This is one of the most beautiful, amazing, inspirational, and heartwarming historical romance novels I have ever read! This book isn’t just about romance; it’s also the journey to arrive at happiness, the process of finding the true human being inside each of the two main characters.
The story began with the Duke of Jervaulx – the male protagonist – who came up as a notorious rake – an often-seen model for male protagonists in many historical romance novels. But he also possessed a brilliant mind and an enormous passion for Mathematics. However, if he were just that, then the story wouldn’t have such a beautiful and touching edge that left a permanent impression on me. Suddenly, Jervaulx had a stroke, and when he met Maddy – a young and religious woman that vowed to follow an austere life – their journey to passion, love, and happiness began.
The more I read, the more I found out that Jervaulx was not really the person he was rumored to be. He was also a kind, passionate, caring, and loving man who always treated Maddy – the one whom he later found out that he truly loved and needed to marry – with his best and most appreciative attitude. Suffering from language impediment, he struggled to let Maddy know and understand his love. And I just loved his courage to express what he felt for Maddy, as well as the impact that this amazing journey of love had on him.
From a notorious rake who had caused so much pain and heartbreak to his mistress and other people around him, he was now transformed into a responsible husband to Maddy and a loving father to his daughter. From a man that didn’t speak a word in Blythedale institution, who always behaved violently with no self-control, he was now a Duke that stood strong under so much pressure and conspiracy that threatened to bring him down. Finally, he was now a man who eventually figured out a direction to take actions to protect the virtue of the woman he loved.
And Maddy – our female heroine with a beautiful soul – was also changed after this journey. She was still the religious young woman who vowed to live by the truth and only speak the truth. But now, she was also a Duke’s wife who always stood beside him to help him regain his status. She gradually came to love the man she used to think of as a Devil, to see through the mask that he wore and all the nasty rumors about her husband to find the truly beautiful human inside of him.
Throughout the novel, there had always been a struggle inside Maddy, the struggle of whether she should follow her heart and fulfill her duty of being beside Jervaulx as his wife, giving him love and passion, or she should stay away from him and come back to her religion. I really loved the part when Maddy finally realized that her marriage to Jervaulx was true, and that she was now his wife, bound by the law of nothing except for love. There were times when she felt such an immense instability in her soul, but after all of that turbulence, the love she had with Jervaulx always won. Because it was so strong and so deep that she knew she needed to be with him – the seemingly imperfect person – to help him and to be his wife. Being with him was her responsibility, but it was also her happiness.
I also loved the fact that Maddy was so determined, so downright, and fearless when it came to stating her opinions, even though it was considered disrespectful by the nobility. Throughout the book, it was clear that she had a lot of chances to run away from Jervaulx. For example, back when she was in Blythedale, she could just go past him or stop caring for him. Or she could choose not to marry him and let him be sent back to Blythedale. Or later, she also could totally annul their marriage and run away with Richard Gill the second time she met him. But she was still there, the whole time, beside Jervaulx, even when the people in her religious community asked her to leave him, and at the end she still chose him. That is one of the most beautiful things I got the chance to witness in this book, when love prevailed against all odds.
The novel also showed the beautiful and sacred meaning of love and marriage, the meaning that Jervaul finally learned. I loved the part near the end, when Jervaulx spoke out loud to Maddy at her meditating session that he married her because he loved her, and he had vowed in front of God to love her throughout his whole life. He was her husband, and she was his wife, and that was the Truth, always the only Truth to him. I cried a lot when reading this part, because it was so very touching.
There were no rainbows and unicorns in Jervaulx and Maddy’s love story; they had to go through many fights and disagreements like many other married couples in real life. But after all the tragedies, the debts, the pressure from Jervaulx’s evil family members, the challenges in their relationship, and the unclear future, they finally found their happiness. It was such a beautiful conclusion to this mesmerizing romance novel, which made me literally turn pages after pages to see what would happen next for this seem-to-be-mismatched couple.
Finally, I love the way Laura Kinsale told the story, which was in the third person’s point of view, so that she could have as much space for her imagination to take flight. This was the perfect chance for her to go deeply and also broadly to express all the aspects and dimensions of the two main characters’ emotions and thoughts. Bravo! Bravo! I’m still thinking and fantasizing about the scenes in the book if it is ever made into a movie. I wonder who would be able to portray Maddy, and Jervaulx – a very difficult role.
Final verdict: 10/10 because I loved this book so much, and it is one of the few historical romance novels that I will think back once in a while with such happiness and also nostalgia ^^
Little Corner of My Mind 