Rating: 
Summary: Aggravating - Frustrating
Review: I am a big fan of Johanna Lindsey. I absolutely LOVE her Malory novels - enough to read them a few times over. Unfortunately, I wasn't real pleased with this particular book. The heroin - Milisant - will grate on your nerves, and there is not enough writing about the Hero - Wulf - to really feel like you know the character. A majority of your time is spent reading about how much Milisant hates being a woman, or at least what she thinks are the shackles that come along with being one. So much time was spent thinking about the enormous chip on her shoulder, that a potentially great and hilarious storyline was lost. It seemed that Ms. Lindsey either had a deadline to reach, or maybe her heart just wasn't in this one. I think that it would happen to the best of us. If this was the first book you have read of Ms. Lindsey's, please try another. I promise she won't let you down. She is a wonderful author. I would HIGHLY recommend The Magic Of You. I laughed my head off, all the while my heart melted.
Rating: 
Summary: Escape to Medieval Times
Review: "Joining" is the term used in Medieval times to refer to the final consummation and alliance between a betrothed couple and their families. Such "joinings" created powerful political and strategic alliances between members of the aristocracy. This book is aptly named, for it is the story of two families that wish to strengthen their ties to one another by betrothing their children, who as adults, are unhappy with the contract to marry each other. It is a delightful story, and the characters are interesting but Ms. Lindsey does not develop them as well as in many of her other books. She describes a "different" type of heroine, with many unusual abilities that could have been more utilized. Her subordinate characters, a half brother and a twin sister could also have had better roles. The twin had the potential to really add to the storyline, but she was mostly a background figure. These are minor criticisms compared to the pleasure Ms. Lindsey's novels always bring. This is a fine light read, perfect for briefly escaping the humdrum of real life.
Rating: 
Summary: A Sweet Love Story
Review: When I first started reading Joining, I thought it would be more of the same historical romance formula. But I found that I really enjoyed this book much more because it was about two people getting to know each other and learning to love each other gradually rather than the usual sex-then-love story. Though other reviewers mention that they did not like the characters, I felt Wulf and Millicent were quite well developed. I think too many romance novels are all about sex and lust. This one is more about two people finding things in common and learning to adapt to one another which is more essential to marriage than physical attraction.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to usual standards
Review: I have been a Johanna Lindsey fan for along time. I have all of her books and have read most of them many times. I was very disappointed with The Joining. Most of her books I can't stop reading until I get to the end. This one I didn't even want to finish. It was very dull. The characters were childish. They didn't even like each other until the end of the book. Not very believeable. Wulfrick was almost a good character but not Milisant. She was a shrew. As I was reading it, I thought many times, this cannot be a Lindsey book. There was no plot to it. I was excited to find the characters from one of my favorite books, "Defy Not the Heart". Unfortunately that was the only thing that could be compared about them. This book is not a keeper or one that I would recommend. I know I will not be reading it again. Hopefully her next book will be better than this one. If you haven't read it, don't waste your time. If this was her one book for the year that she writes, she should have taken more time off and thought about it more.
Rating:
Summary: Expected more from the book
Review: Perhaps my mistake was to start reading this book so soon after I had finished an excellent piece, or maybe that although I enjoy a good reading, the 13th. Century is not my favorite time frame for a romance. Anyhow, all in all, I was very disappointed. I find the characters very rude and un-engaging; not too mention overly childish and immature for holding a grudge against each other for more than a decade, for something that happened when both of them were still too young to reckon things in a straightway. Wulfric did not seem like a hero or even a likable character but rather a brute and a chauvinist, and Milisant albeit having characteristics worth admiring, was anything but pleasant. Besides Jhone, Milisant's twin sister, there are no secondary characters. I think the story takes place in such a time frame because somehow the author knew such a far fetched dilemma would not hold in either the present century or the renaissance for that matter. The writing left much to be admired, constantly I found myself being directed as to what I should think instead of leaving me to draw out my own conclusions, and the tactic of repeating the "Tsk sound" many times over made me feel uneasy. As well as the idea of placing in italics certain words of a sentence, only for dramatic purposes that did not need to be there. To me, that seems a 'cheap' and 'easy' way to get the job done. Last, but not least, the whole 'royal' conflict pertaining to their 'joining' was just too much, very unrealistic the grudge that is invented to prevent their marriage. READ IT, BUT AT YOUR OWN RISK
Rating:
Summary: We all make mistakes....
Review: One of the main reasons I even read romances today is partly due to Ms. Lindsey's enchanting stories over the years. She is a gifted writer with a penchant for getting her readers to fall in love with her wonderful and unique characters. I admit to buying most of her books on her name alone -- no matter what the plot! But JOINING read like an amateur's first delve into the romance writing world. I couldn't help but notice the begginer's faux pas of wrongly using the cliche' "Could care less" instead of "COULDN'T care less" spattered throughout the book. And the story itself is way too contrived to be believable. The conflicts seemed staged and overdone. Most of the complications were misunderstandings that could have been worked out with a simple conversation between the characters involved. But it took most of the book for the hero (Wulfric) to discover that the reason the heroine (Milisant) was so mean to him was because he had accidentally killed her pet falcon after it attacked him when they were both YOUNG children. For them both to harbor a grudge over something that happened so many years ago was just plain silly. And the heroine (Milisant) was way over the top. Very much a tomboy (which usually works very well in historicals) but she was vulgar and downright ill-mannered to the point where I was disgusted by her most times. She came off as very unsympathetic and I could find no redeeming qualities about her. And I certainly couldn't see where Wulf would feel any attraction to her. She was pretty much a shrew throughout the entire book. Wulf, on the other hand, was fairly well developed as a lead -- but playing off of Milisant as his leading lady severely brought down the level of this story. If you like petulant, spoiled brats as heroines who don't really change by the end of the book, you'll like this one. If not, don't bother picking it up. It's not worth it. We're all entitled to mistakes, and Ms. Lindsey is no exception. This story has in no way turned me off of her writing and I will happily continue to buy her books as soon as they're released.
Rating:
Summary: LINDSEY-HOLICS: WARNING! Borrow before you buy!
Review: I got hooked on Romance with Lindsey & have always loved her medieval stories best. I rarely review JL's works because they garner so many good reviews already. UNFORTUNATELY, I'm shocked to say that this medieval story isn't even worth 1-star. Where's all the romance? the witty repartee? the chemistry? the MAGIC? Our hero & heroine get along--like salt rubbed into an open wound. They spend all their time fighting (& I don't mean the bantering, relationship-building kind), that I still wonder how they got 'joined.' (Ha! Forced is more like it.) I kept hoping the story would get better--IT DIDN'T! I have some dislikes about "Paradise Wild" & "Pirate's Love"--BUT at least they were able to still able to engage my emotions. Sad to say, nothing tops (or rather *bottoms*) "Joining." DIE-HARD LINDSEY COLLECTORS: BORROW THIS if you really wanna know--but believe you me, you won't miss a thing!
Rating: 
Summary: Dialect Confusing!
Review: I gave the book to my mother as a birthday present last month. Although the background for this novel take place during Medieval period (England 1214), she could not understand the language the characters say in the story. After she told me this, my summary indicate that you need an English dictionary to pronounce (sound out) the words.
Rating:
Summary: Not so Good
Review: I really enjoy all of her books. But this was not one of her best. I did like it some what, but no nearly as good as the others.
Rating:
Summary: Not her best, but C'mon! There are worse! Still a Lindsey!
Review: An uneven book, but with its moments. I believe she was trying for the characters to act like real people, not soap opera extremes, a hard task. She accomplished it with the hero; he's occassionally thoughtlessly pushy but can take criticism and change his behavior. Learns from his mistakes! The heroine had some problems. Definitely too modern for the setting. Too extreme in her rejection of femine roles, and without sufficient justification. Takes her twin sister for granted- not attractive. (Twin is a cardboard cut-out foil for her anyway; boring!) Still I'd rather have authors try to make their characters into real people than read another needlessly emotional rollercoaster of a plot because of childish misunderstandings. And it was nice to see the Fitz Hughs again, even briefly! (See Defy Not The Heart- her best!)
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