The Lion's Lady by Julie Garwood

Title: The Lion's Lady

Author: Julie Garwood

Published: 1991

Series: Crown's Spies

Rating: 5 stars

The Lion’s Lady by Julie Garwood takes place in the early 1800’s in England. This story is different from the usual historical romances, in that it’s the only one I’ve read where the heroine (or hero) has a background with Indians. Frontier families? Sure. American families? Sure. Gypsy families? Yes. Indian families? No.

Christina returns to England with her Aunt Patricia, who’s a mean old bat (har har) and causes quite a stir. Least of which is the fact that she’s a princess. She’s also gorgeous and a complete mystery. It seems that Princess Christina didn’t even exist until two months ago.  In comes Alexander Michael Phillips, the Marquess of Lyonwood, (who, thankfully, is called Lyon throughout the book). He’s a newly retired soldier/war hero/spy for the Crown. He’s intrigued by the puzzle Christina presents and sets out to put the pieces together. If only it were that easy.

We find out that Christina’s papa was a very, very bad man, and that he may be coming to get her. Or ‘the sin under the blood roses’. The mystery aspect of this story was very good, even though it doesn’t require a detective and doesn’t make your heart pound.

I’ve read this book a few times, and am still surprised at how much it made me laugh. Christina, having grown up with Indians, still makes some mistakes with the English language. Like when Lyon called her a ‘philosopher’ and she was understandably outraged, because she thought he meant ‘philanderer’. *smiles* She continually drives him daft throughout the whole book, leading him a merry chase. Their love was different from the normal love stories you read, very tender and sweet, and you see them compromising, but you don’t get that feeling where one person or the other really changed.

If you're familiar with and enjoy Julie Garwood and haven’t read The Lion’s Lady yet, shame on you, get to it! If you aren't familiar with her, this is as good a story to start with as any of the others. (They're all amazing). It’s the first installment in the Crown’s Spies series, and while you can read the stories individually, the characters are seen in the other books too, so you may not want to see them until you know their story. And their story is lovely, heartwarming, and hilarious with a bit of intrigue. JG hasn't disappointed.

"Christina? Why didn't the dogs stay long?"

She was going to ignore that question until she realized Diana was still gaping at her. Lyon's sister was looking at her as though she'd just grown another head or two. "What happened to the dogs?"

"We ate them," Christina called out, trying to tell her lie without laughing.

Aunt Harriett dropped her fan. Diana let out a gasp. Lyon never even blinked until his mother's determined voice called out, "James never ate his dog. He… oh, God, what have I just said?"