week twelve hits the shelves...see your "Slim" and raise you "The Bride"

     I have been reading as long as I can remember and most of the time I do not remember from one day to the next what books I have actually read. I once had a friend that wrote down every book he ever read. I was impressed with the organizational gene that he had been born with, however, I am not that anal and could not remember the books from last month that I read, let alone the ones from years before. I have read everything I could from the time I could pick up a book and read it, or the cereal box, whichever. I read many different types of books and was banned from a few after I read them. Little like shutting the door after the horse was loose, thank God for baseball games on television or I would have been banned from  a lot more I think.
     In high school I was introduced to the Greek mythological stories and all the beauty of them. Kudos to you Edith Hamilton and Homer, for all your hard work which brought so many teenagers and college students weak eyesight, many headaches, and a glimpse into the beauty of the Greek and Roman poetry and prose. It taught me to dream of being loved by a God, and the beauty of far away places in long ago times. Right about the time I was getting that headache, excuse me, increasing my knowledge, I was introduced to the herstorical romance genre of reading material. I absolutely fell in love with these types of stories because it fulfilled so many of my yearnings created by Homer and Hamilton. Yearnings of a budding, very curious, young woman who loved to learn, who desired to travel and meet new people, old ones too, for that matter and wanted to experience being in love and describing it as timeless. Plus the covers weren't bad either. Ah Fabio...in a buccaneer costume...I digress.
     For a young teenage girl in rural Maine, this was really heady stuff. I prowled the libraries, the local Mr. Paperback of my town, my neighbors' attics and garages, looking for books that were written in this venue. After a time I realized that there were books out there that were ok, for a rainy afternoon and then there were books that I became so engrossed in, they would literally transport me to another time and place. I became as a fly on the wall of these people's lives. I do not know who the majority of the people were who wrote these stories but, in this genre, one writer stands out above them all, Julie Garwood.
     I have read everything I ever could get my hands on by her. Her stories are so well written and her characters are so three dimensional that they have become my friends. Every time I read her newest story, it is like meeting someone new. Julie makes her characters flawed and lovable, admirable, desirable, stubborn, arrogant, and...well...human. They could be the people living next door to you. When they get into trouble you want to help them. Everything by Julie Garwood is written in this truly gifted fashion; there is one book of hers that reaches me above all of them and that is this book "The Bride."
       In Garwood's story, "The Bride" we are presented with an elder daughter of a British nobleman. He is not the brightest of men, although he does love his five daughters very much, and has gambled away the King's tax. In retribution, the King gives Laird Alec Kincaide the right to choose a wife from amongst the five of them as well as a neighboring laird traveling with him. They toss a caber (debranched pine tree) to see who has first pick. The Laird Kincaide wins and chooses the eldest daughter, Jaime, marries her then and there, carrying her off the the Scottish Highlands. After some some time and lots of settling in together, they discover who murdered his first wife, avert a war with the British, and unite the area highland clans who are always feuding.
     All of Garwood's characters are three dimensional and very real, but I have a particular liking for Jaime because as much as she can, in that time period, she takes control of her life, she is independent and funny. Plus her description reminds me so much of the young Elizabeth Taylor. Although that is a trite reason and is shallow and superficial I can't help but think that is what was in the author's mind when she introduced us to this character.
     I live in a trailer and have very little storage room, as trailers are notorious for not having any, so I have to keep books in one small bookcase for now, and this is one of the few books that I keep to reread. I visit my friends when ever things in my own life demand that I take a few minutes and escape to another time, another place, where my friends are all waiting to tell me again, the story of their life.