[.ca] Ransom (ISBN 0671003364)

From Amazon.com:
In Ransom, New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood returns to her beloved Highlands and the dark days of the despotic rule of King John to reacquaint readers with Scottish chieftain Brodick Buchanan, first introduced in The Secret. Brodick finds himself playing protector to Gillian, an exquisite English beauty, who is desperate to find her long-lost sister and a treasure of incalculable worth--one for which many already have died, including Gillian's own father. Coerced by the fiendish Baron Alford, who murdered her father before her eyes and usurped her birthright 14 years earlier, Gillian must return to England with Arianna's Box, a bejeweled golden box commissioned by King John, or her beloved Uncle Morgan will be tortured to death. In spite of Gillian's fragile looks and her loathsome English bloodlines, Brodick encounters a woman of immeasurable courage and determination, one not at all intimidated by his legendary temper or imposing size. And as he realizes that he has met his match in Gillian--whose sense of honor and duty equals his own--their passion for each other grows ever stronger in this thrilling historical. --Alison Trinkle

Simply Wonderful!!:
Ransom by Julie Garwood is only my second book by this author (the first being Heartbreaker which is more contemporary but nonetheless very good). Overall this book is simply wonderful, heartwarming, romantic, exciting... I could go on forever. I would recommend this book to any mystery, romance, historical fiction lovers out there. Judging from my first two Julie Garwood novels, she is a very talented author and I look forward to enjoying much more of her work. I have already placed three of her novels on order at my local library. Ransom is the story of Lady Gillian, whose father is killed and family destroyed when she is only five and Baron Alford invades her home. She is separated from her sister Christen, who flees into Scotland for protection. Gillian remains in England with her Uncle Morgan. When she grows up, her uncle is held for ransom until Gillian can find Arriana's box, King John's missing treasure that holds the clue to who killed his one true love. Gillian has reason to believe that her sister has the box, so she escapes the baron with a kidnapped Scottish boy, Alec. They head to Scotland to find Christen, and fall together with the laird and a few soldiers of the Buchanan clan. Gillian falls in love with the laird, Brodick. Also included included in the storyline is the romance of Ramsey Sinclair and Bridgid, although it plays a disappointingly secondary role to the main romance between Brodick and Gillian. Between searching for her sister, finding a traitor in the midst of the Sinclair clan whom only Gillian can recognize, and falling in love, the plot is amazing in its complexity. The setting feels utterly real and the dialogue is witty and entertaining. (I especially love the conversations between Alec and Gillian because it makes Alec innocently lovable while being realistic - hey, all five year olds talk practically nonstop about the most mundane things and then say all the things they shouldn't! After all my praise, I must add one tiny complaint. The first few chapters are very hard to get through. I was completely confused as to what was going on with Gillian and Alec (why was he hanging off a cliff, why was Gillian chasing him, how did Gillian come to know about Alec being held prisoner, etc.). Maybe I missed a few hidden clues about what was happening, but it took me a few chapters for everything to make sense and at the time I was getting very frustrated. Perhaps Julie Garwood was attempting to try something different by plunging right into the action, but I feel she could have started at the beginning and the effect could have been the same if not better. This might also have prevented a few readers from giving up in the beginning. However, once everything clicks into place, this book is awesome. I loved it and stayed up till 2 in the morning reading. *****Also, I shall be going back to read The Secret, which I have discovered is the prequel to this, centering on Iann and Judith, who are the parents of Alec and minor characters in Ransom. I look forward to it!

Too many characters:
I read through the first 50 pages of this book, and I couldnt keep up with all the characters. I Did not read the first book "The Secret", and maybe it would have been easier to keep up with if I had. Either way, it was just way too confusing.

My Favorite!:
I have read all of Julie Garwood's books - several times and this is one of my absolute favorites! I had to go out and buy them all!

Go get it:
If you like historical romance novels, read this book. It's one of the best I've read of this genre.

First of many books I will read by Julie Garwood!!:
I got this book by accident, I was in a group of books that a coworker left for to look through. And after reading it I was just captivated by it all and wanted to read more of julie garwoods book. The story was just wonderful and all that I love to see in stories. I loved how ms garwood told the story about guillans father and his death and how her and her sister were talken away. It was wonderful and helped later in the book to already understand things and not have to wait to find out why this or that was going to happen. My favorite part of this book was when guillan finds out that she was married on a horse. " A horse, I was married on a horse"? It was just perfect.. I look forward to reading all of Ms. garwoods book and hope that she will be writing for a long time to come.