Review: Flowers From The Storm by Laura Kinsale

Hello! Yes, we are still here. 😀

Things will continue to be vewwwy quiet on the site leading up to Christmas.

Christmas! Can you believe there are only 27 days left until Santa comes to visit? This year has gone by super fast, and here at The Book Pushers we are coming up to our blog anniversary next year. So to celebrate, on our anniversary week in February, we are having a cracking giveaway – one that you will not want to miss!

Lately, I haven’t had the time to write up full length reviews, so here there be some mini reviews instead. Ok, it turned into something longer. 😛

Flowers From The Storm by Laura Kinsale

I’m sort of a newbie when it comes to Laura Kinsale’s books. My first introduction to her was The Shadow and The Star – which I read a while back and enjoyed. But due to my never-ending TBR pile I didn’t buy any more books of hers, so I kept note of her name.

With Miss Kinsale’s much awaited new release: Lessons in French being released next year, I thought I’d re-visit her world again. I wasn’t sure which book of hers to purchase, but decided to go for Flowers From The Storm after noticing it seemed to be one of THE Historical Romance books to read. And indeed it is.

Blurb taken from Amazon.com:

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 casual attentions fascinated the sheltered Maddy Timms.

Then one fateful day she receives the shocking news — the duke is lost to the world. And Maddy knows it is her destiny to help him and her only chance to find the true man behind the wicked façade.

But she never dreamed her gentle, healing touch would alter his life and her own so completely — and bind them together in need, desire … and love.

Flowers of The Storm is a heavyweight historical romance; one that I will remember for a long, long time. I love historical romances but in my experience, few have there been where the character(s) and the story were so unusual and so very captivating. I can say with certainty that Flowers From The Storm will be one of those rare books for me, and while I may not have loved the characters, the overall story is so heart wrenching and compelling that I had an extremely hard time putting down the book.

The heroine of the story, Maddy, is a Quaker, one who is devout in her faith but finds herself struggling with the feelings stirred up inside her by Christian, the Duke of Jervaulx. Christian, who is an utter rakehell, hasn’t gone stark raving mad. He is a victim of a stroke that left him unable to speak.

Miss Kinsale did an exceptional job in showing and conveying  the frustrations and violent outbursts Christian expresses – which is his only way to vent and release his emotions from the hell he is living in. Christian was a mathematical genius and to be left in a madhouse, treated abominably by the attendants and unable to speak and form coherent words, showcases how truly helpless Christian had become and the severe changes in his circumstances from living the life of a Duke.

And it’s not until Maddy comes along that things change for Christian. Maddy had an endless amount of patience for Christian, by sticking by him and helping him become ‘sane’ in the world’s eye again. At times, I did get exasperated with Maddy’s holier than thou attitude, but it was a testament to how strong her faith was that made her struggle so very hard internally with the feelings Christian brought about.

In Christian’s eyes,  his ‘Maddygirl’ was his sole lifeline, and that dependence on her slowly changes into a different need and want that is woven into one of the most complex love stories I have read.  Flowers From The Storm is the journey of two very unique characters that are poles apart in personality, social status and religion, but whom come together by their need for one another that surpasses everything else.  But this story shows how love in itself simply can’t fix and hold them together, but shows how truly brave these protagonists are in overcoming outside and personal obstacles to be together.

I give Flowers From The Storm a rating of 5/5.