Love is Blind

Author: Lynsay Sands

(Re-posted from my old blogger)

Lady Clarissa Cambray is near sighted and blind as a bat without her glasses. So what does her "helpful" stepmother do? Basically tells her that "Guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses." and when Clarissa insists on wearing them stepmommy dearest breaks them. She then sets Clarissa loose on the ton where she repeatedly causes disasters, like dropping food on herself, tripping, stomping on toes, mistaking people's laps for tables and burning their "piffles" with hot tea, and then she sets one suitor's wig on fire. This leads to stepmommy making her sit and do absolutely nothing during parties. She's miserable, she's bored and she's very aware that the ton laughs at her and calls her Clumsy Clarissa behind their fans. She doesn't know that they think she won't wear glasses for the sake of vanity.

Enter the Earl of Mowbray. Adrian Montfort, once thought one of the handsomest men of the ton and quite the rakehell, returned from the war a then years ago with a scar down the side of his face that had the young ladies swooning to prove their delicacy. That and a run in with one twisted lady, who pretended to like him when she just wanted to bed a freak, had our hero rusticating for a decade. Now he's back in town and still feeling the freak. His cousin, having been a victim of one of Clarissa's nearsighted accidents, warns him to steer clear, but Adrian is intrigued. The though of spending some time with a woman who might not cringe at the prospect of talking to him, much less dancing, holds a lot of appeal. He soon finds himself laughing and smiling more in a few minutes with Clarissa than he has in the last ten years. They both know right off that they'd like to spend more time together, but, of course, stepmom doesn't want them to get together. Adrian, not being someone to let something he wants slip away, enlists his family to help sneak her out to meet him. They're only too happy to do it since Adrian seems so happy and hopeful.

Some strange "accidents" have been happening to Clarissa and after finding her floating face down in a fountain with a bump on her head, having been lured out to the garden by a false note, Adrian suspects someone is trying to kill her. He waits outside her window so he can sneak in and talk to her about these accidents, but once he's in her bedroom, things take a turn for the naughty. When a fire breaks out right outside Clarissa's bedroom, Adrian gets her out the second story window and down to the ground, where the servants find them in less than perfectly clothed condition. Adrian asks for her hand and wedding plans are under way. There's just a few of things bothering our couple. Adrian is afraid that when she gets her glasses back she'll be disgusted by the sight of him and hate him. He's also worried about who might be trying to kill his wife-to-be. Clarissa is afraid that when he sees her with her glasses he'll think her ugly and she'll lose any chance that he might love her.

I'll come out right up front and state that I have a weakness for Lynsay Sands. It's just something about the way she writes her heroines. They're not what most people would consider perfect, but they end up being just that for our heroes. I know that her historicals have modern language in them and it tends to catch your eye when you're reading, but for some reason, it doesn't really bother me. I know the plot isn't spectacularly original, but I still found it enjoyable. The writing was definitely there and I really wanted Adrian to be happy at the ending of it all. I really liked his character. It was nice to see a hero who wasn't all alpha and swashbucklish. I'm a sucker for a hero who doesn't know what a great catch he is and is a bit insecure in his wooing. I see the alpha type much more often, so this type of her is a bit of a treat for me. I think Clarissa level of insecurity about her glasses was a bit overdone. I mean she was afraid the guy would suddenly think her ugly and not the least bit lovable because of a pair of glasses. If he's so shallow that a removable pair of glasses turns him off you permanently, then he is not a man you want to marry. I mean, if the glasses put him off that badly, what'll happen when she gains ten or fifteen pound? What about her body after she's had a kid or two? Know what I'm saying?