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The Colour of Desire
Book by Darcy, Emma
228 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Emma Darcy
650 books332 followersEmma Darcy is the pseudonym created by the married writing team of Wendy (1940-2020) and Frank Brennan (1936-1995). Their life journey has taken as many twists and turns as the characters in their stories, whose international popularity has resulted in over sixty-million book sales. With more than a hundred titles, Emma Darcy appeared regularly on the Waldenbooks bestseller lists in the U.S.A. and in the Nielson BookScan Top 100 chart in the U.K.
Wendy was born 28 November 1940 in Australia. Her sister was the novelist Maureen Mary (Miranda Lee). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. She obtained an Honours degree in Latin and initially worked as a high school English/French teacher. She married Frank Brennan, an Australian businessman born in 1936. She changed careers to computer programming before marriage and motherhood settled her into a community life. She was reputedly the first woman computer programmer in the southern hemisphere.
As voracious readers, the step to writing their own books seemed a natural progression and the challenge of creating exciting stories was soon highly addictive. They were published since 1983. In 1993, for the Emma Darcy pseudonym's 10th anniversary, they created the "Emma Darcy Award Contest" to encourage authors to finish their manuscripts. After the death of Frank Brennan in 1995, Wendy wrotes books on her own. She lived in a beachside property on the central coast of New South Wales, and liked to travel extensively to research settings and increase her experience of places and people.
Wendy Brennan passed away on December 21, 2020. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and sister, writer Miranda Lee.
Wendy was born 28 November 1940 in Australia. Her sister was the novelist Maureen Mary (Miranda Lee). Her father was a country school teacher and brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker. She obtained an Honours degree in Latin and initially worked as a high school English/French teacher. She married Frank Brennan, an Australian businessman born in 1936. She changed careers to computer programming before marriage and motherhood settled her into a community life. She was reputedly the first woman computer programmer in the southern hemisphere.
As voracious readers, the step to writing their own books seemed a natural progression and the challenge of creating exciting stories was soon highly addictive. They were published since 1983. In 1993, for the Emma Darcy pseudonym's 10th anniversary, they created the "Emma Darcy Award Contest" to encourage authors to finish their manuscripts. After the death of Frank Brennan in 1995, Wendy wrotes books on her own. She lived in a beachside property on the central coast of New South Wales, and liked to travel extensively to research settings and increase her experience of places and people.
Wendy Brennan passed away on December 21, 2020. She is survived by her children, grandchildren, and sister, writer Miranda Lee.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
March 26, 2025
RE The Colour of Desire - Emma Darcy once again rocks the foundations of HPlandia with their take on one of the oldest romance origin myths of all and combines it with an homage to one of HRtopia's best loved miniseries.
The myth is Ovid's Pygmalion - that classic misogynistic story of the sculptor who disdained all mortal women and created the perfect female statue and then fell in love with it. Aphrodite, in a fit of pique or vanity, brought the statue to life - in essence giving Pyggie the perfect blank slate jelly blobule blow up doll to reflect all his own ego and self adoration and he lived happily ever after. Every 'damaged' female role in literature, from Lolita to The Taming of the Shrew has it roots in this "perfect woman that can only be created by a man" myth and as we all know, that 'perfect woman' moldable jellyblob h is alive and well in HPlandia.
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the stage play, does test this ancient interpretation and who can forget My Fair Lady which ED also pays tribute to by having the H in this one be the composer/producer of big London West End musicals.
The mini series I refer to is of course Mary Burchell's Warrender Saga A Song Begins - a beloved dramatic series set in the world of Classic Opera, and unfortunately, one where it is made clear that women who act in their own agency and wield power might be Diva's, but they will never be the h. As much as I adore Mary Burchell and love that series, every single h in those books is required to sacrifice and bend and become 'a moldable blank slate' to their respective H's in order to find the reward of true love. Even Anthea, Oscar Warrender's true love, is required to bow to the dictates of the Great Oscar Warrender.
ED is out to challenge those myths and the rock solid HPlandia stance than an h has to bend to her H and bow to his dictates in order to make a marriage and enjoy a romantic HEA. Other HP authors have tried to shake this standard, but none of them come close to the sheer class, intensity and triumph that ED manages to pull off in this one. Even better, with the opening of this book, ED tells us they are going to do it. (But more on that later.)
First off I wanted to comment on some background and some names in this one, the story is about Kathleen Mavourney, an orphan would be opera singer who had her knees crushed in a train accident where her parent's died. She is a singing apprentice to a nun, Sister Cecily, who gets her an audition in front of a former pupil. The former pupil is Morgan Llewellyn, who now writes and produces Andrew Lloyd Webber type musicals for the West End, but in his younger, more innocent days, dreamt of writing the perfect opera. Sister Cecily, a long time classic operatic fan, wants to see a real English Opera and she wants one based on the novel Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore.
For those unfamiliar with the Lorna Doone story, it is set in the time of the English Monmouth rebellion - when Charles II 's son James challenged his Uncle James for the English throne. (He loses BTW.) Lorna Doone is an heiress that lives with the local deviant aristo family in Doone valley. The hero and Lorna's love interest, is John (pronounced Jan) Ridd, the son of a respectable Exmoor farmer whose father was murdered by the Deviant Doone clan. It is a Romeo and Juliet type scenario, as the Doone clan plans to marry Lorna off to the evil Deviant Doone Heir Carver.
John helps Lorna escape when Carver wants to exercise droit de seigneur and force marriage and we soon find out that Lorna isn't a Doone at all. She is the abducted child of the now dead Lady Dugal, who was murdered by the scalawag Doone's in an ambush and is now heiress to the one of the largest fortunes in England. Lorna becomes a ward of the English Chancery and John feels his chance for marriage is gone. Fortunately Monmouth rebels and the Doone's take Monmouth side.
But John, solid Exmoor farmer that he is, saves Lorna's guardian and wins himself a coat of arms and titles and then proceeds to rid the valley of the nefarious Doone's - except for Carver who escapes. Lorna and John are set to marry and at the wedding, the evil Carver shoots Lorna in the back and John chases him down and throws Carver into a mire from which he cannot escape. Lorna manages to survive the gunshot, John returns to find her alive and the two of them go off into the Exmoor sunset for the big HEA. So operatic stuff indeed and Sister Cecily's goal is to get Morgan to write it.
To that end she pushes Morgan (whose name is a derivative of Morcant and in English history a very jealous Morcant, sometimes referred to as Morcant the Black, plotted to assassinate Uriens, a noble king who defeated the Saxon invaders way before William, he is mentioned in Arthurian legend as being a good and kindly king as well as a mighty warrior and it was dolorous blow when Morcant had him killed, ) to audition Kathleen Mavourney (whose name means pure or unsullied darling). So right away ED is setting parallels and symbolism.
Morgan is the black hearted, unsatisfied with mortal women man whose greatest work is locked inside while he meanders through mediocrity. Well paying mediocrity to be sure, but it isn't a great achievement and has only brought him dissatisfaction and cynicism. Kathleen is the pure, unsullied, virtuous 'blank slate' whose voice is the medium which Morgan will use to display the epic greatness of his untapped talent.
As I said earlier, ED tells us what they are going to do right away. As Sister Cecily is dragging a reluctant and hesitant Kathleen to audition with Morgan, Cecily explains that this is all about power, it's conservation and it's proper application. Arguably Cecily is a nun locked in a convent and has taken penitent vows, she ostensibly has no power, she has given her agency to God. However Cecily knows full well that might and money don't always move mountains, sometimes guilt and guile work even better.
She has Kathleen perform for Morgan, he throws a temper tantrum and Cecily and Morgan are locked in a bitter debate until Kathleen decides that Morgan is correct, she can't pursue a singing career as she can barely stand for longer than two hours without severe physical trauma and ends the interview. Sister Cecily starts to cry and lead Kathleen away and Morgan has a change of heart. Kathleen will go to his estate, called the Hermitage and he will provide the best Lieder vocal teacher available. (Lieder is music like Schubert, Brahms and Strauss, very romantic and very richly vocalized.) Morgan will use Kathleen's voice as the muse to compose his opus magnum and thus Kathleen will be able to realize her musical dream by granting Morgan the means to access his.
So it is off to Morgan's Hermitage we go, and right away we get an operatic and mythic confrontation with the 'unworthy' woman Morgan has been consorting with, as his current musical Leading Lady is thrown out of the Hermitage and in her Diva rage and spite, physically attacks Kathleen. She hits her, pulls her hair down and pushes her over to the floor. Kathleen gets a good smack in, but as a lady brawler, she is sadly underweight.
Morgan interferes with the OW's tirade and after she has gone, he finds out that Kathleen is physically impaired when he wants her to have dancing lessons and she explains about her legs. He immediately goes into his own Operatic tirade and Kathleen is greatly dispirited, she spent all the money her dead parent's left her visiting the best specialists in the world to rebuild her knees in the hopes of continuing her singing career, but this is as good as it gets. She will never be able to dance.
(Thus Emma Darcy drives a second spike into the 'perfect woman' myth. For tho Kathleen has a beautiful voice and fiery red flowing hair and an unsullied soul, she is not physically perfect. She cannot accede to Morgan's demands and so it is Morgan who will have to the adapting here.)
Which Morgan does do. Later that night he goes to Kathleen's bedroom and looks at her legs. He frightens her in the process and when he realizes it, he cuddles her right up and soothes her and tells she will have a home with him. He tells her of his own longings and dreams of youth, before age and world-weariness wore him down and Kathleen is comforted. She is also more than a little attracted, which Morgan warns her not to be, as his isn't called Morgan the Black for his dark hair.
After a few days of gaining the Hermitage's staff's devotion and practicing her singing, Morgan takes Kathleen for her first meeting with the French vocal coach, Madame Desfarges - who has the name of a famous French General who established France as a force in Siam. On the way to Mme. Desfarges, we learn that Kathleen has given Crystal, the Diva OW, a lovely black eye and Crystal is having conniptions because her understudy is doing her role.
Mme. Desfarges is suitably impressed and compares Kathleen's voice to that of Régine Crespin, a great French soprano who was famous for her roles in various Wagner and Strauss operas. Kathleen is in, and Morgan advises that Mme. D be told of her physical limitations immediately at her first lesson. Kathleen tells Morgan that she will do whatever he wants her to do, but Morgan tells her she may not want to accommodate certain wants he might desire. Kathleen realizes he is subtly propositioning her, but she isn't really sure why when has ladies like Crystal around.
The next big operatic moment comes when Morgan has a temper tantrum over his theme for Carver in Lorna Doone. Kathleen is listening to his musicals and Morgan finds her and gets upset. He is ranting about shallow and dross music and drags Kathleen into his music studio/lovepad complete with piano and king size bed in the corner. He plays the Carver theme for her and Kathleen is horrified over how menacing the music is. Morgan can't get himself past Carver, who lusts after the untouchable Lorna who continually eludes him, and it is driving Morgan suitably mad.
Kathleen, sensing that he needs the physical possession of what he tells himself he cannot have, manages to convince him to swing the lurve club and in another spike to the heart of "the blank slate woman" myth, Kathleen starts the seduction and Morgan, having more experience, finishes it. Still Kathleen counts it as a win tally on her end of the power spectrum, cause he gave of himself and she instinctively senses that isn't something Morgan does in the love club department. Kathleen feels that there is more power in giving and she plans to do a lot of it with Morgan.
So Morgan is able to write his opera and Kathleen sings his songs and remains his lover. Morgan's kindly housekeeper, Tibbet, shows herself to be firmly on Kathleen's side when she helps Kathleen to get an appointment for birth control and subtly reminds Kathleen that she has aspirations of her own.
Tibbet and the Hermitage staff become the counter balance to Morgan's tendency to overpower, Kathleen is continually reminded by them that she has needs and wants of her own and shouldn't submerse herself in Morgan's vision, no matter how much in love she may be. By this point, Kathleen is overwhelmingly in love and has the natural tendency of the young and in love to only exist to please her lover.
Kathleen has to assert herself all too soon as Morgan's demands as he gets closer to completing his opera start to interfere with her own studies. In one more Morgan tantrum scene, Kathleen refuses to stop her studying to submit to his admontions for her to help him with his work. She has to take a stand, tho she willingly shares his bed she is not his slave and Morgan is the type to take advantage of any weakness or compliance to his wishes. Give him an inch and he will take a mile and while Kathleen loves him, recognizes that she is muse, she also knows that he probably only sees her as disposable and it is imperative that she have the ability to make a life for herself after his opera is finished.
The confrontation leaves Kathleen in tears and the butler and staff kindly show their support by bringing her tea and the message that Morgan will await her pleasure when she chooses to join him. Once again, Morgan has to back down and compromise and tho he spouts on about how Kathleen has no power over him just because she lurves him up, Kathleen is equally adamant that he has no power over her. Just because she shares her body, it doesn't make her his doormat.
Then Morgan proposes after Kathleen sings the Lorna Doone part for him. Morgan becomes obsessed with his vision and plans a series of publicity events and mysterious buildup to reveal his great new 'creation' to the world. Kathleen will marry him and he will unveil his newest project to the roars of adulation and triumph. Kathleen agrees to the marriage, but she is becoming seriously concerned that he is mixing up his Lorna character with the person she really is. She greatly fears that he doesn't see Kathleen, he only sees Lorna and thus is trying to subjugate her to the power of his blank canvas.
Sadly Morgan's obsession is confirmed when Mme. Desfarges gets Kathleen into the European Eisteddfod and Morgan has another epic temper tantrum and tells Mme. Desfarges that she won't spoil his life work. Kathleen will not be allowed to go to the Eisteddfod, (which I didn't understand why not, a LOT of opera stars have won Eisteddfods, it is a perfect showcase for their talents that is easily accessible to the public,) because it will interfere with Morgan's publicity plans.
So Kathleen has to make a choice, and she chooses herself. She tells Morgan he has to pay her for her voice recording and that she needs to sing his songs for Mme. Desfarges to prove that she isn't ruining her voice so Mme. D will keep teaching her. But Kathleen realizes that Morgan doesn't love her, he only makes concessions to shut her up so he can finish his great work and that if she stays and marries him, she will always be on his coattails and will never be her own person. With a very sad heart, after the opera composition is finished, she leaves Morgan and goes to Mme. Desfarges house in Brittany. Ostensibly to practice for her Eisteddfod debut, but really she just has a mopey moment.
However as Morgan is deep in bargaining with Crystal the OW when Kathleen leaves, she feels he will soon be right back at home among the type of ladies he has become accustomed to, especially as Crystal is determined to do the stage and recording of Lorna Doone and gets into another physical altercation with Morgan as Kathleen is walking out the door. Of course Brittany is the just the intermission before the big finale. So while Kathleen walks the beach and admires the countryside, Morgan tears the world apart until he tracks her down.
There is a big confrontation where Kathleen compares the colour of desire to a flame and eventually the flame dies out. She tells Morgan that is what he did. He only wants to use her to get what he wants and her needs and wants mean nothing and she isn't having that. She wants to do her thing and he can make love to her a hundred times, but he can't make her stay because her goals are as important as his own and he consistently refuses to see that.
So she gave what she could, but he did not give back and love doesn't work that way, both parties have to give and support each other. She would never call Morgan black as others have done, but the truth is he IS black, because he relentlessly blots out all the other colors in his quest to get his own way. It was an EPIC classic ED h smackdown.
Then Morgan tells her that he destroyed the opera, he let it drive her away and he only wants to be with her because he loves her and life without her perception and love is meaningless to him and she is the one good thing in his life. He wants them to do things together and if that means only doing what she wants, he is happy to live that way. Kathleen's heart softens, he gave up his great work and not only that he referred to it as theirs and not just his and she finally believes that he has learnt his lesson and she takes him back.
Thus the final spike in the myth is hammered home, for in love and life and art, the artist must learn to yield to the force and power of his creation for it to have meaning and the power to touch what makes us human.
Morgan learns to bend and in the bending learns that the power of sharing leads to bigger achievements than isolated egotistical genius alone. Kathleen is thankful that Morgan finally realizes that lesson, but both are a bit sad that Lorna Doone is lost. Not to worry tho, ED has an answer for that.
Because Tibbett, Morgan's housekeeper had been keeping track of and sending Morgan's opera to Sister Cecily in her convent. So when Kathleen and Morgan marry and go to visit Sister Cicely, they find that the nun had sadly passed away, but the music and Kathleen's tapes and the news of the marriage allowed her to pass peacefully and with the feeling that her life's work had been accomplished. Kathleen and Morgan's final scene is with Sister Cecily in chapel, united in their grief and pain but knowing that the music of their love will color their lives together as each of them are the music of the other's heart and the little nun who knew the power of love had definitely taught them well.
This is an EPIC book, and it goes on the list of required reading for HPlandia. The beauty of this and the genius of Emma Darcy is that Kathleen grows, as all characters must, but she doesn't essentially change. She is still as pure in heart and unblemished in soul at the end as she is in the beginning. Instead it is Morgan, ostensibly Pygmalion all ready to impose his ego on the blank slate of Kathleen that has to change, and in the process manages to wipe his own slate clean and ready for a new beginning.
The myth is Ovid's Pygmalion - that classic misogynistic story of the sculptor who disdained all mortal women and created the perfect female statue and then fell in love with it. Aphrodite, in a fit of pique or vanity, brought the statue to life - in essence giving Pyggie the perfect blank slate jelly blobule blow up doll to reflect all his own ego and self adoration and he lived happily ever after. Every 'damaged' female role in literature, from Lolita to The Taming of the Shrew has it roots in this "perfect woman that can only be created by a man" myth and as we all know, that 'perfect woman' moldable jellyblob h is alive and well in HPlandia.
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the stage play, does test this ancient interpretation and who can forget My Fair Lady which ED also pays tribute to by having the H in this one be the composer/producer of big London West End musicals.
The mini series I refer to is of course Mary Burchell's Warrender Saga A Song Begins - a beloved dramatic series set in the world of Classic Opera, and unfortunately, one where it is made clear that women who act in their own agency and wield power might be Diva's, but they will never be the h. As much as I adore Mary Burchell and love that series, every single h in those books is required to sacrifice and bend and become 'a moldable blank slate' to their respective H's in order to find the reward of true love. Even Anthea, Oscar Warrender's true love, is required to bow to the dictates of the Great Oscar Warrender.
ED is out to challenge those myths and the rock solid HPlandia stance than an h has to bend to her H and bow to his dictates in order to make a marriage and enjoy a romantic HEA. Other HP authors have tried to shake this standard, but none of them come close to the sheer class, intensity and triumph that ED manages to pull off in this one. Even better, with the opening of this book, ED tells us they are going to do it. (But more on that later.)
First off I wanted to comment on some background and some names in this one, the story is about Kathleen Mavourney, an orphan would be opera singer who had her knees crushed in a train accident where her parent's died. She is a singing apprentice to a nun, Sister Cecily, who gets her an audition in front of a former pupil. The former pupil is Morgan Llewellyn, who now writes and produces Andrew Lloyd Webber type musicals for the West End, but in his younger, more innocent days, dreamt of writing the perfect opera. Sister Cecily, a long time classic operatic fan, wants to see a real English Opera and she wants one based on the novel Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore.
For those unfamiliar with the Lorna Doone story, it is set in the time of the English Monmouth rebellion - when Charles II 's son James challenged his Uncle James for the English throne. (He loses BTW.) Lorna Doone is an heiress that lives with the local deviant aristo family in Doone valley. The hero and Lorna's love interest, is John (pronounced Jan) Ridd, the son of a respectable Exmoor farmer whose father was murdered by the Deviant Doone clan. It is a Romeo and Juliet type scenario, as the Doone clan plans to marry Lorna off to the evil Deviant Doone Heir Carver.
John helps Lorna escape when Carver wants to exercise droit de seigneur and force marriage and we soon find out that Lorna isn't a Doone at all. She is the abducted child of the now dead Lady Dugal, who was murdered by the scalawag Doone's in an ambush and is now heiress to the one of the largest fortunes in England. Lorna becomes a ward of the English Chancery and John feels his chance for marriage is gone. Fortunately Monmouth rebels and the Doone's take Monmouth side.
But John, solid Exmoor farmer that he is, saves Lorna's guardian and wins himself a coat of arms and titles and then proceeds to rid the valley of the nefarious Doone's - except for Carver who escapes. Lorna and John are set to marry and at the wedding, the evil Carver shoots Lorna in the back and John chases him down and throws Carver into a mire from which he cannot escape. Lorna manages to survive the gunshot, John returns to find her alive and the two of them go off into the Exmoor sunset for the big HEA. So operatic stuff indeed and Sister Cecily's goal is to get Morgan to write it.
To that end she pushes Morgan (whose name is a derivative of Morcant and in English history a very jealous Morcant, sometimes referred to as Morcant the Black, plotted to assassinate Uriens, a noble king who defeated the Saxon invaders way before William, he is mentioned in Arthurian legend as being a good and kindly king as well as a mighty warrior and it was dolorous blow when Morcant had him killed, ) to audition Kathleen Mavourney (whose name means pure or unsullied darling). So right away ED is setting parallels and symbolism.
Morgan is the black hearted, unsatisfied with mortal women man whose greatest work is locked inside while he meanders through mediocrity. Well paying mediocrity to be sure, but it isn't a great achievement and has only brought him dissatisfaction and cynicism. Kathleen is the pure, unsullied, virtuous 'blank slate' whose voice is the medium which Morgan will use to display the epic greatness of his untapped talent.
As I said earlier, ED tells us what they are going to do right away. As Sister Cecily is dragging a reluctant and hesitant Kathleen to audition with Morgan, Cecily explains that this is all about power, it's conservation and it's proper application. Arguably Cecily is a nun locked in a convent and has taken penitent vows, she ostensibly has no power, she has given her agency to God. However Cecily knows full well that might and money don't always move mountains, sometimes guilt and guile work even better.
She has Kathleen perform for Morgan, he throws a temper tantrum and Cecily and Morgan are locked in a bitter debate until Kathleen decides that Morgan is correct, she can't pursue a singing career as she can barely stand for longer than two hours without severe physical trauma and ends the interview. Sister Cecily starts to cry and lead Kathleen away and Morgan has a change of heart. Kathleen will go to his estate, called the Hermitage and he will provide the best Lieder vocal teacher available. (Lieder is music like Schubert, Brahms and Strauss, very romantic and very richly vocalized.) Morgan will use Kathleen's voice as the muse to compose his opus magnum and thus Kathleen will be able to realize her musical dream by granting Morgan the means to access his.
So it is off to Morgan's Hermitage we go, and right away we get an operatic and mythic confrontation with the 'unworthy' woman Morgan has been consorting with, as his current musical Leading Lady is thrown out of the Hermitage and in her Diva rage and spite, physically attacks Kathleen. She hits her, pulls her hair down and pushes her over to the floor. Kathleen gets a good smack in, but as a lady brawler, she is sadly underweight.
Morgan interferes with the OW's tirade and after she has gone, he finds out that Kathleen is physically impaired when he wants her to have dancing lessons and she explains about her legs. He immediately goes into his own Operatic tirade and Kathleen is greatly dispirited, she spent all the money her dead parent's left her visiting the best specialists in the world to rebuild her knees in the hopes of continuing her singing career, but this is as good as it gets. She will never be able to dance.
(Thus Emma Darcy drives a second spike into the 'perfect woman' myth. For tho Kathleen has a beautiful voice and fiery red flowing hair and an unsullied soul, she is not physically perfect. She cannot accede to Morgan's demands and so it is Morgan who will have to the adapting here.)
Which Morgan does do. Later that night he goes to Kathleen's bedroom and looks at her legs. He frightens her in the process and when he realizes it, he cuddles her right up and soothes her and tells she will have a home with him. He tells her of his own longings and dreams of youth, before age and world-weariness wore him down and Kathleen is comforted. She is also more than a little attracted, which Morgan warns her not to be, as his isn't called Morgan the Black for his dark hair.
After a few days of gaining the Hermitage's staff's devotion and practicing her singing, Morgan takes Kathleen for her first meeting with the French vocal coach, Madame Desfarges - who has the name of a famous French General who established France as a force in Siam. On the way to Mme. Desfarges, we learn that Kathleen has given Crystal, the Diva OW, a lovely black eye and Crystal is having conniptions because her understudy is doing her role.
Mme. Desfarges is suitably impressed and compares Kathleen's voice to that of Régine Crespin, a great French soprano who was famous for her roles in various Wagner and Strauss operas. Kathleen is in, and Morgan advises that Mme. D be told of her physical limitations immediately at her first lesson. Kathleen tells Morgan that she will do whatever he wants her to do, but Morgan tells her she may not want to accommodate certain wants he might desire. Kathleen realizes he is subtly propositioning her, but she isn't really sure why when has ladies like Crystal around.
The next big operatic moment comes when Morgan has a temper tantrum over his theme for Carver in Lorna Doone. Kathleen is listening to his musicals and Morgan finds her and gets upset. He is ranting about shallow and dross music and drags Kathleen into his music studio/lovepad complete with piano and king size bed in the corner. He plays the Carver theme for her and Kathleen is horrified over how menacing the music is. Morgan can't get himself past Carver, who lusts after the untouchable Lorna who continually eludes him, and it is driving Morgan suitably mad.
Kathleen, sensing that he needs the physical possession of what he tells himself he cannot have, manages to convince him to swing the lurve club and in another spike to the heart of "the blank slate woman" myth, Kathleen starts the seduction and Morgan, having more experience, finishes it. Still Kathleen counts it as a win tally on her end of the power spectrum, cause he gave of himself and she instinctively senses that isn't something Morgan does in the love club department. Kathleen feels that there is more power in giving and she plans to do a lot of it with Morgan.
So Morgan is able to write his opera and Kathleen sings his songs and remains his lover. Morgan's kindly housekeeper, Tibbet, shows herself to be firmly on Kathleen's side when she helps Kathleen to get an appointment for birth control and subtly reminds Kathleen that she has aspirations of her own.
Tibbet and the Hermitage staff become the counter balance to Morgan's tendency to overpower, Kathleen is continually reminded by them that she has needs and wants of her own and shouldn't submerse herself in Morgan's vision, no matter how much in love she may be. By this point, Kathleen is overwhelmingly in love and has the natural tendency of the young and in love to only exist to please her lover.
Kathleen has to assert herself all too soon as Morgan's demands as he gets closer to completing his opera start to interfere with her own studies. In one more Morgan tantrum scene, Kathleen refuses to stop her studying to submit to his admontions for her to help him with his work. She has to take a stand, tho she willingly shares his bed she is not his slave and Morgan is the type to take advantage of any weakness or compliance to his wishes. Give him an inch and he will take a mile and while Kathleen loves him, recognizes that she is muse, she also knows that he probably only sees her as disposable and it is imperative that she have the ability to make a life for herself after his opera is finished.
The confrontation leaves Kathleen in tears and the butler and staff kindly show their support by bringing her tea and the message that Morgan will await her pleasure when she chooses to join him. Once again, Morgan has to back down and compromise and tho he spouts on about how Kathleen has no power over him just because she lurves him up, Kathleen is equally adamant that he has no power over her. Just because she shares her body, it doesn't make her his doormat.
Then Morgan proposes after Kathleen sings the Lorna Doone part for him. Morgan becomes obsessed with his vision and plans a series of publicity events and mysterious buildup to reveal his great new 'creation' to the world. Kathleen will marry him and he will unveil his newest project to the roars of adulation and triumph. Kathleen agrees to the marriage, but she is becoming seriously concerned that he is mixing up his Lorna character with the person she really is. She greatly fears that he doesn't see Kathleen, he only sees Lorna and thus is trying to subjugate her to the power of his blank canvas.
Sadly Morgan's obsession is confirmed when Mme. Desfarges gets Kathleen into the European Eisteddfod and Morgan has another epic temper tantrum and tells Mme. Desfarges that she won't spoil his life work. Kathleen will not be allowed to go to the Eisteddfod, (which I didn't understand why not, a LOT of opera stars have won Eisteddfods, it is a perfect showcase for their talents that is easily accessible to the public,) because it will interfere with Morgan's publicity plans.
So Kathleen has to make a choice, and she chooses herself. She tells Morgan he has to pay her for her voice recording and that she needs to sing his songs for Mme. Desfarges to prove that she isn't ruining her voice so Mme. D will keep teaching her. But Kathleen realizes that Morgan doesn't love her, he only makes concessions to shut her up so he can finish his great work and that if she stays and marries him, she will always be on his coattails and will never be her own person. With a very sad heart, after the opera composition is finished, she leaves Morgan and goes to Mme. Desfarges house in Brittany. Ostensibly to practice for her Eisteddfod debut, but really she just has a mopey moment.
However as Morgan is deep in bargaining with Crystal the OW when Kathleen leaves, she feels he will soon be right back at home among the type of ladies he has become accustomed to, especially as Crystal is determined to do the stage and recording of Lorna Doone and gets into another physical altercation with Morgan as Kathleen is walking out the door. Of course Brittany is the just the intermission before the big finale. So while Kathleen walks the beach and admires the countryside, Morgan tears the world apart until he tracks her down.
There is a big confrontation where Kathleen compares the colour of desire to a flame and eventually the flame dies out. She tells Morgan that is what he did. He only wants to use her to get what he wants and her needs and wants mean nothing and she isn't having that. She wants to do her thing and he can make love to her a hundred times, but he can't make her stay because her goals are as important as his own and he consistently refuses to see that.
So she gave what she could, but he did not give back and love doesn't work that way, both parties have to give and support each other. She would never call Morgan black as others have done, but the truth is he IS black, because he relentlessly blots out all the other colors in his quest to get his own way. It was an EPIC classic ED h smackdown.
Then Morgan tells her that he destroyed the opera, he let it drive her away and he only wants to be with her because he loves her and life without her perception and love is meaningless to him and she is the one good thing in his life. He wants them to do things together and if that means only doing what she wants, he is happy to live that way. Kathleen's heart softens, he gave up his great work and not only that he referred to it as theirs and not just his and she finally believes that he has learnt his lesson and she takes him back.
Thus the final spike in the myth is hammered home, for in love and life and art, the artist must learn to yield to the force and power of his creation for it to have meaning and the power to touch what makes us human.
Morgan learns to bend and in the bending learns that the power of sharing leads to bigger achievements than isolated egotistical genius alone. Kathleen is thankful that Morgan finally realizes that lesson, but both are a bit sad that Lorna Doone is lost. Not to worry tho, ED has an answer for that.
Because Tibbett, Morgan's housekeeper had been keeping track of and sending Morgan's opera to Sister Cecily in her convent. So when Kathleen and Morgan marry and go to visit Sister Cicely, they find that the nun had sadly passed away, but the music and Kathleen's tapes and the news of the marriage allowed her to pass peacefully and with the feeling that her life's work had been accomplished. Kathleen and Morgan's final scene is with Sister Cecily in chapel, united in their grief and pain but knowing that the music of their love will color their lives together as each of them are the music of the other's heart and the little nun who knew the power of love had definitely taught them well.
This is an EPIC book, and it goes on the list of required reading for HPlandia. The beauty of this and the genius of Emma Darcy is that Kathleen grows, as all characters must, but she doesn't essentially change. She is still as pure in heart and unblemished in soul at the end as she is in the beginning. Instead it is Morgan, ostensibly Pygmalion all ready to impose his ego on the blank slate of Kathleen that has to change, and in the process manages to wipe his own slate clean and ready for a new beginning.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2017
Wow – this was really good and unexpected. The story opens with a very strong-willed nun bundling her violin and her prize student off to an audition. The heroine, an orphan who was raised at the convent and now teaches music, has a beautiful voice, but she is crippled* and can’t see how her mangled legs would ever hold her up for an entire opera nor could she ever dance in a musical.
The nun will not listen and gives the heroine a lecture about “power’ and using her talents. The heroine is asked to sing before the matinee production of a popular musical for the composer of that musical. The nun accompanies her on her violin and it is a thing of beauty.
The composer, our hero, waits until they are in his office before he launches into a tirade. He refuses to help the heroine and he is angry with the nun. The heroine begins to understand that the nun also raised the hero at the convent and taught him everything she knew about music. The nun thinks he’s throwing his talent away for fame and fortune. The hero rages. The nun cries. The hero brings up Lorna Doone – a book the nun read to him as a boy while he was in the hospital during his eye surgeries. The hero can now see, but must wear dark glasses. The h and the nun leave, but before they can get into the car, the hero changes his mind.
The heroine is to live with him at his mansion outside of London and she will get musical training and in turn, she will sing for him whenever he wants her to. The heroine is greeted at the mansion by an OW, his leading lady who has been sleeping with the hero. He is throwing the OW out so he can compose (An opera – not sure if that is the right musical term? Based on Lorna Doone). The OW is such a drama queen that she slaps the heroine, pulls her hair out of her bun, and rips her blouse. The heroine slaps her back, but her dodgy legs make her lose her balance. Luckily the hero walks in and puts the OW in her place.
He immediately takes in the h’s “cloud of red hair” and decrees she should always wear it down. The hero mentions dancing lessons as part of her training and the heroine explains about her legs. The hero is livid with the nun for foisting a singer who can’t be in one of his light musicals on to him, and he tells the heroine to never utter the nun's name again.
The heroine is upset by the OW’s behavior and the hero’s anger and decides she should leave in the morning. But the housekeeper is kind and the heroine has a hot bath and bed. In the middle of the night the H shows up in her room and demands to see her legs. The heroine is terrified. The hero eventually realizes he is scaring her and starts to talk about himself and his past and his ambitions. The heroine realizes she doesn’t need to be afraid of him and she feels the stirring of desire.
The next day, she and the H go to the snobby French voice instructor. The heroine is heartened to know that she gave the OW a black eye and the understudy has to play her role for the next few days. On that feeling of victory, the heroine wins over the skeptical voice instructor. She begins her training and practices hard. The housekeeper, butler, maids and gardeners all pause to listen to her sing when they can. As time goes on, they openly show their support for her. (This part was so cute).
The hero, meanwhile, has been working on his opera. He begins with the villain’s longing for Lorna Doone – but can’t get past it. Heroine realizes it’s because she is his Lorna Doone and if he can’t have her sexually then he’ll be stuck in the villain’s point of view. (This is one of the most original excuses to get a woman in bed I’ve heard in a while.)
They begin a sexual relationship and it’s great. The hero is inspired, the heroine is in love, but realizes this isn’t going to be a long-term thing. The housekeeper pulls her aside and mentions birth control. The heroine is far from insulted. She’s happy someone is looking out for her.
The H/h have a tiff when the hero wants her to sing a song he just wrote and she is in the middle of one of her voice exercises. She stands up for herself and won’t drop everything. The hero is angry, storms off, but eventually sends a conciliatory message through the butler. The butler tells her to have a cup of tea before she goes to sing. Seems the hired help want the heroine to stand up to him.
The hero has decided they should get married for the publicity. He will have the heroine do the studio album and someone else can be Lorna Doone on stage. He wants to control her public debut, so he tells her vocal instructor that she won’t be entering a competition in a few months. The heroine had decided to marry the hero even though she wasn’t sure of his motives. She loves him and thought she could make the best of it. But now that he’s tried to take over her entire career, she has second thoughts. She decides to stay with him until he’s finished the opera and then she’ll leave with her vocal instructor to stay at her farm house in France.
After recording the final song, the hero is astonished and angry when she leaves him. Even though she’s taken control of her life, the heroine just mopes around the farmhouse and doesn’t practice. The hero finds her a month later. He wants her – and to prove it, he’s destroyed all the tapes and the score of his opera. Heroine realizes he does love her. They marry in a few days and send the nun a letter with news of their marriage.
When they return to England for the heroine to prepare for the competition, they stop by the convent to see the nun. Unfortunately, she died right after reading their letter – but fortunately, the housekeeper sent her the score of the opera and a tape of the heroine singing all of his songs before the H could destroy all the copies. HEA
This has a strong Mary Burchell opera story vibe – the crazy diva OW, the tortured artist, the sweet ingénue heroine. But the nun was fun twist as were the benevolent servants and the helpful vocal instructor. I really liked that the hero was attracted to the heroine even without a big make-over. In fact, she leaves in the same suit she arrived in. She was too busy singing to go shopping. I couldn’t go with five stars because the hero really did have anger issues. The heroine learned to stand up to him, but he would be exhausting to be around.
The idea of being "crippled" or less than perfect - was difficult to swallow. Especially since the heroine had a beautiful voice, which had nothing to do with her legs. Thankfully, the vocal instructor had a healthier attitude than the heroine. The hero, to his credit, thought she was beautiful the way she was and being "crippled" didn't stop them from having an active sex life.
*She can walk after intensive physical therapy and several surgeries – but her legs tire easily.
The nun will not listen and gives the heroine a lecture about “power’ and using her talents. The heroine is asked to sing before the matinee production of a popular musical for the composer of that musical. The nun accompanies her on her violin and it is a thing of beauty.
The composer, our hero, waits until they are in his office before he launches into a tirade. He refuses to help the heroine and he is angry with the nun. The heroine begins to understand that the nun also raised the hero at the convent and taught him everything she knew about music. The nun thinks he’s throwing his talent away for fame and fortune. The hero rages. The nun cries. The hero brings up Lorna Doone – a book the nun read to him as a boy while he was in the hospital during his eye surgeries. The hero can now see, but must wear dark glasses. The h and the nun leave, but before they can get into the car, the hero changes his mind.
The heroine is to live with him at his mansion outside of London and she will get musical training and in turn, she will sing for him whenever he wants her to. The heroine is greeted at the mansion by an OW, his leading lady who has been sleeping with the hero. He is throwing the OW out so he can compose (An opera – not sure if that is the right musical term? Based on Lorna Doone). The OW is such a drama queen that she slaps the heroine, pulls her hair out of her bun, and rips her blouse. The heroine slaps her back, but her dodgy legs make her lose her balance. Luckily the hero walks in and puts the OW in her place.
He immediately takes in the h’s “cloud of red hair” and decrees she should always wear it down. The hero mentions dancing lessons as part of her training and the heroine explains about her legs. The hero is livid with the nun for foisting a singer who can’t be in one of his light musicals on to him, and he tells the heroine to never utter the nun's name again.
The heroine is upset by the OW’s behavior and the hero’s anger and decides she should leave in the morning. But the housekeeper is kind and the heroine has a hot bath and bed. In the middle of the night the H shows up in her room and demands to see her legs. The heroine is terrified. The hero eventually realizes he is scaring her and starts to talk about himself and his past and his ambitions. The heroine realizes she doesn’t need to be afraid of him and she feels the stirring of desire.
The next day, she and the H go to the snobby French voice instructor. The heroine is heartened to know that she gave the OW a black eye and the understudy has to play her role for the next few days. On that feeling of victory, the heroine wins over the skeptical voice instructor. She begins her training and practices hard. The housekeeper, butler, maids and gardeners all pause to listen to her sing when they can. As time goes on, they openly show their support for her. (This part was so cute).
The hero, meanwhile, has been working on his opera. He begins with the villain’s longing for Lorna Doone – but can’t get past it. Heroine realizes it’s because she is his Lorna Doone and if he can’t have her sexually then he’ll be stuck in the villain’s point of view. (This is one of the most original excuses to get a woman in bed I’ve heard in a while.)
They begin a sexual relationship and it’s great. The hero is inspired, the heroine is in love, but realizes this isn’t going to be a long-term thing. The housekeeper pulls her aside and mentions birth control. The heroine is far from insulted. She’s happy someone is looking out for her.
The H/h have a tiff when the hero wants her to sing a song he just wrote and she is in the middle of one of her voice exercises. She stands up for herself and won’t drop everything. The hero is angry, storms off, but eventually sends a conciliatory message through the butler. The butler tells her to have a cup of tea before she goes to sing. Seems the hired help want the heroine to stand up to him.
The hero has decided they should get married for the publicity. He will have the heroine do the studio album and someone else can be Lorna Doone on stage. He wants to control her public debut, so he tells her vocal instructor that she won’t be entering a competition in a few months. The heroine had decided to marry the hero even though she wasn’t sure of his motives. She loves him and thought she could make the best of it. But now that he’s tried to take over her entire career, she has second thoughts. She decides to stay with him until he’s finished the opera and then she’ll leave with her vocal instructor to stay at her farm house in France.
After recording the final song, the hero is astonished and angry when she leaves him. Even though she’s taken control of her life, the heroine just mopes around the farmhouse and doesn’t practice. The hero finds her a month later. He wants her – and to prove it, he’s destroyed all the tapes and the score of his opera. Heroine realizes he does love her. They marry in a few days and send the nun a letter with news of their marriage.
When they return to England for the heroine to prepare for the competition, they stop by the convent to see the nun. Unfortunately, she died right after reading their letter – but fortunately, the housekeeper sent her the score of the opera and a tape of the heroine singing all of his songs before the H could destroy all the copies. HEA
This has a strong Mary Burchell opera story vibe – the crazy diva OW, the tortured artist, the sweet ingénue heroine. But the nun was fun twist as were the benevolent servants and the helpful vocal instructor. I really liked that the hero was attracted to the heroine even without a big make-over. In fact, she leaves in the same suit she arrived in. She was too busy singing to go shopping. I couldn’t go with five stars because the hero really did have anger issues. The heroine learned to stand up to him, but he would be exhausting to be around.
The idea of being "crippled" or less than perfect - was difficult to swallow. Especially since the heroine had a beautiful voice, which had nothing to do with her legs. Thankfully, the vocal instructor had a healthier attitude than the heroine. The hero, to his credit, thought she was beautiful the way she was and being "crippled" didn't stop them from having an active sex life.
*She can walk after intensive physical therapy and several surgeries – but her legs tire easily.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2017
I loved this book. I loved the h and her compassion and love and I even liked Mr. Dramatic the OTT hero of the book. It was a Cinderella story with a dark prince and I thought it was unique. I wish we would have had an epilogue. The scene at the farm was just too much but I still give it five stars. Simply because of Sister Cecily and the ending. I went to a convent when I was 18 but I had met my future husband that last half of high school and I didn't stay. I lasted a week. Lol. Came home and got married. I went to parochial school and I had Sister Mary Boniface but she was my Sister Cecily. She was the librarian and encouraged my love of reading and opened many doors for me. I cried at the end for Sister Cecily and Sister Mary Boniface. Great book in my opinion but not everyone's cup of tea yet perfect for a 1970s' HP junkie. Love the angst.
avoid
July 13, 2017Note to self:
1. Marriage for publicity -strike one
2. Heroine as OW's replacement- strike two
3. Controlling her career - which is no longer alpha but a weakling of a man manipulating his woman move - strike three.
And we're out!
1. Marriage for publicity -strike one
2. Heroine as OW's replacement- strike two
3. Controlling her career - which is no longer alpha but a weakling of a man manipulating his woman move - strike three.
And we're out!
August 23, 2021
"The Colour of Desire" is the story of Kathleen and Morgan.
A disabled artist meets a temperamental and famous music composer when the nun who is important to both of them asks him for a favor. Extremely reluctant, he takes her on and there are instant sparks. He is mean, brooding- she is sweet but not spineless. Soon they embark on a sexual relationship, but what happens when the heroine wants more? Is the hero capable of giving his heart?
Honestly, this was a bit rushed in places and very cold in others. I didn't enjoy the violence by OW at the start, I think they rushed into having sex, the conflict was sudden and so was the resolution, and the ending was bittersweet.
Had potential but average.
Safe
2.5/5
A disabled artist meets a temperamental and famous music composer when the nun who is important to both of them asks him for a favor. Extremely reluctant, he takes her on and there are instant sparks. He is mean, brooding- she is sweet but not spineless. Soon they embark on a sexual relationship, but what happens when the heroine wants more? Is the hero capable of giving his heart?
Honestly, this was a bit rushed in places and very cold in others. I didn't enjoy the violence by OW at the start, I think they rushed into having sex, the conflict was sudden and so was the resolution, and the ending was bittersweet.
Had potential but average.
Safe
2.5/5
June 3, 2019
It was very good and I like that h had a stainless steel backbone. Just some assumptions of the h was annoyed me even if I am a feminist, I found it a little bit strained. But Ms. Darcy put together at the end.
August 9, 2015
Genre: Category Romance
Setting: Britain
21 yr old singing progeny meets 32 yr old millionaire composer of musical comedy.
It's well known that the best Emma Darcy is from when the husband was still alive and they were writing together. This is one of them.
Read like one of those classic Hqns or one of those classic 1940s (like The Seventh Veil) with all the soaring passions and the soaring . . . . music.
Setting: Britain
21 yr old singing progeny meets 32 yr old millionaire composer of musical comedy.
It's well known that the best Emma Darcy is from when the husband was still alive and they were writing together. This is one of them.
Read like one of those classic Hqns or one of those classic 1940s (like The Seventh Veil) with all the soaring passions and the soaring . . . . music.
June 8, 2021
'The best solution was to bring you both together and let him take care of you.'
After the accident Kathleen knew very well that her dreams of a musical career were ended - so why did Sister Cecily practically force her onto Morgan Llwewllyn, the world-famous composer of musicals?
Especially since Morgan made it clear that he didn't want a protegee, particularly not one who walked with a limp. But they had to make the best of the arrangement and very soon Kathleen found she was involved with the man as well as his music...
After the accident Kathleen knew very well that her dreams of a musical career were ended - so why did Sister Cecily practically force her onto Morgan Llwewllyn, the world-famous composer of musicals?
Especially since Morgan made it clear that he didn't want a protegee, particularly not one who walked with a limp. But they had to make the best of the arrangement and very soon Kathleen found she was involved with the man as well as his music...
October 10, 2022
Wow super emotional book. Reminded me of Mary Burchell’s Warrender sagas which have heavy music themes.
Unusual also for Emma Darcy, this one is set in England.
Nice angsty read.
Unusual also for Emma Darcy, this one is set in England.
Nice angsty read.
June 29, 2011
I’m biased: the quintessential moody, genius composer in a Harlequin series for me is Oscar Warrender, the hero in Mary Burchell’s A Song Begins. But the hero in this book comes close enough.
What I found touching about the plot: The beginning and the end, like perfect bookends of the story, revolved around the H/h’s shared mentor Sister Cecily.
What I liked about the hero: tormented hero. While Morgan was already a commercially successful composer for theater musicals (ala-Andrew Lloyd Webber), Sister Cecily believed he was wasting his musical talents. She coerced him to take on the heroine Kathleen as a protégée and muse for what would hopefully become his chef d’oeuvre, a classical opera of Lorna Doone.
Morgan is an antihero-hero. Though he showed great solicitude towards the Kathleen’s handicap, he warned her not to idealize him as he has an irredeemable black heart. (Current readers will surely notice his character resemblance to Dr. House of that popular medical TV show.)
Morgan was temperamental at work, impatient with imperfections, focused only on his own goals, and dictatorial of the heroine’s musical career. The only time he truly begged in desperation was when Kathleen left him and refused to return.
What I like about the heroine: she’s a flawed heroine. In so much that this book imitates the Pygmalion myth where the sculptor falls in love with the statue he’s creating, the heroine here is no perfect work of art. She knows that her handicap limits her ability as a professional opera singer. But her passionate tirade at the end of the story demonstrates that she was no longer the timid student that she had been when she first encountered Morgan and he has met his match, both professionally and intimately.
Bravissimo.
What I found touching about the plot: The beginning and the end, like perfect bookends of the story, revolved around the H/h’s shared mentor Sister Cecily.
What I liked about the hero: tormented hero. While Morgan was already a commercially successful composer for theater musicals (ala-Andrew Lloyd Webber), Sister Cecily believed he was wasting his musical talents. She coerced him to take on the heroine Kathleen as a protégée and muse for what would hopefully become his chef d’oeuvre, a classical opera of Lorna Doone.
Morgan is an antihero-hero. Though he showed great solicitude towards the Kathleen’s handicap, he warned her not to idealize him as he has an irredeemable black heart. (Current readers will surely notice his character resemblance to Dr. House of that popular medical TV show.)
Morgan was temperamental at work, impatient with imperfections, focused only on his own goals, and dictatorial of the heroine’s musical career. The only time he truly begged in desperation was when Kathleen left him and refused to return.
What I like about the heroine: she’s a flawed heroine. In so much that this book imitates the Pygmalion myth where the sculptor falls in love with the statue he’s creating, the heroine here is no perfect work of art. She knows that her handicap limits her ability as a professional opera singer. But her passionate tirade at the end of the story demonstrates that she was no longer the timid student that she had been when she first encountered Morgan and he has met his match, both professionally and intimately.
Bravissimo.
April 20, 2019
Loved it.
Please read Claire's review - I totally agree with her assessment.
Cruel/tortured/artist alpha H at the top!
Steamy.
Please read Claire's review - I totally agree with her assessment.
Cruel/tortured/artist alpha H at the top!
Steamy.
February 18, 2022
Oh this was an absolute gem of a story! Five plus stars from me. I had not realized that Emma Darcy was capable of such gorgeous prose.
And to top it off there was marvellous side character of a nun. I loved her even more than I loved the hero and heroine. I don’t know why – I’ve never met a nun in real life – but her character was delightfully ferocious and driven, but still very sweet and caring.
How do I love this story - Let me count the ways:
1) The gothic elements. The hero is brooding, tormented, intense, his musical genius is trapped, awaiting to be unlocked. He’s mysterious, obsessive, dark. Even the first time he meets the heroine he watches her singing in the dark and she can’t see him. He’s never cruel (in fact he is capable of great tenderness) but he is dominating and tries to control her - Svengali-like.
2) The heroine goes through a wonderful arc - initially she is timid and lacks self confidence. By the end she has a back-bone of high tensile steel. So much so, that I actually felt sorry for the hero when she makes her decision about him.
3) After initially dismissing her as a nonentity the hero becomes completely obsessed with her: it’s clear that he will worship the ground she walks on for the rest of his life.
4) The musical elements in the story are written with such exquisite passion and feeling.
5) The underlying narrative that extraordinary beauty can be found in unexpected places. The heroine is not particularly attractive physically, but her music gives her a sublime loveliness.
6) The way the household staff are so protective of her, giving her a sense of a loving family, and not judging her for sleeping with the hero. So uplifting!
And to top it off there was marvellous side character of a nun. I loved her even more than I loved the hero and heroine. I don’t know why – I’ve never met a nun in real life – but her character was delightfully ferocious and driven, but still very sweet and caring.
How do I love this story - Let me count the ways:
1) The gothic elements. The hero is brooding, tormented, intense, his musical genius is trapped, awaiting to be unlocked. He’s mysterious, obsessive, dark. Even the first time he meets the heroine he watches her singing in the dark and she can’t see him. He’s never cruel (in fact he is capable of great tenderness) but he is dominating and tries to control her - Svengali-like.
2) The heroine goes through a wonderful arc - initially she is timid and lacks self confidence. By the end she has a back-bone of high tensile steel. So much so, that I actually felt sorry for the hero when she makes her decision about him.
3) After initially dismissing her as a nonentity the hero becomes completely obsessed with her: it’s clear that he will worship the ground she walks on for the rest of his life.
4) The musical elements in the story are written with such exquisite passion and feeling.
5) The underlying narrative that extraordinary beauty can be found in unexpected places. The heroine is not particularly attractive physically, but her music gives her a sublime loveliness.
6) The way the household staff are so protective of her, giving her a sense of a loving family, and not judging her for sleeping with the hero. So uplifting!
January 29, 2021
"He was doing to her again, using the power of his need to bind her to him."
The hero was a selfish manipulative ass and I hate him very much. The heroine was no better. She was a doormat all the way. The only characters that I liked were the nun and Tibbet.
The hero was a selfish manipulative ass and I hate him very much. The heroine was no better. She was a doormat all the way. The only characters that I liked were the nun and Tibbet.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2025
There are some great reviews written for 'The Colour of Desire'. This is a poignant, beautifully written story. The unconventional but intuitive nun and the household staff who loved Kathleen like family gave this story an added richness and made it such a delight to read!
November 3, 2025
Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought the whole story was just silly! A "Lorna Doone" opera? Oh, come on! I never thought the story was all that great, the movie was good, but the book was a bore!
I didn't like either the H or the h, and that nun was a real pain in the bottom (to put it politely, since I'm Catholic).
I'm going to start that famous Warrender saga and I'm sure every book will be a heck of a lot better than this dumb one!
I didn't like either the H or the h, and that nun was a real pain in the bottom (to put it politely, since I'm Catholic).
I'm going to start that famous Warrender saga and I'm sure every book will be a heck of a lot better than this dumb one!
March 27, 2026
A lovely, light fiction. I liked the framing of this story.
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