Raquel's Abel by Leigh Barbour

Raquel's Abel

Leigh Barbour

Red Rose Publishing

Pub Date: 2009

ISBN: 978-1-60435-355-6

Romantic Fiction

Length: 275 Pages

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Review:

Raquel is an overweight woman whose life is becoming consumed by her never-ending appetite. When her career as an author is negatively effected by her size and her doctor warns of health problems she decides to undergo gastric bypass surgery.

While Raquel changes her life for the better, her resident ghost, Abel Rollins makes his dissent known. He doesn't want her to get the surgery because of his fear of surgery and hospitals. Killed in WWI he's been dead over fifty years but his memories and fear lives on. As his unease diminishes, his love for Raquel grows, as does the strength that allows him to stay with her for moments at a time.

Raquel's Abel is a heart-warming story. It is always amazing when the chubby, down on her luck girl makes good and seizes the day. Leigh Barbour's side cast of Raquel's grandmother, nurse and sister adds fun sprinkles of humor and humanity. I give it three smacks because it's not to my personal taste and I wanted to smack Raquel for being so judgmental and whiney at times. People with personal interest in weight troubles and enjoy a sweet, nearly non-sexual story will enjoy it because Raquel's Abel fits.

Rating: 3 smacks

Heat Level: sweet

Other: a little ghost kissing

Reviewer: Steph B.

Love Comes Blindly by Phyllis Campbell

Title: Love Comes Blindly

Author: Phyllis Campbell

Publisher: Champagne Books

Published date: July 2009

ISBN: 978-1-926681-20-7

Genre/Theme: Victorian historical

Length: 100 pages

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Review:

If love isn’t blind to past indiscretions, can absence truly make the heart grow fonder?

Lord Gregory Fielding has been wounded when he travels to Scotland to find the next big story for his London newspaper. Now blinded, he relies on the soft, comforting touch of one of the nurses at St. Mary’s Abbey. He thinks she’s a novice, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to make her sigh in passion.

Madeline O’Neil cannot believe her misfortune. The man she had almost married three years ago is back in her life. Gregg doesn’t know who she is and she doesn’t dare tell him. Not until she makes him like the new Madeline. But as each day passes and her heart grows fonder, she fears he’ll hate her for certain once his eyesight returns. Especially when he discovers the secret she’s been keeping from him for three years!

As soon as I started reading this story and the circumstances that brought the hero, Lord Gregg, to the Abbey, I knew what the probable plot was. (A) Lord Gregg is blinded during an attack and sent to an Abbey to recover, (B) the “nun” and his assigned caretaker, Madeline, is a past lover of Gregg’s (and they have a remarkable history, of course), (C) there had to be a baby involved at some point and (D) Lord Gregg would regain his sight and they’d live happily ever after. I wasn’t disappointed. Love Comes Blindly was predictable for all that. Mary is a bit wimpy for someone with her past and Lord Gregg is maybe a bit too tender-hearted, given his own hurt and rakish past. There was a nice, even sexual tension between the two and appropriate for the time and setting of the story, however, I would have liked to see more day-to-day experiences between them as their interest in each other rekindled. Having said that, I liked the book. The author does a nice job of keeping her readers hooked until we find out why the hero and heroine hadn’t made things work in their first go-round with love. Ms. Campbell made me want to see the two lovers find redemption and a well-deserved second chance and darn it, I really do love a happily ever after, which is well delivered in this sweet story.And kudos to the author for making me wiki the Crimean war. I got a nice love story and a mini history lesson. All in all, a nice afternoon or late evening read.

Rating: 3 smacks

Heat Level: Some spice

Reviewer: Valerie Mann