Reviewed by Tidal
TITLE: The Eye of the Beholder
AUTHOR: Louise Lyons
PUBLISHER: Wilde City Press
LENGTH: 280 pages
BLURB:
Vince Voss is obsessed with physical beauty. Influenced by his aunt, with whom he runs a modeling business, he has become unfeeling and cruel. Vince’s mother, who was a witch in life, returns to show him a better way to live. She casts a spell to take away his good looks and he finds himself challenged with searching for someone to love him, without the use of physical attraction.
Vince eventually meets a lonely male vampire, Peter, and despite his reluctance to get involved with him, he decides to use Peter to help him lift the spell. Little does he know that at first, Peter is using him too, and he finally realizes what’s really important when he falls for Peter along the way.
REVIEW:
Vince is a player who finally gets played. His Mama makes a trip back from the grave to put a spell on him to give him a second chance, hoping that he’ll redeem himself. At first, it is hard to have any compassion for Vince at all. He is totally self-absorbed and to Vince people are trinkets to be collected and tossed away at a whim. When Vince find himself bitch-slapped with a major case of ugly, that in reality only matches his ugly insides, he is a bit put out to say the least. But he is presented with the key to reverse this curse. He sets out to do this; in the process, he meets Peter.
Peter is someone that you love right away, you really feel his frustration and hurt for him. It is funny that for all the years Vince played people, he does not have a clue that he is being played. As the story unfolds, we meet the people that make up both Vince’s world and Peter’s. I love how the author takes time to flesh out these people in a way that they almost seem to take on human form and seem to leap from the pages of the book. Most of Vince’s living family really doesn’t care; Peters chosen family care fiercely, and are flawed but are loyal non-the-less. His tribe is made up of Justine, Christina, and Anna Pinkerton. They do not monopolize the story but their presence in the story has such a pivotal impact to the overall plot.
This is an awesome love story. It reminds me of that song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. This story talks about coming of age, growing into love, and facing our personal demons. We see demonstrations of the sacrifices that we make in the name of love and the mistakes that we sometimes make when me manipulate honesty to protect others. The honesty and emotion in this book is real, raw, and it touches your heart. We get to see Vince and Peter evolve and grow. I drew out the last few pages because the story was nearing the end and I did not want it to be over. I felt as if I was saying goodbye to real friends.
The ability to tell a wonderful story, to make you like someone who appears irredeemable, to introduce you to a wonderful cast of endearing characters and leave you wanting more is not a gift that everyone possesses. The Eye of the Beholder is that gift with a beautiful bow on top and that is why it is worth your time and money.
RATING:
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