Review: brilliant dialogue, realistic and likable characters
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 3, 2013
The first thing that struck me in Jackie Weger's Eye of the Beholder was the brilliant dialogue, and by brilliant I mean realistic and true to life. I'm not from the South, but I've lived South of the Mason-Dixon line for the last 20 years, and Weger captures the rhythm and dialect of a proud but poor Southern woman, Phoebe Hawley, with verisimilitude. I reckon I could listen to Phoebe talk all day, and today, I did. I read Eye of the Beholder practically in one sitting.And for me, that's saying a lot. I don't have much time to read. Moreover, I don't usually read romances, but I'd heard great things about Weger's work, so I decided to give this novel a try, and I'm sure glad I did.Phoebe is a hotheaded, hard-working redhead who is desperate to provide for her siblings. Desperate to find a better way. She ends up running into (quite literally) a similarly-hardworking, proud widower, and from the very first moment Phoebe and Gage Morgan meet, they argue like crabs tossing around in a boiling pot. Eventually, they quit fighting, because this is a romance, but it's also one with a conclusion I found believable.I'd be amiss if I did not comment on two more things: the writing is as solid as the plot is well-constructed. And the editing is professional, both on a developmental level and a copy edit level.An enthusiastic five stars from me.E.L. Farris