Review: Surrender to the Earl by Gayle Callen

Posted May 26, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins

She wanted a favor, not a fiancé.

Audrey Blake’s impromptu plan-asking a visitor to help her take ownership of her rightful property-is unraveling in spectacular fashion. Robbed of her sight by a childhood fever, Audrey has been kept in virtual seclusion by her family. And now the enigmatic Robert Henslow, Earl of Knightsbridge, has complicated her scheme to gain independence, insisting they pretend to be engaged.

Duty brought Robert to Audrey’s doorstep. As for what makes him propose marriage…it might be guilt. Compassion. Or something far more urgent and unexpected. Their counterfeit union was supposed to be for Audrey’s benefit. Yet it’s Robert who yearns to prove to the intriguing Audrey how much they both have to gain by making it real-and convincing her to submit to the most blissful passion.
Audrey has been blind since she was 7 years old. She has dealt with life as best she could and she’s a pretty independent woman. Her father doesn’t exactly see it that was – especially after she was taken in by a man who married her for her dowry and then left the next day to buy a commission in the army. She’s been a widow for 2 years now and still her father won’t let her take up residence at Rose Cottage – the home that her dead husband left her. She’s truly desperate to life life to the fullest instead of being kept at home constantly and being an afterthought – if that. 

When Robert Henslow shows up to pay his respects to Audrey she jumps at the chance to use him to get the hell out of dodge. He feels guilty because of the hand he played in the death of her husband but he doesn’t tell her that, of course. Robert knows that he can’t just take off with Audrey so he creates a fake engagement to get her family off her scent. They manage to get to Rose Cottage and Audrey does start living her life but it’s not really the life she thought it would be. On top of that she finds herself falling in love with her fake fiance and he with her. 

For some reason heroine’s (or heroes for that matter) that have some sort of disability always appeal to me. Melyssan with the limp/bad foot in Winterbourne by Susan Carroll, Eveline who is deaf in Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks – these are heroine’s that are strong despite their disability or even stronger because of it. I think that’s why when I read about Audrey being blind in this story I was all over it. 

In this story Audrey is supported by the staff at her father’s house. She knows where things are located and they help her in ways that she really took for granted. Her family treated her like dirt – never let her out of the house – and she needed to be away from that. She had been horribly hurt by the betrayal of her first husband but she had persevered and wanted nothing more than to live on her own and make a life for herself. The problem was that Audrey truly had no idea HOW much she relied on the staff at her father’s house to see her through. It was really difficult when she first got to her new home because she was unfamiliar with the set up but also because the staff seemed to be against her and was making her life difficult day after day. She was still strong but not as strong as she thought she’d be – especially when her maid, who always described things for her fell ill. Now it was up to Robert to take over the job. 

Robert was thrilled to be needed by Audrey. He didn’t think too much about it but he had a strong possessive streak when it came to the woman. He was quite good at helping her but it seemed that every time he took two steps forward she took several steps back. She looked on him as a friend instead of a potential mate. I understood Robert’s frustration with Audrey in not ceding to his will but I kind of admired her for not grasping at the first man that came along after her no good husband was out of the picture. I didn’t care AT ALL for Robert’s decision to marry Audrey for real because it came down to pity and guilt at first. It soon turned to love but his original motivations really put me off. 

The love scenes in this book seemed incredibly stilted and they didn’t flow very well imho. The transition from one moment to the next when it came to kissing, and more, really were surprising as they just didn’t lead in well. I was actually surprised at some points as it just didn’t occur to me that an intimate moment would be in the works and then boom – there it was. 

Despite my issues with the story I thought it was done well for the most part. I didn’t like this one quite as much as book 1 in this series (Return of the Viscount) but I look forward to the next book to see what happens next. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 

Gayle Callen 


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