Comments on: If You Like . . . Julie Garwood, the Historicals hosted by Jill Myles

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:39:35 +0000

Back in their day, I used to equate Julie Garwood with Judith McNaught. Garwood had a lot more humor, but they both wrote those huge, bigger-than-life romances that just swept you away. I always thought of those two as being in a class of their own.

By: kd2

kd2 — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:38:03 +0000

Try Jill Barnett - she’s got lots of that same humour, flawed but endearing heroines and lightness of atmosphere

By: Cindy

Cindy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:00:07 +0000

I have read over and over all of the Garwood, McNaught and Lindsay books and really wanted to find other authors as good. Garwood just doesn’t write historicals fast enough (I didn’t like her mystery books as well). Garwood books are really a great stress reducer for me but I think I’ve memorized all the words. I will check out some of these others in hopes of finding someone similar.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:01:08 +0000

Jude Deveraux’s older books do have the same sense of humor as Julie Garwood. Unfortunately, I have found her newer books to be missing some of the same spark. I read Deveraux before Garwood and my first thought when reading Garwood was how much she reminded me of Deveraux.

By: Jill Myles

Jill Myles — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:40:11 +0000

Agreed, Moth. She’s one of my all time favorite re-reads. :) Right next to Garwood!

By: Moth

Moth — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:08:49 +0000

Yea, Jill, she was rather fond of the hero forcing the heroine the first time with that “spark of pleasure” mid-rape for the heroine. It’s probably good you brought that up. I always hated it but the rest of her books were usually good enough I overlooked that first part.

For the squemish who can’t stand that these books feature the hero forcing the heroine to have sex the first time (usually they’re wedding night, oddly enough) fair warning these are the Deveraux’s I’ve read that have that:

Velvet Promise
Highland Velvet (actually not between the hero and heroine but there is a graphic rape of one of the minor characters that upset me so much I’ve never reread this book)
The Taming
The Black Lyon
The Maiden (I can’t remember if it’s the wedding night but later the hero essentially pounces on the heroine and has his way with her. I don’t remember if it was a rape so much as it was just really abrupt and rough).

I hope some Garwood fans give ol’ Dev a try. She really wrote some craktastic good stuff. Pure junk food, but still delicious.

By: Jill Myles

Jill Myles — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:59:47 +0000

I’m a big fan of Deveraux’s early historicals, and I do think they have the light touch that a lot of Julie Garwood fans would like. The only word of caution I have is that we sometimes have the 1980’s romance hero. The “I’ll make you like it” type of wooing that doesn’t go over well with modern sensibilities. So read with a grain of salt on some of them, but overall I think she’s a solid read. Two of my favorites of hers are actually WISHES and TWIN OF ICE, but since those weren’t medieval, I didn’t recommend those. :)

By: Moth

Moth — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:53:44 +0000

I have no author’s to recommend that haven’t been recommended already but I thought I could expand the Jude Deveraux recommendation.

Her writing gets downright hilarious. Several of her books had me rolling on the floor laughing out loud. The Taming and its sequel The Conquest were never my favorites but they’re not bad.

I always loved the Velvet saga about four brothers in medieval England.
Velvet Song was my favorite (Raine= *droolworthy hawtness*) and Velvet Promise was good too. I am less fond of the second and fourth books.

I also loved The Black Lyon which is a much earlier period. (The Montgomery brothers in the Velvets are distant descendents of the hero and heroine from this book).

The Heiress is another of my old favorites set in Elizabethan England (?). Another one with some great humor and a droolworthy hero.

My absolute very favorite Deveraux ever (and the first romance novel I ever read), though, was The Raider, which is set in the colonies about a decade before The Revolutionary War. It’s a masked hero, Zorro-esque adventure and I LOVE it! The ending- OMG I think that was the first time I ever laughed so hard at a book. I love Alex and his BFF Nick. Jess can get to be a bit much but the supporting cast, the setting, the plot. Oh! So good! So, so good. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:31:54 +0000

I got into Garwood after reading ‘The Secret’s review here on Dear Author, and I’ve been hooked ever since! I’ve liked every one I’ve read so far (except maybe ‘The Wedding’; I just didn’t click with the main characters!)

However, I think my favorite medievals are by Elizabeth Lowell. Her trilogy - Untamed, Forbidden, and Enchanted - is witty, funny, gripping, and very steamy (it’s just too bad that she never wrote a medieval about Erik; I was SO disappointed with ‘Moving Target’!) Those three were written back in the early 1990s, but they’ve been reissued (I really like the new covers!)

By: orannia

orannia — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:31:41 +0000

WOW! Thank you so much Jill. I think I’ll start with Saving Grace, The Secret and Honor’s Splendor, although the order will depend on what my library has :)

Connie Brockway has only written a medieval novella (in Once Upon A Pillow). My bad - The Rose Hunters trilogy isn’t medieval, it’s set in the early 19th century. However, mention is made in the book (without giving away any spoilers) of a yellow rose, and it’s history. It’s the story of how the rose reaches Scotland that I hope Connie will one day write (fingers crossed).