Craig marah sekali pada Delia, karena gadis itu telah mencelakakan Jenny, anjing penuntunnya. Tapi Alison, putrinya, sangat menyukai Delia. Bahkan Alison meminta Delia untuk menjaga ayahnya yang buta itu selama dia berkemah. Craig tak bisa menolak, sebab Alison mengancam tak akan pergi bila ayahnya tak menyetujui usul itu.
Sebetulnya Craig takut berdekatan dengan Delia. Takut akan terpuruk semakin jauh ke dalam pesona kliennya itu. Walaupun Craig tak bisa melihat Delia, tapi dia tahu bahwa Delia sangat jelita, berhati lembut, dan penuh kasih. Dan dia telah jatuh cinta padanya.
Namun beranikah Craig mengutarakan cintanya? Menurut persepsinya, dia bukan lagi lelaki seperti sebelum kecelakaan itu menimpanya. Delia tak pantas mengorbankan dirinya untuk orang cacat seperti Craig. Kalaupun Delia menerimanya betulkah itu cinta sejati atau hanya belas kasihan?
Christine Sparks was born in England, UK. She wanted to be a writer all her life, and began by working on a British women's magazine. As a features writer, she gained a wide variety of experience. She interviewed some of the world's most attractive and interesting men, including Warren Beatty, Richard Chamberlain, Charlton Heston, Sir Roger Moore, Sir Alec Guiness.
Single life was so enjoyable that she put marriage, and even romance, on the back burner, while she went about the world having a great time. Then, while on vacation in Venice, she met a tall, dark handsome Venetian artist, who changed all her ideas in a moment, and proposed on the second day. Three months later they were married. Her friends said a whirlwind romance would never last, but they celebrated their 25 anniversary, they are still married, still happy and in love.
After 13 years on the magazine Christine decided that it was now or never if she was ever going to write that novel. So she wrote Legacy of Fire which became a Silhouette Special Edition, followed by another, Enchantment in Venice. Then she did something crazy gave up her job. Since then she has concentrated entirely on writing romances for Mills & Boon, Harlequin and Silhouette and has written over 75 books. Her settings have been European and her heroes mainly English or Italian. Christine now claims to be an expert on one particular subject. Italian men are the most romantic in the world. They are also the best cooks.
A few years ago she and her husband returned to Venice and lived there for a couple of years. This proved the perfect base for exploring the rest of Italy, and she has given many of her books Italian settings: Venice (of course), Rome, Florence, Milan, Sicily, Tuscany. She has also used the Rhine in Germany for Song of the Lorelei, for which she won her first RITA Award, in 1991. Her second RITA came in 1998, with His Brother's Child, set in Rome.
Eventually Christine Fiorotto and her husband returned to England, where they now live. She write and he paints, they have no children, but have a cat and a dog.
I have been on a minor Lucy Gordon binge lately. I enjoy her writing as well as her characters. And this book is no different. It has one of my favorite tropes - blindness. It is loosely based on the idiom- ‘beauty is as beauty does’ or maybe ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder or not!’
The h is a beautiful woman working in a cosmetics company as a PR person and is good looking enough to be considered a model herself-as the photog in the opening scene tells us. She is supposedly vain and uses her looks/smile to get her way often. But, really, I found her to be a practical and enterprising working woman rather than a conceited femme fatale.
The same day she rams her car in to the blind H and his guide dog leaving the dog hospitalized and her, horrified and repentant. The H lashes out at her saying he can tell from her voice that she is one of those outwardly beautiful but shallow women who can only take etc. (that is one helluva ESP he has!) and refuses all her offers of help. Anyways the H is the part of this very exclusive marketing firm the h’s company has hired and so their paths cross again. He has a very protective 10 yrs. old daughter who brings him to the office now as Jenny the dog is physically and also psychologically traumatised, and is unable to guide. As things work out, the daughter has to go on a camp but feels too responsible for her dad to leave him all alone. The h offers to help and ends up living with him at his home for few weeks. And so the story and their relationship unfolds.
It is actually a ‘finding oneself’ kind of tale with the h realizing that outer beauty is not all there is to a person. But as I said I didn't find her too shallow to begin with. The H, on the other hand needed to change and mellow more than anyone else. Since the accident that left him blind and wife-less (as she played the devoted wife for a while before running off), he became very angry and directionless. Maybe his anger helped him in the beginning as he worked hard to overcome the obstacle and become successful and even indispensable at his work but it has still left him very dissatisfied and embittered. So it is ironical that the woman he considered too shallow is responsible for bringing love and laughter back into his life.
This was a nice departure for me after reading Robyn Donald and Yvonne Whittal who gave me heroes that could only be the spawn of the devil. Oh, I am not complaining. I love those cruel bastards, even though they make me feel ashamed for doing so afterwards. Anyhoo, I knew I needed a reset so I dropped the HP line to take up one of the Harlequin romance books. Those tend to be less controversial and the liquor cabinet, and chocolate stash stay safely undisturbed.
Preeti and Kay both give great overviews of this story.
🛑Minor spoilers throughout the review, but this is one of those stories where there isn’t some great big twist. However, I did leave out a lot of details that flush out the story, so if you don’t read the book you will miss out on some of the artistry contained within.
Hero- Craig, very good looking and is in his mid 30’s. He is divorced and has a 1o year old daughter. 7 years ago he had a mishap on some parallel bars and became blind. Initially he went through the stage of feeling sorry for himself, but then pulled himself up with the help of his service dog Jenny and embraced life again. He is successful in business, and has custody of his daughter. His wife didn’t like being tied down to a blind man who wouldn’t be able to rise to the higher echelons/money bracket of society so she divorced him. He meets the h when she jumps a curb and runs into his dog seriously injuring it.
Heroine, Delia, 24, a raven haired beauty who modeled when she was younger. Her father was a stage dad and took one look at his beautiful daughter and made it his mission to flaunt her beauty for the accolades and money. She missed out on her childhood and ended up throwing a fit. No one wanted to work with her again and her father who had lavished all of his attention on her up to this point drops her and focuses on her sister who showed talent as an actress. This ends up shaping the h’s psyche that her beauty is her biggest asset and she uses it to her advantage. That isn’t to say that our heroine is shallow or unintelligent. She is a successful business woman and she is full of kindness. She is distraught that she has injured the dog because of her careless driving. The hero is tough on her and for once she cannot rely on her beauty to smooth things over. The hero is the first person to actually “see” her.
Anyhoo, the 2 of them part after the dog incident, but the h checks in on the dog through phone calls to the vet. She was really hoping to hear from the H again as she can’t get him out of her mind. They end up crossing paths again when their business ventures intersect. The dog is still on the mend and so the H relies on his 10 year old daughter who is far older than her years. The h meets his daughter and they form an instant friendship. The daughter, Alison, wants to go to camp but is not comfortable leaving her dad since Jenny the dog is in rehab. The h offers to stay with the dad(against his wishes) and the daughter goes to camp. Initially the H tries to get the h to go home since his daughter won’t know, but the daughter calls frequently expecting the h to be there. So now the two are stuck living together.
The grumpy H is resistant to the h. Oh, he would like to know her more intimately but his blindness holds him back. The h is very interested in the H as well, but decides the H is not interested in her and thinks her to be shallow. However, living together starts to break down those barriers. They develop a nice rapport and the h gets hot and bothered when she spies the H working out in his gym. (The gym is fully equipped with uneven bars, vaults, parallel bars….not sure but maybe the h was a contender for gymnastics at one point). Eventually they succumb to their feelings for each other. They even say ILY with a 1/4 of the book to go still. The H ends up pushing the h away in the end as he doesn’t want to tie her down to a blind man. She reluctantly accepts this and goes back to being a driven successful business woman. The daughter comes to her and tells her that her dad is in the hospital. He had surgery on his sight…30% chance of success rate. The h starts to spy on him from afar. She wants to reach out to him but knows that he would reject her. The daughter keeps the h in the loop. The day before the bandages come off, the H reaches out to the h. She goes to him and they spend the night together. The H realizes that no matter what he doesn’t want to live without the h, and the h is happy that he is willing to love her even if his sight doesn’t return. The surgery is successful. Alison is pleased that she will be getting a better mom. Jenny the dog is happy that she can be a pet and won’t have to worry about a new dog as she wasn’t going to be able to be a service dog anymore.
I left out some of the drama that occurs in the story. The h has to deal with some underhanded men at work. Plus, she has a sort of om who like her father is only interested in the beauty and success of the h. He also causes the H some undue stress and jealousy.
This story focuses on breaking down those barriers that keep us from embracing ourselves. Everyone has insecurities and some of us have actual physical limitations, but it is how we are willing to address these that will determine the joy that we can derive from living a full life.
This was a great story about finding beauty beneath the surface. Delia is a beautiful woman but she has come to rely on her looks to help her get ahead. When she drives too fast around a curve and hits Craig's seeing eye dog, she feels terrible. Craig is rightfully angry and gives her some things to think about. They meet again through their jobs and a friendship and romance develop.
I really enjoyed this story, tropes and all. It felt a bit soap opera-ish with all the drama but it was good fun to read.
4 Stars! ~ Delia Summers has used her physical beauty to her advantage all her life. She’s Deputy Director of PR for Orchid Cosmetics and she wants the top job of Director. Distracted by thoughts of her backstabbing co-workers, she losses control of her car that jumps the curb and strikes Craig Locksley’s seeing-guide dog, Jenny. Delia’s filled with guilt and fails miserably to console Craig who uses his bitter tongue to cut her down. Jenny’s injuries are severe, but she’ll mend; it’s her sudden fear of traffic that sends her back for retraining. Alison, Craig’s ten-year-old daughter assumes the mother-hen role and refuses to leave her Dad to go to summer camp, as she’s afraid her father will go into one of his dark moods. This makes Delia feel even more guilty, so she offers to fill in herself by moving in for a few weeks. Craig isn’t thrilled with this but it’s the only way his daughter will leave him. Craig has had to fight hard for his success in the business world, and he still has a tremendous chip on his shoulder, hating to accept help from anyone, esp. Delia. Each bitter retort from him only reinforces to Delia that she is a shell of a person with nothing else to offer except her beauty. And to a sightless Craig Locksley her beauty is useless.
Another emotional story from Ms. Gordon. Though we aren’t given Craig’s point of view, Ms. Gordon through other characters lets us see the tortured man inside. Watching him conduct business, Delia discovers that Craig used his blindness to his advantage much as she uses her looks in her work. This allows her to look into herself and slowly she becomes aware that she is much more than her beauty. This is a wonderful story that I read in one sitting.
about 3.25 to 3.50 stars. No idea why Goodreads has the plot in a different language but here it is:
From the back cover: Love at first sight? To begin with, Craig Locksley was sure that Delia was shallow and selfish, and he couldn't be charmed by her pretty looks because he was blind. But, parted temporarily from those he relied on - his young daughter, Alison, and his beloved dog - Craig had to accept Delia's offer to act as his guide. But he still insisted he was the boss! Delia found herself living with an impossibly grumpy but incredibly attractive man: she wanted to love him - if only he'd let her. And Craig was going to need love in abundance if he chose to have an operation which had only a small chance of restoring his sight...
My thoughts: This was a Harlequin Romance. I liked the story and the characters. I liked the h's backstory of why she was the way she was and how she became self aware and attempted to change herself. I loved the H's backstory as well and he was your typical brooding, angry and proud H - but he wasn't a mean H - I think that's mostly in Harlequin Present lol. There were a couple of instances in the book where the readers get to hear the H's thoughts which I really liked. Anyhow this is a sweet story a nice read at the end of the day or a rainy day - thats how I felt. Of course we get the stereotypical ending the HEA and what happens to the H's operation :) I still liked the book - happy for H/h and his daughter.
Loved , loved the h in this. H was nice too but i just felt initially he was unnecessarily prejudiced against the h's beauty, she was conscious of her asset and used it the way people do it but she was never condescending , rude or TSTL of it and never depended on her beauty to get ahead but believed in working hard I loved how she confessed her feelings for H first. Wanted an epilogue for it.
Delia yang cantik dan menarik saat ini bekerja di Orchid Cosmetics. Ia juga menikmati perhatian dan lirikan yang dia terima dari pria-pria.
Suatu ketika, secara tidak sengaja mobil Delia menabrak seekor anjing sehingga membuat sang anjing luka parah. Merasa bersalah, Delia membantu sang majikan untuk membawanya ke dokter hewan terdekat. Ternyata majikan anjing itu adalah Craig Locksley, seorang pria tampan berumur 30-an, tetapi buta.
Tak disangka pula, ternyata perusahaan Craig ternyata adalah perusahaan yang disewa oleh Orchid untuk bidang marketing dan promosi. Saat meeting, Craig ditemani oleh putrinya -Alison-. Rasa bersalah Delia semakin besar. Apalagi ternyata karena kasus kecelakaan tersebut Alison harus menemani Craig dan batal berkemah.
Untuk menebus rasa bersalahnya, maka Delia mengajukan diri untuk menemani Craig selama Alison berkemah. Tinggallah Delia di rumah Craig. Rasa tertarik segera muncul di antara mereka berdua.
Hanya saja, Craig sangat menutup diri dari Delia karena trauma masa lalunya. Dulu, saat Craig menjadi buta, istrinya -ibu Alison- segera meninggalkannya. Ini sangat melukai emosi dan psikis Craig, sehingga Craig berpikir Delia pun pasti akan meninggalkannya karena kebutaannya.
Saat Alison pulang, Delia masih mencoba untuk melanjutkan hubungan dengan Craig, tapi Craig menolak. Maka berpisahlah mereka.
Tetapi Craig segera menyadari kebodohannya dan akhirnya bersedia untuk menjalani operasi mata, meskipun tingkat keberhasilan operasi hanya 30%. Saat waktunya perban mata dibuka, Alison meminta Delia untuk hadir. Delia sangat siap, bahwa apapun hasil operasi tersebut, Delia akan tetap bersama Craig.
Ternyata, operasi berhasil. Delia dan Craig pun bahagia bersama.