Joining

Rating:
Summary: Not Lindsey's Best Book
Review: I was disappointed with this book. I love J.L.'s books, but this story line could not hold my interest. The hero and heroine fell in love a little too quickly for my taste and the reason they hated each other from their childhood, to me, was not reason enough to make them hate each other through the years.

Rating:
Summary: Lindsey does it again!
Review: I loved this book. Once I started I couldn't put it down. I loved the tension between Milisant and Wulfric. Getting to see Reina and Ranulf again and still in love was a happy bonus. My only regret is that the book didn't have nearly enough pages.

Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: I bought the book yesterday, and read it today. I could barely put it down to cook dinner..which I ended up chopping up veggies to make a salad so that I wouldn't have to watch over a stove. I know I'd have burned my house down with me in it, holding my copy of Joining in my hands! I can't wait until Ms. Lindsey comes out with another book so that I can be so thoroughly engrossed in it as I was in Joining. Mili and Wulf made quite the pair with their verbal sparring and mutual dislike from a childhood meeting. The story is definitely one of my favorites...although I've yet to read a Johanna Lindsey book that I didn't like.

Rating:
Summary: Not equal to previous books
Review: Unsual women and great plots are the hallmark of Johanna Lindsey's writing. In the "Joining" Ms. Lindsey has fallen from her usual standards. She also is in the "authentic spelling" syndrome many good authors seem to be dabbling in. Using the "Olde English" names for characters only brings confusion. Yet, this is not the true flaw of this selection. Here the author uses the essence of a previous work of her's "Tender Rebel". With the Malory books Ms. Lindsey is an author without equal. But with the "Joining" she has given her readers a predictable plot, uninteresting characters and a book I could wait to finish. Every author has an off selection. I'm certain many readers will love this work, I however, didn't. I hope her next selection will be up to her previous excellence.

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Medieval romance
Review:

In 1202 England, when he was 13 and she was 5, they had an ugly confrontation that still haunts both of them twelve years later. However, they still must marry and Wulfric de Thorpe comes to claim Milisant Crispin as his bride, a binding neither one wants. He thinks she is a shrew and she thinks he is a beast.

As the couple becomes familiar with one another, their initial impressions change as they see the softer and compassionate facets of the other. At the same time, King John provides tacit approval to Lord Walter de Roghton to stop the pending nuptials anyway he can, including murdering the bride. As Wulfric and Milisant fall in love, they struggle to stay alive from the assaults on her.

New York Times best selling author Johanna Lindsey lives up to her fame with a fabulous Medieval romance. The lead characters make for entertaining reading, as their love must overcome their childhood impressions of their future mate. However, as expected from a Ms. Lindsey novel, it is her ability to provide her audience with an exciting look into the deadly political intrigue of King Johns court home that turns this into a deserving best seller.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Poor effort...
Review: I am a HUGE Johanna Lindsey fan, I have every book she ever wrote and I love them, but this is a waste of effort to have wrote or read! This book is the follow-up to "Defy Not the Heart". They don't even compare. The heroine in this book Milisent was weak and did unbelievable things in this time period(1214) which would never have been tolerated! The plot was dumb and the hero and heroine lacked any spark of romance or fire Johanna Lindsey usually has for her characters. The plot calls for this "danger" to threaten them! Please! If you read it you'll know what I mean. The "danger" plot never took off and was gone before you knew it. Left me wondering why it was there in the first place! And the reason she doesn't want to marry the Earl(Wulfric) is a stupid one. Lindsey could've come up with something better in my opinion. I was sorely dissapointed in this book. Her writing lately is much to be desired. I don't want to sound so critical, but come on! If you are new to this author, I would NOT recommend this book to you as a first, try instead her Malory books, starting with "Love Only Once", "Tender Rebel","Gentle Rogue", "Magic of You", "Say You Love Me"& "The Present"(in this order). This way you can judge for yourself how well she writes normally. "The Joining" had some humorous parts in the beginning, but seems to lose steam midway through and then took a nosedive. I hope this helps anyone out there.... =)

Rating:
Summary: So-So Romance Set in the Medieval Times
Review: I had to reread "Joining" twice before I rated it, simply because I couldn't make up my mind how I felt about it. I finally decided it was "alright" approaching "lackluster," especially in comparison to its marvelous prequel, "Defy Not the Heart."

A medieval romance, "Joining" is the story of tomboy Milisant and the knight Wulfric, betrothed since babies, who hate each other but are to be married in a month. With the ability to befriend any and all animals, Milisant desperately wishes she were a boy, and dresses that way. She loves to hunt with her bow and run around with dirt on her face. Wulfric is dark and brooding, and has a penchant for ordering Milisant around. At first, he prefers Milisant's most ladylike twin sister, Jhone, yet somehow he ends up falling for his uncouth bride-to-be.

I loved the relationship between Jhone and Milisant. In fact, I think this novel would have withered and died without it. There's real devotion between the two sisters; plus, wise Jhone gives excellent, witty advice to her wayward sister. Actually, I think I liked Jhone better than Milisant, which is sad. You're supposed to like the heroine. But Milisant as a heroine is an eyeball-rolling experience. She reminds me of a drama queen twelve-year old.

It's hard to feel much for Wulfric. He doesn't get too much story time, as most of "Joining" revolves around conversations between Milisant and Jhone.

The hatred between the two lovers-to-be is based on an experience that occurred when they were kids. It's an argument gone bad, with a dead bird and broken ankle thrown in. Most of it is just dopey. More hard feelings revolve around a distracting subplot with famous King John and a visit to the home of Reina & Ranulf of "Defy Not the Heart." I wish I could say Reina & Ranulf were fun to see again; unfortunately, they were so little used it's silly to call "Joining" a sequel.

All in all, "Joining" is fine is you've never read a Johanna Lindsey novel. It has its moments, with witty dialogue here and there and some interesting situations, but it's not great. It's way too women's lib (in the medieval times?!?) for me to stomach and lacks real passion (they don't even get it on until page 320).

I personally would prefer to read "Defy Not the Heart."



Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have been a fan of Johanna Lindsey's work for over a decade, and I can honestly say: If stranded on a desert island, the only two books available was *Joining* and *The Art of Watching Grass Grow*, I would be using the pages of *Joining* to kindle a fire while tending to the lawn I've grown on the sand!

This was Ms. Lindsey's poorest effort to say the least. The characters were uninteresting, the plotline thin, the love unconvincing...and I found myself struggling to complete the story in hopes of finding some redeeming feature. Alas, there was none to be found.

I would still recommend Lindsey's work, just skip this title.

Rating:
Summary: No Plot, No Historical Accuracy but Fun to Complain About
Review: Milisant Crispin and Wulfric de Thorpe have been promised to each other since childhood. Their fathers are excellent friends, and are consolidating their friendship through the marriage of their eldest children. However, due to a mutually painful incident when they were children, neither Mili nor Wulf can stand the other. They have avoided each other ever since. It is now some years past the time when they should have been wed, and Wulf's father has insisted that Wulf claim his reluctant bride. Milisant is wild and different, disdainful of her being born female and the constraints it imposes on her. She and Wulf discover they still have nothing in common. She is wary of his size and power, convinced because of the pain she endured in their first (and only) meeting that Wulf will physically dominate and even harm her. It leads her to be stubborn, aggressive and argumentative, stiff and unbending to any request. Which does little to endear herself to Wulf.

Unknown to all, a third, unrelated party also does not want the marriage, and has conspired with non other than King John to ensure that it does not come about. To do that, he must arrange for Milisant's death, something that he does not hesitate to do...

I found the book very well researched, from the description of the clothing to the history of King's Richard and John, and the gossip of the realm. The court intrigue, although occupying only a few pages, was well done and set the plot in motion. I liked that the `mystery' of the book had nothing to do with the central characters themselves, too. The threat, although known in full to the reader, comes out of the blue to the characters themselves. The story develops well, is peopled with enjoyable characters and sufficient humour. I found especially touching where Milisant finally realises that Wulf would do anything NOT to see her hurt. The development of feelings - positive and negative - between these two is completely believable. I also liked the approach taken with Mili, the feminist sub-plot which Lindsey has woven into the tale.

It is not a tale bursting with heat and passion (as Lindsey can do so well), rather more a discovery of feeling, and a fine tale firmly set in its period. Something a little different from my previous reading by this author, but also very enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Easy rainy day read...
Review: This book was nice and easy to read. I tore through it in one day. Milisant and Jhone are sisters and there are alot of funny scenes between them. Wulfric is the hero of the story and I would have liked to have gotten to know him a bit better, but what I did read I liked. There is hardly any sex scenes in this book, for sensuality I'd give it a 3. There is some tension between Wulfric and Milisant, but not too much. Things went pretty easy for both of them. I'd would be interested to read a story about sister Jhone!