I admit it. I'm usually a spoiled New Release girl. I like fresh-off-the-press books. I like reading things as they come out. But, occasionally, I like to reread a favorite author. It usually has to be a fabulous book for me to keep or pick up again. It definitely has to be light-hearted (I don't keep the sad books). Lynsay Sands is a favorite author, and Love is Blind is one of my all time favorite books.
Sands writes in numerous romance subgenres. She's probably best known for her Argeneau vampire/paranormal series, but she's equally at home in medieval, highland, or Regency historicals. Love is Blind is a solid Regency historical. It is also one of the few books to add a word to my romance vocabulary: piffle. As in 'burnt piffle.'
What makes this story terrific is that the humor is largely slapstick. It is laugh out loud outrageous. Who else would write an historical novel where the heroine--deprived of her MUCH needed spectacles by her evil stepmother--mistakes a suitor's lap for a table and spills scalding hot tea on his---well, piffle? In a subgenre where grace and elegance reign supreme, this clumsiness of the heroine is so endearing.
What also makes this book is the hero. A quasi-Beta hero, he brings a Beauty and the Beast quality to the story. A war veteran whose facial injuries caused polite society to shrink in horror, he's uncommonly understanding, thoughtful and kind. He's also decisive, passionate, and a touch arrogant (which is why he's only quasi-Beta).
It had been a few years (and several hundred books) since my last reading of this novel. I do believe I enjoyed this reading MORE than my initial one.
