Review: There's much to commend this book!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 14, 2013
Put the thoughts out of your mind that this is Jane Eyre redux or yet another retread of Beauty and the Beast.  Aside from the fact the hero was burned in a fire, there is nothing similar to Jane Eyre - no gothic terrors, no batty wife in the attic, no creepy castle on the moors, no Rochester or Jane.  Aside from the fact the hero has scars on half of his body, there is no Beauty and the Beast - no gorgeous woman, no beastly man hiding from everyone.The Hero was burned in a fire as he unsuccessfully attempted to rescue his wife.  For three years he has removed himself from Society, first and foremost to heal from his wounds (not hiding in a drafty mansion like an ogre!).  He had to relearn to move his arms and legs, to walk, to live again.  He also stayed away due to the stares, the whispers, and the innuendo surrounding the fire, but it was not a retreat into a self-imposed exile where he lost all sense of how to interact with other people.  He was not "beastly," just injured and weary from the stares.The heroine is considered plain, spinsterish, and a bluestocking - not Belle/Beauty for sure, nor a cowed orphan victimized by family and Society as the governess Jane, either.  She has firm opinions and expresses them when she feels she must.  She is a scientist, working with plants and soil and experiments.  She wears spectacles and is raven-haired and dark-eyed, perhaps the biggest drawbacks in a time where fair skin and hair were the standard of beauty.I think this is a story of what it means to love - how you are afraid of putting yourself out there to be rejected, how you wonder what the other person truly thinks when they look at you, how you worry about saying the right or wrong thing all the time.  It's a story of learning to trust another person with your whole self, to take the leap of faith and try to read the signs that your interest in returned, your companionship is welcomed, that you are interesting to someone else.  Both the H and h are walking wounded, for different reasons, and believe that they have too many negatives to interest another.  He hates his scars and the looks and talk they generate.  He was betrayed by his first wife and his trust was destroyed.  She has been the looked-over girl her entire life, only appreciated by her family.  She has never dared to dream of a future of a husband and children; she thinks her intellect and her plainness too much to overcome.  Together, slowly, the H and h learn to get back what they have lost and begin what they had yet to have.  I loved their love story, their friendship, their respect of each other.  I especially loved how the h became more beautiful, to the H and to others, as her true nature was allowed to blossom.  It is a truth that beauty does come from within, and even the plainest of creatures will shine and sparkle when they are appreciated, acknowledged, loved.  The author illustrates this fact beautifully in both the H and h.There are secondary characters that do exactly what they should - serve as foils for the main characters, the H and h, and set their storyline up.  They move in the background and lend interest in their interaction.  We learn more about the H/h from their friends and families.  There is also a subplot that throws in a little danger and again, this only adds to the relationship budding between the H and h.  They grow closer and learn more about each other as they face this threat.  I guessed who the threat was from the outset, but that in no way detracted from my wanting to see how the plot resolved.  There are some typos and typesetting errors scattered throughout the book, and frankly I cannot understand why independents or traditionally published authors can't get these cleaned up when they are pointed out, but errors like this do not keep me from reading nor recommending a book wholeheartedly.One warning: there is explicit sex in this book.  It is written of in a loving and tender way, but it is sensual and explicit.