Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: The Blinding Light

AUTHOR: Renae Kaye

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 212 Pages

BLURB:

Jake Manning’s smart mouth frequently gets him into trouble. Because of it, he can’t hold a job. Combined with some bad luck, it’s prevented him from keeping steady employment. A huge debt looms over him, and alone he shoulders the care of his alcoholic mother and three younger sisters. When a housekeeping position opens, Jake’s so desperate he leaps at the opportunity. On landing, he finds his new boss, Patrick Stanford, a fussy, arrogant, rude… and blind man.

Born without sight, Patrick is used to being accommodated, but he’s met his match with Jake, who doesn’t take any of his crap and threatens to swap all the braille labels on his groceries and run off with his guide dog unless he behaves.

Jake gets a kick out of Patrick. Things are looking up: the girls are starting their own lives and his mum’s sobriety might stick this time. He’s sacrificed everything for his family; maybe it’s time for him to live his life and start a relationship with Patrick. When his mother needs him, guilt makes his choice between family and Patrick difficult, and Jake must realize he’s not alone anymore.

REVIEW:

“If you want me to, Jake, I will fight for this with every breath in my body. If you want this, then I will make it happen, I promise.”

Starting my review with a quote from the very end of this story may seem a bit backward but I really wish I could make you feel the love between these two men. Allow me to introduce you.

Patrick Stanford is, well, as the blurb says, fussy, arrogant, rude and blind. He’s had some bad experiences in the past and uses that as an excuse to isolate himself from the rest of the world. Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a story about a character with a disability who is afraid to leave their house but relationship wise and on all emotional levels, the man may as well be locked away in Rapunzel’s tower. The housekeeping service he employs struggles to find anyone who is willing to work for him for more than a few months and in desperation the head of the company decides to hire someone a bit different.

Jake Manning is a person who just says it like it is, erm…whether it’s a good idea or not. As Jake is quite willing to tell you,

“I don’t tolerate idiots. It’s a personality flaw I’m working on. Sometimes biting my tongue gets a little painful and I end up telling people how to do the job better. Not everyone appreciates efficiency and good practice.”

The story is written in first person from Jake’s point of view and he most definitely shines as the star of this book. He’s spent his whole life, and I really do mean his whole life, caring for his mother and raising his three sisters. Every last dollar he earns from working three different jobs is used to support the other members of his family but he faces it all with a positive attitude that shows just how much he loves them. In my opinion, what the author has managed to do with this story, is somehow create a perfect character without making them boring or annoying. I have a feeling it’s his snarkiness that carried it off. Yes, he’s a model son, brother, employee, friend and boyfriend. His actions are always exactly what they should be, or what they need to be but whatever he does, he does it with a smart mouthed attitude that I just loved to read.

I’ll let you in on a little secret – I don’t do sympathy much. Whatever. Call the Sympathy Police or something.

Ok, so maybe he’s not perfect, maybe he’s just perfectly imperfect. Lets go with that.

While I loved each character separately, together they became something extraordinarily special to read about. From their first interactions I could feel the connection between them, it was almost tangible, no insta-love, more an instant recognition that they were going to be something to each other, even if that something is only friends. I guess that saying they clicked sounds a bit clichéd but that’s how it felt to me.

When it did become more than friendship it was like a sudden blast of heat from the pages. I thought the dancing at the pub was hot but when the men finally kiss (well the first kiss that they both remember) it ramps up even hotter. These men have chemistry but the author also injects emotion into every interaction.

This story is definitely character driven. The only drama comes from realistic family problems and the focus is Jake’s development to a point where, to steal Jake’s mother’s analogy, the center of his universe becomes someone other than his mother and sisters.

Another reason I love this story? It’s set around Fremantle in Western Australia. There’s not that many books set in Australia, let alone in a city I love, close to where I live. So to have characters driving down South Street, strolling around Point Walter and catching Transperth buses makes me feel an extra level of familiarity with them. This didn’t affect my rating in any way but I guess I liked feeling like I was in on some inside secret.

This is the second book by fairly new author Renae Kaye and I’ve now read both of them. I loved the first book too (these books are not connected btw) and to be honest, while I was excited to read this book I was also a little worried that maybe my love of the first book was due to the character of Jay. I’m sure many of you have read Loving Jay and probably understand what I’m talking about. For those of you that haven’t, Jay takes beautiful twinky perfection to a whole new level and I wondered if a book by the same author without Jay might have a little less magic. I needn’t have worried. While this book doesn’t have any flamboyant characters to grab your attention it has Jake and his Patti-cake who you will not be able to resist falling in love with. And you know what, that right there is proof of what a brilliant job the author did with this story. I loathe pet names with a fiery passion but the few times Jake referred to Patrick as Patti-cake I’d awww like I was in the audience of a sitcom and a prompter held up a cue card.

The ending was every bit as special as these two men deserved and left me grinning like a crazy woman while simultaneously sobbing (happy sobbing) into a handful of tissues.

So how about one more quote and then I’ll let you head off to get a copy of this book. I seriously recommend you do. It will keep you smiling from start to finish and will leave you blissfully happy for, well a long time. My glow has yet to wear off!

“I want you. I want to build my life around you. I want to make you so happy that you never imagined that so much happiness existed.”

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press