Laura KinsaleRezensionen

A very strange woman and a very odd man fall in love in a world crumbling and cruel, magical without magic, and romantic in spite of itself. With Middle English! I can't do it justice in a review, so I'll just say that there's nothing else quite like it.

"All the shame of that moment when she had read his last letter washed over her again, the shattering realization of her foolishness, her loneliness, of her secret treason." ahh gods my heart!

My Sweet Folly has one of the best epistolary opening chapters - maybe ever! . . . and then Kinsale swiftly pulls the rug out from under you, after your heart has expanded 3 sizes and you want MORE intimacies only letter-writing can fulfill (I actually liked that the rug was seized from under us promptly, because I dislike when the You've Got Mail con goes on too long - it's just not my preference). The epistolary element doesn't disappear entirely, but the function changes.

I liked this book but when the novel shifts into a gothic tale, it took a while for me to get back into the flow. This is my over-arching Kinsale journey 3 books in: her prose doesn't captivate me for extended periods even though I am aware how beautiful the writing is. I did love Follie, she was such a flirt and I adore how her personality just shines in her letters to Robert and in her interactions with the people around her. Robert's time with The India Trading Company looms heavily over my experience of this book in that it seemed to exist too benignly for me.

This was my first Kinsale - strategically chosen as the first so I could get a taste of her writing before reading some of her more beloved books. I really liked it; her humor was a delight to read and I enjoyed the cast of characters in this story.

additional review think-y thoughts: I have to get this out of the way - My favorite character in this story is Maddy (and her father). I've read some real bullshit takes on Maddy and her character arc. I'm sorry, who was it that wouldn't bow to the king of England? Oh that's right Maddy-fuck-your-aristocratic-worldy-nonsense Timms (Maddy would NEVER say or think that lol because she is a better person than I could ever be). So when people call her annoying or pious, I'm calling it sexism and bullshit. I do not know what romance readers want anymore when they say "I like strong heroines! Just not any of the ones that are actually strong or steadfast!"

I am uncertain about how I feel in regard to the romance between Maddy and Christian - it felt rushed? Which sounds weird considering this book is over 500 pages. I guess the romance-y moments didn't trigger the romance-y feelings within me until the last few chapters of the book and that is where it felt rushed (to me). Romantic, yes! But rushed (for me). And look! This is a me issue! I have never connected strongly and emotionally with Kinsale's prose. And I do not say that to mean she writes "bad prose" rather, her style does not move me the same way something from Judith Ivory or Sherry Thomas or Patricia Gaffney moves me. I am often impressed by Kinsale's technical achievement (and I was here!) but it just never takes me further than a deep appreciation for her craft.
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initial reactionary review: This was such an emotional ride for me! I was anxious and incapable of sitting still then entire time and I have more thoughts about why this ended up a 4 star read for me and not a 5 star - all of which doesn't really matter because this is an important book and I am glad I read it! But those thoughts will have to wait until after the hihos!

more to come once thoughts have simmered longer, initial thoughts: as I have said in updates, the sense of time and space is just excellent and I love Kinsale's characters - like top-notch intrigue! Buttttt as for the plots - of which there are always too many (for me, I should specify) - those intricate threads tend to be wasted on me. BUT! I look forward to reading Shadowheart because I am fascinated by Allegretto (yes, I am aware of all the CWs for Shadowheart).

Historical Romance

Audio and kindle

I'm like a 3.5 here. I liked a lot of things about it but I didn't fall in love with either main character the way that I want to in a romance. This had a lot of hype from romance folks on Twitter and it couldn’t quite live up to that….buy it’s still pretty good for a 30 year old book.

It’s essentially beauty and the beast. The handsome, rakish, Duke is humbled by a stoke and our demure Quaker lady becomes his nurse and helps bring the gentleman back out. There’s a lot of conflict and a bunch of baddies trying to cause trouble for them. They have a lot of misunderstandings and arguments.

A lot of the book is told from his POV and weirdly it helped me understand the stroke recovery of my Senator (John Fetterman) who made a lot of news with his auditory processing problems after his stroke. I was already sympathetic but this shed more light on it and helped me imagine what it must feel like. A surprising bit of insight from a romance.

I think the audio is good but warn that it’s a difficult one because so much of it is his frustrated, jumbled, mix of words as he struggles to understand people and to talk and I can imagine that It could come off as super annoying.

I also don’t know much about Quakers and they have a lot more rules than I thought they did. I appreciate some aspects of religion (I’m a lapsed catholic myself) but I also really hate what organized religion does to women by making them feel so ashamed of falling in love.

The book's title, LESSONS IN FRENCH, is a clever trick on the author's part. Technically speaking, yes, Callie is learning French from Trev, but probably not in the way her father intended. Despite darker undertones, the book is playful and amusing. The banter between Callie and Trev—even with all the bad memories and hurt feelings—is easy and witty. If sometimes Trev is a trifle more flirty than he is serious, no matter, really, because that is just his way.

Very good, duke has a stroke and gets committed to an asylum, but his salvation comes from a Quaker woman who falls in love with him.

what a brilliant book.

DNF

I'm not going to ever pick this one up again.

Flowers From the Storm is a stand-alone, historical, Regency romance that tells the story of Christian Langland, Duke of Jervaulx, and kind Quaker nurse, Archimedea “Maddy” Timms. Christian is widely known as a brilliant mathematician but also a dissolute rake, who lavishly indulges in worldly pleasures. Maddy is devout in her faith and the daughter of another equally brilliant mathematician who has been working on a new formula with Christian. The two meet when Christian and Maddy’s father present a paper together at an academic gathering and then have dinner at Christian’s home afterward. There, Christian makes note of Maddy’s beauty, while she thinks him a wicked man. The very next morning, Christian is involved in a duel, during which he collapses on the field, having had an apoplexy (what we would commonly refer to now as a stroke). He barely survived and now has limited verbal function and violent episodes, so his family has him committed to a mental asylum, where he is mistreated and feels helpless until Maddy comes along. Her cousin runs the asylum and she has just started working there, when she chances to run across Christian in his cell. She understands what he’s trying to communicate when no one else does, and believing she’s had an Opening (or calling), she convinces her cousin to allow her to be Christian’s nurse, even though it’s considered unorthodox. Slowly she begins to make progress toward helping him recover, hoping to prepare him to go before a judge who will decide whether he’s sane enough to actually be a duke anymore. Although the hearing doesn’t go well, it leaves them with a small window of opportunity, which Christian’s aunt hopes to exploit to quickly marry him off to a suitable bride so that he can impregnate her with an heir. However, Christian doesn’t want just any woman, he wants only Maddy, and although Maddy isn’t supposed to marry outside her faith, when her back is against the wall after a series of wild adventures, she makes the impetuous decision to do just that. But being wed to a duke and even falling in love him doesn’t mean that she’ll ever feel comfortable in his opulent world.

The story opens with Christian in bed with his mistress who is pregnant with his child, but he doesn’t seem overly concerned that said child will end up being claimed by another man, namely her husband. This basically shows the sort of person he is, and it’s the husband returning home early that leads to the duel at which Christian collapses. Afterward, his family essentially turns against him, with his devoutly religious mother believing it’s his rakish ways that have caused this calamity and his sisters and their husbands only concerned with whether he’ll be able to continue providing them with a never-ending stream of money. Add to that the fact that he can barely speak, and even then, only in what amounts to gibberish to most ears, and Christian feels very alone. When people can’t understand him, it also causes frustration and anger, which makes him lash out violently, resulting in his family having him committed and petitioning the court to declare him insane. Then along comes his Maddygirl who becomes a lifeline to him. She doesn’t believe that he’s actually mad and patiently takes the time to try to understand his muddled attempts at communication. However, following the debacle of a hearing, Christian’s she-dragon aunt, who’s at least somewhat on his side—though for her own reasons—gives him two options: marry and produce an heir quickly before the next hearing or go back to the asylum. Since he would rather die than go back, he agrees to a hasty wedding, but ultimately it’s only Maddy that he wants. After all but kidnapping her, and with the help of his two best friends, they go on an adventure, during which Maddy is finally persuaded to wed him. But convincing her to share his bed and stay with him forever when everything about his lifestyle goes against her beliefs will prove challenging.

I have to admit that Christian is a unique character to the romance genre and for that reason alone I appreciated him. I’ve read other romance heroes suffering from physical afflictions, but I can’t recall any who’d had a stroke and couldn’t communicate, and I can only think of one other that had been committed to an asylum. As one might expect, it isn’t a walk in the park. Even in a facility like the one depicted in this story that was adequately staffed and run by a Quaker, the patients, especially ones deemed violent like Christian, were locked up in cells and treated abominably by the orderlies. Of course, since little was known back then about mental illness, patients like Christian were often misdiagnosed as mad and much of what passed for “treatment” was also abusive. For this reason and because all of his family except his aunt seemed eager to have him declared insane, I sympathized with him a great deal. I also understood in the beginning that many of his violent outbursts were the product of frustration and anger over not being understood and possibly some damage to the part of the brain that controls inhibitions. However, even after he begins to recover, he sometimes still lashes out. There’s even a moment where he accidentally injures Maddy while trying to hit someone else, and while a part of me understood why he did it, it still made a me a little uncomfortable. He does eventually say that Maddy makes him want to be a better man, and gradually he does start to make strides in a more positive direction, but there’s still an arrogance about him that made him a little hard to like at times. One other thing I appreciated about him was his mathematical genius. That only comes into play a few times, though, and I would have enjoyed seeing more of it.

Maddy is a devout Quaker woman who always follows the rules of her faith. The first time she meets Christian, she doesn’t really like him much and thinks he’s a wicked man. However, when she sees him reduced to the vulnerable state he’s in at her cousin’s asylum, she can’t help but feel for him. After seeking the Light, she feels that she’s being led to become his nurse and manages to convince her cousin to allow it. At first, she’s a little afraid of Christian’s violent outbursts, but gradually she comes to trust that he won’t hurt her and makes progress on helping him recover. However, it’s not quite enough to prove to a judge that he isn’t insane. Knowing that Christian would do anything to avoid going back to the asylum, Maddy helps his aunt with the hasty wedding plans, which go awry when he runs away with her in tow. He tries to convince her to marry him, trusting that she would never send him back, but although she has feelings for him by this time, she doesn’t think that she should marry “a man of the world.” Eventually she capitulates, because she’s fallen in love with him and thinks it’s the best way to help him, which is what she still feels is her calling. But when she realizes that the affluence of his station goes against everything she’s been taught as a Quaker, she doesn’t think she can ever fit in his world, even if they can pull off making everyone accept that he isn’t insane.

Maddy is a simple woman who doesn’t care about wealth or position. She only cares about Christian’s well-being and making sure that his family doesn’t railroad him back into the asylum. For that reason alone, I thought she was the perfect person for him and I never doubted that she loved him. However, sometimes I felt like her religious beliefs started to get in the way of this being a truly heart-stopping story, at times making it feel more like a Christian inspirational romance even though it clearly isn’t. I recently read another book in which a Quaker woman ended up marrying “a man of the world” and it didn’t lead to anywhere near this much conflict of both the internal and external variety. I know a lot of unexpected baggage got dumped on Maddy near the end, too, but I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with a choice she makes at that point. I begrudgingly admit that it led to an emotional conclusion, but still it was a little frustrating for my tender heart. As for Maddy’s insistence that she couldn’t be both a Quaker and a duchess, while on some level that was true, I couldn’t help agreeing with Christian’s aunt when she confronted her about that. So while I did like Maddy, I didn’t end up loving her the way I have with many other kindhearted, caregiver-type heroines.

For years, I’ve been hearing rave reviews for Flowers From the Storm, and if the sheer number of romance-author blurbers this book has are any indication, it’s clearly been well-received within the genre. I’ve personally had mixed results with other Laura Kinsale books I’ve read in the past. There have only been a couple and while one received four stars from me like this one did, the other only rated a meh on my scale. Therefore, I went into reading Flowers From the Storm not really having any clue how it might pan out. I had hope that it might live up to all the hype for me, but ultimately I’d have to say that while I liked it and thought it was a good story, I didn’t end up loving it like many other readers have. Part of it might be that Ms. Kinsale has a more literary quality to her writing style that IMHO doesn’t lend itself well to the high emotions I expect from a romance novel. I also thought the book had an uneven pace, with parts of it kind of plodding along before something exciting happens, then it’s right back to that languid pace until the next lively moment. At a chunky 553 pages, I couldn’t help but feel that perhaps it drug on a little too long. Another thing that isn’t entirely to my taste is that Ms. Kinsale really leans into the angst, conflict, and drama in her stories. I normally love a good angsty romance, but her books take it a little further than most others I’ve read. While this one didn’t depress me like one of her other books did, it does have a rather heavy feel throughout. I do, however, give her credit for writing a very lovely ending for the story. While it may seem like I’ve given the book a strong critique, I did, as I mentioned earlier, appreciate the uniqueness of the story elements. I also applaud her for depicting the reality of mental health issues of the time and the conditions inside asylums. While it didn’t officially receive keeper status from me, I would still recommend Flowers From the Storm to anyone looking for a romance read that’s a little outside the norm.

Tess Collier ha pasado la mayor parte de su vida recorriendo las exóticas tierras del mundo con su padre, el conde de Morrow. Pero cuando él muere en la selva amazónica, Tess decide a pesar suyo, honrar su última voluntad: retornar a Inglaterra y llevar a cabo una "boda adecuada".
El viaje a casa lo hará a bordo de un barco cuyo capitán es el apuesto y misterioso Gryphon Meridon. Contratado para llevar a Tess segura a casa, Gryf está también a cargo de protegerla de inadecuados cortejantes: una tarea difícil para un hombre obsesionado con la idea de poseerla...

Inglaterra, 1797. Roderica Delamore "Roddy" posee el don mágico que heredan las mujeres de su familia, la habilidad de leer la mente de quienes las rodean. Es así como Roddy supo que su querido Geoffrey jamás la amaría.
Nuestra protagonista está a punto de renunciar a su sueño de casarse y formar una familia, y se dispone a dedicarse a su otra pasión: los caballos. Sin embargo, durante una carrera de caballos conoce a Faelan Savigar "el conde diabólico", un notorio calavera con sangre irlandesa cuyas conquistas continuas y ruina económica están en boca de todos.
Sorprendentemente, el don de Roddy no funciona con Savigar. ¿Qué tiene de diferente este caballero?

No hay hombre más irresistible que Samuel Gerard. Joven, guapo, cultivado y rico, no hay mujer que no se fije en él y no quede prendada de sus encantos. Pero Samuel parece no reparar en la admiración que despierta a su paso. Sin duda, el recuerdo de su difícil infancia sigue persiguiéndolo.
Samuel fue un niño abandonado que, al fin, fue rescatado por lady Tess Ashland, que lo trató como a un miembro más de la familia. Hoy Samuel solo desea una cosa: conseguir el amor de Kay, la hija de los Ashland.
Cuando llegan a Londres para los festejos del jubileo de la reina Victoria visitan una renombrada casa de modas. Allí trabaja Leda Étoile, una dama inglesa que lo ha perdido todo y ahora se gana la vida atendiendo a lo más selecto de la sociedad londinense. Leda se fija en Samuel no sólo por su irresistible encanto, sino porque tiene la impresión de haberlo visto antes.
Así es como el lector conocerá la personalidad oculta de este joven: un ladrón que Scotland Yard busca desde hace tiempo, alguien que actúa de forma peculiar.

Un joven caballero empuñará su espada para defender el honor de una bella y misteriosa princesa —arriesgando incluso su vida por el amor que arde entre ellos.
Ruck, un invencible caballero inglés, estuvo a punto de perder la vida a los diecisiete años... hasta que la princesa Melanthe, miembro de los Monteverde, una poderosa familia italiana, le rescató. Desde ese día se prometió a sí mismo que sería leal a su salvadora. Pero Gian, el patriarca de otra poderosa familia, los Navona, había planeado casarse con Melanthe con el objeto de unir los dos reinos, y juró matar a cualquiera que se interpusiera en su camino.
Trece años más tarde, Ruck vuelve a encontrarse con Melanthe. Ella está huyendo de Gian y el apuesto caballero jura protegerla hasta que se encuentre sana y salva. Muy pronto entre ambos nacerá un intenso amor que tendrá que superar muchos obstáculos para poder tener un final feliz.

E di tanto in tanto succede che ti imbatti in un libro che non ti aspetti e che riesce a stupirti sotto tutti i punti di vista. Questo è stato una vera sorpresa, l’ho iniziato per curiosità pensando di leggere un semplice regency e mi sono invece imbattuta in una storia bellissima che mi ha completamente conquistato.
Maddy Timms (Archimedea: già il nome è del tutto particolare e inconsueto) è una giovane donna quacchera che divide le sue giornate compiendo opere pie e aiutando il padre cieco, illustre matematico. Christian Langland, duca di Jervaulx, è a sua volta un geniale matematico amico di Timms con il quale condivide questa passione, ma è anche famoso per essere un affascinante libertino. Alla notizia della morte del duca in un duello Maddy ne rimane profondamente angosciata. Trasferitasi con il padre in campagna, presso un cugino che dirige un manicomio, scoprirà tra i ricoverati proprio il duca di Jervaulx. E sarà proprio Maddy, l’unica a non credere alla pazzia del duca, che cercherà di aiutarlo a dimostrare la sua sanità mentale.
Questa storia non si ferma solo a narrare una dolce storia d’amore ma ci racconta di come la malattia potesse decretare la morte sociale di una persona, ci racconta della forza della vera amicizia, di come l’interesse e la cupidigia possano condizionare le persone, e quanto la religione possa influire sulla vita e sulle scelte individuali.
Questo è un romanzo a cui riesco a dare difficilmente una classificazione per quanto riguarda il genere perché tocca talmente tanti temi in maniera così intesa e intelligente che definirlo solo un semplice “rosa” – considerati i pregiudizi che questo genere solitamente suscita ma che io assolutamente non condivido - mi sembra del tutto riduttivo e condizionante per chi non legge questo tipo di libri. Invece è un romanzo che merita di essere letto e riletto da tutti e di cui, sono certa, vi innamorerete proprio così, come ho fatto io.
Due copertine diverse e per certi versi emblematiche: una per l’edizione cartacea attualmente di non facile reperimento, e una per la versione digitale che io ritengo del tutto fuorviante e inappropriata. Leggetelo perché scoprirete qualcosa di inaspettato e interessante, coinvolgente e appassionante, ma soprattutto molto, molto bello.

Durante siete años, Folie se cartea con Robert, el primo de su marido enfermo que reside en la India.
Poco a poco, el contenido de las misivas se transforma y algunas palabras de amor se infiltran entre sus líneas. Sin embargo, cuando Folie esté por fin libre para dar rienda suelta a sus sentimientos, Robert parece convertirse en otra persona. No solamente no le corresponde, sino que la rechaza francamente.

I'm not going to try, honestly, I'll only say it was wonderful. Trademark Kinsale brought to life by Nicholas Boulton. I just really liked how this one was executed.

Inglaterra, 1829. Christian, el duque de Jervaulx, es uno de los hombres más ricos y encantadores de la alta sociedad inglesa, pero también es un hombre extravagante y un seductor empedernido. Maddy Timms, la hija de un anciano profesor de matemáticas que colabora con el duque, le conoce personalmente una vez; en esa ocasión, Maddy comprueba que Christian es un hombre inteligente y sensible. Pero al día siguiente, él muere en un duelo.
Transcurridos unos meses, Maddy empieza a trabajar en un sanatorio para enfermos mentales de la alta sociedad y, para su sorpresa, se encuentra con Christian. El duque no murió en el duelo, pero si no mejora en breve le declararán legamente loco y le despojarán de su fortuna. Maddy es la única que sabe que Christian no ha perdido la cordura. Aunque al principio, Christian utiliza a Maddy para lograr sus objetivos, poco a poco sus sentimientos van cambiando.

Hubo un tiempo en que fue el más conocido salteador de caminos. Ahora, tan sólo es un ermitaño que vive aislado del mundo en su derruido escondite. Lady Leigh Strachan llega en busca de un hombre que pueda enseñarle cómo vengarse de su enemigo, aquel que mató a sus padres y hermana... pero se siente profundamente defraudada cuando se encuentra con que el célebre príncipe de la medianoche apenas puede mantenerse en pie.

Trevelyan y Callie fueron amigos de la infancia que compartían el gusto por la aventura, hasta el aciago día en que el padre de ella los descubre abrazados en las cochera y, en un ataque de cólera, lleva a Trevelyan a la ruina. Nueve largos y solitarios años más tarde, Trevelyan regresa. Callie descubre que aún tiene el don de hacer que su sangre hierva y de llenar su vida de emoción, pero no puede darle aquello que ella más desea: él mismo.

FYI, this is classified as a PG-13 book on one of those romance rating websites. It starts a little racy, but nothing graphic, but it is just to provide some back story. I love the relationship between a former rake who I presume had a stroke and a Quaker. I lose myself in the emotional depth Laura Kinsale can write of the characters.

This is the second time I've read this and I found it quite as charming as the first. A lot of it is that Merlin (best name ever) is a nerdy, awkward girl, even if she is an ingénue. But she's more of an ingénue by default because she's a sheltered smarty-pants inventor who can't be bothered to pay attention to convention.

I especially liked that Merlin resisted Ransom and his manly wiles as far as marriage because his actions made it so clear that he thought he knew what was best and kept trying to steam-roll her. Ransom sounds dreamy but only because his feelings for Merlin were genuine. If this story had been told exclusively from Merlin's p.o.v., I would have been hollering for her to run away from him. Merlin's about-face was abrupt, but Ransom's character arc was a satisfying one.

I was a little afraid to read this again because I liked it so much the first time. It's always nice not to have your pleasant memories ruined.

Not surprisingly Laura Kinsale hits another home run with this book (her OBP must be phenomenal! :). The protags are all kinds of good fun. Trev is charming and mischievous, Callie is funny and resourceful, and watching the two of them in their livestock-related escapades is hilarious. I laughed out loud reading this book and can't wait to go back and read all my favorite lines.