A History Nut's Romantic State of Mind

This is my second attempt at the de Montforte brothers and still, I walked away very disappointed.

But it has nothing to do with the quality of writing or the book itself. It's just not my cup of tea.

In the first book, I did not like Juliet Paige, the heroine. In this book, I like both Amy and Charles but dislike their relationship. I remember how disappointed I was when I read [b: Flowers from the Storm|360259|Flowers from the Storm|Laura Kinsale|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1275622146s/360259.jpg|788122] by Laura Kinsale, which also had the lead characters falling in love in a similar context: the hero losing one of his major capacities and the heroine being his only light in darkness.

In The Beloved One, Charles lost his sight and was brought to Amy's home. So the young Amy was "infatuated" with the handsome and charming Charles. This is already a pet peeve of mine. Youthful infatuation never goes down well in my book. A girl who admires a man from afar when the said man knows and only returns the affection when he has no one else.........this very sentiment grates on my nerves. And this is exactly what happened between Amy and Charles. Charles wrote 3 letters after his injury and thought his commanding officer, his brother and his fiance (Juliet Paige, the heroine from book 1) would be there for him. While waiting for their response, Charles "befriended" Amy and thought: oh young Amy harbors this youthful infatuation with me.....gotta let her down gently (I am annoyed even just writing about it). All this while Amy fell more in love with Charles because of course he was the sun in her life, the only brightness of her dark existence.

Amy's evil sisters forged the replies to Charles' letters, and each response was a rejection. Charles, after losing his eyesight, was extremely vulnerable and turned to Amy for support. And this is when he realized: oh Amy you are the only one I have.

I stopped reading when Charles said: oh Amy you are the only one I have. This is desperation, and I have trouble believing that this is supposed to be love.

I think I just prefer if the lead characters are on equal footing, in the emotional sense. I don't care if one of them is from a lower class. I don't even care if the hero acts assholey. The important thing is that they show their true feelings in their actions. Maybe I am just not much for Cinderellas. I like my girls with dignity. If a guy only turns to me when he has no one else, I would think he does not deserve my affection.