Eleanor Webster

Good book with an unusual theme. Letty Barton was fascinated by the world of medicine from the time she was a child, but as a woman becoming a doctor was impossible. Not one to back down from a challenge, Letty found a way. Now she leads a double life - society miss, with a secret identity as Dr. Hatfield, and lives in constant fear of discovery. While helping a pregnant woman, Letty encounters her brother, a man she had met briefly several years earlier.

I liked both Letty and Tony. Letty is a misfit. She has no social skills and really doesn't care, which irritates her matchmaking mother to no end. Letty would much rather be reading a medical journal than attending a society event. She is methodical and scientific in her thoughts and actions, reluctant to believe in anything that doesn't fit. I loved her determination and how she found a way to get her medical training. Her satisfaction at helping people far outweighs any thought of marriage. Though ill at ease in social situations, Letty is confident in her abilities as a doctor and willing to stand up for those abilities. Tony is no longer the cheerful and charming man he used to be. He is scarred and haunted by his losses and the things he saw on the battlefield and suffers from nightmares and flashbacks. He feels numb to everything around him.

I liked the development of the relationship between Letty and Tony. I liked their first meeting at a ball before the war. Letty pulled her usual disappearing act, hiding out in the library and reading. Tony, the object of several determined young women's pursuit, also ended up in the library. He was intrigued by the young woman who didn't try to flirt and was more interested in the article about cowpox than in him. She was surprised to find a man who honestly seemed interested in what she had to say. But this was only a brief encounter and their lives took different paths, though each remembered the other.

Letty encounters Tony several times, both as Dr. Hatfield and as herself. Tony is still intrigued by Letty, who reacts to his scars far differently than anyone else. Her forthright attitude stirs feelings in him that have been missing for a long time. Letty is wary around Tony, and fears that he will discover her secret. In an emotional scene, Letty intervenes during one of his nightmares. The sparks between them flared into an unexpected passion, which then sent them both running for cover. Neither feels that being together is a good idea. A man in her life would end her work as a doctor, and he feels too broken to be good for anyone. Things become more complicated when Tony discovers Letty's deception in a painful confrontation. I ached for Letty as she faced the loss of the work she loves and the man she has come to love. I hurt, too, for Tony whose battlefield memories got tangled up with Letty's work, causing his over-the-top reaction. The ending was complex, with Letty's passion for her calling helping Tony come to terms with his past and his future, and his honest interest in her work giving her a feeling of validation she'd never had before. But there was still the issue of feeling that they couldn't be together to overcome. I loved their big moment at the end when they realized that their love for each other was more important than society's opinions.… (mer)

The author was careful to lead the reader down the road of this blindness being hereditary and she also has a non-neurotypical brother.
Beth married a childhood friend to escape debt and a predator. Then her husband left for a life of debauchery until his brother dies and leaves him with the estate. He doesn't feel like he deserves the title as he is illegitimate (someone needed to point out to him that the only parent anyone at the time could really prove was the mother). She still fears her predator, who wants her lands and her innocence and also fears passing on the blindness.
It does have a solid dose of crazy-sauce (Blindness! Illegitimacy! Drug Addiction! Predator older man!) it read well and it was interesting. I had fun reading it and it kept my interest. I got where a lot of the characters were coming from and felt that the growth in the relationship was well done.… (mer)