Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale

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 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 facade.

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.

*****

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 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.

A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare

Minerva Highwood, one of Spindle Cove's confirmed spinsters, needs to be in Scotland.

Colin Sandhurst, Lord Payne, a rake of the first order, needs to be...anywhere but Spindle Cove.

These unlikely partners have one week to

• fake an elopement
• convince family and friends they're in "love"
• outrun armed robbers
• survive their worst nightmares
• travel four hundred miles without killing each other

All while sharing a very small carriage by day and an even smaller bed by night.

What they don't have time for is their growing attraction. Much less wild passion. And heaven forbid they spend precious hours baring their hearts and souls.

Suddenly one week seems like exactly enough time to find a world of trouble. And maybe...just maybe...love.

*****

5 Wickedly Feel Good Stars!

A Week to be Wicked is the second book in Tessa Dare’s thoroughly entertaining, completely brilliant Spindle Cove series. It’s funny, romantic, poignant, passionate, sexy, inspiring, clever, delightful… in a word – it’s wonderful!

The Series:

Not all young ladies are looking forward to seasons, balls, comings out, love matches - or any match at all, for that matter! But what’s a lady to do when her whole life will be defined by how well she marries? How do young misses cope when Marriage Minded Mamas won’t pass up any opportunity to introduce their daughters – in some cases, kicking and screaming – into polite society?

Welcome to Spindle Cove! On the surface Spindle Cove seems to be the kind of place Mothers can bring their daughters to prepare for their debuts. It’s a place to relax, recuperate, to gird up their loins and plan their attack. Again, this is on the surface. But what Spindle Cove really is, is a place where these young ladies can be themselves. Where they’re not just accepted for their eccentricities, they’re encouraged to nourish them! But don’t let their mamas find out!


My Review:

I have to say, I’m absolutely in love with Colin and ‘Millicent ... Madeira ... Michaela ... Marilyn ... Minerva! They’re such amazing people! Colin is so vulnerable, and he hides that vulnerability behind his sense of humor. Joking his way through any situation, never even considering the possibility he might fail at something...but not really. Inside Colin there's a nightmare so deep, so tragic, that I couldn't help but feel that he was just one short step away from a breakdown. He's strong, don't get me wrong, and maybe I'm totally off in how I'm reading him, but regardless... he's one tormented man. Thankfully, he has Minerva, an amazing heroine who cares little for what society thinks of her. She's accepted her "spinster" title, and has nothing to lose. So why not live her dream? Fortunate for her, she has Colin to help her do precisely that!

Apart they're wonderful, together they're perfect!

The Bottom Line:

I absolutely love the idea behind this series! What a fun, unique place to be, Spindle Cove. It’s the perfect setting for mischief, mayhem – intentional or otherwise – and romance, and I can't wait to move on to the next book, A Lady by Midnight.

This snippet had me giggling:

“Jesus,” he finally managed, pushing water off his face. “Jesus Christ and John the Baptist. For that matter, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.” Still not enough. He needed to reach back to the Old Testament for this. “Obadiah. Nebuchadnezzar. Methuselah and Job.”

“Be calm,” she said, taking him by the shoulders. “Be calm. And there are women in the Bible, you know.”

“Yes. As I recall it, they were trouble, every last one..."

Excerpt From: Dare, Tessa. “A Week to Be Wicked.”      

The Devil's Thief by Samantha Kane

The daughter of a reformed jewel thief, Julianna Harte knows a thing or two about stealth. When the foundling home she provides for finds itself in dire financial straits, Julianna is forced to do the unthinkable. In a bit of misguided Robin Hood derring-do, she slips through the window of a wealthy rake to search for a treasure she knows is there: an invaluable pearl. But when the towering and very naked occupant of the moonlit bedroom ambushes her with a bargain—a night in his bed in exchange for the pearl—Julianna doesn’t know if it’s masculine heat or sheer desperation that makes his terms so tempting.

Alasdair Sharpe had no intention of keeping his end of the bargain. Planning to offer his little cat burglar carte blanche instead, he promptly loses himself in the delights of unexpected pleasure. But when he awakes the next morning to find his family heirloom gone, fury quickly replaces sensual languor. Of course, Alasdair is more than willing to use seduction to reclaim his stolen pearl—and find the key to Julianna’s heart.

 **********

The Devil’s Thief is the first book in Samantha Kane’s The Saint’s Devils series. It’s a fun, sexy, romantic story, opening in a most unusual way and grabbing my attention from the start. Right off the bat Ms. Kane gives us everything we need to know about Julianna’s late night break-in into Alasdair’s bedroom, and I enjoyed that because it left plenty of page time to getting to know the actual people involved in the story.

Alasdair and Julianna are our hero and heroine, and both are fun, intelligent, and romantic, and together, a very passionate couple. Julianna’s unconventional upbringing is really what sets the stage for this story and allows for the introduction of some likewise unconventional characters. The other members of The Saint’s Devils, Roger Templeton, and Sir Hilary St. John, their group’s namesake, are both truly interesting people whose stories are sure to be just as exciting and deliciously sexy as Alasdair and Julianna’s is.

One of my favorite people in the book turned out to be a seventeen year old pimp-and-fencer-of-stolen-goods whose mother of his two children is in prison for murder. But don’t let Wiley’s seedy business dealings and association with thieves and killers fool you - he’s got ethics! I can only hope he’ll get a story of his own!

The bottom line: Engaging, entertaining, fast paced and very, very sexy, The Devil's Thief is a great start to this series. Roger Templeton's story is up next and, based on the excerpt at the back of this book, promises to be another great read!

4 of 5 stars

My thanks to Novel Sidekick, Random House, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.