he had lost his family at an early age and had been raised by the King. I think that it would have helped had we seen a few glimpses of what his life had been, and where he developed his attitude. She almost pulled it off in a couple of scenes, but she needed to add more.

Every once in a while, we caught a glimpse of the real Garwood through the eyes of Elizabeth, but it was not often enough to pull the book up to a real Garwood classic.

Still, compared to other writers, it's a jewel in the rough.

Reviewed at Another Look Book Reviews

One of the reasons I decided to name my book blog Another Look Book Reviews is because I wanted to read novels from the past and still be able to do reviews on them. Take for instance Gentle Warrior by Julie Garwood. It was published in 1985 and even though I was reading through the yellowed pages of Gentle Warrior, it was a first time read for me. Just to clarify, Julie Garwood is not a first time author for me. I adore her historicals. There are only a few historical romances left that I haven't read and then there are most that I have re-read. Gentle Warrior is a stand-alone and not a part of a series.

I really liked Gentle Warrior. As a couple Elizabeth and Geoffrey were awesome to read about and I had many smiles while I enjoyed them as newlyweds. I cannot recall one Julie Garwood book where I didn't care for the heroine or hero. Her ladies crack me up as they are usually so strong and stubborn for the time period. Each of the heroines are different in each book though. Gentle Warrior is set in the medieval times 1086 England.

Let me share a little demonstration of Elizabeth's character as she is talking with her beloved grandfather.
Elizabeth starts out " I have not shown my temper once since meeting Geoffrey and have tried to act with great humility" then her grandfather is about to laugh at her and she continues "I have been gentle, obedient wife these past two days." Love the grandfather's reaction. Here is his line.
"The strain must be terrible."

Elizabeth is in a tough situation. Her seven year old brother and she witness their entire family massacred. It was heart breaking. She knows in her heart who is responsible but she can't act upon it. She requires patience and full trust in her new husband that he will take care of the guilty parties involved with the murders. As with the time era, men do not share their plans and secrets with wives. Elizabeth needs to show restraint and patience where she doesn't have any. I felt for the character and even though the reader knows that her husband is doing the investigation she is not left much hope. I thought Julie Garwood beautifully wrote each of those scenes where Elizabeth acted out and the reader felt as though we would want to shake her, yet you completely understood what horror she witness and her frustration.

The love scenes were simply beautiful and very moving. Geoffrey really struggles with his emotions as he becomes overwhelmed with love for the first time in his life. He doesn't understand the feelings and in his mind, a wife's role is to bear children not to be affectionate in public. The couple's teasing is a wonderful game they play and it made me fall in love with them.

I am rating Gentle Warrior 4 strong hearts instead of the usual 5 hearts because although the book was great, it wasn't the same calibre or great that Ransom or many of the other historicals were.

I enjoyed this story between Elizabeth and Geoffrey tremendously. *sigh* it was very romantic. In my opinion, unlike Ms. Garwood's other books (Castles, The Wedding) the book didn't lack at the end of the story. The hero and heroine's love story got better after each turn of the page. Geoffrey, a handsome warrior, is simply adorable with all his little disipline rules that he uses on his knights - and Elizabeth. Elizabeth, who grew up in a very loving family, had her own wild way in life.
The two of them first met, when Elizabeth found out that her little brother was saved from a baron named Geoffrey, whom she's never met before. Baron Geoffrey was her deceased father's overlord, and was to take over the task of finding the murderers of her family; due to the fact that Elizabeth's parents and sisters were all attacked and killed in their own home, but Elizabeth was able to escape with her brother. When Elizabeth arrived to the holding of her brother, which also happened to be her home, she mistaken Baron Geoffery for an ordinary injured knight. Expecting a way older man, she was extremely shocked to find out that Baron Geoffrey was indeed very young and handsome. She nurses Geoffrey back to health, but before he awakens, Elizabeth runs off back to her hiding, in fear that her uncle, whom she suspects as the murderer of her family, sees her alive and well. When Geoffrey regains his health, he goes and finds Elizabeth and brings her back with him. Feeling very protective, Geoffrey decides to quickly marry Elizabeth and thus begins the revenge for Elizabeth's family, and a merry chase between the lovers.
I got to admit, the dialogue in the story is funny, witty, so romantic that it makes your tummy flutter. You'll be laughing one minute and crying the next. I highly recommend this book.

Elizabeth is in hiding. Her family has been slaughtered and her home overtaken. Only she and her small brother have survived. She knows in her heart who planned the murders and seeks an audience with her overlord to plead her case. Baron Geoffrey has been wounded in a battle to free Montwright Castle. Unbeknownst to him, he is being tended to by a survivor of the slaughter, a woman he has seen before riding in the forest, a woman who has captured his heart. Geoffrey promises to ferret out the culprit if Elizabeth will trust him. He seals the bargain by marrying her. Although Elizabeth tries very hard to trust her husband, the souls of her family cry out for release. She must uncover the one responsible or die trying. But Elizabeth is falling in love with her husband. Now she is torn between fulfilling the vow of vengence made to her family or the love and trust of a warrior.
Elizabeth and Geoffrey are a wonderful couple. Their chemistry is magical and seeing the transformation from duty to love is great! One of my favorites.

Elizabeth Montwright was just a teenager when she watched her entire family be slaughtered at the hands of brutal warriors. Taking to the woods near her childhood home, Elizabeth waited for her father's overlord, Baron Geoffrey Berkley, to return to the Montwright lands and dispel the raiders who invaded her home. When she meets the fiercesome, arrogant knight called The Hawk, Elizabeth can't help but fall under his spell. She wants nothing more than for her family's deaths to be avenged, but she can't help it if she falls in love along the way...

Whenever you're in the mood for a well thought out and elegantly told romance novel, look no further than Julie Garwood. From Honour's Splendour to The Prize to The Bride, Garwood's historicals are always on point. Gentle Warrior is no exception. Elizabeth was a passionate and fiesty heroine who was just headstrong enough that I admired her, without being so over the top and impetuous as to be annoying. In contrast, Geoffrey was a strong, dominant presence who would do anything to protect his bride, though he may have been ruled a bit too much by reason and order for my liking. Still, I enjoyed these two characters and this book served its purpose--to entertain and engage me with an artfully told story about two characters I could root for. And that's about all I could ask.

Setting the time William the Conqueror , this book is an excellent romance . Easy reading with good character development and a tight plot , this book was a delight . I am so glad to rediscover Julie Garwood's storytelling prowness.

I've read all of Julie Garwood's historical romance novels and I think she's awesome. She is one of my top 3 favs authors and reading Gentle Warrior reminded me of why. Her characters are always three-dimensional, well portrayed and well represented. Her plots are often complex, exciting and well executed. Her Dialogues are witty and humorous. The hero/heroine's relationship development are always full of heart warming trial and errors and yet full of love. Her twisters are hearty and even wretching at times. But the best part of all is her conclusions. They are always climatic! Her endings are always a grand relief and very satisfying. In short, Julie Garwood always delivers!
Elizabeth and Geoffrey's story here in Gentle Warrior is no exception to the above attributes. In addition to that, I agree that this book is definitely tummer fluttery (Iluvstrawberries) and have magical chemistry (Jody Austin). It is indeed sad to hear some reviewers didn't find this book as I saw it. Oh well, people are entitled to that. However, all I ask for those who haven't read it yet is to give this book a chance. Don't be discourage by the negative reviews. Who knows, you might agree with most reviewers who have enjoy this one as thoroughly I have.

Gentle Warrior could have been a great book, but it got lost several times. Elizabeth started off great, then became this super submissive weak woman. The ending took forever to get to and one of the bad guys never gets punished. Oh, and Geoffry (Elizabeth's husband) punishes her with no food or water until she apologizes, and they still have sex every night because she can't get enough of him. Huh???

Ok, so I have been reading books lately that have not really sucked but have not been that good. So I decided to re-read Julie Garwood's historicals. It had been over 2 years since I had read them and OH MY GOODNESS. I had forgotten just how good they were. I mean, I knew that she was the best historical writer ever, in my opinion, but this book was so good.

The story starts a few weeks after Elizabeth's family was killed. Elizabeth and her younger brother saw their mother and sisters killed but escaped with the help of a couple servants. Elizabeth knows that her uncle had something to do with it and she will get her revenge, but she did not plan on Geoffrey Berkley, Baron of Montwright, to mess everything up. He hears about the massacre and goes to correct the problem. In the battle Geoffrey is hit on the head and becomes sick. Elizabeth's loyal servant tells her that Geoffrey's men have Thomas and that Geoffrey is sick and that for her to get her brother she must pretend to be a healer and help Geoffrey. So she goes and helps Geoffrey get better but leaves when he is shows signs of getting better. She and her servant planed for him to take Thomas and meet some where before she left. Geoffrey is not happy about that and decides he is going to marry her. They marry and they fight a lot because they are both very strong in their beliefs.

Geoffrey did not grow up with his parents, he has no idea what love looks or feels like. Elizabeth grew up in a loving home and saw how love worked and felt. Elizabeth and Geoffrey cracked me up! This story is so sweet. Geoffrey gets so mad at her but then thinks about it and then decides he kinda likes the way she is. Elizabeth would not back down from a fight with him and that would make him angrier but she did not care, she had to teach him a lesson, while he was also thinking the same thing.

Elizabeth is a very strong character and I loved that. She was torn between the revenge she seeks for her family and the love that has started to grow for Geoffrey. She had to put her trust in Geoffrey and let him deal with the justice of the person behind the murders. That was hard for her because she is such a strong character. Geoffrey is the right amount of everything. He is strong but has some weaknesses. He tries to come off closed minded but he is not. When he is wrong he may not admit it, but he will make it right. When Geoffrey thinks Elizabeth is in danger he basically loses control and it is funny because he has so many feelings going around and he doesn't know what to do. He is a typical good male for a historical novel. He has his moments when you might want to scream but just remember.........historical.

This book is so good!! If you love romance historicals and want a good read I say read this. This book has a lot of romance and it is a very sweet book!

This story was a sweet read with Elizabeth and Geoffrey. This story is slightly different to her other stories but still a good read. Elizabeth gets her man to show his vulnerable side in the end even though he is unfamiliar in the ways of love.

'Eh', its okay, nowhere near her best stuff. The characters aren't all that exciting, rather boring actually, but its Julie, I'm a fan. If you don't have anything else to do give it a read. Its a pretty slow read and never really takes you there. I would advice skipping it as its just not that exciting.

This was the first romance novel I ever read many years ago while in High School. In all those years I have never forgotten this book and because of this book I have gotten hooked on midieval/historical romance novels. Loved loved loved this book. I could and have read it over several times. I loved the plot and felt what the characters in this book were going through, Julie took me through the whole gamut of emotions expressed in this book (laughter, tears, anger). Definitely one for the collection.

I like many others here am usually an avid Garwood fan but also like others for some reason this didn't sit well with me. I agree with other reviews that the H is horrible in this one. To me the writing was Garwood but the story itself seemed lacking I liked the h but she was supposed to be this strong character able to defend herself but when it came to him her backbone seemed to drop in a vacinity far south. All in all it was an ok story just never warmed up to the H, definately not her best and unless you have to read everything by Garwood really I would avoid this one personally.