Flight for sight!

-

The Dishonored Viscount (Diamonds in the Rough #8) by Sophie Barnes          

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫




Lady Louise, daughter of the Earl of Grasmere, has an eyesight problem. It ruins her ability to freely enjoy herself at social occasions. She appears awkward, can’t dance, and becomes the focus for her vindictive societal peers. Louise’s parents are committed to her marrying well, even if the match is not to Louise’s liking. Her father is engineering a match for her with someone’s willing to overlook her disability. For now though he insists she have further treatment, ‘couching’ that is painful in the extreme. A needle is inserted into her eye and the lens pushed aside. Louise knows it will just be temporary. And wants to consult other specialists.
I found  the problem with Sophie’s eyes not only real but gruelling and her experiences during surgery awful.(I felt the pain!)
Once more we see how females at this time (1820’s) are commodities within society.  Males are touted as having superior knowledgeable and understanding. In reality they are given carte blanche by society to be as beastly as they like. 
As far as Louise’s sight goes, convention insists that a father naturally knows better than a daughter what treatment she should have.
Meanwhile the male darlings of the ton are encouraged to look for a dowry rather than a person to wed. After all they can keep their mistresses and banish their wives to their estates.
Louise meets the kindly Mr. Nigel Fairbanks who has won her regard with his gentle treatment of her at social events. However Mr. Fairbanks might just not be all he appears. 
Marcus Berkley lost everything—status, title, lands and inheritance when his father, the Earl of Hedgewick, was convicted for murder. Now he’s a doctor, an eye specialist. It’s to him Louise turns for help with her eyes. This is in secrecy due to her father’s opinion about Marcus coloured by the sins of Marcus’ father. Louise’s brother come to her aid, running interference.
This story has some winning aspects. Beautiful afflicted heroine going against her father’s demands, committed ex viscount who’s turned his life into a noble direction, unfeeling father, marriage uncertainties, mean girls and so much more. And yet my interest waned from time to time. Possibly some aspects were tied up too quickly and at other times a bit flat. Still the story came about and all was well.

A Sophie Barnes ARC via NetGalley 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Things aren’t as they seem!

-
Image
A Murderous Tryst  (Beatrice Hyde-Care Mystery #11) by Lynn Messina    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Oh my! Bea certainly has a lot to contend with. Bea’s rattled! The Duke has been missing from their bed for a night. When a distraught Bea come downstairs the next morning she finds her beloved husband Damien clasped in the arms of a glamorous female. A female who turns out to be Kesgrave’s first mistress, Mrs. Penelope Taylor! What?! Of course Bea’s heart sinks and she falls back on her painful memories of Aunt Vera’s responses to such a situation. Bea is both shaken and traumatised, but determined not to show it.  It seems Penny has been accused of murder. Actually  Penny’s desperately trying to avoid Newgate.    As a former mistress Penny does the unthinkable thing in society’s eyes. She asks for help from Bea. Bea’s response is just as shocking. She says yes. Kesgrave is as usual inscrutable. Of course this is the beginning of a harebrained chase, complications between Bea  and Amien,  and an investiga
Read more

Women in war—Internment by the Japanese 1942-45.

-
Image
Sisters Under the Rising Sun  by Heather Morris    ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A fitting tribute to the women interred by the Japanese in Indonesia and Malaya during 1942 until liberation in 1945. Amongst the internees are a group of Australian Army nurses who were not given recognition by the Japanese as members of the armed forces and therefore not prisoners of war according to the Conventions of war.  Sister Vivian Bullwinkle is the only survivor of the massacre of a group of soldiers and nurses on Radji Beach, Bangka Island near Sumatra  in 1942, after the sinking of  HMS Vyner Brooke. There are a number of civilian prisoners in the camps like Norah Chambers and her sister Ena.  Combined, the story of these women interred under terrible conditions, their struggles and achievements are monumental.  Their gifts to their fellows beyond speech. Music plays an important part in uplifting the prisoners’ spirits. It’s truly a privilege to read about their plight, their vows to each other, and their braver
Read more

The Three Muscateers—three widows, three sets of different circumstances

-
Image
The Widows' Wine Club  by Julia Jarman    ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Different enough to be interesting but I kept losing which character was which. I almost feel I need to read it again to follow who’s who. I do know that three women came together to form a support group, going to the pub for lunch etc. Better than the local widow’s group in the church hall.  All three had recently lost their husbands and now had to find a way to face their new lives. Viv Halliday is a knowledgeable gardener. Zelda Fielding is setting herself up with internet dates and searching the web for her unknown father. Janet had a controlling husband who it turned out was having affairs, and their son is just as controlling. How their lives unfold is the new challenge. A Boldwood Books ARC via NetGalley.                                               Many thanks to the author and publisher.
Read more