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A collection of reviews of books that feature disabled characters, rated for devotee enjoyment.
**** Orgasmic
*** Yeah baby
** Not a bad way to spend an evening
* Only if you're desperate
No stars-- Nauseating
Index
Milton in America by Peter Ackroyd
Blind Justice by Bruce Alexander
Making Out by Katherine Applegate
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
We So Seldom Look on Love by Barbara Gowdy
Nobody's Perfect by Hirotada Ototake
Eyes of Silver by Michael A. Stackpole
If You Could See What I Hear by Tom Sullivan
The Blind Knight by Gail van Austen
Adam's Fall by Sandra Brown
Come Lie With Me by Linda Howard
Molly Meets Her Match by Val Whisenand
A Man Like Mac by Fay Robinson
Mary Mehan Awake by Jennifer Armstrong
Paradise Found by Mary Campisi
The Morning Side of Dawn by Justine Davis
Miss Ware’s Refusal by Marjorie Farrell
Taste of Love by Elizabeth Glenn
Tell Me How the Wind Sounds by Leslie Guccione
The Guarded Heart by Barbara Hazard
Love’s Sound in Silence by Meg Hudson
Entwined by Emma Jensen
The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
This Is All I Ask by Lynne Kurland
Charmed Destinies Ed. Mercedes Lackey
Yours Until Dawn by Theresa Medeiros
Dark Thirst by Sara Reinke
Dark Hunger by Sara Reinke
Taming Lord Renwick by Jeanne Savery
Silent Heart by Deborah Simmons
Kevin’s Story by Adrienne Staff and Sally Goldenbaum
The Highland Wife by Lyn Stone
The Bride of Trouville by Lyn Stone
The Quest by Lyn Stone
The Spider’s Web by Peter Tremayne
Milton in America by Peter Ackroyd
*
Not only is this not a great devo book, it's only mediocre as literature. The premise, that John Milton, the blind English poet, fled to the Puritan colonies of New England after Charles II returned to the throne in 1660, is interesting and plausible, but this British author's descriptions of colonial New England ring false. Also, this is an intellectual novel, which means plenty of experimentation with narration and point of view. In the end, it all wears rather thin and Milton, who began as a sympathetic character, becomes a homicidal maniac. Oh yeah, and his sight is magically restored, because obviously Ackroyd does not know how to write a blind character. In spite of a few good scenes, Devo Girl really can't recommend this book.
Blind Justice by Bruce Alexander
***
This is the first in a series of murder mysteries starring Sir John Fielding, a blind magistrate in 18th century London. Although these books are fiction, Sir John was a real person; his portrait hangs in the National Gallery in London. Together with his brother, the novelist Henry Fielding, he formed London's first police force, called the Bow Street Runners, and served as a judge to the lower classes from his court in Covent Garden. The series is set in the 1770s, and is narrated by a teenaged boy named Jeremy who becomes Sir John's assistant. While Sir John, being middle-aged and fat, is not exactly an object of lust, Devo Girl still recommends these books highly. The descriptions of London are lively and fascinating, with many vividly drawn secondary characters.
Making Out by Katherine Applegate
***
This is a romance series for teenage girls. That said, these are still some pretty entertaining books. The plot revolves around a group of eight young adults who live on a tiny island off the coast of Maine, through their senior year of high school and freshman year of college. One of the characters, Ben, is blind. Each of the characters gets equal time in the story, so Ben is not always in the spotlight, but Applegate's characterization of him is excellent, and she's not afraid to make him an object of desire. Ben's character really rings true. One of the major plot points involves Ben's undergoing surgery to cure his blindness, but the whole thing is handled in a smart and non-cheezy way. Also Applegate uses some interesting devices, such as printing sections from each character's diary in his or her own handwriting. Ben's diary is typed, of course. Devo Girl recommends these books to those of you who like teen romances (you know who you are). Be sure to start with the first book, Zoey Fools Around, and read them in order. Each book contains a character's name in the title, but it doesn't really determine which character gets the most focus, so be sure to read them all.
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
***
This book is a devo classic, and also very well written. A husband and wife carnival team decides to create their own freakshow by giving birth to children with genetic mutations. The story is narrated by one of their children, and is a thrilling look at the hidden, lost world of the carnival sideshow, where physical differences are valued and considered beautiful.
We So Seldom Look on Love by Barbara Gowdy
****
This is a collection of short stories, nearly all of which feature characters who are disabled or deformed or otherwise different. Ok, some of the characters are female, and not all of them make for orgasmic fantasies, but all the stories are really interesting and very well written. The title story in particular is one of Devo Girl's favorites. It's about a young girl who is a necrophile, not that Devo Girl is also into dead bodies (she isn't) but the descriptions of her coming to terms with her sexual deviance are touchingly real. After she reveals her secret to a friend and is rejected, she says, "I cried at what seemed like a cruel loss. I think I knew it was all loneliness from that moment on. Even though I was only thirteen, I was cutting any lines that still drifted out towards normal eroticism. Bosom friends, pajama-party intimacy, I was cutting all those lines off." It makes us cry every time. No other story captures so well the frustration and the thrill of having a strange secret fetish. This story was also made into a movie under the title Kissed.
Nobody's Perfect by Hirotada Ototake
***
Translated from Japanese, this is the autobiography of a young man who was born without arms or legs. The cover picture alone is worth the price of the book. While the relentlessly upbeat tone gets a little annoying, the detailed descriptions of his daily life are just, well, fascinating. It's not great literature, but it satisfies that devo itch.
Eyes of Silver by Michael A. Stackpole
*
Nice cover art, but what was between the pages was pretty disappointing. This is pure sci fi/fantasy genre writing, and not very imaginative at that. The author would have us believe this is some made-up world, but anyone with even a passing knowledge of European history will recognize that the book is based pretty closely on political intrigues in Europe just after Napoleon, except people have magical powers. Names of places, people and religions are disguised so thinly as to be laughable. Add to that a huge cast of characters who all seem to have 10 names each, and a nearly incomprehensible plot. The character with eyes of silver is Malachy Kidd, an English, excuse me, "Ilbeorian" warrior priest blinded in the line of duty. There are a few good scenes with him, and there is another disabled character who appears at the very end, but these were two paltry rewards in an otherwise dreadful book.
If You Could See What I Hear by Tom Sullivan
**
You've got to hand it to Tom Sullivan for making a career as a blind celebrity (sort of). Devo Girl remembers seeing him on TV occasionally in the 80s, but that singing career he is so optimistic about in this book never did pan out. In spite of the terrible cliches, the hack writing, the Christian moralizing and the tacky 1970s setting, this book is a devo classic. Devo Girl finds herself drawn to read it over and over again. His description of blindness in childhood is perhaps unequalled for its candor and fascinating detail. This book was made into a movie in 1982 in Canada, but it has not yet been viewed here at Devo Labs.
The Blind Knight by Gail van Austen
****
Sadly, this book seems to be out of print, but it's worth searching out. The book is based loosely on the legend of King Arthur, and set during the reign of Henry Plantagenet (1154-1189). The idea is that Merlin has become an old hermit, living in secrecy in an ancient forest. A cruel and abusive lord murders his wife, and in revenge Merlin curses the lord's wife to give birth to a blind albino boy. The plot follows this boy, Mallory, from his tortured childhood until he grows to manhood, learns to fight and reclaim his estate. Oh yes, and he falls in love with Merlin's daughter. All this may sound hopelessly corny, but trust me, it's good. Van Austen describes Mallory in wonderfully sensitive detail, plus there are actual sex scenes--you can't ask for much more. Devo Girl has read this book at least fifty times.
Mary Mehan Awake by Jennifer Armstrong
***
Young adult novel, only about 100 pages long, set in the US around the time of the Civil War. As the novel begins, the war has just ended, but Mary is mentally and physically exhausted after two year working as a nurse to wounded soldiers. She goes to work as a maid for a scientist and his wife in upstate New York. There she meets another servant, Henry, a former artillery man who was deafened in the war. It's a love story, of course, but also the story of how Mary recovers from her experience of the war. The whole thing is from her point of view, we never really find out what Henry is thinking. They communicate solely by writing. No magical cure either. I really liked this book--the writing is really excellent. The descriptions of the landscape, and the sensitive portrayal of their feelings, are remarkable. This novel is actually the sequel to The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan which tells about how Mairhe/Mary emigrates to the US from Ireland with her family as a teen, and how her brother is killed in the Civil War (although I haven't read the first book). There is also an edition that combines both books under the title Becoming Mary Mehan.
Paradise Found by Mary Campisi
NO STARS
A modern-day romance featuring a blind hero. But he miraculously regains his sight about halfway through, so Devo Girl didn’t even bother to read this one. With these kinds of books, it’s a good idea to peek at the ending before you begin.
The Morning Side of Dawn by Justine Davis
***
Yet another cheesy modern-day romance, but one that’s a bit better than average. Dar is a double amputee who occasionally uses prosthetics but prefers wheelchairs he designs himself. And he's an athlete too! Very sexy. The story is pretty good. The perfectly gorgeous supermodel heroine, Cassie, is kind of annoying, but Dar is an interesting character. It’s rare to find a double amputee male character in a romance novel, mainly because there is no possibility of a magical cure, so this book gets props for handling the issue head-on.
Miss Ware’s Refusal by Marjorie Farrell
****
A Regency romance, and one of the best in terms of quality writing. Simon, the Duke of Sutton, is blinded in the Napoleonic Wars, and shuts himself up in his London home. Judith Ware is a poor relation to gentry, forced to become a governess. Mutual friends arrange for Judith to work as a reader for Simon, and of course they fall in love. Although this is an older book (published 1990) and the setup sounds trite, it plays out in a very realistic way that feels far more historically accurate than most romances. The author is clearly influenced by Jane Austen. Although she mentions Judith reading Emma, the real influence here is Pride and Prejudice. Imagine a blind version of Mr. Darcy. Yes, it’s that good. No purple prose, no miracle cure, no embarrassingly awful sex scenes, just good solid writing.
Taste of Love by Elizabeth Glenn
****
A modern-day romance, published 1983, featuring a blind hero. Not great writing, but remarkably satisfying. Briony has been in love all her life with her older brother’s best friend, Patrick, who was blinded in an accident when he was ten. He moved away to become a history professor, but now he’s back in town and Briony is determined to prove to him that she’s not a kid anymore. But a few things stand in their way, such as the fact that Briony is already engaged to someone else, and Patrick’s reputation as a player. The quality of the writing is not great, and there are a few unrealistic details, such as that Briony, the daughter of two college professors, would grow up to be Miss Texas (seriously), then give up the life of a beauty queen to become a professor herself, or that at 26 she would still be living with her parents. However, this is one of the best, most swoon-worthy blind heroes in all of romance fiction. Unlike most books where the hero is recently blinded, Patrick lost his sight as a child, and seems very confident and well-adjusted. The plot does not revolve around him regaining confidence or feeling emasculated. He’s already successful and clearly popular with the ladies, which is refreshing. Even better, he’s depicted as attractive not “in spite of” or “even though” but BECAUSE he’s blind. And he’s not angry or emotionally repressed, like so many romance heroes; he’s good-natured and charming. Briony does come off as rather childish, but she has a lot more spark than most romantic heroines, and I really like how aggressive she is in coming onto him. And the sex scenes are super hot. Even though it’s quite old, the writing does not seem dated. The author must surely be a devotee herself: the descriptions of Patrick, and the way Briony sees him, are exactly right. She even describes Briony feeling a “sweet ache” in the pit of her stomach when she looks at him. It’s almost uncanny. The author wrote several romances under the names Elizabeth Glenn and Marcy Gray, all featuring disabled heroes. Yes, definitely a devotee.
Tell Me How the Wind Sounds by Leslie Guccione
**
Young adult romance. Amanda is a sulky, spoiled teen stuck on a small island off the coast of New England for the summer with her parents. Jake is a deaf teen who lives on the island. He communicates using a mix of ASL and speaking/lip-reading. The dated 80s references are occasionally, unintentionally hilarious, and the writing is quite dire in some places (including some glaring, repeated spelling errors, such as peak/pique). But the depiction of deafness is really well done, as is the description of ASL and lip-reading. About half the narration is from Jake's POV. Amanda is kind of a brat, but Jake emerges as a really interesting, well-rounded character.
The Guarded Heart by Barbara Hazard.
*
A romance novel set in Regency England, although most of the action takes place in Vienna, which is a change of pace. Erica Stone goes to Vienna to find her cheating husband, only to discover he has been murdered. The Duke of Graves enlists her as a spy for England, and even though she is terrified of him, eventually they fall in love. He has a club foot. The writing is pretty good for a romance, but the devo factor is low, because the Duke’s disability is relatively minor and doesn’t end up factoring into the plot very much, and because he is an aloof, controlling jerk right up to the inevitable happy end.
Love’s Sound in Silence by Meg Hudson.
*
A modern-day romance, but written in 1982, and laughably dated. In this overly long and needlessly convoluted story, Midge goes off to spy on her best friend’s twin brother, who has been keeping some secrets. Brian Vandervelt, the scion of an implausibly wealthy Knickerbocker family, lost his hearing in an explosion as a young man, but has set out to prove himself by running the family newspaper in the small upstate New York town of Coxsackie (commence childish giggling). He has kept his deafness a secret from his sister; the other secret is that someone at the paper is trying to kill him to get his inheritance. Midge loyally goes to work at Brian’s paper, and of course falls for him instantly. This has all the hallmarks of a bad romance: gratuitous overuse of exclamation points? Check! A pedestrian setting passed off as the height of glamour? Check! A glacial pace, slowed by awkward, boring history lessons about said pedestrian setting? Check. Painfully embarrassing sex scenes? Only two, but check and check. Since this is an older book, it also subscribes to the ideal alpha male mystique, so Brian is a cold, aloof asshole who forces himself on Midge even as he’s verbally abusing her. In fact, she gets sexually harassed at work by both Brian and another of her bosses, but she’s such a nonentity, it’s hard to care. She’s also too stupid to remember to face him when she’s speaking—she forgets every single time. Ugh. It’s not just the clothing in this book that’s dated, although the descriptions of Midge’s and Brian’s outfits are hilarious. Finally, the devo factor is fairly low. Midge spends a lot of time feeling sorry for Brian, but the depiction of his deafness is cursory at best.
Entwined by Emma Jensen
***
A Regency romance novel. Nathan, the Marquess of Oriel, is an English spy in the Napoleonic Wars, who is partially blinded by a would-be assassin. As is usual in this kind of novel, he retires to his estate to live out his days in angry solitude, until our heroine turns up to rescue him from himself. However, in this case, the heroine is not a timid, high-class beauty, but the daughter of the town drunk, and Scottish as well, Isobel MacLeod. The awkward Scottishisms seem a bit contrived, but Isobel is a feisty, likeable heroine. Nathan is not completely blind, but there is no miracle cure either. The writing is better than average for a romance, and the story is exciting and enjoyable.
The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan.
***
Young adult romance. The setting is imaginary, but bears a strong resemblance to medieval Ireland/England. Teenage Marnie travels to a new village with her new husband, whom she thought she loved, but who is clearly a brute. On their arrival, she sees the villagers beating a boy whom everyone thinks is mad. Marnie soon discovers that he is not mad; he's deaf, and can't speak. The brutish husband is quickly and conveniently dispatched, and the novel revolves around Marnie's attempts to communicate with the boy, whom she names Raven. They make up a sign language together, but the villagers think she's a witch. Even though the writing is a little thin in places and the setting seems more like a Renaissance Faire than a real place, there are some accurate touches, like the descriptions of village festivals. And in spite of its flaws, Devo Girl enjoyed this book a lot. The author says at the end that she was inspired to write this by her experience working in a deaf school, and the author’s experiences come through: the depiction of deafness provides a sense of authenticity that the setting lacks. The difficulty Marnie has in communicating with Raven, and his fearsome anger at not being understood feel very true-to-life.
Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale
**
Another Regency romance. At the outset, this one is a bit different from the standard wounded hero romance. Christian, the Duke of Jervaulx, is a rake and a bounder, but a brilliant mathematician, who suffers a stroke. The characters describe it as a “fit” and consider it God’s vengeance for his dissolute lifestyle but the symptoms are clear: weakness on his right side, difficulty seeing things to his right, and severe aphasia, that is, inability to comprehend or produce written or spoken language. Christian’s family send him to a genteel asylum and plot to disinherit him. Coincidentally, he is found by Maddy Timms, a Quaker girl working in the asylum as a nurse. Maddy recognizes him, since her father, who is blind, had collaborated with Christian in writing papers on mathematics. Maddy tries to help Christian, and of course they fall in love. Of all the obstacles romance writers think up to keep the hero and heroine apart until the last few pages, this one is one of the more compelling. There is the matter of getting him out of the asylum, securing his estate, and regaining his faculties, but the real problem for Maddy is her religion. She believes very strongly in modesty and chastity, and if she marries outside her faith, she will be not only cast out of the Quaker community but cut off from her father. All of this is very promising in the first half, but the second half does not live up to the potential. Christian is a fairly typical alpha male; even after the stroke, his character never changes from a demanding, self-centered asshole. Maddy is more interesting, but for all her intellectualism, she is surprisingly passive. Judging by the huge number of comments on Amazon, this book is a big deal in the romance genre, supposedly proving that romances can be great literature. The writing is a bit better than average, and the author takes a big risk by rendering many of the early scenes from Christian’s point of view, including the garbled language. But in the end, because the characters fall into conventional gender roles, the novel seems rather clichéd. And the devo factor was surprisingly low, because for all that Maddy is supposedly his nurse, she never does anything to actively help Christian, he just sort of recovers on his own. It’s not a miraculous or complete recovery, but I still found the book unsatisfying.
This Is All I Ask by Lynne Kurland
****
A romance novel set in medieval England. Gillian of Warewick is forced by her abusive father to marry Lord Christopher of Blackmour, but she doesn’t know that he had lost his sight a year previously. Yes, this has all the romance clichés: forced marriage, abused heroine, keeping the disability secret, but in spite of all that, this is one of the very best romances Devo Girl has ever read. The author seems to get the devo mindset, because she lingers in all the right places. The quality of the writing is good, the characters are engaging, and the devo factor is high. If you’re looking for a satisfying romance with a blind hero, this is by far one of the best.
Charmed Destinies Ed. Mercedes Lackey
**
A fantasy-romance anthology hybrid. Three short stories in the romance genre, set in made-up lands with magic and all. The last story, “Moonglow,” by Catherine Asaro, is set in some poorly-defined vaguely Scottish land where people practice magic based on colors and shapes. Yes, it’s just about that lame The hero is the long-lost prince of the realm who is the victim of a curse that has left him blind and deaf, and of course the heroine is his arranged bride who must free him from the curse. With something like this you know there will be by definition a magical cure, and there is, pretty early on. A few of the early scenes have pretty good devo value, but as a whole the story is poorly written and very very silly.
Yours Until Dawn by Theresa Medeiros
*
A Regency romance novel. Gabriel, the Earl of Sheffield, is blinded in the Battle of Trafalgar, and retreats to his estate. Samantha is hired to help take care of him, although she is in fact his fiancée whom he thought had abandoned him. The first half is devo-riffic, but about halfway through his sight miraculously returns. Fearing that he will recognize her, Samantha flees, but of course all is resolved in the end. Seriously, even when he’s blind, we’re supposed to believe that he really wouldn’t recognize her?
Dark Thirst by Sara Reinke
****
A supernatural romance novel about a deaf vampire. A deaf vampire! How awesome is that?! This is a great antidote to that namby-pamby Twilight; if only this would get made into a movie instead. In this take on the old trope, the vampires, who call themselves the Brethren, live isolated in Kentucky farmland, in a series of family compounds that seem like a polygamous Mormon sect, only with lots of money and without religion. Brandon, who was left deaf and completely mute as the result of a brutal assault when he was four, grows up isolated and scorned in a community that only values strength. His father brings in a deaf tutor for a time, who teaches Brandon ASL, but the rest of the family don’t want him mingling with humans. Brandon runs away to New Orleans (why are all vampires stories set in New Orleans?) to try to find his old tutor, but instead finds the tutor’s sister, a cop named Lina, who offers to help him. This is a terrific and really unusual romance. First of all, Lina is a few years older than Brandon, she’s African-American, and more athletic and boyish than most romance heroines. She’s much tougher than Brandon, who was not only tortured and abused by his family, but is inexperienced in the real world. Second, the depiction of deafness is compelling and believable. It makes sense that Lina is fluent in ASL, because her brother is deaf. The vampires are all telepathic, but because most of the scenes are between Brandon and Lina, there are lots of descriptions of sign language, and the author describes real ASL signs. The supernatural element adds a nice twist—he’s scared to have sex with her because he might accidentally kill her—but when they do give in, the sex scenes are HOT. The only downside is that it’s the first in a series, and ends on something of a cliffhanger….
Dark Hunger by Sara Reinke
**
This is the sequel to Dark Thirst, and as you might guess from the unimaginative title, it’s not as good. The main problem Devo Girl has with this book is that it follows the romance convention of having the sequel be about a different couple, and in this case, the new couple is far less interesting than the first one. Come on! So what if Brandon and Lina finally got together as a couple, they’re still on the run from the Brethren, the story’s not over yet! But no, this book focuses on two others who are on the run with them: Brandon’s twin sister Tessa, and Lina’s former police partner, Rene, who is also half-vampire. Rene is also a RAK amputee, wounded by a gunshot in the line of duty and forced to retire. There are a few good scenes of him in the shower, and the sex scenes are pretty good, but unlike the first book, this one falls into the old gender stereotypes. Rene is a smug asshole, and Tessa is a beautiful, delicate ballet dancer. Oh and of course, she is fleeing her abusive husband, blah blah blah. We want more Brandon!! But no, not only is he hardly in this book at all, there are some hints at the end that he may be magically cured. The book ends with a horrible twist and a cliffhanger, that just was really unpleasant. The publisher has not picked up the series, so don’t expect part three anytime soon. On her website, the author claims she has found another publisher, but the third book will again be about a new couple, this time Rene’s long-lost half brother, or some such nonsense. Very disappointing. Maybe it’s time for some deaf vampire fanfic.
Taming Lord Renwick by Jeanne Savery.
**
A romance novel set in Regency England. Lord Renwick was blinded in a hunting accident in India, and retires to his country estate, where Eustacia signs on as his secretary to help him write his memoirs, of course they fall in love, etc. It's really silly and cheezy, there is some awkward humor, especially with his pet tiger which acts like a seeing-eye dog. Not great, but not terrible, and there is no magical cure, always a bonus.
Silent Heart by Deborah Simmons.
NO STARS
A romance novel set in Revolutionary France. An example of the very worst, most laughably wretched romance writing. The author keeps telling us how intelligent the heroine is, but she acts like a moron. The hero treats her with contempt, openly mocks her, and uses her for sex, but she loves him anyway. He's supposed to be mute, but it's obvious within the first few chapters that he's only faking it to disguise his identity. Stupid plot, stupid characters, purple prose, ugh, don't waste your time.
Kevin’s Story by Adrienne Staff and Sally Goldenbaum
*
A modern-day romance written in 1986. Wow, this has to be one of the worst books ever written. Seriously, it’s on a level of the worst online fan fiction. Even though the hero is deaf, and there is no miracle cure, and there are a lot of sex scenes, Devo Girl still can’t give this more than one star. A girl has to have some standards, right? So why is it so bad? For one thing, it's horribly dated. For another, the authors ask us to believe that Kansas City is home to the privileged, elite, jetsetters, and that Kevin, who owns and manages a cookie factory, has a glamorous, desirable career. The heroine, Suzy, is somehow going to launch her own brilliant career by becoming the spokesmodel for Kevin’s Kookies, and … yeah, I could not keep reading. A book, unlike a movie, can be set anywhere. If you want to tell a story about impossibly beautiful and wealthy people, why not set it in New York or LA, with lawyers or something? Don’t try to convince me that the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce annual reception is the social event of the season. Later on they appear on the Today Show to be interviewed by Jane Pauley. Wow, that’s some cookie factory! The idiocy continues: Kevin somehow lost his hearing in a car accident. A car accident? Is that at all likely? Wouldn’t he be more likely to have an SCI or TBI? Kevin’s factory workers are all deaf, but the management (except him) are all hearing. It’s taken for granted that deaf people ought to work on the factory floor because the noise doesn’t bother them. Suzy reveals that she knows ASL because she had a deaf friend in high school, and somehow, after a few false starts, she’s instantly completely fluent. The authors spend a little bit of time at the beginning explaining how ASL works, but otherwise their depiction is not realistic. For instance, they make it seem like ASL is exactly like spoken English, which is not true. The frequent sex scenes are equally unrealistic and laughable, even for a romance. Within the first few pages, when Suzy auditions for her spokesmodel job, she decides that rather than her own clothes, she would look best in a Kevin’s Kookies t-shirt, so she changes in his office, and whoops! he sees her naked. Not long after, as they go for a drive together in his cookie van, they pull a blanket out of the back, and go have sex in a public park. In the middle of the city. In the middle of the day. Now you know why romance novels have a reason, however contrived, of keeping the hero and heroine apart as long as possible. Without that, there’s really no story, and no reason to keep reading.
The Highland Wife by Lyn Stone.
****
A romance novel set in Medieval Scotland, the hero is deaf. Robert MacBain travels to the Highlands for an arranged marriage with Mairi MacInness. He thinks that as part of the negotiations, she has been told about his deafness, but she hasn't, then they are attacked and one calamity follows another and he can't find a good way to tell her. The plot revolves around him trying to find a way to tell her, and her trying to figure him out. The whole miscommunication plot threatens to get frustrating, but I found the arranged marriage plotline both more realistic and more interesting than the average romance. The question isn't will they ever get married (they already are), but will they learn to understand each other. What sets this one apart is that unlike every other "wounded hero" romance, Robert is not some aloof, cold-hearted asshole--he's really sweet and generous. And Mairi is not some sheltered bimbo, she actually shows some intelligence. Also the story is not entirely from Mairi's point of view; about half the narration is from Robert's POV, and we find out a lot about how he lost his hearing as a small child, and how his mother invented a sign language and taught him to speak and lip-read. The descriptions of his deafness are very realistic; the author indicates in the dedication that her son is deaf, which explains the realism. Devo Girl highly recommends this one, very high dev factor.
The Bride of Trouville by Lyn Stone
**
The prequel, of sorts, to The Highland Wife, taking place when Rob is a child. Rob’s widowed mother, Anne, is forced to marry the French Comte de Trouville. She resists him, not only because she has been traumatized by her abusive first husband, but because she is afraid that if Trouville discovers Rob is deaf, he will be disinherited. So she tries to hide Rob’s deafness from him. Unlike most “big misunderstanding” plots, this is a legitimate fear: Trouville really does not intend to allow Rob to inherit the estate, and it’s up to Anne to prove to him that her son could be a competent lord. The descriptions of Anne raising Rob and teaching him to speak and use a made-up sign language are compelling, and clearly based on the author’s own experiences. Even though the devo factor is low, the writing is engaging, and the characters are interesting.
The Quest by Lyn Stone
*
A sequel to The Highland Wife, although as in most romances, the focus is on a different couple. Rob’s stepbrother, Henri de Trouville, returns to Scotland from a disastrous campaign in France. On his way to Rob’s estate, he meets up with Iana Duncan, a young widow fleeing a forced second marriage. The two seek shelter with Rob, and most of the action takes place at his estate, but he’s barely a secondary character. This one is not nearly as good as the other two. Henri and Iana are potentially interesting characters, but the writing falls down in the second half. Even worse, Rob is reduced a cartoony parody of himself, relegated to little more than a human lie-detector. Disappointing.
The Spider’s Web by Peter Tremayne
**
A murder mystery set in ancient Ireland, this is part of a series featuring super sleuth Sister Fidelma, an advocate of the courts. As a trained lawyer of sorts, she travels the countryside solving crimes, with her sidekick Brother Eadulf, who plays Watson to her Sherlock Holmes. In this outing, she sets out to investigate the murder of a village chieftain. The primary suspect is a young man named Moen, who is blind and deaf. It’s clear from the beginning that he has been framed, and much of the tension lies in Sister Fidelma’s effort to exonerate him, but how can a person who can’t speak testify in a court of law? It’s an interesting premise, and the author has clearly done a lot of research on the time period, but unfortunately, the book is weighed down by an excruciatingly dull prose style. Every character speaks as if he or she is reading from a textbook, and the whole thing is about as lively as a diorama in a history museum. Moen, who emerges as a kind of Helen Keller of the Middle Ages, is a fascinating character (and handsome!) but he’s only in a few scenes.
Reviewed by Paradevo:
Adam's Fall by Sandra Brown
**
I read this book a number of years ago, but I remember it well enough to say it wasn't all that great. I'll use amazon's description to help me in my review. The premise is somewhat ridiculous: the fabulously rich and handsome Adam Cavanaugh is paralyzed while mountain-climbing (thus the clever title "Adam's Fall") and only the fabulously "beautiful and determined" physical therapist Lilah Mason can help him to walk again. Why are the beautiful ones always so determined? Although Adam is a difficult patient who "challenges her methods and authority at every turn", Lilah is a "physical therapist with an unsinkable spirit and unwavering compassion" and will not give up on Adam, despite his somewhat baffling refusal to engage in physical therapy. For some reason, Adam won't do PT unless he's absolutely guaranteed he'll walk again. Why? I don't get it. It seems almost as if this is just a really contrived plot device. I don't want to give away whether Adam and Lilah eventually get it on, but according to the amazon summary, "Lilah's professional duty and her passionate yearnings clash." I hate it when my professional duties and passionate yearnings clash... that's the worst. From page one you know Adam's going to walk again, and the worst thing about this book is that this is the only way there can be a happy ending. Kind of a shitty message.
Come Lie With Me by Linda Howard
*
The fabulously rich and handsome Blake Remington is paralyzed while mountain-climbing and only the fabulously beautiful and determined physical therapist Dione Kelly can help him to walk again. Although Blake is a difficult patient who challenges her methods and authority at every turn, Dione is a physical therapist with an unsinkable spirit and unwavering compassion and will not give up on Blake, despite his refusal to engage in physical therapy. Adam, I mean, Blake won't engage in PT unless he's absolutely guaranteed he'll walk again. Does this sound a little familiar? Does this sound like the exact same book I just reviewed above? Well, there's a twist in this one. In this book, the physical therapist Dione has a dark past. In fact, the back cover proclaims that her "soul was as paralyzed as [Blake's] body." Wow. Sounds intriguing. By page 96, Blake was already practically walking again and I stopped reading at that point. I guess I'll never know if Blake and Dione live happily ever after. I'll assume not.
Molly Meets Her Match by Val Whisenand
***
In this short novel, the eponymous Molly meets wheelchair-bound Brian Forrester, who is apparently her match. Molly helps provide Brian with a "helper dog" to increase his independence. Brian immediately falls for Molly, who rebuffs him repeatedly because she doesn't want to get married. Brian and his brother agree that there is no point in trying to go out with Molly if she doesn't want to get married, so I guess the author of this novel has never actually met a man before. Then for some reason that's not entirely clear to me, Molly moves in to Brian's living room. Even more baffling is her fear of being rejected by Brian, who has hit on her non-stop throughout the entire book, when she sneaks into his bedroom in a satin teddy (that he bought her). Despite my dislike of these cheesy romance novels, this was actually sort of a sweet story. It deals with most of the important disability issues and doesn't follow the cookie-cutter plot of the above two novels, although all three have in common women in their late 20's who are virgins (who are we kidding now?). It starts out kind of slow, but I liked the message in general. Brian never walks again, but he learns that he is still capable of working as a mechanic and that he can still please Molly in bed. That's worth three stars to me. Although if they mentioned "Brian's rippling muscles" one more time, I probably would have hurled the book across the room.
A Man Like Mac by Fay Robinson
***
John Patrick "Mac" McCandless is a athletic coach in his late thirties whose life was changed six years earlier when he received a bullet in the spine, rendering him a paraplegic. Keely Wilson is a former Olympic runner whose life was similarly changed when she was hit by a car, causing permanent damage to her legs and lungs. Mac had been Keely's coach eleven years earlier, back when she was just high school jailbait, and now she approaches him once again to help her train to return to the Olympics. Although well written for a junky romance novel, this novel is riddled with slightly irritating inconsistencies, including the nature of Keely and Mac's history eleven years earlier, but I tried not to let that bother me. The book hits all the major devo chords: Mac makes up for his insecurities in the bedroom by mastering the art of cunnilingus, Keely gives him a very accessible bath, and some other surprises I won't give away. Keely is only mildly irritating and Mac is nice enough to leave you sighing that there ought to be "a man like Mac." The book gets a solid three stars, but falls short of four because I hate these fucking romance novels.
"I should be proud of being called the Mouth by women who are only interested in me for oral sex?" --Mac McCandless (He's right... "Mr. Pussy" would be a much better name.)