Bedroom Eyes

by Becky Barker

Bedroom Eyes Sometimes chance brings us together with the people who’ll come to mean most to us in the strangest ways. Like the way it brought together Liana Banner and Nate She was an interior designer from New York, come home to her family’s suburban farmhouse for the summer to rest, recuperate, and recover. A few weeks of home-cooked meals, sun-drenched afternoons, and dips in the local pond would cure the ills that ailed her. The pond was on the neighbors’ property, of course. Liana had known the old owner before he’d passed away — and all she knew about the new owner that that the land had been bought by a real estate investment trust. She didn’t know the new owner was in town; she never would have guessed that sort of a tycoon would actually live on a rural investment property. Liana never would have dreamed his turquoise eyes watched her as she slipped sky-clad into the pond. * Nate Harden didn’t know what to make of the trespasser skinny-dipping in his pond. With her silvery blond hair and sapphire eyes, she reminded him of a fairy nymph, a creature of legendary beauty. But when Liana Banner emerged from the water, there was no hiding the fact that she was a woman — proud, lovely, and defiant. And in that moment, he knew that he had to make her his own. Fate and love are strange that way; and when they snare us, stranger still.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Becky Barker is an Amazon bestselling, award-winning romance author whose books have been translated into more than a dozen foreign languages, published in large print library editions and in many electronic formats. She makes her home in central Ohio where she's surrounded by a big, close-knit family.

Sign up for Becky's newsletter or email her at: write@BeckyBarker.com

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liana Banners is back home, recuperating from the pneumonia and mononucleosis she developed after months and months of 16-hour days. She was literally killing herself and is living with her parents until she's fully recovered. Nate Harden is the New York business tycoon who bought the property next door to the Banners, and he makes an unexpected appearance. Liana's relaxing by skinny dipping in the artesian springs, when a voice intrudes upon her reverie and it's none other than the mysterious person who is moving next door. We slowly come to know Nate's history and connection to the property as the story unfolds. It's a sad history that is a fairly well-known secret, but the facts have been eating at Nate for years. His family was ostracized for reasons he didn't understand and the treatment from his stepfather that he endured for years has jaded him. He's consumed by the idea that he can't get married, can't have children based on his painful past. When Liana tries to show him that he's worthy of love, he pushes her away. I really wanted to slap him because he was so stubborn and negative, but learning more about his past makes everything clearer. All along, someone is lurking in the background, trying to destroy Nate's property and life. The mystery adds another layer to the story but, once solved, frees him to enjoy the future. The ending is heartwarming and the epilogue is perfection. The narration is wonderfully done by Alexandra Haag, with a clear and well-modulated voice that brings the characters to life!

[Mira · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know it's often in these romance novels that the main character and the love interest mistake lust for love , BUT DUDE, this book surpasses them all. Like, how can you be so sure about one person in such a short period of time? And call it love? Please.
I sensed that Barker also kind went for a little plot twist there at the end, but boy oh boy how she didn't try. Like at all. It was all so predictable. The only things that could take you by surprise (if u can call it that) were the places Liana and Nate choose to smear saliva all over each other's mouths. How I wanted to be able to reach out then and take them both by the shoulders, forcefully sit them on a bench and make them just talk to each other. Like ok you hook up once,BUT AFTER THAT YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO HAVE A REAL CONVERSATION.
Ugh.Flawles fictional people.

So.


Nate.


You know what, I won't even bother.


With Liana on the other hand I am a-okay.

It's just that the girl takes way too many baths. I fear she'll be all shriveled like a raisin by the time she's thirty.

[Yvonne Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author gives us once again a story that engages you from the start.
Liana Banner is an interior designer living in NYC. But when she gets ill, she goes back home to Ohio. The farm next to her parents has a pond she has always loved and while skinny dipping, realizes someone watching her. The new owner of the neighboring farm, Nate Harden. What starts out as trespassing develops into attraction and much more.
Throw in some suspense, and a man who refuses to accept love since he is caring a great deal of “pain, anger and rejection” from a difficult youth, and you have a story that will keep you entertained.
On an aside, the narrator, Alexandra Haag, does a good job.

[Alan T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liana and Nate

Liana meets Nate when she is skinny dipping in his pond. Their romance developed over time, and despite his damages from his youth.

Characterization was good and plotting fair.

[Ferbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely story line. I enjoyed listening. it had some emotional, sad, self searching ans steamy moments. This author always delivery engaging storylines

[Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for the first time in middle school when I snatched it from my grandma's collection. It was the first romance novel I read and I just HAD to read it again to see if it was as good as my middle school brain thought it was. It's not quite the literary genius I thought back then, but it was decent.

Liana is an interior designer who overworked herself into the hospital and she decided to spend her summer convalescing at her childhood home with her parents. The neighboring farm recently sold to a business tycoon, Nate, from out of state so she didn't think there'd be any harm in an early morning swim in his pond. Of course, he is home and shows up at the pond while she's swimming in nothing but her panties.

There's instant fireworks, as these things go. Someone doesn't want Nate owning the farm, so there are several attempts to get him to leave. They catch the bad guy and discover his motives and then live happily ever after.

It was cheesy, as I expected, but there WERE a couple of things that just made me laugh at the ridiculousness. First, there's a moment where they're kissing passionately and "Time ceased to matter as her senses absorbed the sounds of crackling dew on the grass..." Now, maybe I'm just dim-witted, but I've never heard water crackle. What would that sound like, exactly??? I have read a lot of cheesy, overly flowery language in romance novels (the kind that makes me want to vomit), but this line had to take the cake! Then, they're getting passionate and "His mouth found one of her turgid nipples..." Okay. I don't often have to dig out my dictionary during a romance novel, but I just HAD to know what 'turgid' meant. The Oxford definition is: adj 1 pompous and boring (ok... NOT how you'd describe nipples...) 2 swollen or full (REALLY???) the example given is 'a turgid river'. To describe a river, I can see using the 2nd definition of turgid. To describe erect nipples, not so much... I don't like when authors just go haywire with the thesaurus.

Overall, the story was sweet and predictable, which is alright when it comes to romances.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read from Becky Barker. I enjoy how she adds some suspense to her romance stories to give them a bit of edge that keeps the reader guessing. Each story I have read from Ms. Barker has made it so easy to picture the scenes that it made me feel like I could be right there experiencing the plot alongside the characters.

Liana Banner is an interior designer from New York who has come home to stay with her parents to relax and recuperate for the summer. She was very friendly to the old man who lived alone on the land next door and had not been to his house since before he passed away, so she takes a stroll over to the house to see it one more time before the new owner decides to show up. While she’s on her walk she stops at the pond, strips out of her clothes, and cools off in the water. She knows she's on private property but no one will know. She is quite shocked to finds out that the new neighbor is already at the house, and right at that moment he's watching her in his pond. Nate’s attitude irritates Liana, but there is something that makes her very interested in knowing him too. But her life is already planned, and it definitely does not include him no matter how he makes her feel.

Nate Harden decided to leave his fast-paced city life behind to live a quiet farming life. Imagine his surprise when he walks near his pond to find a woman swimming in his pond, and her clothes are nowhere to be seen. He has a past that he does not want anyone to learn about and has nothing to offer in a relationship with any woman, but there is something about Liana that makes him want to have her in his life. Can Nate put the past behind him and find a future with the one woman who might have stolen his heart?

I was gifted an e-copy of this book from the author with no requests except her hopes that I enjoy it.