Smexy Books is going old skool this Sunday with a flashback to one of my favorite books-The Secret by Julie Garwood.  Sometimes the “smexy-est” aspect of a book for me is the build up to the romance. The time the couple spends getting to know one another and dealing with their developing feelings. Add in humor and a cast of well devloped characters and I’m a goner

I have been a fan of Garwood’s stories for years and frequently re read her historicals when I need some good old fashion sexy broody alpha men, Intelligent, sweet, eccentric women, and a strong swoon worthy romance littered with humor and a wee bit of suspense.

The Secret is a medieval historical romance based on a friendship between a Scottish woman and an English woman that started when they were toddlers. The Scottish woman (Francis) is pregnant and wants her English friend (Judith) by her side by any means necessary.  So much in fact she made her husband promise that when she she was close to giving birth, he would go fetch Judith. If you are familiar with your history, this friendship was an anomaly to begin with. Add in the fact that these two women bucked their families and anyone who gets in their way to make this happen and you get some seriously funny scenes.

“Papa, do you like my new friend?” Frances Catherine asked when they were halfway across the field.

“I surely do.”

“Can I keep her?”

“For the love of… No, you can’t keep her. She isn’t a puppy. You can be her friend, though,” he hastily added before his daughter could argue with him.

“Forever, papa?”

She’d asked her father that question, but Judith answered her. “Forever,” she shyly whispered.

Frances Catherine reached across her father’s chest to take hold of Judith’s hand. “Forever,” she pledged.

Francis’s brother in law, Iain, agrees to go get Judith, expecting a haughty PITA woman who will say no and then he can go home. Imagine his surprise when Judith not only wants to come to Scotland with him, but is determined enough to go by herself. It helps she’s very beautiful, smart, and practical. Ian is enchanted, which makes him a grumpy highlander because SHE’S ENGLISH! *gasp*

The antagonistic attitude of Iain and his weeble wobble feelings makes for some hilarious tongue in cheek dialogue and scenes as he fights his feelings and tries to school Judith on how English women are suppose to behave while Judith  just goes about her merry way with no consideration to how hard this all is for Iain.

Poor Iain. *giggle*

“Iain didn’t go back to sleep for a long while. He continued to think about all the logical reasons he would never allow himself to be turned into a lovesick weakling like Patrick, and when he finally fell asleep, he had convinced himself that he would distance his heart from his
mind.

He dreamed about her.”

Of course, when cupid’s arrow hits these two with some big love dipped arrows…that’s when the real fun begins.

“I’ll stay away from you and you’ll stay away from me. I’m already over this insignificant, puny, inconsequential attraction. I don’t even remember kissing you.”

They had reached the cluster of trees in front of the courtyard leading to Frances Catherine’s cottage when she told him that outrageous lie.

“The hell you have forgotten,” he muttered. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and forced her to turn around. Then he took hold of her chin and pushed her face up.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

“Reminding you.”

The Secret in the first in Garwood’s Highlands’ Laird’s series and each one that follows is just as much fun as this one.  Goodreads I Kindle I Nook