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Flowers from the Storm

Laura Kinsale (Goodreads Author)

4.09 · Rating details · 13,616 ratings · 1,424 reviews

The Duke of Jervaulx was brilliant and dangerous. Considered dissolute, reckless, and extravagant, he was transparently referred to as the ′D of J′ in scandal sheets, where he and his various exploits featured with frequency. But sometimes the most womanising rake can be irresistible, and even his most casual attentions fascinated the sheltered Maddy Timms, quiet daughter

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Kindle Edition, 565 pages

Published October 13th 2009 by HarperCollins e-books (first published 1992)

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Dec 15, 2009 UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Historical romance lovers who want more than fluff.

Recommended to UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish by: MashJ

Shelves: secret-santa-picked-it-for-me-2010, keepers, top-couples-of-all-time, social-class-plays-big-role, review-hard-to-write, illness-physical, author-laura-kinsale, historical-romance, favorites, own-have-read

I'm going to start with a warning - this is probably the worse review I've ever written because of how deeply, how emotionally I connected with the hero. My review is a cheesy, rambling, hot mess, so read at your own risk.

With any book I read, I hope to connect with the hero and heroine, to feel what it is the author is trying to convey. Well, I didn’t have to try hard at all with this story, and no matter how many times I’ve attempted to write this review, I find myself in tears. And, as odd
I'm going to start with a warning - this is probably the worse review I've ever written because of how deeply, how emotionally I connected with the hero. My review is a cheesy, rambling, hot mess, so read at your own risk.

With any book I read, I hope to connect with the hero and heroine, to feel what it is the author is trying to convey. Well, I didn’t have to try hard at all with this story, and no matter how many times I’ve attempted to write this review, I find myself in tears. And, as odd as it might sound, I find that I’m very protective of Christian, worried about revealing too much of his story. And wow, when I say that out loud, I realize how strange it sounds.

So how does one review a book like this, one that hits so close to home that it literally could be your own story? The words I’d use to describe Flowers from the Storm are amazing, incredible, and heartwarming, compelling, complex, gut wrenching, joyous, painful, comforting… such contrasting words and emotions that it would take pages and pages to explain why it all means so much to me and frankly, I just don’t have that in me when it comes to this story. Part of what makes this story so hard for me to write about is that I’m married to a Maddy, the heroine of this book, my husband being a man who uses God as the ruler by which everyone is measured, and no one, especially not me, measures up. In this way I have a connection to Christian unlike any other fictional hero I can think of and found myself often in tears, not only for him, but for myself.

As with all books, anyone reading Flowers from the Storm will bring to it, and take from it, different things. In addition to living with a religious… enthusiast, for lack of a better word, I have this fear of something happening to me that will leave me unable to communicate with those around me. I fear being mentally whole, being able to think and understand the things going on, but unable to express myself, to let people know that I’m… here.

We learn early on in the story that Christian suffers a stroke of sorts and becomes unable to communicate. His mother believes that this was a punishment from God in judgment of Christian’s immoral behavior. I’ve also dealt with judgments against myself of a similar nature and so, for me, as I read this paragraph, and understanding Christian’s state of being, both physical and mental at the time he thought these words, this quote truly hit home.

He lay facedown on the bed, his arms spread, his cheek against the silken sheets. His ribs ached. If he'd known a prayer he would have prayed it - coward that he was, to ask for favors now, when he'd never deigned to ask before.

He didn’t reckon that God owed him anything. He reckoned that he’d had it all, and wasted it. Burning lakes and howling fiends had just never seemed that convincing, perils hardly fit to frighten naughty children.

He turned over, staring up at the darkness.

Damned… having found out now what hell was really like.
Well, as you can see, I can’t seem to write a coherent review of Flowers from the Storm, and trust me, I’ve spent months trying. And as silly as it might sound, I’ve been afraid to write this review, because if you’ve read the book and didn’t like it, or if you believe as Christian’s mother and Maddy did, that he was deserving of the “punishment” God set upon him, then you believe those things about me, too, because this book is my life. But, fortunately for Christian and Maddy, they got their happily ever after. So, rather than write anymore and try to explain it all, I’ll just continue to watch over Christian and keep him close to my heart.

Click the link for My review of the audio verion.

Thank you, Mshj Kate, for making this a Secret Santa gift. It's a story that will stay with me for always. ...more

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Feb 27, 2014 Duchess Nicole rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: big-thinker-book, buddy-reads, genre-historical-fiction, highly-rated, stand-alone, favorites-of-all-time, read-in-2014, 5-star-read, needs-more-hype, sigh-worthy

“God forgive, Jervaulx - that I sh'd love thee."
"That I should love thee.”

Out of all of the Historical romances I’ve read, this is the one that stands out as the most unconventional of them all. What a brave author to have tackled this subject, and what a remarkably insightful, tender way to do it.

~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`~`*`
MY SYNOPSIS:
Archimedea Timms is a Friend…a Quaker…a quiet, devoutly religious and pious woman who grew up in that lifestyle. She knows no other ...more

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Aug 03, 2009 K. rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: on-my-kindle, available-on-kindle

Laura Kinsale’s “Flowers From the Storm”
(From my thread discussion topic post “ on Amazon’s “Historical Romance Forum” sometime around Feb. ‘09 (unchanged))

I recently finished reading "Flowers from the Storm" by Laura Kinsale. This is a well-loved book by many and remains high on the "keeper" shelves out there. So how come I can't figure out why so many people fell in love with this couple? I just don't get it. I found the book to be "all suffering, all the time" (i.e. an over-abundance of serio Laura Kinsale’s “Flowers From the Storm”
(From my thread discussion topic post “ on Amazon’s “Historical Romance Forum” sometime around Feb. ‘09 (unchanged))

I recently finished reading "Flowers from the Storm" by Laura Kinsale. This is a well-loved book by many and remains high on the "keeper" shelves out there. So how come I can't figure out why so many people fell in love with this couple? I just don't get it. I found the book to be "all suffering, all the time" (i.e. an over-abundance of serious issues and long drawn out angst).

A brief synop.: [SPOILER - BUT IT'S THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE NOVEL!:] The hero begins the story (literally the first few pages of the Prologue) in bed with another man's wife (in the other man's home no less), discussing the fact that he has impregnated her and she needs to make an effort to sleep with her husband again soon in order to pass the baby off as her husband's. (Already questioning the hero's integrity in a dire way here.) Very shortly thereafter he experiences (what is presumed to be) a stroke, which lands him in a mental hospital, employing methods of the times which are cruel and in no way reflect current modes of medicine. There he encounters the heroine (a Quaker woman) whom he previously briefly crossed paths with while jointly working on mathematical theories with her father (our hero is a mathematical genius). She is there to volunteer time with the patients at the facility, and there is where they begin a journey together to help him recover his cognitive speech abilities (the primary disability he suffered) and regain his social standard in life (he's a duke). The hero is not bedridden or physically disabled to any great impairment other than signals of the brain connecting with his right hand to operate effectively (and his ability to talk). In that day and age, there was little known of the effects of strokes, and basically victims of same were treated as mentally unstable.

The two go on, in my opinion, as classically dysfunctional and co-dependent peple trying to make a stab as a couple. The heroine extremely frustrated me, as she went on for 32 chapters struggling against who she was as she was rasied (her Quaker sociatal obligations) and berating who she reallywanted to become, as she was drawn to the hero. Consequently, she made him suffer for her indecision the entire journey. Mind you, there are only 36 chapters in this book. The final chapter is widely loved and admired (and it was quite captivating, even for me), but I just did not believe it for these two people, and it certainly wasn't enough to save the story.

Some people do go for "all emotional self-torture, all the time" when it comes to what they consider a good story, but that's just not me I guess. Apparently the "balance of happiness" in any given novel when compared to human suffering, can't be considered "serious" reading for a lot of people, I suppose. I don't agree. Like real life, it's more the progress achieved in points of the journey that deserve the most attention and ultimate recognition to my way of thinking. Afterall, it doesn't take much work to remain "miserable and undecided," and that's exactly how I interpreted this read the entire way for the heroine. The hero does come to some self-improvements, but I flucuated between truly caring for his character or just feeling sorry for the way the heroine constantly demonized him and his way of life (ton society). Basically Kinsale failed to slowly "transition" both the characters' self-enlightenment in general, and their journey to establish justifiable romantic feelings for one another IMO, therefore, the ending for me was jarring in effect, and just unbelieveable. I never really connected with either H/H and I believe they never truly understood their own connection.

UPDATE FOR GOODREADS (8/6/09): Wow -- Looks like I'm the only one who one-stared it here to actually "tag" it . . . "I didn't like it!" (Maybe because My "stars" here are judged by the "verbage" when you roll over them with your mouse, rather than my "usual" star rating (I like my half stars in that instance). It might be a 2* on that scale, based on Kinsale's writing abilities and potential. I've actually committed myself to read at least one more book of her's to perhaps find the "good one" for me. ;)
...more

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Dec 23, 2014 Mo rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourite

5 Maddygirl stars.

I loved this one. Tortured hero, innocent heroine, Society, expectations, fear, love, hate, tears, laughter ...

The Duke of Jervaulx was brilliant - and dangerous. Considered dissolute, reckless, and extravagant, he was transparently referred to as the "D of J" in scandal sheets. But sometimes the most womanizing rakehell can be irresistible, and even his most causal attentions fascinated the sheltered Maddy Timms.

Then one fateful day she receives the shocking news - the du ...more

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Jan 18, 2016 Bgurl (don't h8 me cuz I'm honestful) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Lovers of LLs Sunshine and Shadow and PWs The Outsider

Shelves: relatives-evil, favorites, reformed-rake-manwhore, review-type-analysis, hero-protective, heroine-nurturing, read-reread-rereread, love-forbidden, dark-contemporary, emotional-rollercoaster

Flowers From The Storm, by Laura Kinsale: 5 Perfect Stars

description

* Nurturing
* Serene
* Spartan
* Quiet
* Forthright
* Spiritual

And a Quaker.

“Prim and decent, chaste, careful, loyal, moderately brave in some things, a lion in a few, and when he touched her, she fluttered—nice feminine flutter, modesty and passion.” ~ Christian Langland, the Duke of Jervaulx

description

* Damaged
* Tortured
* Extravagant
* Rakish
* Devious
* Hedonistic

And, a nobleman.

“He was the Devil looking at her out of gentian eyes. It’s easy t ...more

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Nov 03, 2008 Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: HR romance connoisseurs

Recommended to Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books) by: Dhestiny kept nudging me to read this sooner!

Shelves: favorite-or-autobuy-author, desert-island-books, owned-copy, hero-to-die-for, historical-romance, opposites-attract, possessive-and-or-jealous-hero, regency, 2013-200s-club-challenge, desert-island-keepers

Approximately twenty-eight years ago, a young girl picked up a book from her mother's box of books out of boredom. Her life was changed. Ever since then, her favorite type of book has been historical romance. She has read a lot of it. There have been many that she has enjoyed. But some books just stand out. This is one of them.

Because of how much I liked this book, this is a very long review. I apologize if you don't like long reviews. The short of it is I loved this book very much. If you want Approximately twenty-eight years ago, a young girl picked up a book from her mother's box of books out of boredom. Her life was changed. Ever since then, her favorite type of book has been historical romance. She has read a lot of it. There have been many that she has enjoyed. But some books just stand out. This is one of them.

Because of how much I liked this book, this is a very long review. I apologize if you don't like long reviews. The short of it is I loved this book very much. If you want to know why, keep reading.

Laura Kinsale just doesn't write enough books for me. If you asked me if I want more from her, obviously yes! But do I want less quality but more books? No. A book like Flowers from the Storm is worth thirty lesser books.

This book begins with a hero who is doing something immoral and reprehensible (although to some degree socially acceptable). A reader has to decide if they can get past that. While I really dislike what he did, I wanted to know more about Jervaulx and explore his story. I wasn’t going to write him off just yet.

With Laura Kinsale, you don’t just get an entertaining romance. She gives you a complex, textured novel that has characters that are not just archetypes, but are realistic and multi-faceted like a jewel (and like a jewel, they may have noticeable flaws). Maddy is at times the bully, at times the victim. Sometimes I liked her, sometimes I didn’t like her very much at all. I felt some identification with her as a person of faith, but at the same time, I felt that she gives people of faith a bad name because of her legalistic and judgmental way of life. It also challenged me to consider how I interact with people. Am I sending out the right message about my faith walk, the loving God and all-welcoming God I love? When she gets the epiphany about why she is with Jervaulx, I was thinking all along I knew why they had been brought together. I felt that Jervaulx and Maddy could learn from each other, could complement each other. Could they love each other despite society’s notions of propriety or station? It was hurtful how she denied the love she felt for Jervaulx, as if it was an ugly thing. It hurt me to read because I could see deep down that Jervaulx needed her so much, and she needed him, and loving someone can be intense and powerful (and yes, inconvenient) without being an obsession or leading to doom and destruction. While people shouldn’t be projects, something we can ‘fix’, we come into peoples’ lives to learn something ourselves and to help them learn something. Love that is selfish cannot be mutual, and for me, their love definitely wasn’t a selfish one.

Jervaulx is a very complicated man. It was interesting to see him at the beginning of the story and see his selfish actions and his determination to live a hedonistic life, although deep down, his was a builder and a thinker and a contributor. Those parts of his psyche obviously warred with each other. I don’t doubt that his mother’s cold demonstration of religious faith pushed him to go in the opposite direction. In his own way, he did believe in God, but seeing faith in such an ugly way pushed him further away from God and into a life that didn’t have much meaning outside of his scientific pursuits.

I hurt for him. A person of the mind, an intellectual can have an experience almost like dying when that part of their persona fails. It’s like being caged away, and in the case of Christian, his mouth couldn’t say what he wanted it to say, and sometimes the words just wouldn’t come to him. Also, going from a place of having power and authority over your life and losing that is another kind of death. That process was understandably devastating to a man who was one of the most powerful men in England.

His family was shameful. They all saw him as a thing to be used or manipulated: as a resource, a pawn, or a liability. That made me very angry on his behalf. And afraid. For most of the book, I felt Jervaulx’s fear tangibly. That’s part of why Maddy’s acts at times grated on me. She didn’t seem to get what it was like to be him, to know that he was one step away from being locked in an asylum for the rest of his life. Even though she does have momentary breakthroughs of understanding and a sense of responsibility to him, her hardheaded beliefs about what she should be doing (that being with him long-term is wrong) seemed to try to get in the way more than it should have.

This book feels so realistic, but also beautiful, entrancing, hypnotically romantic. The scenes between Maddy and Jervaulx where their feelings are budding, blooming and coming to full life were the essence of romance. Their passion inexorable, special and inescapable. It’s what makes my heart beat fast when I read romance books. People think writing romance is easy and low-brow. That any hack can write a romance story. How wrong you are. It takes talent and care to craft such a rich story that fulfills both intellectually and emotionally. Especially when you write characters that aren’t just appealing stand-ins for the reader and her dream man. No, they are real people with real lives and struggles. While love doesn’t necessarily solve all our everyday problems, it does get us through the rough spots in life, and gives us hope for the future. Walking through life with a beloved one at our side empowers us to fight for what we need, what we want, what is rightfully ours. While Jervaulx and Maddy didn’t make sense to someone on the outside looking in, who lacked insight, it makes perfect sense to me.

I put this book off for a long time, but it was a case of reading it at exactly the right time. I have been going through a horrible book slump, feeling apathetic about reading. That’s horrible for an avid booklover like myself. A book like this is just the medicine to reinvigorate a reader’s flagging interest. Thank you, Ms. Kinsale!

...more

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Mar 15, 2014 Ingie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: romance-m-f-historical, books-i-read-2015, romance-m-f-audio, c-amazing-5-stars-2015

Written January 14, 2015

5 Stars - It had it all - A stunning AMAZING epic story

Who dare to start an 19 hours long audiobook? I heard the rumors that in this case there was a great male narrator (Nicholas Boulton) doing this historical romance even better.

And, was it worth it?
Well, I didn't need more than a few minutes to know this would be an fantastic adventure to take part in. There are for sure a lot of heart stopping moments and I cried, yelled and lost my breath more than once. — But gosh, ...more

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Apr 07, 2014 Julio Genao rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Julio by: Alexis Hall

Shelves: to-review

remarkable.

deliciously dark and somewhat in my black-hearted sweet spot. love me a humbled bad-boy, and love to hate a puritanical idiot unable to resist the promise of an orgasm.

and jesu—what an orgasm.

about the most erotic hetero love scene i can ever remember reading.

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Jan 23, 2013 Jean rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I wanted to like this book, I really did. The premise sounded great and it received rave reviews. As a work of fiction it was brave, detailed and uncompromising in its depiction of characters who were true polar opposites falling in love. I liked the stark depiction of the Victorian asylum, the inadequacy of health services and rehabilitation, the constant jockeying of mercenary relatives, and political manoeuvring of the upper classes. However, for me, as a romance it failed. I found Christian I wanted to like this book, I really did. The premise sounded great and it received rave reviews. As a work of fiction it was brave, detailed and uncompromising in its depiction of characters who were true polar opposites falling in love. I liked the stark depiction of the Victorian asylum, the inadequacy of health services and rehabilitation, the constant jockeying of mercenary relatives, and political manoeuvring of the upper classes. However, for me, as a romance it failed. I found Christian more compelling than Maddy. For most of the book he was constantly battling being reincarcerated, bankruptcy, his relatives and trying to convey his love for the heroine. It was hard not to feel sympathy for him. I think his character arc began early and remained to the end. In contrast, Maddy's character arc started later, and this is where the romance failed. For most of the book she was so ... unyielding in her staunch religious beliefs, constantly full of prejudice, suspicion, and accusations of Christians' true motives that she came across as sanctimonious and annoying. She had a simplistic moral system, seeing the world only in black and white, misunderstanding his actions, inexplicable though they were at times, and she never gave him the benefit of doubt that all he was trying to do was save himself and his duchy. I stopped counting the times she was obstructive or unsupportive and quite frankly ...dense... about Christian's actions and I got bored of the number of times she contemplated running away from her problems during their marriage. Certainly not "Death us do part". Early on in the book, the moment when she threw his offering of handpicked daisies into the wind and caused him pain pretty much summed up her character's actions for the rest of the novel. Lastly, I don't want to be disrespectful of Quakers as I know nothing about them but Laura Kinsale portrayed them so unflatterringly as ignorant, arrogant, prejudicial people who were not above publicly humiliating their transgressing members that I would not voluntarily read another Quaker novel. In summary, a good historical novel but the religious prejudice and weak, annoying heroine did not endear this romance to me. ...more

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Oct 18, 2013 UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish by: Lady Wesley

Shelves: own-have-read, author-laura-kinsale, top-couples-of-all-time, historical-romance, religious-differences-or-conflicts, 5-stars-or-higher, favorites, keepers, top-heroes, format-audio-book

It's official - this is my favorite story, ever!

I first read Flowers from the Storm in 2009 and fell in love with Christian and his Maddygirl from their very first words on the page, but it's such an emotional story that I couldn't bring myself to read it again, though I thought of it often. That said, when my sweet friend, Lady Wesley, raved about the amazing narration given this story by Nicholas Boulton, I just had to give it a listen.

And I am so, so glad that I did!

Honestly, I can't even beg ...more

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Feb 25, 2008 Eastofoz rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-regency

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was recommended to me as a sad story--I think the people thought it was emotionally gripping but I found it to be neither. First thing: it was too long. An easy 150 pages could have been cut out I thought. Kinsale writes very well but I felt the weight. I didn't find it anymore moving or emotionally gripping than any other love story I've read--ie it doesn't stand out for me. On the cover of the book where it says "One of the World's Most Cherished Love Stories"--I think that's a bit o ...more

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Mar 27, 2018 Bithi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is so intriguing - yes, I am describing a romance novel as intriguing - from the beginning to the end. Because, the plot changes so quickly that it is hard to tell what is going to happen next.

I have really loved the character of Christian. He is not the totally dashing and perfect hero of the most historical romance novels. His imperfection makes him human.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Erika rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Readers who are interested in thought-provoking romance

Shelves: best-of-heroes, historical, outstanding-characters, special-collections, favorites, romance, the-magnificents

The more we love a book, the harder it is to write the review, right? I have to, with this one. This is not, by any means, an average romance book. It's the kind of romance which I would recommend to those who think romance books have so little to offer. The book is so much more than two people from two different world who break all the rules, find their way to each other, and live HEA. From a woman's perspective, I say this book was too sad, too sweet, too emotionally intense. It's an epic love ...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Kathleen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: impaired-character, heartwarming, grim-scenes, holiday, romance-historic, audio, award-winner

Slowly the realization came to her. "He isn't mad. He is maddened."

4.5 stars. The Saint and the Sinner. The Pilgrim's Progress. Paradise Lost and Found. This one is DEFINITELY on my favorites shelf, despite some quibbles. I've read it numerous times. I've considered keeping a copy stashed in the bathroom. More recently, I listened to Nicholas Boulton's wondrous narration.

Try my quiz! https://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/res...

Contents: Several sex scenes, somewhat explicit. Some swearing and pr Slowly the realization came to her. "He isn't mad. He is maddened."

4.5 stars. The Saint and the Sinner. The Pilgrim's Progress. Paradise Lost and Found. This one is DEFINITELY on my favorites shelf, despite some quibbles. I've read it numerous times. I've considered keeping a copy stashed in the bathroom. More recently, I listened to Nicholas Boulton's wondrous narration.

Try my quiz! https://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/res...

Contents: Several sex scenes, somewhat explicit. Some swearing and profanity. Some violence, including abuse at the asylum. Some scripture quotes, but the book doesn't feel like it's evangelizing.

Christian Langland, Duke of Jervaulx (sher-voh) is a rogue, humorous and mathematically brilliant. His mother annoys him with her endless preachy piety, which puts him firmly in the rakehell camp, but other than that, life is good. Then he suffers what must have been a stroke on his right side. Pronounced dead, then diagnosed manic, his family locks him away at Blithedale Hall, in Buckinghamshire. Bedlamites surround him. He knows only violently enraged and confused fear, until an angel pays a visitation. (Angels could be Quakers, right?)

Archimedea (Maddy) Timms is a Quaker who records her blind father's geometry analysis. Her father John collaborates on geometry with Christian, the Duke of Jervaulx. That's when Maddy first meets the duke. Soon afterwards, the duke suffers a stroke. Time passes. Maddy helps her cousin, Dr. Edward Timms, volunteering at his "health retreat" (asylum). Here, she sees Christian suffering, and her presence calms him, but sometimes he gets enraged with her. He is not an easy patient, but Maddy prevails, because he often responds to her. At first he cannot speak, but Maddy listens closely to his body language. Over time, he gradually learns to communicate, especially with her.

This madhouse setting goes on for a long stretch, until they escape. Then things start turning around. Christian has to protect his ducal inheritance. Also, he wants to keep Maddy, but his sins are coming back to haunt his marriage. Her Quaker "friends" become a big obstacle. (A pox on all controlling churches!)

Secondary characters: I loved his two friends, the Colonel Fane and Mr. Kit Durham. Loved her blind father, John Timms. Vivid scenes with Larkin "the ape" and Calvin (both butlers) are named Calvin, his Aunt Vesta (Lady DeMarly), his nasty brothers-in-law, and Quaker, Richard Gill (the mule). They all seemed credible.

Epilogue: Set 11 months later, celebrating Christmas at the castle. Revelry, babies, dogs, and fireside spirits.

Quibbles: I really felt cheated -- wanted to see all his tormentors suffer. Insufficient and vague punishment got just a passing reference. Why was his family invited to Christmas? Bah humbug! Maddy got annoyingly stubborn at times, and I really wish it had a longer HEA epilogue, to offset all the challenges Maddy and Christian had to overcome. As for the Quaker meeting, great "truth" scene, yet I wanted Maddy to show more decisiveness at the end. But she had several bricks dropped on her head, smashing trust. And -- ugh -- congregations can be so scary. ...more

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Aug 05, 2018 Sher❤ The Fabulous BookLover rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Historical Romance Lovers

Shelves: book-husband, consuming-intense-passionate-love, historical-read, tortured-soul, pure-perfection, favorites, rakes-and-lords, best-of-2018

5 Maddygirl Stars!!!!!!

I've read quite a few historicals, but none like this one. I don't think I've ever highlighted a book so much. The Duke of Jervaulx is dissolute, reckless, extravagant, a gambler, a womanizer, a rakehell. It's a few hundred years ago and during this time they did not know what we know today. That a stroke can seriously change a life for the worse. Jervaulx went from being a scandalous duke to a raging madmen, a maniac, hidden away from society. Except he was none of those ...more

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Jan 11, 2010 Felicia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I did NOT want to read this book, I mean, a Quaker chick?! A dude who can't speak?! Bleck!

Well, this is a hot mess of awesome, everything but the kitchen sink is thrown into this dense plot, but in a GOOD way! Characters are great, plot very taunt and gripping (not talking about the sex scenes either, HAR HAR ;) ) I enjoyed it thoroughly and have several other books by the author on my Kindle, including Shadow and the Star, a Victorian romance where the guy is a child prostitution survivor and a ...more

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Jun 29, 2013 Lady Wesley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone in the entire world

Shelves: listened, fave-favorites, aud-rev, amz-rev, playing-chess-not-checkers

The sympathetic hero more than makes up for the annoying Quaker heroine.

The above was my snippy one-line review from three years ago. Since then, I've reread this book, and listened to the incomparable audiobook, and I declare that FFTS is one of the best historical romances ever. Laura Kinsale is in a class by herself. ...more

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Oct 20, 2017 Karen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

5 STARS

With no rule but love between us...

Wow. This one blew me away. LOVED every painful, blissful, second of it.

I want to go back and read it again, and again. Romance perfection is all I can say. There were so many amazing quotes and tender moments, I wanted to highlight the entire book. The writing was brilliant. I have nothing bad to say about this book.

I also want to thank my lovely friend Lisa for lending me her book, and her ear, and her now drenched shoulder to cry on, as ...more

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Jun 06, 2013 Caz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, audiobook, romance-other-time-period, favourites, oldies-but-goodies

I’ve put off writing this review for a couple of weeks. Partly because I’ve been a bit busy and wanted to take the time to do it justice, and partly because it’s such an emotionally complex story that I felt a bit drained after listening to it and needed to have all my braincell (!) in gear in order to be able to think straight!
Even now, I’m not sure that’s the case, but here goes.

As with my reviews for The Prince of Midnight and Midsummer Moon, the short version of this review is “It’s absolute ...more

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Jun 04, 2014 MomToKippy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction-romance, favorites, disability-illness

I don't always read books with bare chested macho men on the cover, but when I do I read Laura Kinsale...

This book has a number of covers without such a picture but just my luck when I swapped for this book and received the bare-chested-man-hair blowing-in-the-wind edition! So it took me a while to start this assuming it might be cheesy. Perhaps the publishers do a disservice to the literary merit of this work by using such covers?

Anyway, the writing in this book is just overflowing with image ...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Emmy rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: georgian-regency, disability, spinster

Warning: Unpopular opinion time

I'm sorry, I have to call it at 38%. I really wanted to love this. Regency era. Man with a disability has to learn to overcome it with the help of a woman and they fall in love in the process. So much potential. But there was so much wrong with the execution.

So, let's recap the first 38% (mild spoilers). Christian, Duke of Jevaulx, starts in bed with a married woman he got pregnant. And he tells her to sleep with her husband so he thinks it's his. -_- Great start ...more

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Mar 08, 2015 Karla rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Karla by: UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish

Shelves: favorites, exceeded-my-expectations, tragic, terrific-dialogue, wonderful-secondary-characters, passionate, witty, amazing-narrator, determined-heroine, favorite-heroine

5 Stars!! Brilliant and emotionally draining!

photo b4fa5e5c-0bf4-42c6-b2ea-50858ed83310_zpskmyya5mk.jpg

There are so many great reviews for Flowers from the Storm, namely one from UniquelyMoi ~ 1-Click RockChick, who was the friend who recommended this book to me, so I’m not going to get too much into the story, just read her review . Thanks for the rec Dhes, I loved it!

I will say this though, it's a profound story, and while it surrounds tragic circumstances at its core, it's also amusing, passionate, sensual and hopeful. A truly unique opposites ...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Misfit rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014-mt-tbr-challenge, historical-romance, library-has-kindle-version, fol-sale

Oh, how to review this and not say something that's been said 100 times by all the other reviewers?

The powerful, brilliant and oh-so-sexy The Duke of Jervaulx has a stroke of sorts, but his family thinks he's lost his mind and shuts him away for his own good - and no one to believe he's not insane and dangerous - until Quaker Maddy Tims comes to Blythedale to help her uncle.

"She lifted her head. He wasn’t a two-year-old. He had not lost his reason. He isn’t mad; he is maddened."

That's about a ...more

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Jun 15, 2010 Krista (Miura Haruma-san, I will always miss you) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, tears, heroine-i-hate, historical-romance, heroine-is-a-villain, adult, cfmf, wall-banger

This would have been five stars, if not for Maddie and her obsession with her religion. She started out more open minded, then became less so, which I found strange, since she was supposedly growing more in love with Christian the farther along in the book. Sometimes she's also a little too mean for my liking...I just felt so bad for Christian, I wanted to protect him and put him in this little bubble of safety. I seriously felt his pain as if it were my own.

This is one the most UNIQUE romance ...more

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Mar 05, 2014 Katrina Passick Lumsden rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: heroine-hatred

Ah, this book would have been perfect had I not had to wade through page after page after page of Maddy's self-righteous, holier-than-thou bullshit.

I loathed her with the fire of a thousand suns. ...more

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Feb 07, 2010 Bill rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

On Amazon, K asked me why I thought this book was romantic. She doesn't. this was my reply:

I have been thinking about this for a few days. At first I thought isn't this like trying to describe why chocolate cake tastes good. But that is a sensation. Identifying a book as romantic is a mental process, so I ought to be able to do this.

I don't think we are debating whether FFTS is a romance. Its focus is the love between two people and it has a HEA ending. That makes it a romance. It does have othe On Amazon, K asked me why I thought this book was romantic. She doesn't. this was my reply:

I have been thinking about this for a few days. At first I thought isn't this like trying to describe why chocolate cake tastes good. But that is a sensation. Identifying a book as romantic is a mental process, so I ought to be able to do this.

I don't think we are debating whether FFTS is a romance. Its focus is the love between two people and it has a HEA ending. That makes it a romance. It does have other elements. As you point out, it is a life drama. I assume you mean Christian's struggle to recover from the stroke that robbed him of the ability to speak and follow the speech of others. But I think that added element to the plot adds to the story, just as the suspense in a romantic suspense adds to the story. In fact, that struggle is one of the elements of this story that make it so attractive to me.

And of course the story has character development. Every one of my favorite romances has character development. Every one. That is part of the reason they are my favorites. From Lizzy learning that she was prideful too and Darcy learning to stop being such a stuck up prig to Mary Balogh's Wulfric unbending and learning to laugh again.

But you didn't find it romantic and I did. I think for a book to be romantic to me, I need to feel that the hero and heroine need to be with each other, the obstacles to that happening are difficult to overcome, I like at least one of them a lot and I want very much for them to end up with each other. FFTS had all of that. Christian and Maddy had a strong physical attraction to each other from early on in the novel. And they came to respect and admire each others' abilities. I think Christian also respected Maddy's moral values. In the beginning Christian needed Maddy to help him get over his affliction but while that was happening, he came to know her and fell in love with who she was.

Maddy's religion was a huge obstacle to her marrying Christian. It might be the biggest obstacle in romance fiction. But Maddy was not a good fit for the traditional Quaker religion of her birth, although she would have stayed with it and married a nice Quaker man if she had not met Christian. She might not have been very satisfied with that life. But Christian offered her an alternative that was a much better fit with who she really was. The whole book is about her struggle to reconcile her faith with her choice of him. It all rushed forward to that last emotional and very satisfying - for me - scene outside the Quaker meeting hall.

I liked Maddy because of her struggle with her faith. I was raised by a devout Catholic mother. During much of my life I have had to work to figure out what my core values are. Like Maddy, I had to set aside some of the principles of the religion of my birth. For instance, I believe the priesthood should be open to women. In fact, I disagree so much with the official precepts of the Catholic Church that I finally decided that I can't call myself Catholic any more. (This turned out to be a more wrenching experience than I anticipated.) So I empathized with Maddy's struggle.

I also admired Maddy for her intelligence and compassion. So I wanted her to work out her issues with Christian and find her happy ending. She needed to be with him if she was going to have a fulfilled life. The Quaker Gill could never be a good substitute.

So I did feel that Maddy and Christian needed to be with each other, they overcame huge obstacles to be together, I liked and admired them both (and I especially liked Maddy) and I very much wanted them to be together at the end of the book. That is why it is romantic to me.

One more thing I liked about this book is that it did not rely on misunderstandings to drive the plot. Christian and Maddy may have not always understood the depth of each other's love, but no lover ever does. But in spite of the difficulty of communication, they actually talked to each other. There were many places in the story when Kinsale might have kept a misunderstanding going, but she didn't. She didn't need to. The obstacles to this pair being together at the end were already great enough. She didn't have to add misunderstanding into the mix.
...more

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Apr 09, 2020 Jan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical

**** 4.5 Stars ****

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Nov 05, 2010 TJ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-romance, favorites

This book is the PERFECT example of the old cliche' "you can't judge a book by its cover". I was confused by the effusive praise for this story, thinking it just another dime store romance... judging by the cover. Never has that cliche hit home so strongly as when I started reading. Ms. Kinsale has taken an ordinary historical and completely turned it into a deep and riveting story with a richness seldom seen in this genre. In fact, I think the publishers have done a huge injustice to such a fin This book is the PERFECT example of the old cliche' "you can't judge a book by its cover". I was confused by the effusive praise for this story, thinking it just another dime store romance... judging by the cover. Never has that cliche hit home so strongly as when I started reading. Ms. Kinsale has taken an ordinary historical and completely turned it into a deep and riveting story with a richness seldom seen in this genre. In fact, I think the publishers have done a huge injustice to such a fine book by lumping it among the common. It is so VERY much more.

The main reason "Flowers" rises so far above is the subject matter itself. Kinsale has taken a young, prolific and unrepentant jaded rake and thrown him into the nightmare of experiencing a massive stroke, 19th century-style. She then adds a circumspect Quaker girl as his nurse and only hope for sanity or redemption in the asylum he is imprisoned in. The reader is led to see the horrific opinions and practices employed in that era before understanding, as we experience all the emotion, frustration and desperation felt through the eyes of this highly intelligent young man battling to re-learn how to think, talk and move again, all as the world labels him an imbecile and a lunatic.

We also experience the struggle of a young Quaker girl thrust into the rich and materialistic world of the aristocracy. Fighting to live her faith and keep her integrity as she unwillingly falls in love with this tortured Duke. The principles of honesty, frugality and total abstinence from carnal temptations seem totally nonexistent in the world she is thrust into.

Both stories are told with amazing compassion and unbelievable depth in understanding. Two subjects so common, yet so overlooked are addressed so well that I literally ached and cried along with the characters. Most important, I walked away from this story a much better person for having read it. THAT, my friends is a 5 star accomplishment in anyones book!

**disclaimer**
There are a couple of mildly steamy scenes, easily skipped if needed. ...more

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Feb 19, 2015 Zoe rated it it was ok

OK I admit, I have not finished reading the book. I am about 70% done. I stopped reading it a few months ago.

But let's face it: I am not going back to this book.

I started reading this book with high hopes. All the great reviews, the seemingly intriguing plots, one tortured hero and one kind heroine.

I must say that this book is written very well. The writing quality is not to be slighted. What puts me off in the story are the following 4 things:

1. Not enough romance: this is a romance novel, OK I admit, I have not finished reading the book. I am about 70% done. I stopped reading it a few months ago.

But let's face it: I am not going back to this book.

I started reading this book with high hopes. All the great reviews, the seemingly intriguing plots, one tortured hero and one kind heroine.

I must say that this book is written very well. The writing quality is not to be slighted. What puts me off in the story are the following 4 things:

1. Not enough romance: this is a romance novel, no? By romance I do not mean sex. I mean tender moments that remind you of the feelings of falling in love. Their interactions are very much those of a patient and his/her primary caregiver. While I can see how love could grow in such a relationship, I do not find it particularly romantic in this story.

2. The hero would not have given the heroine a second look if he was not sick: While the hero is not a gigantic ass, he is of noble birth and used to all the special treatments that afforded him. He is not snobish but he most definitely is privileged. I cannot imagine him ever ever ever spare the heroine a thought, had he not be mentally cripped by his accident. I feel that he is only dependant on the heroine because she is the only person who appeared to believe him. This type of relationship does not exactly spell out LOVE for me.

3. The heroine's "plain speech": I was never bothered by how a character talks in a book. The Scottish brogue for example, I have become almost "fluent" in reading it. But Maddie's Quaker background and speech bother me to no end. First of all I do not care for religious touches in my books unless I am reading a book that has a religious theme. Secondly the Quaker speech made it difficult for me to feel close to her. I am half afraid most of the time that she would start preaching to me, telling me that I should believe in God in the exact way that she does.

4. The heroine likes the hero more: despite her reservation, I feel that Maddie is a lot more emotionally invested in the hero whose name I do not recall. His affection for Maddie is rooted in dependency. He depends on Maddie for survival. Of course he wants her beside him. That is not love. But Maddie believed in him, even when she had no reasons to. She believed in him, supported him and was always there for him. I fail to see how he deserves such dedication.

I tried so hard to like this book. As I have said, it is a beautifully written story. But the story does not speak to me. It has things that I cannot abide and does not have things that I look for in an engaging book. The book and I are just not meant to be. ...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Dina marked it as to-avoid · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-romance

From K. @ Ami:
'I recently finished reading "Flowers from the Storm" by Laura Kinsale. This is a well-loved book by many and remains high on the "keeper" shelves out there. So how come I can't figure out why so many people fell in love with this couple? I just don't get it. I found the book to be "all suffering, all the time" (i.e. an over-abundance of serious issues and long drawn out angst).

A brief synop.: [SPOILER - BUT IT'S THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE NOVEL!:] The hero begins the story (litera From K. @ Ami:
'I recently finished reading "Flowers from the Storm" by Laura Kinsale. This is a well-loved book by many and remains high on the "keeper" shelves out there. So how come I can't figure out why so many people fell in love with this couple? I just don't get it. I found the book to be "all suffering, all the time" (i.e. an over-abundance of serious issues and long drawn out angst).

A brief synop.: [SPOILER - BUT IT'S THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE NOVEL!:] The hero begins the story (literally the first few pages of the Prologue) in bed with another man's wife (in the other man's home no less), discussing the fact that he has impregnated her and she needs to make an effort to sleep with her husband again soon in order to pass the baby off as her husband's. (Already questioning the hero's integrity in a dire way here.) Very shortly thereafter he experiences (what is presumed to be) a stroke, which lands him in a mental hospital, employing methods of the times which are cruel and in no way reflect current modes of medicine. There he encounters the heroine (a Quaker woman) whom he previously briefly crossed paths with while jointly working on mathematical theories with her father (our hero is a mathematical genius). She is there to volunteer time with the patients at the facility, and there is where they begin a journey together to help him recover his cognitive speech abilities (the primary disability he suffered) and regain his social standard in life (he's a duke). The hero is not bedridden or physically disabled to any great impairment other than signals of the brain connecting with his right hand to operate effectively (and his ability to talk). In that day and age, there was little known of the effects of strokes, and basically victims of same were treated as mentally unstable.

The two go on, in my opinion, as classically dysfunctional and co-dependent peple trying to make a stab as a couple. The heroine extremely frustrated me, as she went on for 32 chapters struggling against who she was as she was rasied (her Quaker sociatal obligations) and berating who she really wanted to become, as she was drawn to the hero. Consequently, she made him suffer for her indecision the entire journey. Mind you, there are only 36 chapters in this book. The final chapter is widely loved and admired (and it was quite captivating, even for me), but I just did not believe it for these two people, and it certainly wasn't enough to save the story.

Some people do go for "all emotional self-torture, all the time" when it comes to what they consider a good story, but that's just not me I guess. Apparently the "balance of happiness" in any given novel when compared to human suffering, can't be considered "serious" reading for a lot of people, I suppose. I don't agree. Like real life, it's more the progress achieved in points of the journey that deserve the most attention and ultimate recognition to my way of thinking. Afterall, it doesn't take much work to remain "miserable and undecided," and that's exactly how I interpreted this read the entire way for the heroine. The hero does come to some self-improvements, but I flucuated between truly caring for his character or just feeling sorry for the way the heroine constantly demonized him and his way of life (ton society). Basically Kinsale failed to slowly "transition" both the characters' self-enlightenment in general, and their journey to establish justifiable romantic feelings for one another IMO, therefore, the ending for me was jarring in effect, and just unbelieveable. I never really connected with either H/H and I believe they never truly understood their own connection.'
...more

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About Laura Kinsale

Laura Kinsale

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Laura Kinsale is a New York Times bestselling author and both winner and multiple nominee for the Best Book of the Year award given by the Romance Writers of America.

She become a romance writer after six years as a geologist--a career which consisted of getting out of bed in the middle of the night and driving hundreds of miles alone across west Texas to sit drilling rigs, wear a hard hat, and at ...more

Books by Laura Kinsale

The Shadow and the Star (Victorian Hearts, #2)

For My Lady's Heart (Medieval Hearts, #1)

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“The baby closed its mouth, staring at him with hope and small hiccups.

“Jesus,” he said. He lay down on the bed, pulling the pillow under his head, and drew the whole bundle of coat, shawl and infant up against his shirt. A tiny hand closed tight on the lace. One sob erupted, and then changed midbreath to a soft sigh.

Women, he thought sardonically, sinking in the bedclothes, with sleep revolving and closing in his head. He moved one finger, feeling a cheek as soft as down.

What’s your name?

Ask the girl. Remember that…

Maddy…

It was wrong. I must leave thee now.

Don’t cry. Don’t cry, little girl… I’m so tired. I never deserved you, did I? Maddy… but I loved you.

I always loved you.” — 31 likes

“He liked radical politics and had a fondness for chocolate.” — 21 likes

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