Rating: 
Summary: I am still a "Kinsale" fan!
Review: As much as I love Ms. Kinsale's work, I was a little dissapointed. A very long reading for someone who could not put a Kinsale's novel down before. When I read a historical romance, I do not expect accuracy, just believability and this book took too long for me to arrive to the conclusion. Nevertheless, MS. KINSALE....WHERE ARE YOU? I HAVE BEN WAITING FOR THE LIKES OF "THE SHADOW AND THE STAR", "SEIZE THE FIRE", AND "MIDSUMMER MOON"
Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical
Review: I have a good friend, a well educated woman, who put this book down half the way through because she didn't like the dialog. Her loss. It's a very rewarding read. The dialog is lyrical, the characters real, strong, and less than perfect. I like the way she didn't force modern values and sensibilities into the plot. Different forces shaped these people and you were well aware of it.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly Perfect!
Review: I have been reading historical romance for 20 years and this is the best book I've ever read. Melanthe, as a heroine, is not always likable, but she's understandable, and just when I didn't think the author, Ms. Kinsale, could ever redeem her again for me, she did! And wonderfully. Contrary to what most publishers want to see, very early character development and quick and easy relational issues, Ms. Kinsale built a story for me that rooted deeply in my soul. Ruck grew into a wise and silently strong man, when it comes to dealing with his lady love. When dealing with other males, he's a to die for hunk of muscle and steel (armour). I nearly died laughing when he explained to his lady love where he'd learned his carnal "secrets." Melanthe is not so complicated as some might think. She's strong-willed but knows a gravity issue when she sees one. She has taken extraordinary measures throughout her life to "save" innocents. Obviously much of this is missed by other reviewers, but Melanthe is not selfish, nor is she a bleeding heart. She's a powerful woman of strength, control and command. She's a goddess who's wins the heart of a very worthy man. The castles are beautiful, as are the abbeys, forests, even the desert and sand, rain storms and even the plague all have their rightful place here. I can't give away the end. I just can't. It's too good. Melanthe does retain her sarcastic wit though and Ruck -- well, Ruck.... well.... Aaahhh! If you like knights in armour, satin and velvet; Princesses in ermine lined robes and lots of emeralds, you'll love this book. If you don't, read it anyway, I promise you'll love them when you're done.
Rating: 
Summary: What Happened?
Review: I have read every one of Laura Kinsale's books and have loved them all...up until now. I have been forcing myself to finish this book. The characters are one dimensional and have no redeeming characteristics at all! I was all set to jump into another set of Kinsale's great characters but found myself stuck with a witchy heroine and a hero with no will of his own. I look forward to reading more of her work and I can just hope that they will be more comparable in quality to all her others!!
Rating: 
Summary: Tiresome, Tedious and Too Impressed With Itself
Review: I have read some of the past reviews for this book with astonishment. I had to re-check the cover: did I really read the same book? Ah yes, I did. This was one of the dullest books I have ever read. It has nothing to do with the Middle English vocabulary (although to have her characters speak ME but think in contemporary dialogue is very jarring) or the research and everything to do with plot and characterization. I found the lead characters cold and just not very likeable. Ms. Kinsale seems intent on proving to her readers that she can do research and imbues every sentence with a historical artifact. This is actually a complement since without this the interest level for the book would have waned after the first page. Having read her brilliant "Flowers in the Storm." I was aware that Kinsale does not write a typical romance. In her attempts to 'darken' the traditional medieval tale, Ms. Kinsale seems to have disregarded rule number one: always engage your reader. I couldn't have cared less about Melanthe's struggles and Ruck's obsession with her seemed ludicrous. The political machinations seem too much of an obvious plot point directing the characters, rather than driving them. Overall, a rather jumbled mess. But for those of you (and apparently there were many) who liked Allegretto, his story is told in "Shadowheart." Unfortunately, this reader will curteously abstain.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best historical romances I've read
Review: I haven't read many of Kinsale's books, but was very pleasantly surprised with this one. So much historical romance is formula fiction, light on character, plot, and history. Kinsale doesn't just throw in a castle, a suit of armor, a few misunderstandings and some sex and call it a book. These characters and their relationships are complex and fascinating. I really could not put this one down until I was finished--bags under my eyes at work the next day.
Rating: 
Summary: Read this one
Review: I read romances compulsively, but there are very few I would reread. This is one of the rare ones that I would. Melanthe and Ruck, despite the fantasy of their situations, are both believable characters. Melanthe especially manages to be both a strong female character and to be believable within her time period, and unlike so many heroines in this genere, isn't some implausibly virtuous, virginal miss, but a real woman. The love that develops between Ruck and Melanthe truly transcends the barriers of class and circumstance. Whether or not the middle english is entirely authentic, it does add to the dark, poetic atmosphere of the novel. Romance doesn't get much better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Review: I've just finished my third reading of this wonderful book, and I like it more each time. Laura Kinsale is truly the mistress of her art, writing characters who stay with you long after you've read the last line. Melanthe is probably the most interesting and complex heroine I've ever encountered in a romance novel, and Ruck a valiant and lovable hero, but it is Allegreto, Melanthe's courtier, who truly stands out here. I know I'm not the only one waiting impatiently for his story.
Rating:
Summary: Kinsale Rocks!
Review: I've read all the reviews, and now have to put in my two cents! FMLH is one of the very best books I have ever read in my life. I rate it up there with SEIZE THE FIRE, another favorite. I have two copies of FMLH, one as a loaner, the other book as mine, all mine. It is intelligently written, historically accurate, and the characters are so well drawn they came alive for me while reading. At first the language slowed me down, but once I found the rhythm, I cannot imagine it being written in any other style. It suited the characters and beautiful tale so well. No, I have never met Ms Kinsale, but I would love to make her acquaintance! I'd beg, plead, and wheedle a story about Allegretto...
Rating:
Summary: Heartwrenching and Beautiful
Review: I've read thousands of romances, including all of Ms. Kinsale's excellent catalogue -- but this one tops them all, in my view. There has never been a better female protagonist than the Princess Melanthe -- complex, driven, fighting for survival while caught between dark and powerful forces bent on devouring her. Twisting and turning, she uses her brains and her beauty to keep them all at bay. Ruck, in his strength and simple-minded devotion to her, was less interesting to me, but even here, Kinsale doesn't make him a cardboard cut-out of a hero. Ruck has his own demons, and a nobility of spirit which makes it ultimately believable that a woman like Melanthe would recognize in him a man to whom she could entrust her heart and even her life. He is a wonderful counterpart to Melanthe's deceptions and strategems. But as others have noted, by far the most compelling and fascinating character is Allegreto. Dark, shiveringly dangerous, glitteringly beautiful -- he and Melanthe are unequalled in romance fiction -- characters whose dark sides rule them, but who still retain hearts and spirits which draw us to them. I talk about romance novels often, with friends -- this is the only one I get so emotional about that I can't even discuss it! I love this book.
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