| The Secret | 
 enlarge | Author: Julie Garwood
Publisher: Pocket
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  115 reviews
Sales Rank: 14785
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0671744216
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780671744212
ASIN: 0671744216
Publication Date: May 1, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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Product Description
Judith Hampton was as beautiful as she was proud and loyal. Her dear Scottish friend from childhood was about to give birth, and Judith had promised to be at her side. But there was another, private reason for the journey from her bleak English home to the Highlands: to meet the father she had never known, the Laird Maclean. Nothing prepared her, however, for the sight of the Scottish barbarian who was to escort her into his land...Iain Maitland, Laird of his clan, a man more powerfully compelling than any she had ever encountered. In a spirited clash of wills and customs, Judith reveled in the melting bliss of Iain's searching kisses, his passionate caresses. Perplexed by her sprightly defiance, bemused by her tender nature, Iain felt his soul growing into the light and warmth of her love. Surely nothing would wrench her from the affection and trust of Iain and his clan...not even the truth about her father, a devastating secret that could shatter the boldest alliance, and the most glorious of loves!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 110 more reviews...
 Quickest read for me ever! November 2, 2008
This was my first Julie Garwood book and maybe not fair to read after The Outlander series but I felt it was a story for a younger audience. The main characters calling each other "husband" and "wife" was a bit silly. Many of the characters seemed so immature, one wanting to leave her husband because he "yelled" at her. I did read it in a day so the fact that I finished it deems a 1 star but overall a silly book.
 My favorite book August 19, 2008
This was the first book I've ever read that I will read over and over again! The romance is increadoble, and it leaves you wanting more. Garwood's "The wedding" is the perfect sequel! I loved this book
No longer a secret June 26, 2008
You can get the plot in the other reviews, so I'll give you impressions. I love this book. It is laminated (clear contact paper) to keep it together. The Secret is a regular re-read for me. I seem to miss the characters. It has my favorite first line in any book, 'They became friends before they were old enough to understand they should hate each other'. The prologue alone was delightful! How often can you say that? Endearing, funny, very human characters and situations. Garwood has a way of understanding of how people really act sometimes totally illogically and emotionally.
In her book 'Randsom' you revisit these people as Brodrick's story evolves. I wish she would write some more historical books.
 Sort of ok, but not recommended. June 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read three Julie Garwood novels which were similar: The Secret, Saving Grace and Ransom. All three have an English heroine going to Scotland and falling in love with a Scottish laird. All three women were too saccharine for me. They bring some changes and knowledge to the Scottish people by telling them not to commit certain crimes, to be polite and to have better manners. For example one heroine says never steal horses, just borrow them and return them later. One tells the ruling council to give more rights to women. One says a husband doesn't curse in his wife's presence. In two of the books, the heroines bring improved medical knowledge to the Scots. These were too much of the same story, and the heroines were too syrupy sweet for me. The heroes were the same, strong, silent warrior types and excellent leaders. In both The Secret and Ransom, the author creates mystery by not having normal communication between the two main characters. In The Secret, there is a mystery for several pages after Iain tells Judith they are leaving, but not saying why or anything more. She doesn't know why or where they are going. In another part of the story Iain asks her if she saw the person who threw the stones, she lied to him saying no. I would have preferred she say yes, but she'd like to deal with the culprit on her own first, before telling who it is. This was not fun to read. There were a few interesting parts, but also a few times I wished it would be over.
Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: five. Setting: 1181 and 1200 Scotland and England. Copyright: 1992. Genre: historical romance.
To date, I've read the following Julie Garwood books. All my reviews were posted 6/21/08 except for the Saving Grace review posted 1/19/07.
3 stars. The Bride. Copyrt 1989.
3 stars. Saving Grace. Copyrt 1993.
2 stars. The Secret. Copyrt 1992.
1 star. Ransom. Copyrt 1999.
Quit Crusading - two and a half stars only! May 28, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
Have you ever felt that you're swimming against the tide? Well, I'm afraid that the praise received by this book definitely has left me with that feeling, and I think that Garwood may well be a taste that I simply haven't acquired. For this reason, I want to put forward an alternative viewpoint.
The main turn-off for me is the heroine turns into a social crusader - which could be acceptable except that the book is supposedly set in the Middle Ages. She tackles head-on the attitudes of the clanswomen, the Church, clan elders, and clan politics as well as shining a light on maternity practices (at a time when such things were most secretive, and definitely not discussed with men). Garwood does give the odd nod to medieval history, with passing references to King John; however the attitudes expressed by her characters definitely are not 13th Century - for instance, when the hero tells Judith to work to change the customs she doesn't agree with - too PC for the times by far. Equally jarring is the emphasis placed on washing and bathing - this at a time when both were generally considered unhealthy!
The other difficulty for me is Garwood's language. The Vocabulary used is modern, with her favourite words repeated time and time again. Hardly a page goes by without the words "quit" or "visitation" and I just could not get over this. Also, there is little use of traditional Scottish dialect - so she uses "children" instead of "bairns", "creek" instead of "burn", and so on. Unfortunately this meant that neither the setting nor the timing of the novel were believable, which spoilt it totally for me.
The central romance is fairly well drawn out, but became bogged down in the social crusading, and therefore became side-tracked.
I bought this because it has been highly praised everywhere - and found that there is nothing here which lifted it above the mediocre. Sorry Garwood fans, but I really couldn't get into it.
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