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The Key
Jack and Carrie are lost souls. Jack is an eminent university lecturer in English Literature who suffers from quadriplegia after a spinal cord injury in his late teens. Having convinced himself that he was better off on his own he has closed the door on any romantic entanglements and instead directed all his energy into his work.
Carrie is trying to unchain herself from a cruel, neglectful and guilt ridden childhood. She has earned a place on a degree course of her dreams but it comes at a costly price.
Both are thrown together by Mary, a mutual friend and past social worker, who has hatched a plan to help Jack and Carrie with their predicaments. Carrie becomes Jack's live-in carer securing her with an income and unexpected benefits.
Will it be too late from them to find out that they both hold the key to unleash each other from the chains that hold them to their past? A key that will unlock their hearts.
Carrie is trying to unchain herself from a cruel, neglectful and guilt ridden childhood. She has earned a place on a degree course of her dreams but it comes at a costly price.
Both are thrown together by Mary, a mutual friend and past social worker, who has hatched a plan to help Jack and Carrie with their predicaments. Carrie becomes Jack's live-in carer securing her with an income and unexpected benefits.
Will it be too late from them to find out that they both hold the key to unleash each other from the chains that hold them to their past? A key that will unlock their hearts.
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 16, 2014
30 people are currently reading
434 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 16, 2014
Set in an English university town, this romance featuring a Literature professor hero with a C6 spinal cord injury and a 24 year old biology undergraduate student heroine who comes to live with him as his home care provider is compelling as we watch our hero who hasn't attempted a deeply intimate relationship in some time and a heroine who has many emotionial scars from a childhood in and out of foster care and a neglectful family to really trust anyone to think she is of value fall in love.
The writer does wonderful work here with the romance and physicality of love with these characters. The love story is believable and sexy and tender.
Less well done are the secondary characters who while interesting are created with much broader strokes and don't always behave in ways that follow suit or are worked out and there is more that could be done with the leads as well.
I would have liked to see more time between the last chapter and the epilogue in couple time.
However, overall, it is a very good romance, human, passionate, and tangible.
I look forward to reading more from this writer.
The writer does wonderful work here with the romance and physicality of love with these characters. The love story is believable and sexy and tender.
Less well done are the secondary characters who while interesting are created with much broader strokes and don't always behave in ways that follow suit or are worked out and there is more that could be done with the leads as well.
I would have liked to see more time between the last chapter and the epilogue in couple time.
However, overall, it is a very good romance, human, passionate, and tangible.
I look forward to reading more from this writer.
July 27, 2019
The good: realistic and interesting life-in-wheelchair details, including how it complicates romantic relationships.
The bad: badly written characters. if the plot needed someone to suddenly be the bad guy, a character who had previously been utterly reliable, the fairy godmother, someone that we were told we could trust, would suddenly be selfish, irrational and mean, then in the next scene when they were needed to be good, back they were to being good. This was true of supporting as well as main characters--this isn't a book that embraces the "show, not tell" or even the "explore real cause and effect in the human psyche" domains of writing. I finished it...but a week later I've already forgotten much but a vague sense of annoyance at the writing and a vague sense of interest in what I learned about living with spinal injuries and quadriplegia. As a pamphlet, it works; as a novel, not so much.
The bad: badly written characters. if the plot needed someone to suddenly be the bad guy, a character who had previously been utterly reliable, the fairy godmother, someone that we were told we could trust, would suddenly be selfish, irrational and mean, then in the next scene when they were needed to be good, back they were to being good. This was true of supporting as well as main characters--this isn't a book that embraces the "show, not tell" or even the "explore real cause and effect in the human psyche" domains of writing. I finished it...but a week later I've already forgotten much but a vague sense of annoyance at the writing and a vague sense of interest in what I learned about living with spinal injuries and quadriplegia. As a pamphlet, it works; as a novel, not so much.
January 17, 2015
2.5 - 3 stars.
I was looking forward to reading this but I was sort of confused half the time.
I didn't see the need for Pete or Marianne.. is that even her name?
When they were finally together nothing really happened in their relationship I was expecting more between them.
I was looking forward to reading this but I was sort of confused half the time.
I didn't see the need for Pete or Marianne.. is that even her name?
When they were finally together nothing really happened in their relationship I was expecting more between them.
February 22, 2014
Absolutely loved this. Even with it's flaws.
Flaws that include the WHOLE of the heroine's past. Supposedly she had no family, and the author tells us that the *entire* book, but then at the same time goes on and on about her abusive parents, the screaming, the horror of her childhood, the estrangement between the two sides (of the family that she doesn't have)... it drove me crazy. Apparently the author's definition of 'family' is "people who care about you". My definition is "people you're related to who drive you batty and ruin your life as best they can". Which means I found her definition flawed.
Flaws that also include the whole, "she makes him mad, they make up, then he makes her mad, then they make up, then she makes him mad, then they make up, then he makes her mad"... and on and on and ON that crap goes until you want to hit someone.
Having said, though, I STILL love this book. I can't tell you why. The chemistry between Carrie and Jack could've been developed better. The descriptions (of... everything) were lacking. There was pretty much NO plot, just relational development. The more I write, the more I realize this wasn't the best book I've ever read.
But I still loved it. Maybe because the author did her research. Maybe because I already knew how it would end, and was secure in that. Maybe because it was written with that slightly pithy British accent. I don't know. But I'm keeping it.
Flaws that include the WHOLE of the heroine's past. Supposedly she had no family, and the author tells us that the *entire* book, but then at the same time goes on and on about her abusive parents, the screaming, the horror of her childhood, the estrangement between the two sides (of the family that she doesn't have)... it drove me crazy. Apparently the author's definition of 'family' is "people who care about you". My definition is "people you're related to who drive you batty and ruin your life as best they can". Which means I found her definition flawed.
Flaws that also include the whole, "she makes him mad, they make up, then he makes her mad, then they make up, then she makes him mad, then they make up, then he makes her mad"... and on and on and ON that crap goes until you want to hit someone.
Having said, though, I STILL love this book. I can't tell you why. The chemistry between Carrie and Jack could've been developed better. The descriptions (of... everything) were lacking. There was pretty much NO plot, just relational development. The more I write, the more I realize this wasn't the best book I've ever read.
But I still loved it. Maybe because the author did her research. Maybe because I already knew how it would end, and was secure in that. Maybe because it was written with that slightly pithy British accent. I don't know. But I'm keeping it.
July 17, 2017
Interesting story, even more interesting themes and situations but I feel the characters were under developed and the narrative feels "choppy" in some moments. I wonder if a better editing could have helped.
April 8, 2014
Wow! This book was for me, slightly reminiscent of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.
It is about a thirty something dishy university professor who is a C6 quadriplegic. Carrie, a new undergraduate at the same uni, is offered a job as his live in HCA, as she has nowhere to stay and needs a job. She has no family and had a difficult childhood.
This was an emotional and beautifully written love story of two people who are crying out to be accepted and loved. The author did a great job of showing the reader inside the mind of a quadriplegic. The couple have to overcome many difficulties, first as she has no experience in caring for anyone, let alone a disabled person. Then over time, as their feelings for each other grow, they have to decide if their love can withstand the many obstacles that are stacking up against them. This was an original story and I loved that it was set in England, which made a nice change.
A highly recommended read.
It is about a thirty something dishy university professor who is a C6 quadriplegic. Carrie, a new undergraduate at the same uni, is offered a job as his live in HCA, as she has nowhere to stay and needs a job. She has no family and had a difficult childhood.
This was an emotional and beautifully written love story of two people who are crying out to be accepted and loved. The author did a great job of showing the reader inside the mind of a quadriplegic. The couple have to overcome many difficulties, first as she has no experience in caring for anyone, let alone a disabled person. Then over time, as their feelings for each other grow, they have to decide if their love can withstand the many obstacles that are stacking up against them. This was an original story and I loved that it was set in England, which made a nice change.
A highly recommended read.
September 14, 2019
Very tender. I read it at least 3 or 4 times. Realistic chatacters, both MC's are so sweet. Except that social worker. Didn't like her at all and found her character not believable.
February 28, 2014
Jack Langton, a university English professor in his 30s, needs help. He's a C6 quadriplegic with limited arm mobility looking for a Health Care Assistant to help him dress, bathe, and other tasks due to the limited use of his hands. The service has sent health care workers to him but he seeks more steady care from someone who won't treat him like a child. His friend and social worker Mary refers 24 year old Carrie to him, a biology student and orphan with a difficult past who has no where else to go. After and awkward initial meeting she agrees and moves in with him.
This is the story of Jack and Carrie moving from the uncomfortable role of disabled man and care taker to friendship and finally love. Jack's past isn't kittens and roses either and they both have issues and defenses that come up at the worst times. Two people starved for affection but ignorant about how to give it.
One thing I loved about this story is that it contained Jack's POV, one of the few I've read lately where we get the injured's view. It brought me into his story and connected me to his psyche. I also liked how social Jack was, going to events, even dating and showing a sexual side that proves how much the brain is involved with arousal.
Carrie herself is well written for her age, a mixture of maturity and childishness, who appreciates the problems a relationship could contain but willing to give it her all. It kept me guessing on how it would end.
The niggles were few but there. We know Jack had an accident and Carrie has a past, but neither were explored or even explained. Perhaps the specifics don't matter but I would have liked to have known. The ending to the epilogue was a little rushed and could have been padded with a little it more. Finally, it's impossible to figure out where the story takes place until halfway through the book. A quick comment that it was England would have gone a long way.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the story and hope Ms Darkins tries her hand at more novels.
This is the story of Jack and Carrie moving from the uncomfortable role of disabled man and care taker to friendship and finally love. Jack's past isn't kittens and roses either and they both have issues and defenses that come up at the worst times. Two people starved for affection but ignorant about how to give it.
One thing I loved about this story is that it contained Jack's POV, one of the few I've read lately where we get the injured's view. It brought me into his story and connected me to his psyche. I also liked how social Jack was, going to events, even dating and showing a sexual side that proves how much the brain is involved with arousal.
Carrie herself is well written for her age, a mixture of maturity and childishness, who appreciates the problems a relationship could contain but willing to give it her all. It kept me guessing on how it would end.
The niggles were few but there. We know Jack had an accident and Carrie has a past, but neither were explored or even explained. Perhaps the specifics don't matter but I would have liked to have known. The ending to the epilogue was a little rushed and could have been padded with a little it more. Finally, it's impossible to figure out where the story takes place until halfway through the book. A quick comment that it was England would have gone a long way.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the story and hope Ms Darkins tries her hand at more novels.
March 10, 2022
This started as a promising book but the end killed it for me. It definitely has the "Me before you vibe" although a bit more realistically in some aspects. I don't like student-professor relationships (even though he is not her professor) because of the difference in hierarchy, I mean they are from the same university, so it's still not very professional but ok. Jack is a very accomplished cool literature professor who hasn't fell in love since his injury and I just kept thinking how vulnerable and immature Carrie was in contrast. Yes, being in love helps you feel better but love doesn't help overcome childhood traumas. She needed therapy before she could even engage in a relationship, I mean thank God Jack was decent but imagine if not. Nor Mary or Jack encourage her to go to therapy so, that's a red flag to me. The writing was flawed specially at the beginning and I could tell even if English is a foreign language to me.
****Spoiler alert***
The end was so unrealistic, first they sort out their misunderstanding by not talking about it? Just by Jack showing up? And then Harvard accepts her transfer that easily? I mean it seemed like they were receiving her with a red carpet and all. They could have stayed as a long distance relationship for two years and they after her graduation then apply to Harvard for graduate school or something, come on!
****Spoiler alert***
The end was so unrealistic, first they sort out their misunderstanding by not talking about it? Just by Jack showing up? And then Harvard accepts her transfer that easily? I mean it seemed like they were receiving her with a red carpet and all. They could have stayed as a long distance relationship for two years and they after her graduation then apply to Harvard for graduate school or something, come on!
September 23, 2021
Could not put this one down!
Probably was seen at work a few times eating this book up in record time. I’d like to apologize to all the customers I yelled at to stop calling and to get away from my desk. I enjoyed this book. Neither character was stupid. It was a very believable, yet happy story.
Probably was seen at work a few times eating this book up in record time. I’d like to apologize to all the customers I yelled at to stop calling and to get away from my desk. I enjoyed this book. Neither character was stupid. It was a very believable, yet happy story.
May 12, 2022
Could have been 5 stars, but the ending was way too abrupt!
July 3, 2022
Aw lovely read.
September 18, 2017
The first time I read The Key I wrote a grumpy review about its flaws that I disliked, and I rated it 3 stars, but I hadn't read enough books with disabled heroes at that moment, so, this time I was in the right mood and more aware of the big picture, I guess, so I loved the story.
It's very hard to find a romance book about a wounded hero who sustains a major injury as quadriplegia, so that alone is bold and worthy of 3 stars. The Key is my favorite of that books.
Jack is a handsome, sexy mid thirties show of competence, that closed his heart for love and sex since he suffered an accident that left his body paralyzed at eighteen.
The awkward intimacy he's forced to have with Carrie, his young HCA, develops into a friendship and she falls in love with him, but Jack has to learn to open his heart to love her and face the weigh of his physical limitations over his love life, and the author did a wonderful job in it, but she shied away from their intercourse, that could've been beautifully done as it was the préliminaires.
It's very hard to find a romance book about a wounded hero who sustains a major injury as quadriplegia, so that alone is bold and worthy of 3 stars. The Key is my favorite of that books.
Jack is a handsome, sexy mid thirties show of competence, that closed his heart for love and sex since he suffered an accident that left his body paralyzed at eighteen.
The awkward intimacy he's forced to have with Carrie, his young HCA, develops into a friendship and she falls in love with him, but Jack has to learn to open his heart to love her and face the weigh of his physical limitations over his love life, and the author did a wonderful job in it, but she shied away from their intercourse, that could've been beautifully done as it was the préliminaires.
May 10, 2014
I can't remember where I heard about this book, I think it may have actually been on here. It sounded like something I would like and so I bought this. Or maybe it was a Kindle freebie. I can't remember.
What I liked: This was short and not terrible. It was a nice book to read while traveling or otherwise a captive audience.
What I didn't like: I just was not a huge fan of this book. There wasn't anything bad about it, I just could not get invested in it. If I hadn't been reading this book while traveling, I probably would have only gotten a few pages in before deciding to move on to something different. I think the biggest problem was that there wasn't enough details about Carrie and Jack and so I just didn't care about them.
What I liked: This was short and not terrible. It was a nice book to read while traveling or otherwise a captive audience.
What I didn't like: I just was not a huge fan of this book. There wasn't anything bad about it, I just could not get invested in it. If I hadn't been reading this book while traveling, I probably would have only gotten a few pages in before deciding to move on to something different. I think the biggest problem was that there wasn't enough details about Carrie and Jack and so I just didn't care about them.
November 26, 2015
This book was a nice, sweet romance. I liked how the characters seemed real, and unlike a lot of similar books in this genre, both characters were treated as actual humans.
I did wonder about the implications of a professor dating a student, but it didn't bug me too much. I just wish it had been addressed a little bit.
There were a few minor grammar things that I got caught on, and it took me a little while to realize this was set in England, but an overall quick read and good story.
I did wonder about the implications of a professor dating a student, but it didn't bug me too much. I just wish it had been addressed a little bit.
There were a few minor grammar things that I got caught on, and it took me a little while to realize this was set in England, but an overall quick read and good story.
October 31, 2014
There were so many great moments in this book. The characters are intense and well drawn. The Big problem with this book is that there was a distinct lack of professional editing. The story seemed more like a rough draft and there were enough typos to be distracting. It's a shame that somebody with obvious talent as a writer can't take a little extra time and effort to make their book more palatable to readers.
April 22, 2015
Gem of a book
This book centers around a girl who has been unloved and in the system Her whole life, and a English professor (not hers) who is wheelchair bound. This book had me captivated the whole way through. I couldn't help but laugh out loud to some parts and cry at other parts. Overall a very moving book. The only criticism I have would be that the ending was a bit abrupt. I look forward to reading more from this author.
This book centers around a girl who has been unloved and in the system Her whole life, and a English professor (not hers) who is wheelchair bound. This book had me captivated the whole way through. I couldn't help but laugh out loud to some parts and cry at other parts. Overall a very moving book. The only criticism I have would be that the ending was a bit abrupt. I look forward to reading more from this author.
May 14, 2014
review to come....
April 13, 2016
3.5/4 Stars
I enjoyed this one.
Very little angst.
I enjoyed this one.
Very little angst.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews