Seize the Fire

This is by far the most profound romance I've ever read. It is a tortuous journey toward an enlightened self-acceptance for the hero and toward maturity and self-acceptance for the heroine. How the protagonists arrive at their binding love is filled with pitfalls for each of them and totally unexpected plot twists that culminate in an incredibly deep understanding of each other, themselves and the promise of a healing love. It is an OMG romance that left me in wonder and awe that Laura Kinsale was able to write it. I have read all of her books and been wowed again and again, but this story was over and above any of the others.

I have been bingeing on Laura Kinsale books since I read "Flowers in the Heart", all seeking something to read after Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Until Kinsale I had found no books that developed characters of any interest compared to the Outlander characters. Kinsale comes the closest I have found, not really the same and not in the same genre (Kinsale's books are truly romance novels and Outlander defies characterization) but literate, well-written, and with interesting, surprising, and complicated plots. This is so far (after having read four) my favorite of her books, although I also loved Flowers.

The hero of this novel is an interesting man and I grew to love him and his flaws. The heroine is naive and sometimes annoying--Kinsale tends to make women less attractive in personality than her men--but she ends up being persuasive. While I have a picture in my mind's eye of the hero, Sheridan Drake, however, I never could picture exactly what Olympia St. Leger looks like. She is supposed to be plump and not really that beautiful, so it's hard to see his strong need for her. But maybe I misunderstand the description.

Anyway I like this book very much even though sometimes the plot twists, which never cease, caused an emotional roller coaster for me. As always with Kinsale, however, there is a Happily Ever After ending, so a reader knows that the downs will be followed by ups.

I recommend this for hard-to-please literate readers of the type who enjoy classics such as "Jane Eyre" and Jane Austen novels, as well as to the Outlander community, who are always desperate for something to read while waiting for the next installment of the Fraser saga.

great story and fascinating to read.