See No Love

by Monette Cummings

Forbidden by her mother to wear the spectacles she badly needs, Emily Harmon stumbles into all kinds of trouble, nearly precipitates a scandal, and unwittingly falls for the handsome Duke of Durban

Genres: Regency, Historical Romance

179 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1983

About the author

Monette Cummings' The Beauty's Daughter won the 1986 Golden Medallion in the Regency Category.

Reviews

[QNPoohBear · Rating 2 out of 5]

Emily Harmon is extremely is so short-sighted, she can't see much of anything without spectacles, which her overbearing mother forbids her to wear in fear that Emily will never find a husband. When Emily makes her debut at court, she makes friends with Violet, the daughter of an Earl who invited Emily to a house party, hoping her brother will fall in love with Emily and forget about the mean Lady Isobel Darcy who is keeping company with their cousin Philip, the Duke of Durban. At the house party, poor Emily has a series of misadventures because of her poor eyesight and the hero must rescue her. Emily's accidents are told to the reader in a rather detached and summarized manner. I was expecting them to be really funny but instead they were rather sad because no one understands Emily's predicament and her mother believes that Emily could only see if she tried hard enough. I felt sorry for Emily and she didn't know how to laugh at herself so the reader does not get to laugh with her. She is also very young to be a romantic heroine and her romance comes out of the blue. This is a cute, light read but not my favorite.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary: A girl in her first season has severe myopia, and her mother will not allow her to wear her hideous spectacles in polite society. This leads to disaster after disaster when she attends a friend's country house party.

This book is basically "look at how many embarrassing situations we can put the heroine in!" She constantly is doing silly things, all because of her eyesight, she is constantly being railed at by her mother so badly that I was embarrassed for her even reading it. None of the characters are portrayed roundly, Isobel is a complete cat, Violet is a good natured imbecile, Sir John is a lady killer that appears as a dandy to men. The love story seems a hurried add on, you never once see why Philip likes Emily. We go from not reading anything about him to all of a sudden he's kissing her furiously. It's not at all satisfying but that said, it's good-natured and fluffy. Harmless. I enjoyed the concept, if not the actual book.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute and fast read.