The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas Review

SYNOPSIS

In the sweeping new novel from the author of The Second Duchess, dangerous secrets lead a passionate young woman into a maze of murder and conspiracy as Mary, Queen of Scots, comes home to reign in a treacherously divided Scotland….

With her dying breath, Mary of Guise entrusts a silver casket to Rinette Leslie of Granmuir, who possesses the ancient gift of floromancy. Inside the casket, and meant only for the young Mary, Queen of Scots, are papers the old queen has painstakingly collected—the darkest secrets of every Scottish lord and explosive private prophecies prepared by Nostradamus. Rinette risks her life to keep the casket safe, but she makes a fatal mistake: she shows it to her beloved young husband. On the very day the young queen comes home, Rinette’s husband is brutally assassinated.

Devastated, Rinette demands justice from the queen before she will surrender the casket. Amid glittering masques and opulent weddings, courtly intrigues and Highland rebellions, the queen’s agents and Rinette herself search for the shadowy assassin. They are surrounded by ruthless men from all over Europe who will do anything to force Rinette to give up the casket—threatening her life, stripping her of her beloved castle by the sea, forcing her to marry a man she hates, and driving her from the man she has reluctantly grown to love. In the end, the flowers are all she can trust—and only the flowers will lead her safely home to Granmuir.

About Elizabeth Loupas
  

Elizabeth Loupas lives near the Elm Fork of the Trinity River, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. She is presently a novelist, freelance writer and amateur historian. In other times and other places she has been a radio network vice president, a reference librarian, a business-to-business magazine editor, and a tutor in English literature.

One of her passions is the art and poetry of the Pre-Raphaelites. This led her to the Rossettis and the Brownings, and the project nearest and dearest to her heart--her novel THE SECOND DUCHESS, based on Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess."

She hates housework, cold weather, and wearing shoes. She loves animals, gardens, and popcorn. Not surprisingly she lives in a state of happy barefoot chaos with her delightful and faintly bemused husband (the Broadcasting Legend), her herb garden, her popcorn popper, and two beagles.


For more information on Elizabeth Loupas and her novels, please visit her WEBSITE. 

My Thoughts: 
This is the first novel I have read by Elizabeth Loupas and enjoyed it so much that I will be going back to read more of her work. The Flower Reader is about Rinette Leslie of Granmuir, Scotland. At the beginning of the story, Rinette is given a silver casket with secret information in it from the dying Queen Mary with instructions that Rinette is to give to Mary Queen of Scots when she comes back to Scotland. 


Rinette is a "flower reader", meaning that she is able to "see" things about people by using flowers.  Rinette is deeply in love with Alexander Gordon, a friend from childhood. She takes the casket home to Granmuir until she is able to hide it. Rinette and Andrew get married and are extremely happy. Rinette shows her husband the casket and he talks her into opening it, which they do. Inside the casket is some powerful information that a lot of people want. 


Andrew is murdered and Rinette is in danger, there are different factions, including Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, that desperately want this casket for their own reasons and will do whatever it takes, including murder to get the casket and it's information.


After Andrew's death, Rinette is determined to find out who killed her husband and in doing so, she continues to be in danger and ends up in a forced marriage with a brutal man, who threatens her and her children and all she holds dear. 


I always love reading a historical fiction novel for the interesting facts that I had not known about. Although a lot of it was fiction, there were enough true facts thrown in to make this an exciting read and the author has a part in the back of the book explaining what is fact and what is fiction.


This is a well researched historical novel full of court intrigue, violence and most of all love. I highly recommend this novel.
I received a copy of this book for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review.