Any Laura Kinsale fans out there?

[AKAmyself]

I've just finished For My Lady's Heart and I will burst if I dont talk to someone about it!

[bemusedbewildered]

i'll check it out - i am on the look out for some historical steamy to read on holiday! thanks for recommending

[AKAmyself]

Let me know! My faves are For My Lady's Heart (though some are put off by the Middle English dialogue - i loved it!); Flowers from the storm (though some are put off by the disabled male lead - I loved it!); and Uncertain Magic (though some are put off by how weird it all is - but, you guessed it, I loved it!)

Do you have any recs in return?

[AKAmyself]

I see you have commented on my other thread - thanks :)

[bemusedbewildered]

i started it last night - amazing! Thanks!! Had to force myself to turn the light off at 11pm!

[AKAmyself]

Oh which one! Tell me tell me!

[AKAmyself]

If it's FMLH, I want to know every single way in which you love and adore Ruck

[bemusedbewildered]

FMLH! Ooooh I adore him - the way he was stitched up and fleeced for all his money but lets his wife go because he realizes it's what she needs to do. I'm at the part where he's agreed to be Melanthe's challenger, been to see her and realized she didn't remember him. Sadly I have to work today - very tempted to pick up the book again!

[AKAmyself]

I'm insanely jealous that you get to read this for the first time and you have so much Wonder ahead of you. Am not going to give anything away but truly Ruck is the perfect knight and one of the best romantic heroes of all time. Melanthe is a brilliant character too but it takes a while before her motivations become clear.

But Ruck - oh Ruck.

[bemusedbewildered]

so enjoying it - she's great at writing about the deserted houses due to the plague, the scene with the falcon hunting the ducks and the heron. Didn't see the twist with Allegretto and Cara either! It's a really clever, complicated story and better than anything I've read in quite some time! Had to force myself to turn off the light at 1130 again.

[AKAmyself]

The falcon hunt is a fascinating scene isn't it! So well set and paced, and the first time we get a sense of Melanthe's fierceness. I could feel myself transported into time and space! Ruck also gets a glorious Darcy moment and I just loved the way we "see" his body through Melanthes eyes for the first time and sense her deep attraction to him (as well as the sense of shock and novelty at it!).

Didn't you adore the way Ruck gets turned on by her hands poking through the litters curtains and confesses to her how he's "burning"? I loved his vulnerability.

[bemusedbewildered]

yes - she does a good job getting back into the mindset of the time too, the superstition, the way life could be over so quickly due to bandits, plague, magic, the belief that a woman could ensorcell you, the fact that Ruck doesn't know whether he's still married or not and his innocence about sending money to his wife even though he hasn't heard back in years.

This is in a different class to most of the romantic historical novels I've read in a while! You may like Shona Maclean and the redemption of Alexander Seaton - it's not quite as good a story but it's similarly good at evoking a feeling of being there.

[AKAmyself]

Where did you get to, Bemused?!?

Dying for second hand Ruck love.

[bemusedbewildered]

Stayed up far too late reading about them getting to wolfscar - loved him learning all the ways of sinning from confession!

Ruck is a fantastic character - a pure heart and yet an understanding of how people work. The way he's tormented by the idea he's still married is done so well, and the idea that he has to be married to Melanthe - that rings true in a way that a lot of other books don't quite make real, the church was corrupt but the prospect of hell fires and God's grace is palpable. The passion is written so well, as well as his strength to deny himself so many times.

Cant get to grips with what's going on with Allegretto, Cara and Guy, need to pay better attention to that part of the plot.

I can see him - she's such a fanstastic descriptive writer. I'm loving the Middle English too.

[bemusedbewildered]

The Ruck obsession has gotten to the point I have had to put my iPad down to pay attention to the day job!

[AKAmyself]

Yes yes yes to all of that! I am so glad you are sharing the Ruck obsession with me, makes me feel less lonely and less insane! Loved the marriage scene, the confessions stuff is so hilarious, and I also love th way the differences in station and experience between Ruck and melanthe are not magically resolved by luuurve and sex - they are both difficult, battle scarred individuals with very different views of themselves and the world. I found melanthes "hardness" particularly heartbreaking and beautifully set out by the contrast to Rucks vulnerability. I love how she shows and doesn't tell eg with Melanthe only being able to sleep when Ruck is around.

Not a coincidence that they could only come together when they'd been play acting at role-reversals in Torbec!

[AKAmyself]

Rucks contradictions - his physical dominance and strength, his military prowess, the armour he wears literally non stop conceal a heart that has remained pure, untainted and faithful to the ideals of courtly love and marriage. He has suffered so much heartbreak and has been alone so long, and yet his capacity to love and give is undented

[AKAmyself]

And yyy to the Middle English! I love it so much I almost said "grant mercy" to dh yesterday instead of thank you. Lol

[bemusedbewildered]

i may have had a few thoughts of what DH would look like in chainmail :)

[AKAmyself]

Eh. Chain mail doesn't do it for me. Cuir boulli, otoh...

[bemusedbewildered]

Well that too!

[AKAmyself]

I have downloaded the audiobook..

[bemusedbewildered]

Great solution for tired eyes!