Blinded by Grace by Becky Lower – a Review

Blinded by Grace
Cotillion Ball series – Book #5
by Becky Lower
Release Date: March 3, 2014

Links to order Blinded by Grace: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

DESCRIPTION:
In 1858 New York City, Halwyn Fitzpatrick thinks he’s off the hook for attendance at the annual Cotillion Ball. He has no sister to shepherd down the grand staircase this year and no real desire to go through the rituals of courtship and betrothal himself. Besides, he’ll know the right girl when he sees her, especially now that he has new spectacles. But his mother has other plans for him. At twenty-seven years of age, her son is in dire need of a wife. 

Grace Wagner needs a husband by July in order to inherit the trust her father has left for her. Her stepfather, though, has plans for the money that don’t include Grace, and the last thing he wants is for her to find a husband before she turns twenty-one, thereby fulfilling the terms of the trust. She’s been in love with Halwyn since she was thirteen, but he hasn’t noticed her at any of the balls they’ve been at over the years. With the aid of his new glasses, he spies Grace from across the room and they share a dance. Grace decides to present him with a business proposition that will satisfy them both. But can a clueless knight in shining armor and a desperate damsel in distress find a way to turn this marriage of convenience into something more?

REVIEW
5 out of 5 for this reader folks!

BECKY BECKY BECKY (claps hands together).  You did it again.  That was an awesome read!  May I ask how you knew that I have a thing for guys with glasses?  Your book dedication to men who wear glasses had me hooked right away!  LOL I settled in knowing I was going to enjoy this journey!

Blinded by Grace is the 5th book in Becky Lower’s Cotillion Ball Series and it did not disappoint.  First of all, let me tell you that the Fitzpatrick family (one by one they are receiving their own stories in this series) is so easy to love.  We are consistently experiencing through each of her books some of the younger characters growing up, meeting up with past characters and getting juicy tidbits of how life has treated them, being introduced to perhaps new characters, and enjoying the knowledge that Charlotte Fitzpatrick (AKA Mama Bear) is still meddling and making beautiful things happen for her children!

Halwyn Fitzpatrick has until this novel avoided his mother’s meddling to find him a bride.  His time however has come to an end and he is resigned, that this season, he has no choice.  After receiving a brand new pair of spectacles, he is finally able to enjoy the “viewing perks” of the ton.  While attending a ball, he makes eye contact with Grace Wagner.  Grace was a childhood friend to Halwyn’s sisters, but he is a bit taken back to see she is no longer a child, but an attractive woman.  After dancing and chatting, Halwyn begins to think something is very off with Grace and her family.

Grace is most definitely in a pickle.  Her father is deceased and her mother remarried a horrible fortune hunter named Simon.  Grace is close to receive her father’s trust fund, but only if she marries by her 21st birthday.  Her step-father is doing all he can to prevent this from happening because if Grace remains single, then the money goes to her mom, which then goes to him.  He is an awful man and the way he goes about preventing Grace’s happiness is truely heart breaking.  Grace realizes the life she faces should Simon get his way, so she approaches Halwyn, proposes a plan that will help not only her situation but will assist in get Mama Bear off Halwyn’s back.  MARRIAGE!

The ground work has been laid out, but emotions find their way of messing around and throwing a well intended and thought through plan off course.  Perhaps love will conquer, or perhaps step daddy dearest will create far too much damage.  Becky Lower will take you through a beautiful love story, add just enough suspense to keep you page flipping, and feel enough emotions (be it hate or love) that once you put the book down, you feel FULL!

Another solid story Becky, I can’t wait for more!

HAPPY READING! 🙂

Reviewed by Rachel

Copy provided by Author