Romantic Fiction, Reality Shaping and The Work

I finished the fourth book from the Mackenzie Series - The Duke's perfect wife.

It took me a long time to finish this book than the previous one in the series. One thing was that I had less free time and the other was that I felt that I have to slow down a lot in order to be able to process all those emotions in me.

Around 5th to 12th January on a few occasions, I have very strong emotional bursts. The first time it started while I was reading the book. A sudden wave of emotions and I felt such a great sadness that tears appeared in my eyes. Somehow I managed to keep calm. A few days later the same thing happened while I was at work in the office and because I have some free time I was reading the book on Kindle App for PC.
I experienced an even more powerful burst of emotions so I had to go to the bathroom because the tears were coming from my eyes and for a few minutes I could not stop them. A similar thing happened to me when I first started taking Iodine a few years ago.

The same thing happened a few days later at home while I was showering after I came back from the gym. A strong wave of sadness and tears for no reason that now I could not stop even longer.
After this, I decided that it is better to slow down with reading. It was definitely influencing me. A day or two I paused the reading and then I continue with a slow pace until today when I finished the book.

The book itself was very interesting to read. It shows how a person can build a very strong outside look and in fact be a terrified little kid inside. A good story and a great dynamic between characters about their internal fight to conquer their old inside daemons from childhood and became new and better persons.
Love is not a possession of your partner. It is rather a unity of the same soul ( or different colinear souls)in different bodies in order to help a unique experience and growth of the soul. It is a hard, painful, and at the same time a joyful way to go but it is a sacrifice that has to be done.

These books are great emotional therapy and very often the effects of reading them are happening deep inside us before we are even aware of it consciously.

Going on with the next in the series.
 
Hello everyone,

I just finished reading Sons of Sin.

Sons of Sin series – Anna Campbell

annacampbell.com annacampbell.com

To be more precise, I have just finished books 2, 3 and 4 of the 4 book series of Sons of Sin.

It was a strange and beneficial experience.

Reading these books brought me into a historical context to see and feel things that were unconscious to me.

The historical context was in London in the 1800s.

Through the main characters in the books, I was able to see facets of my masculinity and femininity. These books acted as an internal mirror.

I don't want to describe too much of the story because people will probably read it.

I experienced a lot of feelings that I had to accept and feel. I had moments where tears came to the surface. Sometimes I had unexplainable sensations that occurred in my right and left side. A feeling of rebalancing.

At one point I had to stop reading. I was dizzy. I had difficulty standing up. I had to lie down and breathe.

The EE breathing technique helped me during these readings.

My dizziness was due to sensations at the higher emotional center (heart).

One morning I went outside to smoke a cigarillo and when I went back inside I still felt dizzy. I had to sit down because it was spinning around me like when you make gyratory movements.

I don't know what reading these books does to my future, but I can see that there is really work being done during the reading.

I wish you a good reading and a rich learning experience.

Marc.
 
Just finished reading A Promise of Spring, the last novel from the Dell series by Mary Balogh. It took me some time to read it because of the emotional outbursts i've experienced while reading the entire Web/Dell series, there were just a few of them but quiet strong that have unburied some pretty strong memories from childhood and some pretty strong emotions.

Each story/novel from the series delivers it's own and unique cascade of emotions that affects you to the core that affects you even after finishing reading the book wether you're aware of it or not. Though i liked the Devil's Web story because i found it the most emotionally challenging story from the series, the story i really liked the most is A Promise of Spring. A very beautiful story that shows that true love between two souls goes beyond the physical appeareances of the loved ones and for sure it goes beyond the difference in their age since true love recognizes and trully values the real essence of each other's being and nothing else.
 
Thought I would mention that there is another book that includes the characters in "The First Snowdrop" and it is entitled "Christmas Belle". It's worth adding to the list and reading in conjunction with "The First Snowdrop" because then you get to encounter Anne and Alexander later when they are happy.

Also, Mary Balogh's "A Matter of Class" has a hoot of a twist at the end.
 
There are two books that continue the Huxley series (Elisa Braden) which are excellent and have a real, diabolical, psychopathic villain. Recall, the Huxley series:

Ever Yours, Annabelle (Prequel)
The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne
The Truth About Cads and Dukes
Desperately Seeking a Scoundrel
The Devil is a Marquess
Twelve Nights as His Mistress (Novella)
Confessions of a Dangerous Lord
Anything But a Gentleman
A Marriage Made in Scandal
A Kiss From a Rogue

Then, continuing though a different series:

The Making of a Highlander
The Taming of a Highlander

The last one was utterly heartbreaking and totally engaging. If ever anybody deserved a happy ending, that guy did!
 
I finished "His captive Lady" from Anne Gracie last night. So far this is the most beautiful story I've read !
Lot of adventures and turnarounds, it is a really moving novel.
I definitely like Gracie's writing style and her humor, I have laughed, cried, hoped, been touched and laughed again.
Harry is a great character, as Nell is, both have had some hard time in childhood and later on but, nothing made them give up their sense of duty and their values.
They are both wonderful, I've been very moved by Harry's caring attitude toward Nell and his respect for her.
Each one of them helps each other to overcome the result of their past traumas, that's the way I see a good and true relationship.
There are also great friendships full of loyalty.
For me this book is packed with love. For some reasons I don't know, despite the cries, this book left me with a great feeling of joy.
 
J'ai terminé dans La famille Huxtable le tome 2 de Mary Balogh "Le temps de la séduction"
J'ai été un peu surprise que le mariage était choisi pour faire taire une RUMEUR plus ou moins fausse/vraie pour sauver l'Honneur des deux partenaires... Il me semble que c'était la meilleure façon pour faire passer cette Rumeur pour vraie...
Je viens de commencer le tome 1 de la même série "Le temps du mariage" (j'ai reçu le tome 1 après le tome 2)

I finished in The Huxtable family the volume 2 of Mary Balogh "The time of seduction".
I was a bit surprised that the wedding was chosen to silence a more or less false/true RUMOR to save the Honor of both partners . It seems to me that it was the best way to make this Rumour look real...
I have just started volume 1 of the same series "Le temps du mariage" (I received volume 1 after volume 2)
 
Somebody on Facebook posted this SOTT article:

www.sott.net

It's not really love: Western culture's misunderstanding of romantic attachment

The modern creators of cultural idols and ideals--especially Hollywood and television--have hoodwinked us into believing certain things about love. If we believe the message, then it is attraction, focus, and an intensity of feeling that define...
www.sott.net www.sott.net

The whole article seems quite good but the parts I want to highlight at the moment are:

...the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and PEA (phenylethylamine) lead to focused attention. Individuals start to 'zero-in' on the person they desire, and at the same time, often have a feeling of euphoria. Norepinephrine is a stimulant, so it causes individuals to feel alert, potentially unable to sleep, and enables them to notice and remember even the smallest of details about their partners. PEA is responsible for the feelings of giddiness, and may cause the loss of appetite. If the relationship doesn't last, the PEA levels fall and are partly responsible for the feelings of depression that can be experienced...

Love learns to negotiate differences and work for mutual goals.
Click to expand...

The article is basically contrasting chemical "love" with real love. In this this sense the person on the Internet who I've researched with the longest is closer to real love than the person in high school with whom I had a devastating chemical up and down with. I don't know if this particular chemical model is correct but the left with some kind of depression to keep covering up is the part that bothers me. I suppose the suffering is necessary but it kind of gets in the way and makes you do and think stupid things at times.

The part about mutual goals being real love I can totally understand. I seriously can't imagine anybody else but my wife being able to stay intertwined with me through everything and I've been a help with math, history and religion for her teaching career and I enjoy that.
 
Well, I've read a few more. I swear, I can hardly bear to read the news anymore. But the novel reading enables me to do so, though I take it in small doses.

Anyway, some HIGH recommendations for the following by Mary Balogh which come in two book volumes:

A Christmas Bride / Christmas Beau

Both of the above are disturbing. The first deals with a woman with some really heavy baggage and a suitor who helps her sort things out. The secret is rather shocking. The second is actually rather heartbreaking and you just want to cry for the poor hero and smack the woman. Talk about judging a book by its cover and being young and stupid.

A Counterfeit Betrothal / The Notorious Rake

The first one has a side character who is the main female protagonist in the second. Balogh wrote that "The Notorious Rake" was still one of her favorites and that she absolutely fell in love with the male protagonist. I can see why. He's another one your heart just bleeds for. But you know things the female protagonist does not know, though at times, I thought she was seriously lacking in intelligence if she couldn't figure some things out. But then, he was way smarter than she was.

And then, standalone: Tangled.

Oh boy. This one was a complete doozie! It is one book that seems to me to give a really good picture of private life in Victorian England (not Regency.) I don't think I've ever read about a heroine who was so brainwashed, so programmed by her society and family, and so lacking in insight as this one. And the PAIN! Oh my gawd! This one just tears your heart out for the poor hero!

Of course, all of the above is just my own reaction; others may react differently.
 
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Thank you Laura for the recommendations, just bought the book A Christmas bride/Christmas Beau that will be the next book to read after finishing reading The Secret Pearl by Balogh.

I'm through the half of the book and so far I like
it a lot, the story is written in the same tangled style very similar to other of her books that i've read, a style of writing that I like a lot. The female hero of the novel is finding herself in such a dangerous and precarious situation that it drives you mad to know what will happen to the poor girl at the end of the story. Currently it seems that there is no way out for her and no happy ending and that keeps me on the edge of the seat which I find pretty entertaining. :wow::-)
 
Andrian said:
Thank you Laura for the recommendations, just bought the book A Christmas bride/Christmas Beau that will be the next book to read after finishing reading The Secret Pearl by Balogh.

I'm through the half of the book and so far I like
it a lot, the story is written in the same tangled style very similar to other of her books that i've read, a style of writing that I like a lot. The female hero of the novel is finding herself in such a dangerous and precarious situation that it drives you mad to know what will happen to the poor girl at the end of the story. Currently it seems that there is no way out for her and no happy ending and that keeps me on the edge of the seat which I find pretty entertaining. :wow::-)
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What's really amazing is that so many of the tangles the characters find themselves in would just dissolve like magic if they would only communicate in the moment instead of trying to shore up a false personality, or save themselves embarrassment or hang onto their self-importance.

In most of them, at the end, the solution comes because they are so desperate they finally say what needs to be said, and usually, it isn't even very hard.

Of course, we all know that just like in these books, it isn't always that easy. Sometimes you just have to suffer to get enough perspective to actually SEE.
 
Laura said:
I've discovered a new author with several series out: Lorraine Heath. The first book I sampled was "Beauty Tempts the Beast". I was a bit put off by the book description, but the "Beauty and the Beast" theme always interested me. So, I bit. And it was quite good. The "beast" part goes into the subject of congenital deformity. The love part was very moving. And there was internal dialogue to compare favorably with Balogh - not totally, of course, but really quite good. There is also some adventure/mystery in her books (I've read two more since and finally determined that these books are quite in line with our project.)

"When a Duke Loves a Woman" was the second book I read. A very interesting heroine and moving love story.

I've just finished "Passions of a Wicked Earl." I really hate the titles they give these books because they really don't reflect the true nature of the stories. This one was also very moving.

So, having read three titles by this author, all of which really captured and held my interest and moved me rather deeply, especially the way love unfolds in them, I think I can recommend them.
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I read first 2 books of the Lorraine Heath's London's Greatest Lovers series - Passions of a Wicked Earl & Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman. I liked her style of writing, story moves much faster with some decent internal dialogue. In both the books there were woman who fits into psychopath category and really screwed up hero's ( probably theme of series) but got reformed by very balanced woman.

I really liked the 2nd one Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman. I liked Mercy's character who was like a STO
though she has to lie for the sake of baby and her love
. I had that unbelievable moment when the Sarah spins the narration (like a true psychopath) with a single word to make Mercy life upside down. Luckily, there are some adult characters (irrespective of age) that brings sanity with due diligence to correct the situation.
 
Laura said:
There are two books that continue the Huxley series (Elisa Braden) which are excellent and have a real, diabolical, psychopathic villain. Recall, the Huxley series:

Ever Yours, Annabelle (Prequel)
The Madness of Viscount Atherbourne
The Truth About Cads and Dukes
Desperately Seeking a Scoundrel
The Devil is a Marquess
Twelve Nights as His Mistress (Novella)
Confessions of a Dangerous Lord
Anything But a Gentleman
A Marriage Made in Scandal
A Kiss From a Rogue

Then, continuing though a different series:

The Making of a Highlander
The Taming of a Highlander

The last one was utterly heartbreaking and totally engaging. If ever anybody deserved a happy ending, that guy did!
Click to expand...
Hi Laura, Sorry for noise but is it necessary to read them as You listed or each book is story of itself? One title cuaght my attention because of You but it is in the end of the list.
Michal
 
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