Beverly Cialone reviews: Two for Thursday

Coming Home

After being apart for many years, Nick learns of the death of Ashley’s parents, and flies back to his old hometown to be by her side. Concerned over how distraught Ashley is, he decides to bring her back home with him, where their relationship picks back up and heats up in a hurry. However, Nick has a secret but jealous admirer, and when Ashley is kidnapped, Nick discovers that Ashley is pregnant. Will they get to her in time? What will become of Ashley and her baby?

Nick reads about the death of Ashley’s parents in the paper and he doesn’t hesitate for a minute before he decides that he needs to be with her. He finds her at her parents’ house barely dealing with the emotions that are rioting through her body. Nick pretty much takes over and takes Ashley to his hotel to get some food and rest. He forces her to eat and to take care of herself and eventually she comes out of the fog she’s in.

Nick is there with Ashley during the very difficult funeral and when Ashley decides that she can’t stay in her town any longer without her parents Nick offers his home as a place to lay her head. Ashley takes him up on this and due to their close proximity their relationship soon blooms into something more than friendship.

Ashley falls hard for Nick but she’s not sure how Nick feels. When she finds out she’s pregnant she’s not positive Nick will be happy about the baby but before she can tell him, a psycho ex-date of Nick’s decides to take Ashley out of the picture in order to put herself into it.

This is my first read by this author. While I liked the premise of the book the story fell a bit short for me. I liked Nick but frankly by the end of the book knew very little about him.  I liked Ashley as well but besides the death of her parents I knew nothing about her either.  There was very little characterization and sadly  I didn’t feel like there was any true emotion in the book. They almost felt like characters who were playing out a part and just saying their lines – and not well.  The writing itself didn’t delve into the major emotions that this book could have developed.

The part when Ashley is kidnapped is probably the most intense part of the book but it was very short lived. Allison, the psycho kidnapper, had such hatred and while I felt that we really didn’t get too much background on why she would act this way except that she’d had a few dates with Nick. I felt Nick’s relief at finding Ashley but even with all the major events that were happening in the book the intensity didn’t come through. Overall the book was just ok for me.

Rating: 2 out of 5

In the Eye of the Beholder


Hi, my name is Ashley. I never thought I would get this lucky – to meet a handsome doctor named Adam and fall madly in love. But I did. The only problem is that Adam is blind and I already have major self-esteem issues. Add to that a spiteful ex-wife and a reserved live-in housekeeper, and my story makes for a very interesting read! Go ahead, lose yourself in my adventure; I promise, you won’t be disappointed!


Ashley, our narrator, has lived in the town for a mere 6 months.  She doesn’t date and she’s a bit lonely.  She works at the hospital and one day while eating lunch in the cafeteria she sees Adam.  She’s instantly attracted to him and since he’s reading a book she decides that that would be a perfect conversation starter. She heads over and has a great conversation with Adam and they decide to meet the next day for lunch.  Ashley is beside herself!  She doesn’t feel that’s she’s pretty or attractive in any way so she’s shocked that Adam would be interested in eating lunch with her since he’s so gorgeous.

Ashley and Adam seem to hit if off and end up meeting for lunch on a regular basis for at the hospital (he works there as a doctor) and they spend a couple of weekends having fun and getting to know each other.  After they’d been dating for a bit Adam decides to come clean – he’s blind and has been for the past 5 years.  He handled himself well so she didn’t know (although there would have been clues, I would think – especially reading by Braille, right?).  She’s not bothered by the blindness and their relationship grows deeper until Adam become eligible for an optic nerve transplant.  He is suddenly a seeing man again and this makes Ashley’s self-esteem (of which she has little to none) hit the skids.  Adam, however, knows that he loves Ashley for more than looks and even when he sees her is completely in love and thinks she’s beautiful.

Ashley still has doubts though and when Adam’s ex-wife shows up she’s even more unsure of her future with Adam.

I have to say that this book was much more enjoyable for me for the first part of the book.  While I didn’t get a ton of background on either character I got some and it was enough to pull it all together.  I really liked Adam and his love for Ashley.

I have to admit that Ashley’s self-esteem issues started to grate on my nerves more than a bit.  She wanted nothing more than a man to love her for who she was, etc., etc. and she had that with Adam!! I didn’t want her doubts any longer as he did everything in his power to let her know that she was loved and wanted.

The second part of the book was where things really started to go wrong for me.  Maybe if I hadn’t read Coming Home I wouldn’t have had a problem with it but frankly it was almost the same book rewritten.

• The hero is a doctor and know exactly how to sooth the virgins aches and pains after their first time having sex – with ice straight in the vagina.

• The heroine has a sudden attack of appendicitis and has to be rushed to the hospital where, of course, the hero will perform the surgery.

• The heroine is slapped around by a jealous crazed woman.

• The heroine’s parents die in a crash and she must be consoled by the hero and forced to eat.

• The heroine becomes pregnant and is reluctant to tell the hero but when she does he’s thrilled.  She’s terrified of pregnancy but it’s ok because the hero is doing the delivery himself and taking care of it all  – at home.

All of the above was in both books with just slight variations in settings and dialogue!  I honestly had to wonder if the author’s other books had the same plot points.  sigh

I had a good feeling about the book at first but it soon dissolved and I was left disappointed in reading the same novella over again.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Beveryly Cialone
ireadiwrite Publishing

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