Black Douglas

by Violet Winspear

Sabrina Muir's feeling for her blind patient, Douglas Saint-Sarne, were deep, and she was aware of his own growing interest in herself.

But Sabrina was no beauty. What if Douglas recovered his sight? Wouldn't he go straight back to his old love, the beautiful Nadi Darrel?

Genres: Harlequin Romance, Romance, Harlequin

Paperback

First published November 1, 1971

About the author

Violet Winspear was a British author renowned for her prolific output of romance novels, publishing seventy titles with Mills & Boon between 1961 and 1987. In 1973, she became a launch author for the Mills & Boon-Harlequin Presents line, known for its more sexually explicit content, alongside Anne Mather and Anne Hampson, two of the most popular and prolific British romance writers of the time. Winspear began writing while working in a factory and became a full-time novelist in 1963, producing her works from her home in South East England, researching exotic settings at her local library. She famously described her heroes as lean, strong, and captivating, “in need of love but capable of breathtaking passion and potency,” a characterization that provoked controversy in 1970 when she stated that her male protagonists were “capable of rape,” leading to considerable public backlash. Her novels are celebrated for their vivid, globe-spanning settings and dramatic tension, often employing sexual antagonism to heighten conflict between the alpha male hero and the heroine, who is frequently portrayed as naïve or overwhelmed by his dominance. Winspear never married or had children, and she passed away in January 1989 after a long battle with cancer, leaving a lasting influence on the romance genre.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nurse and patient romance set on an exotic island which the titular hero, Black Douglas, rules over like his own, private, feudal kingdom. Once a vibrant, powerful man, hero was rendered blind in an accident. His fiancée dumped him so he retreated in despair and rage in the seclusion of his family home. Our heroine is a poor little waif who is hired to be his nurse. He is tyrannical and moody but our plucky little heroine stands up to him and eventually falls in love with him.

I would have loved an ending that would have tied up the loose threads of the story, particularly the long-coming confrontation between the hero and the OM, a cousin of his who seemed to scheme to rob him of his inheritance. A confrontation between the ex-fiancée and the heroine would have been enjoyed as well. There is also the mystery of the diamond earrings that the hero retrieves from the bank safe, which the heroine believes are a gift meant for the OW.

Alas, the ending just glossed over the fact that hero recovers his eyesight during surgery and wakes up to suddenly declare his love for the heroine, despite everything indicating he was still in love with the OW, and the heroine was just a stand-in for his need to feel a woman in his arms again. The OW meekly sailing away on her yacht without fighting for her man seemed very unlikely as well. A meatier conclusion would have gone a long way to avoiding the inevitable feeling that the heroine was second best.

[Rain Hart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad.
Worse.
And, the worst part is that tricky moment when I thought there are at least ten pages missing at the end. Nope. All there.
Now, is this a 20th century Brontë wannabe, or what?!

[Crossword Crocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second time i've read this book, the first time, i read when i was 13. Reading it again, i realize why this story has remained in the back of my mind all these years. This is A simple love story which struck me to the heart. It somehow emphasizes that physical beauty isn't everything, but it is the persons character, the capacity for patience, and humility which brings out the true beauty of a person. Great storyline, great dialogue, amusing encounters. No sex with this one, just one episode of a kiss, but if you immerse yourself in the story, the lines are enough to allow you to feel how the heroine is feeling.

Ms. Winspear's style has never failed to impress. I will always love her writing.

PS: The scene in the yacht where hero's cousin tried to wrestle a confession that the Heroine loves the hero is my favorite!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rate it 4 because I liked the story and I thought it was wrote quite well at some parts but what a disappointing book this was also! it was really an unrequited romance rather than a romance. While there was sufficient development between them, there was nothing romantic, we literally don't find out his feelings until the last half of the final page! and we're never properly shown him finding out her feelings that were such a big part of the book.. The ending was so rushed it was almost ridiculous. It really needed an extra 10 pages at least or maybe if so much time wasn't wasted on Ret who was annoying af then we might have gotten a satisfying end.......I don't know maybe I'd rate this a 3.5 the more I think about it. A nice story with Sabrina and Douglas being likeable enough with a nice relationship but there was just so much lacking from the ending and the romance.

[Talia]

That's very good

[RomLibrary]

Sabrina Muir's feeling for her blind patient, Douglas Saint-Sarne, were deep, and she was aware of his own growing interest in herself.

But Sabrina was no beauty. What if Douglas recovered his sight? Wouldn't he go straight back to his old love, the beautiful Nadi Darrel?

[Andrea .... e suas cafonices. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first novels I read in my adolescence, around the age of 14 and I rediscovered it in 2020, a sweet and pleasant surprise. I remembered it and understood why I had never forgotten him, his story is cute, showing once again the choice of VW for young women abandoned in a convent and that some become nurses, but who are not fools, nor doormats, but intelligent, determined and who They don't control their language. Showing that what matters is the inside, our h has two beautiful suitors, H and his dishonest cousin who, in a moment of anger and jealousy, causes an almost tragedy, which leads to an ending that only saddened me because it was so short, like It's usual in these HPs. But I love the sweetness of the story, of the couple that forms because Sabrina and Douglas deserved to be happy with true love.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story in itself was not so bad. What put me off was the descripiton of the heroine. Over and over it was pounded into the reader that she had huge eyes, an unremarkable face, and mousy fly away hair. Again and again we are told that she is not physically attractive. What really topped it off was the constant references to her slight figure. At one point she was described as having a boy's slim hips and the bosom of a school girl.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another from my Gram's castoffs that I appropriated when bored and still have in my bookshelf.