Have You Stopped to Enjoy the Flowers?

If you haven't yet bought or read Diane Rinella's Flower series, you're missing out. I have made it clear how I feel about these works. I've collected some reviews from others below. Again, Love's Forbidden Flower is a novel, and Time's Forbidden Flower is the sequel novel. Love's Erotic Flower is a story, featuring characters from the novels in explicit sexual situatuons, and was released between the release of the novels. It can enjoyed as an independent work.

Bookworm Brandee at bookworkbrandee.blogspot.com had posted this about Love's back in April...

This story, as I said, deals with a topic that many would choose not to discuss. But the writing is so eloquent and lyrical, it made reading about Lily and Donovan easier. The love, anger, confusion is all rendered so poetically I tended to forget that I wasn't reading the average love story.

In August, she reviewed Erotic and interviewed Rinella...

Tell it straight, do you really believe it’s okay for two people who are related to be together?

It’s more that I think it is wrong to keep people who love each other apart. Some people search their entire lives and never find the one who completes them. What if you just happened to be born right next to that person and got to spend your entire life in happiness with them? Then what if someone said you could not be happy with that person because society thinks it is icky? No matter how you slice it, to me that is wrong.

And that's just one reason we love Rinella! But there's so much more...

What is the biggest complement you have received?
There is a website that promotes equal rights for all adult, consensual relationships that is in high support of my work.

I wonder which site that is... ;-)

I also have a permanent link to them and other helpful sites on my own website in the Friends Of Lily section: dianerinellaauthor.com/friendsoflily/

From the review...

Love's Erotic Flower is essentially erotica, it's told with Ms. Rinella's brilliantly lyrical prose. So rather than reading just raw sex, we get raw sex, depicted eloquently, between two soul mates who are very much in love.

Yup.
Brandee subsequently reviewed Time's.

Obviously, I adore Ms. Rinella's voice. Her writing is fluid and lyrical. And she constructed such a riveting story. Lily and Donovan's is a passionate, poignant and powerful tale of eternal love.

Julie reviewed Love's at newadultaddiction.com...

This is a book worth reading if only for the love story.  It’s heart-wrenching and I couldn’t imagine going through this experience because it rips their lives apart.  And the characters explain what’s happening to them far better than I ever could…

This is the review of Time's at the same site... 

If the subject matter of this series makes you uncomfortable I can just say, these books are not about sex. There are a few sex scenes, but really, this series is about love. The forbidden kind.  It makes you think of things in a whole new light, that’s for sure.  I highly recommend it if you like angsty romances with strong characters and a totally original plot.

At crystalsmanyreviews.blogspot.com there was a great interview...

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?< br/> So many people say they believe in marriage equality but really don’t. Do you support equal rights or don’t you? Forget everything else about how you might feel about the subject and ask yourself if everyone should have the same rights, then ponder all the other stuff. If marriages could be banned because of another person’s feelings of ickiness, then all marriages are in jeopardy. Also, cast aside that birth defect argument because the chances of a woman over forty giving birth to a child with some type of issue are just as high as those in consanguineous relationships. We don’t ban women over forty from having kids. Also, you don’t need to be married to reproduce. So it all comes down to, do you believe in equal rights or don’t you?

Jessica at justabooklover.blogspot.com had this to say about Time's...

You know how sometimes you read a book and then you have NO IDEA how to explain how you feel about that book? You just know you love that book so hard and you want to say that and tell why, but you simply CANNOT find the words? I'm having one of those moments. So I'm going to try my best, but I just want you to know that I love this book so much. For real, I can't even.

Jessica interviews a character from the book here.

Time's was also reviewed at lifebecomesme.wordpress.com...

I have had the great pleasure of telling others about this series and explaining the story to them.  We should start investing in the belief that real love and happiness should be allowed for all, not just those society deems as morally correct. That liberty and equal rights are to be for ALL, not a selected few.  By developing characters that you can’t help but fall in love with, the reader is forced to look at the concept of freedom to love.  I have Lily and Donovan so entwined in my heart, there is no way I could look at them and tell them they must suffer the rest of their life and be away from the one they love just so they won’t make society uncomfortable, or worse yet, threaten traditional marriage.  I for one, do not feel my traditional marriage is threatened by two other people who take an unusual path to finding happiness and love and that is what I hope everyone gets from this series. In the book you will see how they tried not to draw attention to their situation, they just wanted to live their lives.

Autumn reviewed Erotic at martinitimes.com...

Love’s Erotic Flower is a short erotic companion to the Diane’s brilliant Love’s Forbidden Flower and if you’re a fan you know that she can write some seriously steamy erotica that will tear at your heart and this is yet another jewel in her crown.  It's both unapologetically passionate and beautiful.  

Lily and Donovan are two of my most beloved NA characters and their story will continue on with Time’s Forbidden Flower to be released on August 19th.  Don’t dare miss a single word!

Lori Zalewski reviewed Erotic at lustypenguin.com...

Although, this story can be read as a stand alone, I think that the reader will have a better appreciation of the Lily and Donovan’s love and the relationship they have with one another if Love’s Forbidden Flower is read first. Love’s Erotic Flower is a riveting glimpse into Lily and Donovan’s passionate love story that will leave readers eager for the next visit with these characters.

And finally, from the same website comes this review of Time's...

Rinella exquisitely develops multiple interrelated story lines, containing heart-wrenching plot twists, to go along with the jaw dropping ones that keep the reader fully engaged.

After reading the first two books in this series, I couldn’t wait to read this installment because I was anxious to see how the love triangle would play out, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Rinella ties up this original story line, managing to blend the happy with the sad (keep tissues handy) to create a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. Time’s Forbidden Flower is a well-executed, dramatic ending to the Forbidden Flower series.

So if you haven't read these works yet, what are you waiting for? These writings will resonate with those who have tasted consanguinamory, educate those who struggle to understand the feelings, and entertain anyone who wants to read about a struggle of lovers. Again, thanks to Diane Rinella for what she has done.