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The Dream Hunter
A man of cool demeanor and stubborn solitude, Lord Winter was a restless wanderer who kept the passions of his heart well hidden. But now, traveling alone in search of a legendary mare known as String of Pearls, he has discovered a far more precious gem. For hidden beneath the ragged costume of a Bedouin boy was a remarkable woman: Zenia Stanhope, daughter of the extraordinary English adventuress known as the Queen of the Desert.
Zenia wants nothing of the dangerous adventuring that Lord Winter lives for. She wants only to reach England, far from the blood and sand of the desert. But in one night of terror, condemned to death, their lives are irrevocably bound by desperate desire.
Zenia escapes to an English world of elegance and comfort, forsaking the lonely, fearless man who has changed her life and conquered her heart...
Until he returns, to invade her sanctuary --- and demand that she pay the price of passion...
Zenia wants nothing of the dangerous adventuring that Lord Winter lives for. She wants only to reach England, far from the blood and sand of the desert. But in one night of terror, condemned to death, their lives are irrevocably bound by desperate desire.
Zenia escapes to an English world of elegance and comfort, forsaking the lonely, fearless man who has changed her life and conquered her heart...
Until he returns, to invade her sanctuary --- and demand that she pay the price of passion...
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
374 people are currently reading
1324 people want to read
About the author
Laura Kinsale
30 books1,532 followersLaura Kinsale is a New York Times bestselling author and both winner and multiple nominee for the Best Book of the Year award given by the Romance Writers of America.
She become a romance writer after six years as a geologist--a career which consisted of getting out of bed in the middle of the night and driving hundreds of miles alone across west Texas to sit drilling rigs, wear a hard hat, and attempt to boss around oil-covered males considerably larger than herself. This, she decided, was pushing her luck. So she gave all that up to sit in a chair and stare into space for long periods of time, attempting to figure out What-Happens-Next. She and her husband David currently divide their time between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Texas.
She become a romance writer after six years as a geologist--a career which consisted of getting out of bed in the middle of the night and driving hundreds of miles alone across west Texas to sit drilling rigs, wear a hard hat, and attempt to boss around oil-covered males considerably larger than herself. This, she decided, was pushing her luck. So she gave all that up to sit in a chair and stare into space for long periods of time, attempting to figure out What-Happens-Next. She and her husband David currently divide their time between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Texas.
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January 4, 2025Not really a review of this book but a piece I wrote about it way back to way as a kind of queer romance. Which I stand by because The Dream Hunters is an extremely queer book about straight people and, while not necessarily my favourite Kinsale (I'm basic, that has to be Flowers From the Storm), kind of perhaps the one speaks to parts of my heart that I'm not wholly comfortable having spoken to. Anyway here's the full text of that article because I don't want it to disappear like cyber tears in internet rain.
You know what I like about the word queer? It’s been around since about the 16th century, meaning a bunch of things, but nobody really knows where we got it. Best guess seems to be the German quer meaning oblique or sideways (or, of a person, peculiar- although I believe this meaning is now obsolete) but, let’s face it, the semantic correspondence is pretty darn hazy.
So queer is queer even unto itself. A word of absolute particularity.
Which brings us to Laura Kinsale’s The Dream Hunter. But wait I hear you cry, well, maybe not cry but muse idly to your computer screen, The Dream Hunter isn’t a queer romance. To which I answer: yes it is. It’s probably one of the queerest romances I’ve ever read. And the fact that the protagonists are straight doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.
Before I get into it, I should probably say straight off: I am a fan of problematic Victorians.
Mary Kingsley, Hester Stanhope, Edward Backhouse, David Livingston, Pitt Rivers, and let’s not even get into my deeply unfortunate dudecrush on Sir Richard Burton. These mad, passionate, fascinating people who rampaged across the world like it belonged to them, their actions and reactions always suspended in that impossible twilight zone between genuine respect and appalling appropriation. I’m not trying to set myself up as an imperialism apologist but they also achieved remarkable things. Backhouse’s memoirs are wildly fantastical, and probably mostly nonsense (seriously, there is no famous figure extant at the time he doesn’t claim he’s bonked) but at the same time he was a gifted linguist and – whatever his credibility as a historian – it’s a fascinating insight into late Imperial China as filtered through the perceptions of a displaced English fellow.
Richard Burton snuck into Mecca – which was totally wrong of him, and he was sort of only doing it to show off to his mates at the Royal Geographical Society, but at the same time there’s a terrible part of me that interprets this as a thrilling adventure instead of a grotesque act of cultural violation. But, honestly, ‘A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah’ is one of my favourite pieces of travel writing. There’s no denying it’s skeevily Orientalist (and Burton was this strange mixture of progressively open-minded and horrendously racist) but it’s also marvellous: a chaotic jumble of history, geography, anthropology, archaeology, observation, speculation, personal recollection, and complete bullshit, with more footnotes than the golden age of Pratchett. There’s an extent to which Burton is pretty self-consciously presenting himself as the hero of a thrilling adventure story which is, in and of itself, a massive problem but, although he’s basically an imperialistic fuckhead who largely sees the world as something for him to poke at or take, his relationship with England and Empire was actually quite troubled. This doesn’t make his appropriation of other cultures any more okay but, well, it adds complexities to his experiences and his writings.
What I’m trying to express with this tortured confession of stuff I know I shouldn’t be into is actually something pretty simple and it’s this: Like Life After Joe, albeit in a completely different way, The Dream Hunter feels like one book a total stranger basically wrote for me. It’s all about this awful stuff I like, but presented and explored with – to my mind, mileage may, of course, vary – enough awareness that I could, you know, really enjoy myself. It’s also a story about alienation. Its protagonists are two of the most helplessly individual people I’ve ever (fictionally) met: they are, frankly, as queer as hell. Their love – when they finally get there (and, ye gods, does it take a while) is the awkward fitting-together of unlikely pieces. But fit they somehow do. Nowhere else, to no-one else, but with each other.
And, honestly, I wouldn’t touch either of them with a ten foot pole. They are so mercilessly individualised they are practically deranged. But that’s why The Dream Hunter works for me. It’s not a pretty story, or sweet one. It’s savage and messy and almost incomprehensible at times, but its portrayal of love in all its absolute particularity is incomparable.
The hero, Lord Arden Winter, is a lost Victorian, a restless, cold-hearted wanderer in hostile lands. When his equally cold and controlling father quashes his expedition to the Arctic, lest he die leaving the family without an heir to continue the bloodline, he runs away to, I guess, Lebanon in pursuit of a lost Arabian mare known as The String of Pearls. In Sidon, at Joun, the desert palace of Lady Hester Stanhope (yes, the Lady Hester Stanhope!) who has just died, he encounters a ragged Bedouin boy weeping in the ruins. The ragged Bedouin boy is, of course, a girl – Zenobia (Zenia) Stanhope, the illegitimate daughter of Lady Hester. Her sole desire is to escape the harsh desert sands for the green fields of England, and find her father Michael Bruce.
Eventually, Zenia agrees to act as Winter’s guide and, in return – still not knowing her true identity – he promises to take her to England with him. Anyway, it all goes horribly wrong and, not long after Winter discovers the truth about who Zenia is, including that she has girlbits and he wants to enter them, he ends up captured, possibly dead, and Zenia flees to England on his passport, pregnant with his child and pretending to be his wife. In England, she is soon taken in by Winter’s family, largely in the hope that her unborn child will turn out to be a boy. And, then, of course Winter returns very much alive, only to discover that he has a daughter and a wife, and in that woman there are no traces left of the daring boy/girl who inflamed his cold heart deep in the crucible of the desert.
The Dream Hunter is very much a book of two halves, the first half is all desert adventures, and the second half is, well, to call it English tedium would be a little harsh but, for me, with my preoccupations and obsessions, the first half was simply more engaging. But however much some crazy part of me wanted to read Arden & Zenia’s Exciting Desert Adventures, and however much I could have done with slightly less of the legalistic intricacies of marriage in the 19th century, the two apparently mismatched pieces of The Dream Hunter (like Zenia and Arden) are absolutely necessary to each other. It is a book of broken symmetries, near misses, disguises and evasions but is also a united book, full of unexpected correspondences that make sense only when you accept that it is a text that reflects its protagonists. In other words, kind of a hot mess, but it works on its own terms. And once you see that, once you see past Zenia’s power-gaming and Arden’s cluelessness, their crippling collection of fears and incapabilities, the profound loneliness that saturates every damn thing they do … it’s full of this weird joy. The queerest love between the queerest people.
Zenia and Arden meet in the desert: he’s running away from England, she’s trying to get to England, he spends most of his time dressed as an Arab (shades of Sir RB there), she spends most of hers dressed as a boy. They’re both dream hunting: Zenia wants the security of a life in England, where she will at last be free to be a lady instead of the feral creature her mother raised her to be, and Arden is looking for this fabled horse, The String of Pearls. Both of them do, in fact, catch their dreams. Zenia makes it to England and, after months of imprisonment, Arden finds his horse. Of course, by the time he gets it back, the people who paid him to find it don’t care anymore. As for Zenia, England isn’t what she expected it either. While she finds family who love her and welcome her, it’s no more home to her than the desert was.
As much as I adore the scenes set in the desert – Kinsale paints those wild landscapes with a conviction that leaves me breathless on their beauty – the moment that perfectly typifies The Dream Hunter for me occurs on Arden’s return to England. Attempting to find his ‘Selim’ in the woman Zenia has become, he remembers that s/he always spoke longingly of plum pudding (plum pudding and green trees) so he brings her one from the kitchen. He doesn’t know, of course, that Zenia tried plum pudding on her first Christmas in England and hated it. And, regardless, on finding her already tucked comfortably with a tray, he takes his plum pudding away again, feeling foolish and irrelevant. There’s such a deep well of human uncertainty in this relatively banal incident: a deeply personal gesture that should be so full of meaning rendered completely inappropriate by circumstance and experience.
The second half of the book is full of misses and misunderstandings, just like this one, and they edge onto infuriating until you realise what’s going on. They’re just lost. Hopelessly and completely lost. They’re both horribly aware they’re doing everything wrong, but they’re so deeply unaccustomed to having anything they want, they don’t know how to take it when it’s there. They’re hunters. Life has never taught them how to rest. They don’t know how to act, or to be together, they don’t know what love means for them or how to fit it into the world they know. This … speaks to me. This is a queer thing, certainly, but it’s also fundamentally human one. The difficult thing, The Dream Hunter reminds us, is not so much chasing dreams, as knowing when we’ve found them.
Towards the end – several legalities and plum puddings later – Arden makes one final effort to woo his wife: she is trying to be a lady, so he tries to be a gentleman. It’s painful, genuinely painful, to watch them playact at conventionality. Costumes that reflect them no more truly than the guises they wore in the desert. Their HEA comes in an explosion of drama – an abduction, a flight, a claiming, a declaration – but primarily through recognition and acceptance:
As ever, it’s kind of nuts the way they figure it out, and entirely particular to who they are. It’s romantic not because it reflects any kind of social construction of what we’re love should be, or look like, but because all comes down to understanding. To letting someone see you, and know you, so thoroughly that you no longer have to fear being strange or savage or wrong or queer, and all the ways you don’t fit, or don’t want what you’re supposed to want, or act like you’re supposed act, don’t matter.
Because all that matters is know how to invoke the superstitious magic of ‘I love you’ in a way that means something to the person you love.
You know what I like about the word queer? It’s been around since about the 16th century, meaning a bunch of things, but nobody really knows where we got it. Best guess seems to be the German quer meaning oblique or sideways (or, of a person, peculiar- although I believe this meaning is now obsolete) but, let’s face it, the semantic correspondence is pretty darn hazy.
So queer is queer even unto itself. A word of absolute particularity.
Which brings us to Laura Kinsale’s The Dream Hunter. But wait I hear you cry, well, maybe not cry but muse idly to your computer screen, The Dream Hunter isn’t a queer romance. To which I answer: yes it is. It’s probably one of the queerest romances I’ve ever read. And the fact that the protagonists are straight doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.
Before I get into it, I should probably say straight off: I am a fan of problematic Victorians.
Mary Kingsley, Hester Stanhope, Edward Backhouse, David Livingston, Pitt Rivers, and let’s not even get into my deeply unfortunate dudecrush on Sir Richard Burton. These mad, passionate, fascinating people who rampaged across the world like it belonged to them, their actions and reactions always suspended in that impossible twilight zone between genuine respect and appalling appropriation. I’m not trying to set myself up as an imperialism apologist but they also achieved remarkable things. Backhouse’s memoirs are wildly fantastical, and probably mostly nonsense (seriously, there is no famous figure extant at the time he doesn’t claim he’s bonked) but at the same time he was a gifted linguist and – whatever his credibility as a historian – it’s a fascinating insight into late Imperial China as filtered through the perceptions of a displaced English fellow.
Richard Burton snuck into Mecca – which was totally wrong of him, and he was sort of only doing it to show off to his mates at the Royal Geographical Society, but at the same time there’s a terrible part of me that interprets this as a thrilling adventure instead of a grotesque act of cultural violation. But, honestly, ‘A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah’ is one of my favourite pieces of travel writing. There’s no denying it’s skeevily Orientalist (and Burton was this strange mixture of progressively open-minded and horrendously racist) but it’s also marvellous: a chaotic jumble of history, geography, anthropology, archaeology, observation, speculation, personal recollection, and complete bullshit, with more footnotes than the golden age of Pratchett. There’s an extent to which Burton is pretty self-consciously presenting himself as the hero of a thrilling adventure story which is, in and of itself, a massive problem but, although he’s basically an imperialistic fuckhead who largely sees the world as something for him to poke at or take, his relationship with England and Empire was actually quite troubled. This doesn’t make his appropriation of other cultures any more okay but, well, it adds complexities to his experiences and his writings.
What I’m trying to express with this tortured confession of stuff I know I shouldn’t be into is actually something pretty simple and it’s this: Like Life After Joe, albeit in a completely different way, The Dream Hunter feels like one book a total stranger basically wrote for me. It’s all about this awful stuff I like, but presented and explored with – to my mind, mileage may, of course, vary – enough awareness that I could, you know, really enjoy myself. It’s also a story about alienation. Its protagonists are two of the most helplessly individual people I’ve ever (fictionally) met: they are, frankly, as queer as hell. Their love – when they finally get there (and, ye gods, does it take a while) is the awkward fitting-together of unlikely pieces. But fit they somehow do. Nowhere else, to no-one else, but with each other.
And, honestly, I wouldn’t touch either of them with a ten foot pole. They are so mercilessly individualised they are practically deranged. But that’s why The Dream Hunter works for me. It’s not a pretty story, or sweet one. It’s savage and messy and almost incomprehensible at times, but its portrayal of love in all its absolute particularity is incomparable.
The hero, Lord Arden Winter, is a lost Victorian, a restless, cold-hearted wanderer in hostile lands. When his equally cold and controlling father quashes his expedition to the Arctic, lest he die leaving the family without an heir to continue the bloodline, he runs away to, I guess, Lebanon in pursuit of a lost Arabian mare known as The String of Pearls. In Sidon, at Joun, the desert palace of Lady Hester Stanhope (yes, the Lady Hester Stanhope!) who has just died, he encounters a ragged Bedouin boy weeping in the ruins. The ragged Bedouin boy is, of course, a girl – Zenobia (Zenia) Stanhope, the illegitimate daughter of Lady Hester. Her sole desire is to escape the harsh desert sands for the green fields of England, and find her father Michael Bruce.
Eventually, Zenia agrees to act as Winter’s guide and, in return – still not knowing her true identity – he promises to take her to England with him. Anyway, it all goes horribly wrong and, not long after Winter discovers the truth about who Zenia is, including that she has girlbits and he wants to enter them, he ends up captured, possibly dead, and Zenia flees to England on his passport, pregnant with his child and pretending to be his wife. In England, she is soon taken in by Winter’s family, largely in the hope that her unborn child will turn out to be a boy. And, then, of course Winter returns very much alive, only to discover that he has a daughter and a wife, and in that woman there are no traces left of the daring boy/girl who inflamed his cold heart deep in the crucible of the desert.
The Dream Hunter is very much a book of two halves, the first half is all desert adventures, and the second half is, well, to call it English tedium would be a little harsh but, for me, with my preoccupations and obsessions, the first half was simply more engaging. But however much some crazy part of me wanted to read Arden & Zenia’s Exciting Desert Adventures, and however much I could have done with slightly less of the legalistic intricacies of marriage in the 19th century, the two apparently mismatched pieces of The Dream Hunter (like Zenia and Arden) are absolutely necessary to each other. It is a book of broken symmetries, near misses, disguises and evasions but is also a united book, full of unexpected correspondences that make sense only when you accept that it is a text that reflects its protagonists. In other words, kind of a hot mess, but it works on its own terms. And once you see that, once you see past Zenia’s power-gaming and Arden’s cluelessness, their crippling collection of fears and incapabilities, the profound loneliness that saturates every damn thing they do … it’s full of this weird joy. The queerest love between the queerest people.
[Arden] had been born too late. Hester Stanhope was dead. He would never in his own lifetime find a woman to match her, and tonight, the indefinable restless loneliness that drove him— always drove him to the empty, brutal places of the earth , as if he could find there whatever piece of his soul he had been born missing— seemed sharper than it had seemed in a long while.
Zenia and Arden meet in the desert: he’s running away from England, she’s trying to get to England, he spends most of his time dressed as an Arab (shades of Sir RB there), she spends most of hers dressed as a boy. They’re both dream hunting: Zenia wants the security of a life in England, where she will at last be free to be a lady instead of the feral creature her mother raised her to be, and Arden is looking for this fabled horse, The String of Pearls. Both of them do, in fact, catch their dreams. Zenia makes it to England and, after months of imprisonment, Arden finds his horse. Of course, by the time he gets it back, the people who paid him to find it don’t care anymore. As for Zenia, England isn’t what she expected it either. While she finds family who love her and welcome her, it’s no more home to her than the desert was.
As much as I adore the scenes set in the desert – Kinsale paints those wild landscapes with a conviction that leaves me breathless on their beauty – the moment that perfectly typifies The Dream Hunter for me occurs on Arden’s return to England. Attempting to find his ‘Selim’ in the woman Zenia has become, he remembers that s/he always spoke longingly of plum pudding (plum pudding and green trees) so he brings her one from the kitchen. He doesn’t know, of course, that Zenia tried plum pudding on her first Christmas in England and hated it. And, regardless, on finding her already tucked comfortably with a tray, he takes his plum pudding away again, feeling foolish and irrelevant. There’s such a deep well of human uncertainty in this relatively banal incident: a deeply personal gesture that should be so full of meaning rendered completely inappropriate by circumstance and experience.
The second half of the book is full of misses and misunderstandings, just like this one, and they edge onto infuriating until you realise what’s going on. They’re just lost. Hopelessly and completely lost. They’re both horribly aware they’re doing everything wrong, but they’re so deeply unaccustomed to having anything they want, they don’t know how to take it when it’s there. They’re hunters. Life has never taught them how to rest. They don’t know how to act, or to be together, they don’t know what love means for them or how to fit it into the world they know. This … speaks to me. This is a queer thing, certainly, but it’s also fundamentally human one. The difficult thing, The Dream Hunter reminds us, is not so much chasing dreams, as knowing when we’ve found them.
Towards the end – several legalities and plum puddings later – Arden makes one final effort to woo his wife: she is trying to be a lady, so he tries to be a gentleman. It’s painful, genuinely painful, to watch them playact at conventionality. Costumes that reflect them no more truly than the guises they wore in the desert. Their HEA comes in an explosion of drama – an abduction, a flight, a claiming, a declaration – but primarily through recognition and acceptance:
He gripped her closer, his arm about her neck. “I tried to be a civilized creature. I tried to live your safe little life, and you ran to Mr. Jocelyn when I couldn’t be what you want. Now I’m what I am, and I’ll make you what you are. I don’t plan to be merciful.”
As ever, it’s kind of nuts the way they figure it out, and entirely particular to who they are. It’s romantic not because it reflects any kind of social construction of what we’re love should be, or look like, but because all comes down to understanding. To letting someone see you, and know you, so thoroughly that you no longer have to fear being strange or savage or wrong or queer, and all the ways you don’t fit, or don’t want what you’re supposed to want, or act like you’re supposed act, don’t matter.
Because all that matters is know how to invoke the superstitious magic of ‘I love you’ in a way that means something to the person you love.
May 27, 2020
5 STARS
These are the kind of romances that I love to read. Big adventures with hardship and animosity. There is so much packed into this little gem. It wasn't perfect by any means, and I did actually consider rating it a star lower due to a few issues I had with the heroine. I found a huge gap in her character. In fact, she seemed to digress towards the end instead of grow.
However, Lord Winter more than made up for her shortcomings.
The epitome of the tortured hero. And with such an incredible state of presence. These heroes are hard to achieve. There was a thread of vulnerability to him that was continuously trying to unravel. I kept waiting for him to just completely lose his shit. I know I did many times, especially regarding Zenia and her skittish nature. Arden had the patience of a saint.
This is only my second book from Kinsale, and I have rated them both 5 stars. Although of the two, Flowers from the Storm was definitely my favorite. I will most certainly be looking into some of her other books.
These are the kind of romances that I love to read. Big adventures with hardship and animosity. There is so much packed into this little gem. It wasn't perfect by any means, and I did actually consider rating it a star lower due to a few issues I had with the heroine. I found a huge gap in her character. In fact, she seemed to digress towards the end instead of grow.
I believe they call what you were doing ‘malingering,’ and you would be shot at sunrise for such cowardly and treasonous behavior.”
However, Lord Winter more than made up for her shortcomings.
He rested on his elbow, his eyes half-closed in anticipated bliss, beguiling and seductive and dark and warm, the cruel beauty of the desert softened and gentled to the shape of a man.
He felt a huge distance between where he was and what he wanted, a rift that he did not know how to cross. Between his impulse to drown and bury himself in her and the pure, still contour of her cheek, the silence—an impossible reach. All the steps across that void were invisible to him, and so uncertain that any mistake would be the end.
The epitome of the tortured hero. And with such an incredible state of presence. These heroes are hard to achieve. There was a thread of vulnerability to him that was continuously trying to unravel. I kept waiting for him to just completely lose his shit. I know I did many times, especially regarding Zenia and her skittish nature. Arden had the patience of a saint.
This is only my second book from Kinsale, and I have rated them both 5 stars. Although of the two, Flowers from the Storm was definitely my favorite. I will most certainly be looking into some of her other books.
May 2, 2019
I think a reread could bump this up. It was an engrossing story with interesting leads that were not always likable but still stirred empathetic emotions. The journey was fun and I enjoyed the geographic and cultural aspects of the story. To me, this was much better than the first Kinsale I tried, Flowers From the Storm.
January 29, 2022
This book is really two books.
Book 1
Lord Winter is a disappointing only son of his earl father. See, his father understandably wants an heir to the estate and the title, and his son wants to gallop the Arabian deserts or join the expedition to Antarctica. So when some British gentlemen want to find a legendary Arabian horse, Lord Winter, who was just denied his tickets to Antarctica expedition because of his father, decides to take this task. He goes to the desert and coincidentally at the same time a legendary adventurous Englishwoman and his friend, Lady Hester Stanhope (she’s a real fascinating historical figure by the way), dies, so he goes to pay his respects. There he meets a teenage bedouin boy Selim whom he employs to assist him in finding the horse in exchange for money that this boy wants very much. This boy is a 25 year old Zenia, daughter of the Queen of Desert and all she wanted her whole life is to go back to green England and find her father and never see sand again because “it’s coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere”.
They have adventures in the desert, almost getting killed and at one point while they are waiting to be executed the next morning, they logically decide to have sex (he finds out she’s a lady by that point). Then they escape and are separated and she’s alone far from home and, you guessed it, pregnant! I mean she got pregnant after having just one sexual experience in her 25 years on this earth! What an unlucky woman! So she goes to the British consul and uses his name to get to England. In the meantime, people assume that she’s his wife and she doesn’t correct them. So the heartbroken and grieving Zenia sails to England while he dies in Arabia. Or does he?
Book 2
A few years have passed, Zenia lives with Arden's parents and her daughter and one day they have a visitor. Surprise, Lord Winter did not die! He’s back and very surprised that he’s married and has a kid. And what happens next is miscommunication, Zenia’s fear of being left alone, that this man will take her child. She becomes a crazy obsessive mother who suffocated her daughter with care, he on the other hand is a bit fearless, takes his little daughter outside and ride a horse, they quarrel a lot about how their daughter should be raised. Then there are pages after pages of push and pull and frustration. And make no mistake, it’s Laura Kinsale, all the characters are beautifully realized and have motivation but still. I must admit, their miscommunication was relentless and sometimes tiring.
Zenia’s problem is that she was raised by a very cold distant mother who basically stole her from her father and then packed her away to some bedouin tribes because she didn’t want to raise her. Naturally, Zenia has abandonment issues and when she has her kid she overcompensates. Also she kinda doesn't really know this guy that returns and says he’s a father and he wants visitation rights, for her the child is hers alone. She rejects her upbringing and wants the comfort and safety of England.
Arden (see how their names start with opposite letters of the alphabet?) rejects his safe, rich upbringing and “wants adventure in a great wide somewhere” and loves desert.
What she wants - to fit in and have a custody of her daughter
What he wants - her to want him and also a custody of his daughter
What we get - a custody battle and marriage laws Victorian style.
And both of them are trying to find a person they fell for 2 years ago in the desert in the stranger in front of them.
I like and understand both of them. They are both lonely, they are both hunting for their dreams, they are both outsiders in both worlds. They don’t fit except I guess with each other, however cheesy it may sound.
I really enjoyed the first movie more, the second one dragged a bit and their same fight-conversation became old. However, this is a historical romance of a great quality even if it’s not the best this great woman wrote. This is not the type of book that gives you coziness and cuteness, it can be painful and frustrating, but you root for these two stubborn strong introverted lonely people to finally lower their guards and see they won’t work with anyone but each other. And this makes this story powerful. And deeply romantic.
Book 1
Lord Winter is a disappointing only son of his earl father. See, his father understandably wants an heir to the estate and the title, and his son wants to gallop the Arabian deserts or join the expedition to Antarctica. So when some British gentlemen want to find a legendary Arabian horse, Lord Winter, who was just denied his tickets to Antarctica expedition because of his father, decides to take this task. He goes to the desert and coincidentally at the same time a legendary adventurous Englishwoman and his friend, Lady Hester Stanhope (she’s a real fascinating historical figure by the way), dies, so he goes to pay his respects. There he meets a teenage bedouin boy Selim whom he employs to assist him in finding the horse in exchange for money that this boy wants very much. This boy is a 25 year old Zenia, daughter of the Queen of Desert and all she wanted her whole life is to go back to green England and find her father and never see sand again because “it’s coarse, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere”.
They have adventures in the desert, almost getting killed and at one point while they are waiting to be executed the next morning, they logically decide to have sex (he finds out she’s a lady by that point). Then they escape and are separated and she’s alone far from home and, you guessed it, pregnant! I mean she got pregnant after having just one sexual experience in her 25 years on this earth! What an unlucky woman! So she goes to the British consul and uses his name to get to England. In the meantime, people assume that she’s his wife and she doesn’t correct them. So the heartbroken and grieving Zenia sails to England while he dies in Arabia. Or does he?
Book 2
A few years have passed, Zenia lives with Arden's parents and her daughter and one day they have a visitor. Surprise, Lord Winter did not die! He’s back and very surprised that he’s married and has a kid. And what happens next is miscommunication, Zenia’s fear of being left alone, that this man will take her child. She becomes a crazy obsessive mother who suffocated her daughter with care, he on the other hand is a bit fearless, takes his little daughter outside and ride a horse, they quarrel a lot about how their daughter should be raised. Then there are pages after pages of push and pull and frustration. And make no mistake, it’s Laura Kinsale, all the characters are beautifully realized and have motivation but still. I must admit, their miscommunication was relentless and sometimes tiring.
Zenia’s problem is that she was raised by a very cold distant mother who basically stole her from her father and then packed her away to some bedouin tribes because she didn’t want to raise her. Naturally, Zenia has abandonment issues and when she has her kid she overcompensates. Also she kinda doesn't really know this guy that returns and says he’s a father and he wants visitation rights, for her the child is hers alone. She rejects her upbringing and wants the comfort and safety of England.
Arden (see how their names start with opposite letters of the alphabet?) rejects his safe, rich upbringing and “wants adventure in a great wide somewhere” and loves desert.
What she wants - to fit in and have a custody of her daughter
What he wants - her to want him and also a custody of his daughter
What we get - a custody battle and marriage laws Victorian style.
And both of them are trying to find a person they fell for 2 years ago in the desert in the stranger in front of them.
I like and understand both of them. They are both lonely, they are both hunting for their dreams, they are both outsiders in both worlds. They don’t fit except I guess with each other, however cheesy it may sound.
I really enjoyed the first movie more, the second one dragged a bit and their same fight-conversation became old. However, this is a historical romance of a great quality even if it’s not the best this great woman wrote. This is not the type of book that gives you coziness and cuteness, it can be painful and frustrating, but you root for these two stubborn strong introverted lonely people to finally lower their guards and see they won’t work with anyone but each other. And this makes this story powerful. And deeply romantic.
July 10, 2025
Reread 9/29/2020: I was talking to my friend Ania on Friday, and she mentioned in passing that this is her favorite Kinsale novel. I remembered loving it, but I never went back to revisit it like I'm always doing with Seize the Fire and Shadow and the Star. WHY is that exactly? This novel is an epic, angsty hellscape, and I love it, honey!!
Maybe because it was fresh and new to me all over again; maybe because all I've secretly wanted this quarantine is for a tall, dark, handsome, socially awkward viscount with a touch of wanderlust to kidnap me off a train and seduce me at his hunting lodge in the middle of a snowstorm; or maybe because I was in the mood for something heartrending and beautiful, but I think this is my favorite Kinsale, you guys!? I'm always copying Ania. lollll What can I say?
Original review 2/6/2016: One of the easiest 5 star ratings I've ever given. I even made myself wait almost an hour after finishing this book to make sure I loved it as much as I thought I did. And yes, I can safely say that I loved it and will probably still be thinking about it a week from now.
GPOY, after I finished reading it.
I can't say which Kinsale book I like best at this point. Seize the Fire? The Dream Hunter? Flowers from the Storm? The Shadow and the Star? Of the four, I really couldn't pick a clear favorite as I love them all. I will say that I think The Dream Hunter is Kinsale at the top of her game. I rank it alongside Flowers from the Storm, which I consider the best historical romance ever written. There were a few clear standout moments in this novel, like the whole of Chapter 8, but overall the prose was so gorgeous throughout that my response was twofold: 1.) shame that I even attempt to write when there are people producing prose like this and 2.) inspiration to write, write, write so I can at least get better and try and approach this level someday.
I really don't have anything coherent to say, apart from that I buddy read this with Melissa (who reads much faster than I do and always finishes books before me :D) and that I thought this was a fucking amazing book.
Not to sound like a jerk who's trying to be ~profound, but I saw Liam Scarlett's new ballet Fearful Symmetries (inspired by Blake's The Tyger) last night. I kept replaying the music it's set to, by John Adams, while reading the latter half of this book this evening. Even though the back half of the book doesn't take place in the danger of the desert, as the beginning did, there's a real haunted and hunted sort of feral quality to this novel as a whole that aligned so well with the music.
Sometimes screwed up, socially awkward, neurotic characters who belong in therapy twice a week fall in love too. Sometimes that can be unbelievably affecting and romantic, as it was in this novel. As always, your mileage may vary. :)
5 stars
Maybe because it was fresh and new to me all over again; maybe because all I've secretly wanted this quarantine is for a tall, dark, handsome, socially awkward viscount with a touch of wanderlust to kidnap me off a train and seduce me at his hunting lodge in the middle of a snowstorm; or maybe because I was in the mood for something heartrending and beautiful, but I think this is my favorite Kinsale, you guys!? I'm always copying Ania. lollll What can I say?
Original review 2/6/2016: One of the easiest 5 star ratings I've ever given. I even made myself wait almost an hour after finishing this book to make sure I loved it as much as I thought I did. And yes, I can safely say that I loved it and will probably still be thinking about it a week from now.
GPOY, after I finished reading it.
I can't say which Kinsale book I like best at this point. Seize the Fire? The Dream Hunter? Flowers from the Storm? The Shadow and the Star? Of the four, I really couldn't pick a clear favorite as I love them all. I will say that I think The Dream Hunter is Kinsale at the top of her game. I rank it alongside Flowers from the Storm, which I consider the best historical romance ever written. There were a few clear standout moments in this novel, like the whole of Chapter 8, but overall the prose was so gorgeous throughout that my response was twofold: 1.) shame that I even attempt to write when there are people producing prose like this and 2.) inspiration to write, write, write so I can at least get better and try and approach this level someday.
I really don't have anything coherent to say, apart from that I buddy read this with Melissa (who reads much faster than I do and always finishes books before me :D) and that I thought this was a fucking amazing book.
Not to sound like a jerk who's trying to be ~profound, but I saw Liam Scarlett's new ballet Fearful Symmetries (inspired by Blake's The Tyger) last night. I kept replaying the music it's set to, by John Adams, while reading the latter half of this book this evening. Even though the back half of the book doesn't take place in the danger of the desert, as the beginning did, there's a real haunted and hunted sort of feral quality to this novel as a whole that aligned so well with the music.
Sometimes screwed up, socially awkward, neurotic characters who belong in therapy twice a week fall in love too. Sometimes that can be unbelievably affecting and romantic, as it was in this novel. As always, your mileage may vary. :)
5 stars
December 27, 2013
Brilliant, romantic, passionate, intense, poignant, sexy, exciting...
...all this is true of The Dream Hunter, but there are no words that can do justice to the amazing narrator/author team of Nicholas Boulton and Laura Kinsale! Every story is perfectly written by one of historical romance's best authors, then poignantly, passionately, brought to life through one of audio-books most talented, sexy, male voices.
Do yourself a favor and try these audio books. Any story by this pair. So far I've listened to Flowers from the Storm, The Prince of Midnight, and The Dream Hunter, and each one is pure brilliance! (But Flowers from the Storm will always be my favorite!)
It doesn't get better than this!
April 19, 2019
Honestly, this book is wild. And entertaining. And narrated by Nicholas Boulton, and though all her characters make one want to kick them in the head at one point or another... And all her heroes are quite lickable, this book had a higher "wish to kick" ratio than I've previously read. Particularly the heroine. Egads. I got it. And we had that wonderful benefit of knowing the hero's thoughts on her, but egads.
Zenia tested the limits of my patience. So kudos to Arden for sticking that out. But also, he had a knack for making it all worse, so there's that. I mean, they're Kinsale characters. They are a couple of nicely written disasters.
As usual, it's all beautiful and atmospheric and romantic, but what melted me right down to nothing is the father-daughter relationship. They share their spirit, and it was fabulous...3.5 & rounding uppity up bc NB earns his own damn star.
Zenia tested the limits of my patience. So kudos to Arden for sticking that out. But also, he had a knack for making it all worse, so there's that. I mean, they're Kinsale characters. They are a couple of nicely written disasters.
As usual, it's all beautiful and atmospheric and romantic, but what melted me right down to nothing is the father-daughter relationship. They share their spirit, and it was fabulous...3.5 & rounding uppity up bc NB earns his own damn star.
Read
November 27, 2023I have very thorny feelings about this book, and this review is my preliminary attempt at working through them.
In the prologue, Lord Arden Winter is confronted by his father at his club. His father berates him for avoiding his mother and "his duty" to have an heir, and tells Arden that he has purposely killed his plans to visit Antarctica. Arden spitefully signs up for an alternate risky task: retrieving a horse named The String of Pearls from what is present-day Lebanon.
Once there, he attends the funeral of Lady Hester Stanhope, a real historical adventuress who created, then died in, a fortress in Joun. When conflict arises there, he rescues Lady Hester's servant, a small boy named Salim, and hires him to help him make his way across the desert.
Salim is actually Zenia, Hester Stanhope's twenty-five year-old malnourished daughter. Stanhope was a rather eccentric and abusive woman and refused to recognize Zenia as a daughter. Zenia keeps up the ruse because she remembers Lord Winter from visits prior -- like her mother, he was an avowed misogynist. She's safer as a boy.
They track through the desert and are almost killed multiple times, and after Winter (belatedly) realizes Zenia's gender, they make love. Soon after, Zenia is able to escape to England, but after a dicey encounter, Arden is presumed dead.
This is about the first third of the book -- the rest is in England, where Zenia, after some coaxing from her own father and Winter's, pretends to be Arden's widow because she's pregnant. Almost two years after the birth of her daughter, Arden returns to England alive. Zenia -- traumatized by her childhood and struggling to appear properly English, is struggling to fit in and shield her daughter from the outside world. Arden, who has never truly had someone he loved before Zenia and his daughter Elizabeth -- finds that he needs to communicate, to say what he means, for the first time in his life if he wants his hearts desire. It's near insurmountable for them both, and harrowing to watch.
I think Kinsale has successes and failures with her depictions of Victorians in the Middle East - Lady Hester Stanhope is a real person who would be easy to girlboss, but by making her Zenia's abuser (and by highlighting the abuse of her servants) she's rendered much more complex (derogatory). But the emphasis on the violence and lawlessness of the Middle East is racist and misplaced -- Arden is there to steal a horse, a crime that he could easily get sent to Newgate for (which would carry a death sentence!) in London if he wasn't a peer. This is something I know Kinsale has to be aware of -- in Arden's big grand gesture at the end, he kidnaps Zenia from a train, something he acknowledges he will see no consequences for, because he's an investor.
This is a story about failing your family -- about good intentions gone awry. Arden balks at the way Zenia coddles their daughter because it echoes his own upbringing -- one that had him resisting and pulling away and feeling so out of place that he would rather seek thrills than learn the complicated art of learning to cope. He doesn't know how to talk to coddled aristocratic ladies, let alone a woman who has lived her whole live wanting to feel safe and loved and desired -- and he messes it up over and over and over again. Wanting to say the right thing doesn't make you say the right thing, and reviewers who are taking potshots at Zenia should acknowledge that he only wins her over when he makes her feel safe and loved. That's all she wanted.
In the prologue, Lord Arden Winter is confronted by his father at his club. His father berates him for avoiding his mother and "his duty" to have an heir, and tells Arden that he has purposely killed his plans to visit Antarctica. Arden spitefully signs up for an alternate risky task: retrieving a horse named The String of Pearls from what is present-day Lebanon.
Once there, he attends the funeral of Lady Hester Stanhope, a real historical adventuress who created, then died in, a fortress in Joun. When conflict arises there, he rescues Lady Hester's servant, a small boy named Salim, and hires him to help him make his way across the desert.
Salim is actually Zenia, Hester Stanhope's twenty-five year-old malnourished daughter. Stanhope was a rather eccentric and abusive woman and refused to recognize Zenia as a daughter. Zenia keeps up the ruse because she remembers Lord Winter from visits prior -- like her mother, he was an avowed misogynist. She's safer as a boy.
They track through the desert and are almost killed multiple times, and after Winter (belatedly) realizes Zenia's gender, they make love. Soon after, Zenia is able to escape to England, but after a dicey encounter, Arden is presumed dead.
This is about the first third of the book -- the rest is in England, where Zenia, after some coaxing from her own father and Winter's, pretends to be Arden's widow because she's pregnant. Almost two years after the birth of her daughter, Arden returns to England alive. Zenia -- traumatized by her childhood and struggling to appear properly English, is struggling to fit in and shield her daughter from the outside world. Arden, who has never truly had someone he loved before Zenia and his daughter Elizabeth -- finds that he needs to communicate, to say what he means, for the first time in his life if he wants his hearts desire. It's near insurmountable for them both, and harrowing to watch.
I think Kinsale has successes and failures with her depictions of Victorians in the Middle East - Lady Hester Stanhope is a real person who would be easy to girlboss, but by making her Zenia's abuser (and by highlighting the abuse of her servants) she's rendered much more complex (derogatory). But the emphasis on the violence and lawlessness of the Middle East is racist and misplaced -- Arden is there to steal a horse, a crime that he could easily get sent to Newgate for (which would carry a death sentence!) in London if he wasn't a peer. This is something I know Kinsale has to be aware of -- in Arden's big grand gesture at the end, he kidnaps Zenia from a train, something he acknowledges he will see no consequences for, because he's an investor.
This is a story about failing your family -- about good intentions gone awry. Arden balks at the way Zenia coddles their daughter because it echoes his own upbringing -- one that had him resisting and pulling away and feeling so out of place that he would rather seek thrills than learn the complicated art of learning to cope. He doesn't know how to talk to coddled aristocratic ladies, let alone a woman who has lived her whole live wanting to feel safe and loved and desired -- and he messes it up over and over and over again. Wanting to say the right thing doesn't make you say the right thing, and reviewers who are taking potshots at Zenia should acknowledge that he only wins her over when he makes her feel safe and loved. That's all she wanted.
June 30, 2025
I find it so hard to write about Laura Kinsale's books with any objectivity anymore. I adore her writing to the point of hero-worship, and love so many things about her novels -- the beautiful, sophisticated prose, the deep and complex characters, the wild risks she's willing to take with plots and settings, and the way no two of her books are alike. She consistently takes premises that in less accomplished hands would be an embarrassing mess, and turns them into something compelling and emotionally truthful. I never finish one of her books that I don't sit around in a daze for hours afterward, just pondering what I've read, and her stories stay with me for a long time in a way few other romance novels do.
That said, for all the wonderful aspects of this book, and there were a lot of those, I do feel like the latter part of the story is a little bit weaker than the first part. And the heroine, who in the first half of the novel I admired and liked, turned into someone much more difficult to sympathize with, too. I'd give the first part of the book an unqualified 5-star rating, and the latter part a 4. Overall, I'd rate it as a 4.5 -- really good, but not Flowers from the Storm perfect.
Arden, Viscount Winter, is an English aristocrat who has spent much of his adult life seeking adventure and running away from the family and society that make him miserable. For all his bravery and willingness to take risks in strange foreign places, inside there's still a lot of the lonely, overprotected and under-loved little boy he once was. He has a hard time connecting with people, and is often awkward in social situations. When his father begins to put pressure on him to marry and produce an heir, he takes on the job of retrieving a valuable Arabian mare in the deserts of the Middle East, in order to escape the pressures at home.
Zenobia ("Zenia") Stanhope is the illegitimate daughter of Lady Hester Stanhope and Michael Bruce -- two people you can read about here. (Their daughter is fictional, but they themselves were not. Lady Hester Stanhope lived a bizarre life that makes one of Laura Kinsale's plots look mundane in comparison!) Lady Hester was a cruel mother to Zenia, eventually forcing her go away disguised as a boy to live with Bedouins. Zenia's great desire is to leave the desert forever and go to England to live with the father she has never met. She longs for green, lush lands, to be able to live as a proper English lady, and for safety - above all for safety. When Zenia meets Arden after Lady Hester's funeral, he believes she is a boy named Selim. He takes Selim under his protection as a servant, and in exchange promises to grant Selim's desire to go to Britain, once the two of them have accomplished their mission of finding the mare, called String of Pearls.
Zenia continues to hide her true gender and identity, believing that if he learns she's a woman Arden will abandon her and not fulfill the promise he made to Selim. During their time in the desert, Arden and Selim become close as they navigate through terrible conditions and get mixed up in tribal skirmishes. They rely on each other, and Arden, who usually has a hard time connecting with others, finds it easy to talk with and be himself around Selim. Zenia, meanwhile, develops romantic feelings for her employer -- an open adoration which eventually disturbs Arden, who still thinks his servant is a boy. When Arden realizes that Selim is a woman, on the eve of their execution -- he is to be beheaded by order of a Saudi emir, and she is to be stoned -- they spend a night comforting each other and making love. They aren't executed after all, however, and when they get mixed up in another battle soon after their escape, Arden sends Zenia away and is (apparently) killed while rescuing her. Now pregnant, Zenia makes her way to England using Arden's passport, mistakenly presumed by her fellow travelers to be Lady Winter, Arden's widow. Arden's father decides to accept Zenia as Lady Winter, in order to have an heir now that his son is dead, even though he knows full well that no marriage actually took place.
This first part of the book is wonderful -- exciting, full of ambiance and adventure, and genuinely romantic. There's a level of subversiveness in Arden at first thinking Zenia is a young man, and his developing a close friendship and bond with her in this disguise before learning the truth. Kinsale brings the desert atmosphere vividly to life -- I was right there with the characters, feeling parched with thirst and blinded by sandstorms as they fought for their lives against the elements and the locals. Chapter 8, in which Zenia and Arden spend a night together before their execution, is one of the most beautifully and romantically written chapters in all the Kinsale books I've read. I found myself highlighting passage after passage on my Kindle.
In England, Zenia is taken to live with Arden's parents, the Earl and Countess Belmaine. Zenia gives birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, and is absorbed into the life of an aristocratic widowed lady. Zenia is an extremely overprotective mother, who rarely lets her child out of their two room suite in the mansion, and who lives in fear that her daughter might take ill. The loss and terror she experienced in her previous life make her extremely and cripplingly risk-averse. When Elizabeth is 18 months old, Arden returns alive, shocked to find he has a "wife" and daughter. Arden is instantly smitten with his little girl, and the love and bonding between the two of them is endearing to see. Zenia, however, is terrified. She doesn't approve of Arden taking Elizabeth outside, of him letting her out of her rooms, of him letting her ride with him on his horse. She thinks Arden is going to take Elizabeth away and return to the desert, in spite of his attempts to acclimate to life in England and his willingness to marry Zenia in truth.
Zenia constantly pushes Arden away. She doesn't like him being around Elizabeth, and she's jealous that Elizabeth takes such an instant liking to the father who carries her around on his shoulders and lets her have some fun and excitement in her toddler life. The second part of the book is basically a battle between Zenia and Arden over the care and custody of their child. Arden misses the brave "wolf cub" he knew in the desert; he doesn't see much of Selim in the fearful Victorian woman he's "married" to. He wants to regain the connection and closeness he felt with Zenia in the desert, and he wants to be a father to his little girl. Zenia is drawn to him and loves him, but her fear is stronger and she's often shrill and cruel to him because of it. Watching her try to sever Arden's tie to his daughter is heartbreaking, knowing how much the two of them have come to mean to each other. Even though I understood Zenia's fear, it was sometimes hard to sympathize with her.
The section of the book set in England is very different from the part set in the desert. The feeling of adventure is gone, and in its place is a domestic drama as these two broken individuals find a way to cope with their psychological wounds and hang-ups in order to be together as a married couple and as a family. As usual, Kinsale brings it all together at the end in a poignant, heart-wrenching way. I may have shed a tear or two, unsurprisingly. I think all of Kinsale's books have done that to me at one point or another.
I read this book and listened to the audiobook at the same time, using my Kindle's Immersion Reading feature, and as always Nicholas Boulton's narration blew me away. He's incredibly talented at bringing Kinsale's stories to life, and added so much enjoyment and emotion to my experience of this book.
That said, for all the wonderful aspects of this book, and there were a lot of those, I do feel like the latter part of the story is a little bit weaker than the first part. And the heroine, who in the first half of the novel I admired and liked, turned into someone much more difficult to sympathize with, too. I'd give the first part of the book an unqualified 5-star rating, and the latter part a 4. Overall, I'd rate it as a 4.5 -- really good, but not Flowers from the Storm perfect.
Arden, Viscount Winter, is an English aristocrat who has spent much of his adult life seeking adventure and running away from the family and society that make him miserable. For all his bravery and willingness to take risks in strange foreign places, inside there's still a lot of the lonely, overprotected and under-loved little boy he once was. He has a hard time connecting with people, and is often awkward in social situations. When his father begins to put pressure on him to marry and produce an heir, he takes on the job of retrieving a valuable Arabian mare in the deserts of the Middle East, in order to escape the pressures at home.
Zenobia ("Zenia") Stanhope is the illegitimate daughter of Lady Hester Stanhope and Michael Bruce -- two people you can read about here. (Their daughter is fictional, but they themselves were not. Lady Hester Stanhope lived a bizarre life that makes one of Laura Kinsale's plots look mundane in comparison!) Lady Hester was a cruel mother to Zenia, eventually forcing her go away disguised as a boy to live with Bedouins. Zenia's great desire is to leave the desert forever and go to England to live with the father she has never met. She longs for green, lush lands, to be able to live as a proper English lady, and for safety - above all for safety. When Zenia meets Arden after Lady Hester's funeral, he believes she is a boy named Selim. He takes Selim under his protection as a servant, and in exchange promises to grant Selim's desire to go to Britain, once the two of them have accomplished their mission of finding the mare, called String of Pearls.
Zenia continues to hide her true gender and identity, believing that if he learns she's a woman Arden will abandon her and not fulfill the promise he made to Selim. During their time in the desert, Arden and Selim become close as they navigate through terrible conditions and get mixed up in tribal skirmishes. They rely on each other, and Arden, who usually has a hard time connecting with others, finds it easy to talk with and be himself around Selim. Zenia, meanwhile, develops romantic feelings for her employer -- an open adoration which eventually disturbs Arden, who still thinks his servant is a boy. When Arden realizes that Selim is a woman, on the eve of their execution -- he is to be beheaded by order of a Saudi emir, and she is to be stoned -- they spend a night comforting each other and making love. They aren't executed after all, however, and when they get mixed up in another battle soon after their escape, Arden sends Zenia away and is (apparently) killed while rescuing her. Now pregnant, Zenia makes her way to England using Arden's passport, mistakenly presumed by her fellow travelers to be Lady Winter, Arden's widow. Arden's father decides to accept Zenia as Lady Winter, in order to have an heir now that his son is dead, even though he knows full well that no marriage actually took place.
This first part of the book is wonderful -- exciting, full of ambiance and adventure, and genuinely romantic. There's a level of subversiveness in Arden at first thinking Zenia is a young man, and his developing a close friendship and bond with her in this disguise before learning the truth. Kinsale brings the desert atmosphere vividly to life -- I was right there with the characters, feeling parched with thirst and blinded by sandstorms as they fought for their lives against the elements and the locals. Chapter 8, in which Zenia and Arden spend a night together before their execution, is one of the most beautifully and romantically written chapters in all the Kinsale books I've read. I found myself highlighting passage after passage on my Kindle.
In England, Zenia is taken to live with Arden's parents, the Earl and Countess Belmaine. Zenia gives birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, and is absorbed into the life of an aristocratic widowed lady. Zenia is an extremely overprotective mother, who rarely lets her child out of their two room suite in the mansion, and who lives in fear that her daughter might take ill. The loss and terror she experienced in her previous life make her extremely and cripplingly risk-averse. When Elizabeth is 18 months old, Arden returns alive, shocked to find he has a "wife" and daughter. Arden is instantly smitten with his little girl, and the love and bonding between the two of them is endearing to see. Zenia, however, is terrified. She doesn't approve of Arden taking Elizabeth outside, of him letting her out of her rooms, of him letting her ride with him on his horse. She thinks Arden is going to take Elizabeth away and return to the desert, in spite of his attempts to acclimate to life in England and his willingness to marry Zenia in truth.
Zenia constantly pushes Arden away. She doesn't like him being around Elizabeth, and she's jealous that Elizabeth takes such an instant liking to the father who carries her around on his shoulders and lets her have some fun and excitement in her toddler life. The second part of the book is basically a battle between Zenia and Arden over the care and custody of their child. Arden misses the brave "wolf cub" he knew in the desert; he doesn't see much of Selim in the fearful Victorian woman he's "married" to. He wants to regain the connection and closeness he felt with Zenia in the desert, and he wants to be a father to his little girl. Zenia is drawn to him and loves him, but her fear is stronger and she's often shrill and cruel to him because of it. Watching her try to sever Arden's tie to his daughter is heartbreaking, knowing how much the two of them have come to mean to each other. Even though I understood Zenia's fear, it was sometimes hard to sympathize with her.
The section of the book set in England is very different from the part set in the desert. The feeling of adventure is gone, and in its place is a domestic drama as these two broken individuals find a way to cope with their psychological wounds and hang-ups in order to be together as a married couple and as a family. As usual, Kinsale brings it all together at the end in a poignant, heart-wrenching way. I may have shed a tear or two, unsurprisingly. I think all of Kinsale's books have done that to me at one point or another.
I read this book and listened to the audiobook at the same time, using my Kindle's Immersion Reading feature, and as always Nicholas Boulton's narration blew me away. He's incredibly talented at bringing Kinsale's stories to life, and added so much enjoyment and emotion to my experience of this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2016
Y solo porque la ambientación me ha encantado. En cuanto a los personajes, baste decir que ambos me han parecido egoístas, indecisos y cansinos hasta decir basta. No he visto el amor por ningún lado. He tenido tantos sentimientos encontrados que es difícil plasmarlos todos en un review, sobre todo cuando la mayor parte han sido "malos" en relación a Zenobia, la protagonista, con la que me han quedado ganas de darle unas cuantas "zascas" a ver si así espabilaba.
July 20, 2025
Read: 7/20/25
Setting: Lebanon and England 1835
Trope: secret baby, enemies to lovers, return from the dead
Plot: Zenia has been at the mercy of her mother's tyrannical rages her whole life. Though most people didn't know she existed. Her mother made Zenia dress up like a boy with no shoes. Zenia desperately wants to go to England. She also wants to meet the father she never knew.
Lord Winter needs a guide to help him cross the desert so he can find a rare runaway horse. In exchange for the boy's help, Winter will sail with her to England. Unfortunately, they are attacked and held by an Arab tribe. That's when Winter discovers Zenia's little secret, that she's a 25 year old woman. Thinking they were about to die, they gave into their sexual desires. Later, while trying to escape, Winter is shot down.
Now, in England, Zenia discovers she's pregnant, and her FIL has come up with the perfect solution. He will claim she married his son so that her child won't be illegitimate.
2 years later, the prodigal son has returned. Winter hardly recognizes Zenia.She went from a beautiful street urchin to this cold perfection before him. Why is she so angry with him? Can these two put their issues between them aside for the sake of their daughter?
****************Spoiler Alert*******
Disliked:
1. What a letdown! The blame is solely the h's fault.
●She was likable at the beginning of the book. Once in England, she turned into a crazy b***h. She doesn't even thank him for saving her life. She's just mean and rude.
●She also has no common sense. Winter is willing to marry her so their daughter won't be a bastard. She's undecided. Really?
●Her poor daughter isn't allowed outside. She must remain indoors with a strong fire. She screamed at Winter. She said he was trying to kill her daughter just because he played with her outside. 🙄 Zenia makes lawnmower parents look good.
2. I liked the H, but he was a bit of a doormat. I wanted him to dump Zenia and take that poor child away from her. It's not good when you are rooting against your h.
3. Ending rushed. We get 7 pages of them getting along before the story ends eruptly.
4. Zenia discovers she has a caring father (never knew about her) and delightful half siblings. She's never been so happy. Then her FIL comes and takes her away to his estate, and that's the last we heard from them.Why would the author introduce Zenia's father if he isn't going to play a role in the story? The author did this a lot. A character would appear in the 1st act, and by the 2nd half, their character has disappeared.
Conclusion: The beginning of the plot was great, but once in England, the story suffers. The h was horrible and tiresome. Unfortunately, the rest of the story was boring. I still can't believe this book was written by LK!
Setting: Lebanon and England 1835
Trope: secret baby, enemies to lovers, return from the dead
Plot: Zenia has been at the mercy of her mother's tyrannical rages her whole life. Though most people didn't know she existed. Her mother made Zenia dress up like a boy with no shoes. Zenia desperately wants to go to England. She also wants to meet the father she never knew.
Lord Winter needs a guide to help him cross the desert so he can find a rare runaway horse. In exchange for the boy's help, Winter will sail with her to England. Unfortunately, they are attacked and held by an Arab tribe. That's when Winter discovers Zenia's little secret, that she's a 25 year old woman. Thinking they were about to die, they gave into their sexual desires. Later, while trying to escape, Winter is shot down.
Now, in England, Zenia discovers she's pregnant, and her FIL has come up with the perfect solution. He will claim she married his son so that her child won't be illegitimate.
2 years later, the prodigal son has returned. Winter hardly recognizes Zenia.She went from a beautiful street urchin to this cold perfection before him. Why is she so angry with him? Can these two put their issues between them aside for the sake of their daughter?
****************Spoiler Alert*******
Disliked:
1. What a letdown! The blame is solely the h's fault.
●She was likable at the beginning of the book. Once in England, she turned into a crazy b***h. She doesn't even thank him for saving her life. She's just mean and rude.
●She also has no common sense. Winter is willing to marry her so their daughter won't be a bastard. She's undecided. Really?
●Her poor daughter isn't allowed outside. She must remain indoors with a strong fire. She screamed at Winter. She said he was trying to kill her daughter just because he played with her outside. 🙄 Zenia makes lawnmower parents look good.
2. I liked the H, but he was a bit of a doormat. I wanted him to dump Zenia and take that poor child away from her. It's not good when you are rooting against your h.
3. Ending rushed. We get 7 pages of them getting along before the story ends eruptly.
4. Zenia discovers she has a caring father (never knew about her) and delightful half siblings. She's never been so happy. Then her FIL comes and takes her away to his estate, and that's the last we heard from them.Why would the author introduce Zenia's father if he isn't going to play a role in the story? The author did this a lot. A character would appear in the 1st act, and by the 2nd half, their character has disappeared.
Conclusion: The beginning of the plot was great, but once in England, the story suffers. The h was horrible and tiresome. Unfortunately, the rest of the story was boring. I still can't believe this book was written by LK!
December 6, 2020
The Dream Hunter is a riveting tale of adventures in foreign lands and a less riveting tale of finding love and belonging.
Zenobia “Zenia” Stanhope is the daughter of British explorer, revolutionary and eccentric, Lady Hester Stanhope (real-life historical figure) who comes to be known as the “Queen of the Desert”. However, she’s a self-centered woman who neglects Zenia. The girl feeling deeply her mother’s disdain and dreams of England and the father she never knew, searching for that love and support she has not received. So much so that she come to hate the desert and upon her mother’s death she wishes to finally make her way to England. Unfortunately, she has no money or resources and finds herself at the mercy of Lord Winter who takes her for a young man (as that is the way her mother had her dressed and behave). The two go on an adventure (reluctantly for Zenia) through the red desert where Lord Winter searches for a prize mare. Throughout their adventures and ordeals, the two form a bond. However, their lives come under peril and they are separated. Zenia finally makes her way to England where she’s built a life for herself, believing Lord Winter died in the desert. However, unexpectedly he reappears two years later and now they must both reckon with their new lives in England and come to terms with their shared past.
The first part of the book takes place in Syria with travels to other Arabian countries through the desert. The scenes are vividly painted, so much so, that you feel the burning heat of the desert sun and the thirst that comes along with it. There’s an excellent combination of world-building and character development. It's so strong and so good, that I really wish most of the book had taken place here.
Zenia’s behavior once Arden, Lord Winter, arrives in England can be seen as irritating, annoying, and maybe even childish. However, if we take into consideration her experiences, and the clear trauma at her mother indifference and frankly disdain we can understand some of her hang-ups. However, misguided her actions are, they come from a place of trauma, but it does become tiresome. Kinsale, is very good at creating these complexities in a character, thought I do feel that I time she pushes the angst and conflict too far and for too long. Her characters are complicated, the emotions and actions are contradictory at times but not without cause but still, there is a limit to what is plausible.
In regard to the depiction of the protagonist time/experience in the Arab desert there is some problematic aspects mostly comprised of (I’m not sure what the correct terminology is) “white awesomeness”. This is directed towards the H with his 10-shot Colt rifle and how the Arabs where in awe of him for it or the ultra-superstitious nature of the Arab people (I mean they could say the same about Christian superstition). Nonetheless, the scenery and the description of the cultures and political environment of the time felt realistic and well-drawn.
I love Laura Kinsale’s books because they aren’t typical or formulaic when it comes to their plots. However, she does rely heavily on the same types of tropes which she uses throughout all the books I’ve read from her. You have the reluctant hero/heroine trope paired with the hero/heroine who pursues them throughout the book once their feelings are establish. This then causes the on again/off again trope. Which is caused by the miscommunication trope.
I don’t mind any of these tropes, but not to belabor the point I do feel that Kinsale pushes them a little too far for a little too long. I wished she’d hold back sometimes. Having said that, I still happily read her books because she’s so good at telling her stories that even when I’m annoyed I still what to know how things turn out because I still care about the characters.
I gave up on the heroine right before she finally had her epiphany which is her serious “mommy issues”. She’s known this but it isn’t until the 11th hour that she’s ready to confront them. Arden, Lord Winter could also be frustrating with his inability to communicate but he at least came to the realization of his love and wanted to marry Zenia and moved heaven and earth to do so, which made him the better of the two protagonists. I’m glad Zenia finally relents but I really wish she’d done so sooner allowing time for the reconciliation and establishing of the relationship - now in a healthy way.
The narration for this book was done by Nicholas Boulton who is probably one of the best if not the best narrator I’ve listened to. He’s always spectacular, I have only praise for him.
Even with its shortcoming it was still a good book to read/listen to and I would still recommend it. Just be prepared to be frustrated.
Zenobia “Zenia” Stanhope is the daughter of British explorer, revolutionary and eccentric, Lady Hester Stanhope (real-life historical figure) who comes to be known as the “Queen of the Desert”. However, she’s a self-centered woman who neglects Zenia. The girl feeling deeply her mother’s disdain and dreams of England and the father she never knew, searching for that love and support she has not received. So much so that she come to hate the desert and upon her mother’s death she wishes to finally make her way to England. Unfortunately, she has no money or resources and finds herself at the mercy of Lord Winter who takes her for a young man (as that is the way her mother had her dressed and behave). The two go on an adventure (reluctantly for Zenia) through the red desert where Lord Winter searches for a prize mare. Throughout their adventures and ordeals, the two form a bond. However, their lives come under peril and they are separated. Zenia finally makes her way to England where she’s built a life for herself, believing Lord Winter died in the desert. However, unexpectedly he reappears two years later and now they must both reckon with their new lives in England and come to terms with their shared past.
The first part of the book takes place in Syria with travels to other Arabian countries through the desert. The scenes are vividly painted, so much so, that you feel the burning heat of the desert sun and the thirst that comes along with it. There’s an excellent combination of world-building and character development. It's so strong and so good, that I really wish most of the book had taken place here.
Zenia’s behavior once Arden, Lord Winter, arrives in England can be seen as irritating, annoying, and maybe even childish. However, if we take into consideration her experiences, and the clear trauma at her mother indifference and frankly disdain we can understand some of her hang-ups. However, misguided her actions are, they come from a place of trauma, but it does become tiresome. Kinsale, is very good at creating these complexities in a character, thought I do feel that I time she pushes the angst and conflict too far and for too long. Her characters are complicated, the emotions and actions are contradictory at times but not without cause but still, there is a limit to what is plausible.
In regard to the depiction of the protagonist time/experience in the Arab desert there is some problematic aspects mostly comprised of (I’m not sure what the correct terminology is) “white awesomeness”. This is directed towards the H with his 10-shot Colt rifle and how the Arabs where in awe of him for it or the ultra-superstitious nature of the Arab people (I mean they could say the same about Christian superstition). Nonetheless, the scenery and the description of the cultures and political environment of the time felt realistic and well-drawn.
I love Laura Kinsale’s books because they aren’t typical or formulaic when it comes to their plots. However, she does rely heavily on the same types of tropes which she uses throughout all the books I’ve read from her. You have the reluctant hero/heroine trope paired with the hero/heroine who pursues them throughout the book once their feelings are establish. This then causes the on again/off again trope. Which is caused by the miscommunication trope.
I don’t mind any of these tropes, but not to belabor the point I do feel that Kinsale pushes them a little too far for a little too long. I wished she’d hold back sometimes. Having said that, I still happily read her books because she’s so good at telling her stories that even when I’m annoyed I still what to know how things turn out because I still care about the characters.
I gave up on the heroine right before she finally had her epiphany which is her serious “mommy issues”. She’s known this but it isn’t until the 11th hour that she’s ready to confront them. Arden, Lord Winter could also be frustrating with his inability to communicate but he at least came to the realization of his love and wanted to marry Zenia and moved heaven and earth to do so, which made him the better of the two protagonists. I’m glad Zenia finally relents but I really wish she’d done so sooner allowing time for the reconciliation and establishing of the relationship - now in a healthy way.
The narration for this book was done by Nicholas Boulton who is probably one of the best if not the best narrator I’ve listened to. He’s always spectacular, I have only praise for him.
Even with its shortcoming it was still a good book to read/listen to and I would still recommend it. Just be prepared to be frustrated.
July 8, 2024
1.5 ⭐️ wow!
Ok so MMC has sociopathic behaviors and a flat personality, he let his fiancée drown after she fell out of their rowboat in his pond because he didn’t want to marry her! He left home and has traveled the world since. His detached apathetic behavior continues including sleeping with childlike FMC who is daughter of woman he has been infatuated with previously, and when reunited with her (comes up coldly behind her at a funeral!) and her child brings her outdoors for the day the second day or so of their reunion, ignores the calls of the nanny, grandparents and mother and ventures further into the woods. Gone for hours, then is pikachu shocked face when they are dredging the pond his fiancée frowned in, where the rowboat is unmoored and baby bonnet is floating in.
He immediately exercises legal action against the mother (FMC) to threaten her with custody, or some kind of settlement so he can remarry. It’s truly callous. The FMC is traumatized by things that have happened and practicing attachment parenting, neurotic about baby getting sick outdoors etc. Honestly pretty understandable considering she’s postpartum and what she’s been through but not the most fun couple to read about in a romance. OW drama ensues during a date with our kid to the zoo, he honest to god is ogling another woman and takes their daughter up onto an elephant for a ride with her and they basically pretend it’s the FMC niece and that they aren’t married while he mostly walks around with her the whole time.
Got “staying together for the kid” and trauma bond vibes.
Ok so MMC has sociopathic behaviors and a flat personality, he let his fiancée drown after she fell out of their rowboat in his pond because he didn’t want to marry her! He left home and has traveled the world since. His detached apathetic behavior continues including sleeping with childlike FMC who is daughter of woman he has been infatuated with previously, and when reunited with her (comes up coldly behind her at a funeral!) and her child brings her outdoors for the day the second day or so of their reunion, ignores the calls of the nanny, grandparents and mother and ventures further into the woods. Gone for hours, then is pikachu shocked face when they are dredging the pond his fiancée frowned in, where the rowboat is unmoored and baby bonnet is floating in.
He immediately exercises legal action against the mother (FMC) to threaten her with custody, or some kind of settlement so he can remarry. It’s truly callous. The FMC is traumatized by things that have happened and practicing attachment parenting, neurotic about baby getting sick outdoors etc. Honestly pretty understandable considering she’s postpartum and what she’s been through but not the most fun couple to read about in a romance. OW drama ensues during a date with our kid to the zoo, he honest to god is ogling another woman and takes their daughter up onto an elephant for a ride with her and they basically pretend it’s the FMC niece and that they aren’t married while he mostly walks around with her the whole time.
Got “staying together for the kid” and trauma bond vibes.
June 9, 2019
On a scale from mildly eccentric to complete psycho, this heroine is a total nutjob.
Egads! This was the most irrational, control freak heroine that I've ever read. I cannot say she had ONE redeeming characteristic, everything was about her, her, her. Even her supposed love for her child was a controlling love where she had to approve of every little breath her daughter took. It was revolting.
Why, oh, why was an special man such as Lord Winter in love with this wacko? I saw no reason whatsoever and the explanations was so freaking vague. This was a woman who was so jealous of his relationship with his own child that she tried to separate her from him, a woman who didn't even ask him how he survived after the poor guy showed up 3 years after being presumed dead, a woman who hysterically rejected him over and over, no matter what he tried to do for her. She did NOT deserve him and I did not believe her about face. I'm sure she kept acting up until her grave.
By all accounts I should have rated this lower but I loved the historical detail, the hero's characterization - what a rich, complex man! - and the narration by Mr. Bolton. That saved this from being a total waste of time although I confess that I'm even warier of reading any more books by Ms. Kinsale, as I know she has a penchant for thoroughly unpleasant heroines.
Egads! This was the most irrational, control freak heroine that I've ever read. I cannot say she had ONE redeeming characteristic, everything was about her, her, her. Even her supposed love for her child was a controlling love where she had to approve of every little breath her daughter took. It was revolting.
Why, oh, why was an special man such as Lord Winter in love with this wacko? I saw no reason whatsoever and the explanations was so freaking vague. This was a woman who was so jealous of his relationship with his own child that she tried to separate her from him, a woman who didn't even ask him how he survived after the poor guy showed up 3 years after being presumed dead, a woman who hysterically rejected him over and over, no matter what he tried to do for her. She did NOT deserve him and I did not believe her about face. I'm sure she kept acting up until her grave.
By all accounts I should have rated this lower but I loved the historical detail, the hero's characterization - what a rich, complex man! - and the narration by Mr. Bolton. That saved this from being a total waste of time although I confess that I'm even warier of reading any more books by Ms. Kinsale, as I know she has a penchant for thoroughly unpleasant heroines.
March 31, 2015
Let me just start off by saying that I love Laura Kinsale. Her heroes and heroins are generally strong, and the chemistry between them usually electric. But in this one I was a little disappointed. I thought this one started off strong. The premise of the story was good as was the situations the hero and heroine got themselves into, fun. I loved the first 1/3rd of this book, but by God, there are parts that make me want to smack the crap out of the heroine. I didn't mind her fear in the desert, as it was entirely reasonable and she was able to work through dangers despite it, but later, she's absolutely smothering in her nervousness. There is no longer any reason for her to be this afraid, but here she is cowering and using her stubbornness to stay stuck as this overbearing creature. She was barely tolerable for the last half of the book. While the book is over all readable, this is definitely my least favorite of Laura Kinsale's books thus far. The hero was over all wonderful, and definitely the most sympathetic character in the entire book.
Read
December 18, 2018It's been a long time since I read my first novel penned by Laura Kinsale. It was Flowers from the Storm, and I loved it. What I remember most about reading it is feeling anxious about the outcome. I knew that the ending was the one thing I needn't have worried about — I was reading a romance novel, so a happy ending was a given — but I couldn't help myself. I was a ball of anxiety till the very last page. I decided then and there I would read every book written by this author. So far I've read seven more, and in the process stopped worrying, and just enjoyed the wonderful, complex stories and characters. The Dream Hunter brought back the anxiety.
*I've written quite a bit about what happened in the book in my review, so spoilers?*
This book was not easy to read, nor did I expect it to be. I don't pick up a Laura Kinsale book when I'm looking for something light and easy to read. However, I didn't expect it to be this challenging. I did not expect the heroine to be this challenging. All of Ms. Kinsale's characters were like real, complex, flawed people, and like real people they made mistakes. I understood their actions, even when their actions were wrong. I could say the same about Arden and Zenia. But Zenia, my God, did Zenia try my patience. More than that, I lost my patience with her at one point, and never got it back. I still understood her, but it became unbearable. The book ended with on a happy note, but I'm not convinced she didn't turn her back on Arden for the hundredth time.
Arden was much easier to like. Although, I do vaguely remember it wasn't always so. The first part set in the desert was my favorite. I didn't think it would be while I was reading it because it was fraught with danger, but somehow England proved to be a more dangerous ground. The desert was where Arden went in search of a legendary mare, and to get away from his parents who were pressuring him to marry and produce an heir, away from the society and the people whose company left him ill at ease; where he went to be free. There he met Zenia, though he did not know it.
Zenia was the daughter of Hester Stanhope, the Queen of the Desert who was a remarkable woman, but not a suitable mother to Zenia. It was obvious Zenia had led an unenviable life under her mother's command, though it wasn't until later on that it became evident just how much she was damaged by her upbringing. It was no wonder her biggest dream was to leave the desert and find her father in England. She found in Arden someone who could could help her do that... if she helped him first in his mission.
In their travels through the red sands, Zenia was by Arden's side as his faithful companion Selim, a Bedouin boy. Zenia feared and admired Arden for his fearlessness, and clung to him for his strength. And fell for him. Arden's feelings for Zenia became a mess when he discovered Selim was only a disguise, but he didn't have much time to ponder over it. He too pretended to be Arab, and when their deceit was discovered, they were sentenced to death. In the night before their execution, they sought comfort in each other's arms. The execution never occurred, of course. They got away from that. But they were attacked. That time, only she got away. With Arden's papers she made it to her father. She had a daughter, and Arden's family took her in as his wife, while he was presumed dead.
Two years later, Arden came back to London. He looked for her to see if she had made it to London as she had dreamed, and found she'd been living in his parents' house as Lady Winter, and that he had a daughter. One would expect he'd run there, and be welcomed with open arms, tears of happiness, and declarations of love. One would expect a HEA would be right around the corner... and one would be oh, so terribly wrong. That was when trouble started. That was when I became sad for Arden, sad for his little girl, just sad. In the English surrounding Arden and Zenia were strangers. Arden was as uncomfortable there as ever, but willing to do anything to be with her and their daughter. She was not. She was consumed by irrational fears, she acted irrationally, yelled I'm not like my mother and then behaved exactly like her. It was exhausting reading it. It gave me a headache I can't get rid of.
I've said I don't find Laura Kinsale's books to be easy reads. However, the ones I've read recently all had chapters where everything was right as rain between the main characters. Sure, afterwards there would come a hard time for them, but they had their happy times. Sadly, Arden and Zenia never had those. I missed those chapters. The only happy moments in this book were the ones with Arden and Elizabeth, and even those Zenia would ruin with her hysterics. I've seen a lot of criticism directed at Zenia. I hate to pile on, but it's unavoidable. It was a relief when someone would call her out for her behavior. I've also seen a lot of justification for that behavior. Yes, a deeply damaged heroine, she was. She had as many issues as there are grains of desert sand. I get it! However, there was a child. There was a child, and she was doing to it what she despised her mother for doing to her... Oh, my God, how exhausted I was. I could hardly enjoy Arden's shy nature.
There was a vengeful part of me that wished Arden would say in the end: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. But there was a child, and he loved them both, soooo... Whatever...
When I finish a Laura Kinsale book, I think I can't wait to read it again. At this time, I don't see a re-read of The Dream Hunter happening in the foreseeable future. Once was enough, I think.
January 12, 2010
Oh, Laura Kinsale, how I love thee...
I've been saving the Kinsales since I first discovered her last year. I've been taking them out and reading them like Godiva chocolates. This was my last. Boo hoo! :-( (at least she has a new release coming out this year! Score!)
So, first of all, there are three things (aside from plain 'ol bad writing and romance novel cliches) that usually make me HATE a romance novel:
1. an unnecessary suspense plot--you know the sort, where the h/h finally get together but now there is a crazed murderer on the loose, or a random kidnapping, or a plot for destruction that must be solved. Blah. It's a cop out designed to wrap up the storyline with a grand climax. I hate it, and often it ruins a really good romance.
None of that in The Dream Hunter.
2. A BIG misunderstanding. Someone assumes something, and someone else says something misleading, and then there is more assuming that leads to hating and heartbreak and it could easily be solved but that would end the book too soon so it drags on and on and on and ARGHHHHHHH!!!!
3. Unnecessary hatin' on the heroine. Hero just ends up PISSED at heroine for no good reason, usually involving the big misunderstanding or something equally stupid. This can also be reversed to unnecessary hatin' on the hero. I can't stand this. Makes me cringe.
So, there are bits of numbers 2 and 3 in the Dream Hunter.
If so, then why did I love this book? Because Laura Kinsale didn't QUITE go there. She started with a bit of 3, then didn't completely delve into the ugly hating. There was the threat of number 2, until I was sure I would have to be really disappointed in Ms. Kinsale, but she didn't quite commit to the nasty misunderstanding either.....so all was saved.
The Dream Hunter was heartwrenching through and through. Complete with tortured hero and tortured heroine. Plenty of angsty angst, and emotional emotions up the whazoo. But Kinsale DOES IT RIGHT.
You're all: "Oh no! She is NOT going there!!" and she doesn't. It's like being on an angsty precipice. Off the cliff lies 80s melodramatic daytime soap. But she never takes us over the edge. She stays real, reasonable, appropriate, and just plain lovely. But heartwrenching!
The Dream Hunter ranks just under Flowers from the Storm and For My Lady's Heart for me.
I've been saving the Kinsales since I first discovered her last year. I've been taking them out and reading them like Godiva chocolates. This was my last. Boo hoo! :-( (at least she has a new release coming out this year! Score!)
So, first of all, there are three things (aside from plain 'ol bad writing and romance novel cliches) that usually make me HATE a romance novel:
1. an unnecessary suspense plot--you know the sort, where the h/h finally get together but now there is a crazed murderer on the loose, or a random kidnapping, or a plot for destruction that must be solved. Blah. It's a cop out designed to wrap up the storyline with a grand climax. I hate it, and often it ruins a really good romance.
None of that in The Dream Hunter.
2. A BIG misunderstanding. Someone assumes something, and someone else says something misleading, and then there is more assuming that leads to hating and heartbreak and it could easily be solved but that would end the book too soon so it drags on and on and on and ARGHHHHHHH!!!!
3. Unnecessary hatin' on the heroine. Hero just ends up PISSED at heroine for no good reason, usually involving the big misunderstanding or something equally stupid. This can also be reversed to unnecessary hatin' on the hero. I can't stand this. Makes me cringe.
So, there are bits of numbers 2 and 3 in the Dream Hunter.
If so, then why did I love this book? Because Laura Kinsale didn't QUITE go there. She started with a bit of 3, then didn't completely delve into the ugly hating. There was the threat of number 2, until I was sure I would have to be really disappointed in Ms. Kinsale, but she didn't quite commit to the nasty misunderstanding either.....so all was saved.
The Dream Hunter was heartwrenching through and through. Complete with tortured hero and tortured heroine. Plenty of angsty angst, and emotional emotions up the whazoo. But Kinsale DOES IT RIGHT.
You're all: "Oh no! She is NOT going there!!" and she doesn't. It's like being on an angsty precipice. Off the cliff lies 80s melodramatic daytime soap. But she never takes us over the edge. She stays real, reasonable, appropriate, and just plain lovely. But heartwrenching!
The Dream Hunter ranks just under Flowers from the Storm and For My Lady's Heart for me.
January 12, 2024
Cuando leí esta novela la primera vez, me gustó, pero me decepcionó un poco, 6/10, le puse. Ahora, si no llega a ser por lo mucho que me irritó la heroína a veces, sería un ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Lo que cambia la vida lectora.
Contrasta con lo que ahora se publica. ¡Qué argumento más bien montado, qué esfuerzo en ambientación histórica, vaya personajes complejos, con sus fuerzas y sus debilidades!
Hay mucha peripecia, empieza en el desierto y sigue en la Inglaterra victoriana. Pero, en el fondo, se trata de una «novela de personajes» muy bien descritos a través de sus gestos y acciones, y de palabras, sí, no siempre adecuadas, a veces dichas sin pensar, hirientes y tozudas como los protagonistas, Arden y Zenia. Nada de rumiaciones. ¡Qué ejemplo de show don't tell!
Crítica más extensa, en mi blog.
Contrasta con lo que ahora se publica. ¡Qué argumento más bien montado, qué esfuerzo en ambientación histórica, vaya personajes complejos, con sus fuerzas y sus debilidades!
Hay mucha peripecia, empieza en el desierto y sigue en la Inglaterra victoriana. Pero, en el fondo, se trata de una «novela de personajes» muy bien descritos a través de sus gestos y acciones, y de palabras, sí, no siempre adecuadas, a veces dichas sin pensar, hirientes y tozudas como los protagonistas, Arden y Zenia. Nada de rumiaciones. ¡Qué ejemplo de show don't tell!
Crítica más extensa, en mi blog.
October 25, 2018
It took me a while to get through this one. I listened to the audio format (narrator did an excellent job, by the way), and instead of diving into the story, I was content to let it unfold at a leisurely pace as I drove to and from work...about an hour a day of listening. It's not a bad book--in fact, in many ways, it's actually quite well written--but it just didn't grab me. And for that, I blame the characters.
**Warning: the rest of this review might contain some minor spoilers.**
The story concerns Lord Arden Winter, a tormented fellow who cannot conform to the stodginess of Victorian society and his duties as the only son (with a lot of pressure from his parents to hurry up and procreate already! Although he has no interest in marriage and procreation and finds women tedious and boring except for brief sexual encounters, etc.) and so escapes it all with daredevil escapades. As his father has just thwarted his attempt to join an expedition to the Arctic, he runs off to the Middle East to look for a famed Arabian mare. Along the way, he stops at the residence of the recently deceased Lady Hester Stanhope, where he spies a young Bedouin lad weeping in fear. Samir--as the boy calls himself--speaks excellent English and confesses a burning desire to travel to England, which Arden agrees to help with if Samir acts as his guide around the desert. But Samir is no ordinary Bedouin boy; Samir is actually our heroine, Zenia, who is too scared to reveal her true identity.
So the two travel around the desert for several weeks having adventures before Arden figures out his new friend is actually a 25-year-old woman, and as a result of this discovery, she ends up returning to England alone and pregnant and he is lost in the desert, given up for dead. When she arrives in England, she is mistaken for his widow and immediately embarks on the life of stultifying respectability she always dreamed of. Until he appears a couple of years later, not at all dead, and the two have to negotiate a new relationship.
What I liked: the setting, the historical details, the author's knack for rich description. All of that was great, a far cry from being a slap-dash "wallpaper" historical romance with modern characters dressed up in historical costumes. This felt more like a good historical novel, period. And the characters were very well done in that they were convincing and believable. Arden and Zenia were both outcasts in their own way, seeking solace the only way they knew how--Arden through reckless adventuring, Zenia through a desperate attempt to be as conventional as possible--and they were both tormented by the limitations of their choices, wanting to break out of their molds and form a real connection with each other but completely unsure how to proceed.
I think a lot of readers can sympathize with that, and it can make for a compelling story. I felt compassion and pity for both characters. The novel also touches relies on a series of misunderstandings in a way that doesn't feel like a cheap trope, but coming from the characters' essential natures, the crux of who they are and their difficulties in the world. The problem is that she does this too well, to the point where I honestly could not picture Arden and Zenia ever being happy together. I could not "ship" them as a couple--in fact, they both met an outside party who seemed like a much better choice for them--and I simply could not believe in Zenia's eleventh hour change of heart and their HEA. If they were real people, they would be making each other miserable almost as soon as they got married.
Overall: an interesting book, definitely well-written, but it just didn't work as a romance for me, as I can't picture the characters being happy together.
**Warning: the rest of this review might contain some minor spoilers.**
The story concerns Lord Arden Winter, a tormented fellow who cannot conform to the stodginess of Victorian society and his duties as the only son (with a lot of pressure from his parents to hurry up and procreate already! Although he has no interest in marriage and procreation and finds women tedious and boring except for brief sexual encounters, etc.) and so escapes it all with daredevil escapades. As his father has just thwarted his attempt to join an expedition to the Arctic, he runs off to the Middle East to look for a famed Arabian mare. Along the way, he stops at the residence of the recently deceased Lady Hester Stanhope, where he spies a young Bedouin lad weeping in fear. Samir--as the boy calls himself--speaks excellent English and confesses a burning desire to travel to England, which Arden agrees to help with if Samir acts as his guide around the desert. But Samir is no ordinary Bedouin boy; Samir is actually our heroine, Zenia, who is too scared to reveal her true identity.
So the two travel around the desert for several weeks having adventures before Arden figures out his new friend is actually a 25-year-old woman, and as a result of this discovery, she ends up returning to England alone and pregnant and he is lost in the desert, given up for dead. When she arrives in England, she is mistaken for his widow and immediately embarks on the life of stultifying respectability she always dreamed of. Until he appears a couple of years later, not at all dead, and the two have to negotiate a new relationship.
What I liked: the setting, the historical details, the author's knack for rich description. All of that was great, a far cry from being a slap-dash "wallpaper" historical romance with modern characters dressed up in historical costumes. This felt more like a good historical novel, period. And the characters were very well done in that they were convincing and believable. Arden and Zenia were both outcasts in their own way, seeking solace the only way they knew how--Arden through reckless adventuring, Zenia through a desperate attempt to be as conventional as possible--and they were both tormented by the limitations of their choices, wanting to break out of their molds and form a real connection with each other but completely unsure how to proceed.
I think a lot of readers can sympathize with that, and it can make for a compelling story. I felt compassion and pity for both characters. The novel also touches relies on a series of misunderstandings in a way that doesn't feel like a cheap trope, but coming from the characters' essential natures, the crux of who they are and their difficulties in the world. The problem is that she does this too well, to the point where I honestly could not picture Arden and Zenia ever being happy together. I could not "ship" them as a couple--in fact, they both met an outside party who seemed like a much better choice for them--and I simply could not believe in Zenia's eleventh hour change of heart and their HEA. If they were real people, they would be making each other miserable almost as soon as they got married.
Overall: an interesting book, definitely well-written, but it just didn't work as a romance for me, as I can't picture the characters being happy together.
June 29, 2021
Like other GR friends, I was torn about rating this story.
Lord Winter appeared to be as cold as his name. He had a few acquaintances, but no true friends. An only child, his relationship with his parents was glacial. Women were necessary, but only when he needed them and for one purpose.
Bored with life, a conversation with his peers led him into the desert to find the mysterious Shajar al-Durr, the String of Pearls. A horse like none other.
The viscount's journey started in Syria cloaked as Haj Hasan where he met a young boy, Selim. Because Winter needed Selim's help, he made him a promise. Selim wanted to escape to England.
Their time spent in the desert fleeing soldiers and fighting extreme heat and thirst changed their relationship. In a way, their roles were reversed. Selim saved Winter on more than one occasion and for this, he was grateful. What he didn't know for weeks on end was Selim was really Zenobia Stanhope. Zenia, a 25-year-old woman.
I truly enjoyed reading the three months they spent in 1839. It was exciting and a bit scary. If the plot continued with this same tension and pace, I would have given The Dream Hunter 5 stars.
Zenia's return to early Victorian England was 'Part II' rather than a smooth continuation of Winter's and Zenia's association. Winter eventually followed, but by then their world turned upside down.
Initially, I understood Zenia's insecurities. It didn't help matters that Winter's communication skills were lacking. He tried, but he seemed to do all the wrong things in the eyes of the woman he now loved.
The pace slowed down to a crawl and, if I am going to be honest, Ms. Kinsale should have deleted about 75 pages. I tired of Zenia's phobias and felt sorry for Winter. Yes, there was the necessary HEA, but the excitement I felt early on was long gone.
Lord Winter appeared to be as cold as his name. He had a few acquaintances, but no true friends. An only child, his relationship with his parents was glacial. Women were necessary, but only when he needed them and for one purpose.
Bored with life, a conversation with his peers led him into the desert to find the mysterious Shajar al-Durr, the String of Pearls. A horse like none other.
The viscount's journey started in Syria cloaked as Haj Hasan where he met a young boy, Selim. Because Winter needed Selim's help, he made him a promise. Selim wanted to escape to England.
Their time spent in the desert fleeing soldiers and fighting extreme heat and thirst changed their relationship. In a way, their roles were reversed. Selim saved Winter on more than one occasion and for this, he was grateful. What he didn't know for weeks on end was Selim was really Zenobia Stanhope. Zenia, a 25-year-old woman.
I truly enjoyed reading the three months they spent in 1839. It was exciting and a bit scary. If the plot continued with this same tension and pace, I would have given The Dream Hunter 5 stars.
Zenia's return to early Victorian England was 'Part II' rather than a smooth continuation of Winter's and Zenia's association. Winter eventually followed, but by then their world turned upside down.
Initially, I understood Zenia's insecurities. It didn't help matters that Winter's communication skills were lacking. He tried, but he seemed to do all the wrong things in the eyes of the woman he now loved.
The pace slowed down to a crawl and, if I am going to be honest, Ms. Kinsale should have deleted about 75 pages. I tired of Zenia's phobias and felt sorry for Winter. Yes, there was the necessary HEA, but the excitement I felt early on was long gone.
May 5, 2020
Apparently I read this years ago in the German translation, and did not like it all that much. This time it worked very well for me, I was in great emotional turmoil throughout, fervently wishing for an end to the characters and my suffering.
I was a little uncomfortable with the first part, which takes place in the Arabian desert. It is very much in tune with travel records of the time, but the fearless white hero among the „barbaric tribes“, who bests the „superstitious natives“ at everything with his gun and cunning... it reminds me too much of the works of Karl May and similar books.
Apart from that it was all very romantic, and sad. And the characters, even though quite annoying in parts, seemed well written and realistic to me. The end, while beautiful and a huge relief, did not quite resolve certain matters, especially with the heroe’s parents.
The sexy times were sexy even to me, who constantly complains about the way sex is depicted in romance. And especially on audio.
The narration or rather performance by Nicholas Boulton was a work of art. It might be entirely his fault that Lord Winter worked so well for me.
I was a little uncomfortable with the first part, which takes place in the Arabian desert. It is very much in tune with travel records of the time, but the fearless white hero among the „barbaric tribes“, who bests the „superstitious natives“ at everything with his gun and cunning... it reminds me too much of the works of Karl May and similar books.
Apart from that it was all very romantic, and sad. And the characters, even though quite annoying in parts, seemed well written and realistic to me. The end, while beautiful and a huge relief, did not quite resolve certain matters, especially with the heroe’s parents.
The sexy times were sexy even to me, who constantly complains about the way sex is depicted in romance. And especially on audio.
The narration or rather performance by Nicholas Boulton was a work of art. It might be entirely his fault that Lord Winter worked so well for me.
February 13, 2023
3'5 ⭐⭐⭐
November 24, 2021
It's a Kinsale. 'Nuff said.
I know some people dislike the heroine, Zenia. They said she was too childish. Even though she was 25 in the book, she led a pretty sheltered life. I find that her actions were true to her character. Most of her actions were driven by fear which were ingrained in her by her less than stable mother. It's not easy to get rid of 25 years of fear.
Arden looked like a well-developed person on the surface, but he was actually very shy and quiet. His father was overly protective of him when he was growing up (he was the sole surviving child). Unfortunately, Arden had a keen sense of adventure and his father's treatment were very stifling. When he was older, he went across the globe and court danger at every turn to rebel against his father. I guess this shows that it's important to understand your child and treat your child individually. What works for one child doesn't work for the other.
Most of the conflicts in the book happened because they simply don't talk to each other. Zenia was driven by fear and Arder by his shyness and reserve.
My only quibble and it's a minor one would be that I wish that there was an epilogue. The ending was way too short. I would love to see more of them being in love. They were apart way too much in the book.
This one is definitely a keeper.
I know some people dislike the heroine, Zenia. They said she was too childish. Even though she was 25 in the book, she led a pretty sheltered life. I find that her actions were true to her character. Most of her actions were driven by fear which were ingrained in her by her less than stable mother. It's not easy to get rid of 25 years of fear.
Arden looked like a well-developed person on the surface, but he was actually very shy and quiet. His father was overly protective of him when he was growing up (he was the sole surviving child). Unfortunately, Arden had a keen sense of adventure and his father's treatment were very stifling. When he was older, he went across the globe and court danger at every turn to rebel against his father. I guess this shows that it's important to understand your child and treat your child individually. What works for one child doesn't work for the other.
Most of the conflicts in the book happened because they simply don't talk to each other. Zenia was driven by fear and Arder by his shyness and reserve.
My only quibble and it's a minor one would be that I wish that there was an epilogue. The ending was way too short. I would love to see more of them being in love. They were apart way too much in the book.
This one is definitely a keeper.
December 14, 2018
Es un libro con muchos altibajos. La parte del desierto no me gustó, de hecho estuve a punto de abandonarlo. Cuando los protagonistas se vuelven a reunir en Inglaterra la historia me atrapo, la autora, como es habitual en ella, construye a dos protagonistas complicados, imperfectos que tienen mucho que resolver para poder encajar. Lo que más me gusta es ver como los protagonistas van evolucionando, Laura Kinsale lo sabe hacer muy bien, sus protagonistas cambian pero sin perder su esencia. Su evolución son creíbles... pero en este libro no me acabado de convencer 🤔 El final, a mi parecer, el libro vuelve a tener un bajón. LA forma en que finalmente resuelve el conflicto de la pareja me ha parecido rara.
September 6, 2023
06/09/23
This book remains one of my favorites ever and I always pick it up whenever I'm trying to get over a reading slump. (Which I can admit, is slightly ridiculous, because how can any other author ever compare to Laura Kinsale?)
Alas, even upon rereading my frustration with Zenia is always the same. I have no problem understanding where she's coming from, but I always end up wanting more from her, more development, more patience, just more.
Second time reading:
I seriously love this book. Another one that I enjoyed re-reading immensely.
It pains me not to give it 5 stars, but Zenia was so annoying towards Arden by the end I couldn't deal with it. That was the only thing I didn't like. I could understand her reticence in the beginning but after a while she just behaved like a petulant child.
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
I basically put my life on hold to read this book.
It was such an amazing book! I'm tempted to start reading it again.
Laura Kinsale has the talent to weave such a complex story with well-developed characters and a great plot! At one point so many things had already happened that I looked to see if the ending was close and I wasn't even halfway through the book! For me that is the sign of a great story-teller.
This book remains one of my favorites ever and I always pick it up whenever I'm trying to get over a reading slump. (Which I can admit, is slightly ridiculous, because how can any other author ever compare to Laura Kinsale?)
Alas, even upon rereading my frustration with Zenia is always the same. I have no problem understanding where she's coming from, but I always end up wanting more from her, more development, more patience, just more.
Second time reading:
I seriously love this book. Another one that I enjoyed re-reading immensely.
It pains me not to give it 5 stars, but Zenia was so annoying towards Arden by the end I couldn't deal with it. That was the only thing I didn't like. I could understand her reticence in the beginning but after a while she just behaved like a petulant child.
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
I basically put my life on hold to read this book.
It was such an amazing book! I'm tempted to start reading it again.
Laura Kinsale has the talent to weave such a complex story with well-developed characters and a great plot! At one point so many things had already happened that I looked to see if the ending was close and I wasn't even halfway through the book! For me that is the sign of a great story-teller.
February 10, 2016
4.5 stars but rounding up to 5 stars because I can't control myself.
It's not quite a favourite of mine. Probably because I did lose patience with Zenia a number of times. I can understand why she's so closed off and determined to make herself suffer but I did get frustrated when it was happening so late in the book.
Once again, the writing is beautiful and I can see everything happening so clearly in my head and it's wonderful. I'm so happy that LK has written so many wonderful, beautifully written stories with amazing complicated characters with issues even if sometimes they end up pissing me off.
Chapter 8 was amazing.
Children ruin everything 99.9% of the time.
It's not quite a favourite of mine. Probably because I did lose patience with Zenia a number of times. I can understand why she's so closed off and determined to make herself suffer but I did get frustrated when it was happening so late in the book.
Once again, the writing is beautiful and I can see everything happening so clearly in my head and it's wonderful. I'm so happy that LK has written so many wonderful, beautifully written stories with amazing complicated characters with issues even if sometimes they end up pissing me off.
Chapter 8 was amazing.
Children ruin everything 99.9% of the time.
June 25, 2021
Review the third: This book always makes me ugly cry, a lot. Like, so much it's embarrasing.
Review the second: I started listening to this book already knowing most of the plot (except for all the parts I forgot, heh), but weirdly, this only made me react more emotionally to the story and the characters, knowing what will come.
Review the first: Nicholas Boulton, is, as always, magnificent in this narration of Laura Kinsale's words. She's turning out to be a new favourite for sure, and I'm happy there are so many books of hers for me to read.
Review the second: I started listening to this book already knowing most of the plot (except for all the parts I forgot, heh), but weirdly, this only made me react more emotionally to the story and the characters, knowing what will come.
Review the first: Nicholas Boulton, is, as always, magnificent in this narration of Laura Kinsale's words. She's turning out to be a new favourite for sure, and I'm happy there are so many books of hers for me to read.
February 20, 2015
This one made me cry it was so good! So far my second favorite of hers after Flowers From the Storm, I'm going on an insane Laura Kinsale reading frenzy, I've read five of hers so far this week. How had I not heard of her when I went on my insane Historical Romance reading crazy two summers ago? Apparently I'm making up for it now. I've been ill this week and barely even been bothered by it because Kinsale's books are keeping my imagination so busy. I CANNOT STOP READING.
April 27, 2025
Arden, Lord Winter, has never been content to sit in England. His restless soul takes him to Syria in search of a racing stallion String of Pearls and the fearless Lady Stanhope, Queen of the Desert. What he finds after Lady Stanhope's funeral is her illegitimate daughter, Zenia, 25 and fierce but longing for England. Arden and Zenia are captured, and spend a night together in prison the night before they are scheduled to be executed. Escaping at the last minute before death, they are separated, and Zenia presumes Arden has been killed, so she boards a ship bound for England without him. Everyone believes Zenia to be Lady Winter, which is good, because she's carrying his child...
This starts out as a typical plot-packed novel by Kinsale, but once the book reaches England it becomes much more character-focused, and truly more interesting. Both of our main characters have a tortured past. Arden has manufactured [most of] his trauma. Zenia has tried to pretend that she's a normal English lady, but growing up in Syria, she's influenced by the Bedouin culture and even more so by her controlling mother. When Zenia becomes a mother herself she spends most of the time convincing herself how opposite she is of her own mother. Arden tries to convince himself he's the opposite of his father. I wanted a little more inner monologue from each of them to fully flesh out these psychologies, but I also wanted to bang their heads together and have them learn to talk to each other and trust each other.
As a bonus for my plague/infectious disease friends, this one has measles and a sick/care trope.
This starts out as a typical plot-packed novel by Kinsale, but once the book reaches England it becomes much more character-focused, and truly more interesting. Both of our main characters have a tortured past. Arden has manufactured [most of] his trauma. Zenia has tried to pretend that she's a normal English lady, but growing up in Syria, she's influenced by the Bedouin culture and even more so by her controlling mother. When Zenia becomes a mother herself she spends most of the time convincing herself how opposite she is of her own mother. Arden tries to convince himself he's the opposite of his father. I wanted a little more inner monologue from each of them to fully flesh out these psychologies, but I also wanted to bang their heads together and have them learn to talk to each other and trust each other.
As a bonus for my plague/infectious disease friends, this one has measles and a sick/care trope.
January 20, 2025
I’m working my way through Laura Kinsale's backlist largely for Nicholas Boulton’s excellent narration. So far nothing has lived up to my first experience with her (the awesome Flowers from the Storm). She seems to start with a kernel of an idea that’s good but then tacks on a mishmash of crazy stuff to fill out the pages. In this one, the heroine takes a disappointing turn toward anxious English Lady after starting as a capable, self-sufficient 'boy' in the Arab desert.
But I remain ever hopeful that I’ll hit on another gem by this author. At least I’m always entertained by Mr Boulton’s sexy voice.
But I remain ever hopeful that I’ll hit on another gem by this author. At least I’m always entertained by Mr Boulton’s sexy voice.
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