Tag: Elizabeth Cole

Guest Review: Love is Blind by Elizabeth Cole

Posted April 7, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Tracy’s review of Love is Blind by Elizabeth Cole.

He was a walking scandal, she was a proper young woman…

A rake’s cruel prank leaves the blind Olivia Blake ripe for humiliation on a ballroom dance floor. Then an even more notorious rake sweeps her into his arms. Soon she is seduced by the charm of Adrian Calwell, the scandal-chased Baron of Norbury.

Adrian’s only goal in rescuing Olivia was to thwart his rival’s heartless trick. But Olivia is well worth rescuing, and Adrian is eager to put his life as a rake behind him. Can Adrian rise above his sordid past to win Olivia’s love?

Set against the backdrop of Regency London, Love Is Blind is a sweet and surprising novella that proves innocence and experience can be a perfect match.

Olivia, who has been blind since the age of seven, is at a ball with her companion and cousin, Emily, when she is asked to dance. Olivia agrees but after a minute or so the scoundrel leaves her standing in the middle of the floor. Olivia’s not sure what to do and is starting to get pretty distressed when another man comes up to her and takes the place as her dancing partner. The man is Adrian Calwell, Baron Norbury. He was watching when the rake Crombie led Olivia to the dance floor and had a bad feeling about Crombie’s intentions.

After they dance Adrian and Olivia head off into the garden and Adrian is charmed. Olivia’s mother, however, is not charmed when she sees who is returning her daughter from her dance. Norbury is apparently a horrible rake himself and definitely not someone that she wants her innocent daughter associating with.

Adrian knows he wouldn’t be welcome in Olivia’s home so he works around that and not only calls on her but takes her for a carriage ride before she is told that she is never to see or talk to the man again. Adrian’s sneaky though and continues his courtship in a stealthy way.

It was exciting to see Adrian and Olivia together. I love the secretiveness of their meetings and his charming gifts. Of course had it been my daughter I probably would have been just as crazy to keep them apart as Olivia’s mother was! Adrian, for all his rakishness – and that had been in the past – was a kind man. He saw the good, kind person that Olivia was and didn’t only see her as a blind woman. Olivia was pretty innocent but she had some steel under her skin and I liked seeing that steel come forth.

While the story was pretty short and the couple got together quickly (fyi – no sex) it was a really good story. The couple was very sweet together and I loved reading it. The author had me completely involved with the characters and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. We met Olivia’s cousin, Emily, that I mentioned before and Adrian’s best friend, Robert, as well. I’m hoping we get a little story about them as well.

Rating: 4 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from SkySpark Books. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

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Tagged: 4.0 Reviews, Elizabeth Cole, Guest Reviews, Historical, Reviews, Short Stories, SkySpark Books, Tracy's Reviews

What I Read Last Week

Posted February 12, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Ack! I’m a day behind but with good reason. My youngest woke up yesterday with all the symptoms of a bladder infection and a horribly upset stomach. We ended up at the doctors and she did indeed have a raging UTI and was throwing up continually because of it. Oh the joys of motherhood. lol Why are we supposed to be all stoic when we’re dealing with vomit? I just don’t get it. lol

Anyway, I’m sure you don’t want to hear about that. You want to hear about my reading week from last week so here goes:

I started off the week with a historical short called Love is Blind by Elizabeth Cole. This adorable story is about Olivia who is blind and while at a ball a cruel man decides to pull a prank on her. Luckily Adrian, also a rake, is there to save her as he dislikes rake #1 and wants to thwart his antics. Adrian sees in Olivia a different woman than he’s known before and sets out to court her. Her family, however, wants her to have nothing to do with him which makes the courting a little difficult but not impossible. SUCH a cute story. I really enjoyed reading this one as it made me smile and laugh and sigh and all that good stuff that I love in a romance. 4 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

Next up was Going Under by Lauren Dane. This is book 3 in the Bound by Magick series and shows up Gage who is the head security guy/hunter for Clan Owen. He is guarding Molly who is the PR person for Clan Owen and is a woman who is trying to bring all “Others” together to try and work out how they will deal with all being outed. It’s a story that was very interesting because of what the Others needed to deal with but the romance in this one fell short a bit, at least for me. It was good, but not as good as books 1 and 2, imho. 3.5 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

Saved by the Rancher by Jennifer Ryan is a contemporary romantic suspense story about Jenna who is on the run from her ex-husband. He’s an abuser of the worst sort and he constantly finds her and messes her up. Her friend and lawyer Ben finally sends her to his buddy, Jack, who owns a ranch near Denver. When Jenna arrives she’s incredibly sick from an infection caused by her ex’s latest rampage and she’s exhausted. Jack takes care of her and they fall in love. The story was really great in some parts and then a bit much (as in over the top) in others. Without those over the top moments I think the story could have really rocked. 3.5 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

The Dark Lady by Maire Claremont is a dark gothic historical that started off really good and then petered out for me. The story is about a man who returns from India to find one of his best friends in an asylum. He vows to get her out and he does but she’s riddled with guilt about the death of her son and he’s riddled with guilt about the death of her husband and frankly it was a bit too much guilt for me. After the initial 40 percent I found the story a bit dull and it didn’t really hold my attention all that well. I read the reviews on Goodreads and it looks like I’m in the minority on this one so I think you’ll need to read it for yourself to decide what you think. 2.5 out of 5

Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks is book 2 in the Montgomerys and Armstrongs series. This book continues where book 1 left off and has Graeme’s brother Bowen heading to the McHugh keep to take over as Laird. He is taken with Genevieve who he finds out was Ian McHugh’s whore. Well there was a lot more to the story than that. They fall in love but when Bowen and the other Montgomery’s find out that Genevieve played a part in Eveline’s kidnapping from book 1 tensions are high and Bowen’s not sure Genevieve can be accepted. Another good Scottish historical from Maya Banks. I have really liked the historicals I’ve read of her so far and I have no doubt I will continue to like them. The story has its moments but overall I enjoyed the book immensely. 4 out of 5 (releases 3/19/13)

Swimming With Penguins by Charlie Richards is book 6 in Kontra’s Menagerie. In this story Yuma is swimming when he is shot. The man who shot him thought he was something else and takes Yuma home to be patched yup by the shooters son, Hunter. When Yuma turns back to a human he realizes that Hunter is his mate. Hunter is pretty messed up after his ex-boyfriend and his friends attacked Hunter with not only their fists but with bats. Needless to say Hunter and Yuma fall in love and Yuma’s friends help save Hunter from any more problems with his ex. It was a cute book and made me laugh. 3 out of 5 (FYI – when my oldest daughter saw the guy on the cover of this book I swear she practically swooned. She actually took a picture of him with her phone so she could have it to look at. lol)

Next up was Catlin’s Appaloosa by Charlie Richards which is book 2 in the series (yes, I’m jumping all over the place and not going in reading order). This story was about Catlin who is a police detective in charge of finding out about the John Doe that was brought into the hospital. Gallo (pronounced Guy-o) has lost his memory but he soons gets it back – especially after he turns in an Appaloosa in front of Catlin. Catlin takes him to his house and the pair fall in love. Catlin is happy that Gallo is a submissive but for me Gallo was a definite contradiction. He was submissive but turn into a horse when he thought his mate was in trouble. That’s great but it just, for me, didn’t fit with the rest of his characters action. 2 out of 5

Anything for You by Jessica Scott is a novella that’s kind of a continuation story of Shane and Jen from Because of You. This has Shane being an ass as he makes an appointment to get a vasectomy without telling Jen even though he knows she wants kids. You’ll have to find out more on Friday when I post my review. 🙂 And don’t miss her guest post tomorrow 2/13 where she’ll be giving away a copy of the book!

Last for the week was Medium Well by Meg Benjamin. This is the story of a real estate agent, Danny, who is asked to sell a carriage house in historic San Antonio. He discovers that the place is haunted and it’s pretty gruesome for him to actually even go into the place as he sees ghost blood everywhere. He gets help from his mother, who he finds out comes from a long line of mediums and his assistant Biddy who he falls in love with. It’s a cute book that started off slowly but got better as it went on. 3.25 out of 5 (read for The Book Binge)

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
crickets

Happy Reading!