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.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best romances I have ever read
Review: Kinsale is my favorite romance author, but I would not recommend all of her books. Often she starts with a great premise only to have the book weighed down by convoluted plots (like My Sweet Folly). And a few of her heroines are annoying (Olympia with her naivete from Seize the Fire, for example). So it was with few expectations that I opened the pages of For My Lady's Heart. But this book blew me away - the prose, the characters and the plot were woven seamlessly together; I could not find a single flaw in this book. I especially loved the heroine Melanthe. I usually prefer my heroines young and virginal, so it's with surprise that I find that widowed Melanthe is my Kinsale favorite heroine. She's strong without being amoral. She's a cynic and yet her love for Ruck is unreserved and selfless. Their love scenes are fantastic, simultaneouly erotically charged and funny. It's rare in romance to find both hero and heroine with little sexual experience and I enjoyed their mutual discovery of passion. As to the prose, Kinsale does use Middle English, but not to the extent of duplicating Chaucer. I did not find the prose to be difficult. This book ranks with my favorite Kinsale novels, Flowers from the Storm and The Shadow and the Star. Reading For My Lady's Heart gratified me as few books have. I cannot praise it enough.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best stories I have ever read
Review: Laura Kinsale amazes me. I read novels for the characters. I want to meet characters who are complex and not easily understood on the surface. I want the entire book to be an unravelling of the personalities involved -- I want to know the hero as well as I know my own husband, and I want to know the heroine as well as I know myself. And I want to love them both.This book does not disappoint. Kinsale shows an incredible sense of compassion for people by the way she portrays human frailty. I don't think many writers could create a character like Ruck -- puppy-like in his loyalty to a woman who didn't even know he existed. Or Melanthe, beautiful, cold and cruel. How could a doormat like Ruck be a hero we could fall in love with? How could an unfeeling, selfish heroine like Melanthe be someone we could identify with? Only Laura Kinsale could weave a story around these two characters that allows us to understand them so fully. She reminds me of the basic goodness of people, and she reminds me that sometimes there is a lot more to people than meets the eye.
Rating: 
Summary: Romance of man and woman living by deep values
Review: Loved language, suggestive of that day's English without being obscure. Ruck's wife reminds me of Margaret Kempe's writings, but machinations of "Church" would have pleased me better if misdeeds attributed to specific churchman. Liked people with character and not just characteristics.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary Romantic Literature
Review: Melanthe is a wonderfully unique and fascinating character, a woman of great wealth, lands, and connection, who, in spite of and as a result of her wealth and position, is a pawn in the games of men. Melanthe learns at a young age that the wisest course of action is complete suppression of her true feelings and a stragegic mix of dominance and submission towards the men who hold her fate in their unscrupulous hands. Straying from this course in her past has led to tragedy and death. Widowed from her aged husband from an arranged marriage, Melanthe becomes an object of obsession for the greedy, scheming and powerful Gian Navona, who has determined to take Melanthe as his bride. Navona is a vague, looming, mysterious presence throughout the book. The dark, intriguing Allegreto is Navona's son, whose duty it is to bring Melanthe and her fortune to his father. Ruck is a mysterious knight without a name who has sworn his liege to the Lady Melanthe and exhibits an unwavering, sacrificial, (and secretly passionate) devotion towards her. Ruck's fierce loyalty and obsession are the result of a complex manifestation of a memory of a small but significant act of benevolence Melanthe enacted towards him during a tragic episode in his life. Over the years, Ruck has been forced to endure an intensely lonely, isolated existence resulting from a cruel and evil farce that detroyed his chance for happiness. His gratitude to Melanthe, his memory of her beauty, and his powerful loneliness have intensified his feelings for her. Thirteen years after their first encounter, chance brings Ruck into the service of his beloved benefactress. Ruck is a brave, strong, and noble knight who exhibits a certain innocence and suppressed sexuality somewhat similar to Samuel's in "The Shadow and The Star," though for different reasons. Melanthe, cool and regal, rumored to be a sorceress, a witch, and a murdress, among other things, is, in reality, an intriguing combination of strength and wit and frightened vulnerability. Circumstance forces Melanthe to place all of her trust in her Green Knight, who vows to protect her with his life, and she finds herself in the dangerously vulnerable and unwanted position of falling in love with this enigmatic man. Kinsale's obviously extensive research into the history and dialect of medieval Europe, coupled with her knack for rich, satisfying storytelling, is a joy to read. The romance between Melanthe and Ruck is a beautiful, tortured thing - aching and uplifting, sensual and sweet, dark and light. Every character is fascinating and refreshing. A wonderful book I am sure I will read many more times.
Rating:
Summary: Middle English-eque
Review: Perhaps I could be accused of writing a review of a review, rather than of the book itself, but many readers before me have noted the book's merits. But "A reader" on September 16, 1998 wrote such a deceptive opinion ( and pompous, to boot) that I was motivated to respond. First, I wanted to weigh in on the Middle English "controversy." I'd like to point out that the narrative is not in the Olde Englishe, only the direct speech of the characters. And my take on it is this: the unique dialogue is surprising, at first, because as romance readers, we've been dumbed down by a steady diet of books written with the readability index of 5 (i.e. fifth grade). Granted, many readers of this genre don't wish to be cognitively engaged with the material. What I'm saying is, there are thousands and thousands of books written by and for such readers, and there are SO FEW that demand that the reader bring something to the process; some reviewers here have been outraged at Kinsale's reader load. To deprecate the dialogue in this book, as some have done, is like admitting that the reader is disinclined to attempt Shakespeare because it requires too heavy an intellectual commitment. OK, fair enough; such candor can be disarming. But don't take the pleasure away from the rest of us! I, for one, was disappointed to read on the author's website that Allegreto's story would not be told in a voice which evokes the period.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Kinsale...(4 1/2 stars)
Review: Sir Ruck, at the age of just seventeen, has lost his life as he once knew it... until a beautiful, but cold princess comes to his rescue on a whim. From that day forward, she is his sworn Lady - The Princess Melanthe.
After not seeing her for many years, by some weird twist of fate, Ruck finds himself in the position to return her favor. Melanthe is in danger and Ruck is determined to guard her with his life.
For My ladys Heart was such an emotional read. It started slowly, but once it got going, it was a hard book to set down.
Ruck and Melanthe were an interesting match. Ruck was so obliging and honorable and beautiful...Melanthe was so spirited and arrogant and sometimes childish. I loved Melanthe even when I hated her. The love between Ruck and Melanthe was bittersweet and I swear the whole book is worth reading just to see them exchange their vows of marriage.
Laura Kinsale continues to amaze me. For My Ladys Heart must truly have been a challenge to write. I cant get over how vividly Kinsale was able to capture the life and the speech of the times.
My only real complaint with this story was the final conflict and the choices that Melanthe made that led to it. I understand why she did what she did, but it still frustrated me to no end...All I can say is that with Melanthe as his wife, Ruck will have quite a handful...he must really love a challenge :o)
Rating: 
Summary: Egad! Not her best.
Review: Sorry, but I have to say that this is my least favorite Kinsale book. Unless you are a major fan of the Medieval genre, watch out: the middle English is utterly incomprehensible and turns the read into something that seems curiously like work. While I don't want to be brain-dead while I read, and I like when romances teach me new things, I can't imagine that anyone but the most die hard Medieval fan will enjoy slogging through this over-long intructional lesson in old English. The characters, setting, conflict, etc. cannot overcome the sheer impossibility of the language.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the best...
Review: There are no words to describe how extraordinary this book is. Laura Kinsale is the very BEST romance author, and all her books are incredible. FOR MY LADY'S HEART is Ms. Kinsale at her finest. Do yourself a favor and read this book, even if you don't usually read romances! And, be on the lookout for Allegreto's story, which is coming soon....
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the best romance novel I have ever read!
Review: This book kept me thoroughly entertained from page to page. It is one of the most realistic and exciting books ever! I also found it educational in relation to the time period. I lent my copy to someone and lost touch with her. I have tried to find her to no avail. I cannot find another copy of this book but will continue searching! This is one I can read again!
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