Ever since I visited Amsterdam, I have been obsessed with tulips. So when I saw The Beautiful Maddening it was fate! This is a story about obsession and the way it’s intertwined with love. Keep reading this book review of The Beautiful Maddening for my full thoughts.
Summary
Seventeen year-old Lark Goode wants only one to escape her small town of Cutwater and the history of her family name. It’s a history that began during the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s ancestor stole the last remaining tulip bulbs and fled to America. But when the tulips bloomed on American soil, madness sprouted from their snowy white petals.
The madness was love.
Now, generations later, the Goodes remain cursed—the unnatural flowers outside their home causing locals to fall helplessly in love with anyone carrying Goode blood in their veins. While her brother embraces the strange power, Lark wants nothing more than to be free from it.
But when she meets a boy who seems unaffected by the family curse, Lark finds herself falling headlong into a feeling she’s spent her whole life trying to avoid. Yet, all curses and magic come with a price, and the town of Cutwater soon sinks into a dangerous sickness tied to Lark and the ill-fated tulips.
To save the town, Lark will need to sacrifice everything—even true love—to break the spell. Because in the Goode family, love has a way of destroying everything.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The Beautiful Maddening is captivating. It’s a story where the roots of obsession and love are hopelessly twisted. When you have the power to nudge someone, to put a sparkle in your eye, how can you trust anyone’s feelings? If we assume we’ve bewitched someone, then how can we know if their love is for real? If it’s not just a passing spell, a flight of fancy, gone when the season ends? The Beautiful Maddening exists at this intersection. Not only does it ask whether we can trust anyone else, but it also explores whether we can trust our own feelings.
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Taking the idea of tulips and the power of their madness, Ernshaw weaves a beautiful story about love and faith. We all want to be wanted, to be loved, but what would we do if we could ensure we would be? At least for a moment. The Beautiful Maddening explores the way that love can be a caress or about control and we don’t know what it’ll be like with everyone. The premise is captivating and even towards the end I wasn’t sure how it would shake out. I couldn’t stop reading. There were so many things I was turning over in my mind about love, agency, and a loss of control.
We may be afraid of loneliness, but what about the free fall of love? How can they ever experience real love? And if so, is it safer to keep everyone at a distance? While we may not all have magical tulips, we can all think about the fear of love and whether someone truly loves us. The fear of the leap of faith. Find The Beautiful Maddening on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.