I have no idea why I waited so long to read this book. I guess I thought it would be just too heavy. Anyway, OMG - AMAZING and possibly my very favorite romance book ever. Its just so beautiful. So now I've started The Shadow and the Star and already I love it and I'm only on page 35 lol. Any other Kinsale books that I should definitely be sure to read?

Margaret, I have all of the Kinsales on my keeper list and The Shadow and the Star is my most favorite. Midsummer Moon and Seize the Fire are also heavy favorites of mine. I will thrilled to see her website with her latest coming soon, Lessons in French.

http://www.laurakinsale.com/

Keri, I just ordered Seize the Fire so I'm glad to hear its also good :-) Her writing is just perfection!

Read them all, they are wonderful!!!

I would just read them all to be safe.  There are a couple I didn't like, but they're all Kinsales, so good or not, you have to read them all:P  My favorites are Flowers From the Storm, For My Lady's Heart, Shadow Heart, Seize the Fire, and My Sweet Folly.  Kinsale can be extremely annoying because she seems to want to run your emotions through a blender, but she's never bad in the sense that some other writers can be.  I think she gets carried away sometimes, but she's always gifted.

I have Flowers from the Storm in TBR..what's it like? is it a bunch of heartbreaking drama or just a nice romance? gotta know what to expect! oh and I don't mind spoilers :-)

Susanna -  I would definitely NOT describe this book as "just a nice romance". It is quite heartwrenching and incredibly realistic. One of the most beautifully written romance novels I have ever read. This is NOT fluff. In a nutshell it is the story of a strictly religious Quaker woman who falls in love with a severely disabled Duke after finding him locked away in a asylum assumed to be mad after having suffered what appears to be a stroke. She believes that she has a calling from God to take care of him and during the process - a long, painful and heartwrenching process - they fall in love. A good portion of the beginning of the book takes place inside the asylum when the Duke is still barely able to speak and no one understands him. His speech is completely unintelligible at first to everyone around him including the reader and so this is challenging but so well done because as he gets better we the reader begin to understand him and hear how he understands others. Its just brilliant. Thats a very simple description because I really wouldn't want to give too much away - its all just too perfect and should be experienced first hand. If you only like your romance light and fun - this is definitely not for you. This book was for me beautifully haunting and just so perfect up until the very last word.

I will have to read it. My favorite book is Shadow and the Star.

What I loved about Kinsale is that her heroes always had something "wrong" with them......and the heroine was the strong one. I just loved that the men really needed the women so much.

ok thanks! I'll be sure not to read this one when I 'm needing my usual light and fluffy! sometimes I can handle the more grownup stuff but jus tlike to know what in my tbr is light/fluffy and what's more serious!

The description of Kinsale's writing reminds me of Karen Ranney where the men aways have some hole that needs to be filled and fixed by the love of a strong woman.  I do love that theme because it makes so much sense to me.   I have had 4 of her books on my TBR pile, I better get busy.

edited to correct spelling of author's name, it is the least I can do...

I notice that Uncertain Magic isn't mentioned, so maybe that's one of her "bad" ones? I despised it intensely, so maybe I should try out this one or Shadow/Star & see if I like her writing better. Because Uncertain Magic SUH-UCKED.

What I loved about Kinsale is that her heroes always had something "wrong" with them......and the heroine was the strong one. I just loved that the men really needed the women so much.

That's the type of story I love to read! I just finished a book where the heroine is always bursting into tears, so despite how heavy "Flowers..." might be, I think I think a nice strong heroine is just what I'm looking for!

And thanks Pamela for giving me another new-to-me author to try :D

I liked Uncertain Magic, it just wasn't one of my most favs. There are a few others that I just didn't care for at all.

I really liked Uncertain Magic.  I don't mention it as often because it's a bit different with the paranormal elements, and the hero is a pill, but I really enjoyed it.  Never been tempted to read it again, but I do have a copy on my keeper shelf.

I love all of Kinsale's middle books from MIdSUMMER MOON (her third book) on. UNCERTAIN MAGIC is her 2nd book. I dont think she quite reaches the what I consider the Kinsale style (tormented hero) until her 4th book - SEIZE THE FIRE.

A while ago, I asked for authors who write dark and angsty and Ranney's name kept on being mentioned so I tried her. I find her writing more distancing than Kinsale and in one of her books - PROMISE OF LOVE (18th C Scottish) - it's the heroine who is tormented.

Seton, could you explain more about Ranney as I've been looking for a new author. Thanks!

Margaret, I dont think I should since I dont consider myself a Ranney fan. Hopefully, Kim will chime in. I know she likes Ranney far more than me.

For tormented H/H historicals, I prefer Mary Jo Putney. Try her Fallen Angels series or her Silk trilogy.

Kim H. - I think that's why I disliked Uncertain Magic so much. It had paranormal (blech - especially that ridiculous final scene with the pixies) and the "hero" pretty much taunted the heroine throughout the whole book as "little girl" while brooding like Heathcliff on steroids. I guess it was supposed to be sensual & twagic or something. At any rate, it didn't work for me at all. Too much angst has me throwing any book against a wall.

I've had all of her books for a LONG time and only read Flowers and loved it.  She is another author that I keep meaning to read.  I honestly think I am lured to a book by its cover.  Most of her books that I have, are with the older covers and when I see them, I think ...not in the mood.

Give a book an attractive cover and I have a tendency to reach for it first. 

Since I mentioned Karen Ranney I will talk about her:  I liked the Scottish series The Highland Lords about the five brothers.  I think of those alot when I think of her typical style.  I also really liked one that not many other readers do, Autumn in Scotland.  I thought it touching and funny with great women characters and a good story line. " dark and angsty" is not how I would have described her writing tho.

I also love Mary Jo Putney's books.  Every single one that I have read was a one or two day read for me.  I like her women characters and I like the situations of her plots.  Very well written.  You never get the TSTL herione from Putney.  The series of three books about brides was my first Putney, Wild Child, Bartered Bride and China Bride.  The Rake has a honored spot on my keeper shelf.  They are all good novels, but I can see why someone would prefer them to another author, including Karen Ranney.

I thought Autumn In Scotland was silly and I was put out in a big way when I read it.  But you have to take into account that I was really into Ranney at the time, and I was looking forward to this book like it was the second coming:P  In truth, KR had let me down before with one of the worst books I have ever read, period: Upon a Wicked Time.  I wish I had skipped the book and had elective eye-surgery instead:P  Coincidentally, this is much the same way I felt about Kinsale's The Hidden Heart - lol.  Brilliant Karen Ranney is books like My Beloved and the much underrated After The Kiss.  Autumn In Scotland, for all its faults, at least wasn't as bad as The Scottish Companion.  Her last two books have been a vast improvement over the boring fluff she was writing, but they're still not *quite* as good as she's capable of.  The woman who wrote Tapestry is capable of so much more.  IMO, the Scottish Lords series wasn't anything to write home about, but they were all consistently very readable & enjoyable.  Think about how few series' there are that consistently manage to be in the B+ & up range from beginning to end.  There aren't many.

Just finished Flowers from the Storm myself.....THANKS so much for the recommendation.   I LOVED it.  Looking forward to reading more of this author.

So glad you liked it Pauline! I finished The Shadow and the Star  a couple weeks back and while it wasn't as good for me as Flowers it was EXCELLENT!!!

I am half way through Flowers from the Storm and it is truly in a class by itself.  The closest to her writing I can compare is a book by Mary Balogh, The Secret Pearl.  I cannot compare Karen Ranney or really anyone else to this author.  She is wordy, but in such a good way.  I just read a description of the Devil that I had to read three times before moving on because it was so brilliant.  Thanks, Margaret, for recommending this book.