Heidi Hart

I've never read any of Julie Garwood's books before, but I had this on my kindle from when it was on sale awhile back, and I was in the mood for a medieval, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. My impression, sadly, is kind of "Meh." On the plus side, this is character driven, fast-moving, and emotionally-satisfying. On the negative side, the heroine's a Mary Sue (she golfs! she's a crack markwoman! she heals the sick! she brokers peace with all nations!), and it's a wallpaper historical, vague on detail. There are plaids and Lairds and everyone's a MacSomething, so you know it's Scottish, but otherwise it could take place anywhere, at any time.In fact, the hero's and heroine's social mores are far too modern to make much sense in a medieval setting, but I'm not a stickler for historical accuracy. I appreciate it a lot when it's done well, but I can go along for the ride pretty happily if the story's good, even if the research leaves much to be desired. 

Johanna was the child bride of one of the evil King John's evil henchmen, Baron Raulf, who abused her in evil ways with the evil blessing of an evil priest. When Raulf dies, she determines not to marry again, but it isn't long before the evil King plans to set her up with another evil henchman. To foil that evil plot, Johanna's brother convinces her to marry the big, burly, fearsome, gruff (but secretly sweet, gentle, and loving) Laird MacBain. Johanna's nervous but knows everything will be okay when she learns MacBain's seldom-used Christian name is Gabriel, because Gabriel is the patron saint of women and children. There's a plot moppet and a pet moppet, and a secret baby (not Johanna's), and there's more intrigue between various clans and the evil King John and his evil henchmen, but mostly Gabriel just grumbles at Johanna to rest and be pretty and Johanna ignores him and learns to play golf instead.