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The Blind Contessa's New Machine

Carey Wallace

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What Members Thought

Feb 19, 2013 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: library, love-stories, a-lucky-one, lib-has-audio, hf

I enjoyed the book overall. The writing was lovely, the main characters well-developed. However, I felt the characters at times acted in ways that stretched believability and I hated the ending. I'm glad I read it, as it was different, and interesting in that it portrays someone going blind, which I think it did well. Not sure I'd be reading more by her, though. ...more

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Oct 15, 2010 Kaley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc, 2010, bookclub, favorites, bookclub-2020-maybes

Beautiful, romantic, truly a "jewel" of a novel as the reviews claim. I savored every lush word of this sweet story. Wallace's writing has a lyrical, fairy tale quality. While I couldn't put it down, I was sad when it came to an end. Loved it! ...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Kay rated it did not like it

Shelves: modern-fiction, audiobooks, fiction, 50-page-rule

I gave this one an hour listen; long enough to get drawn in -- but wasn't at all drawn in -- then decided that this would be a waste of time as I wasn't enjoying it. Bland reader, sentimental and cloying writing, romanticized characters, and a transparent plot -- it just didn't seem to have much going for it. I had hoped that the scientific angle would play a larger role in book, but instead the direction it was heading seemed to be a fairly typical historical romance.

I filed this one under the ...more

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May 29, 2010 SarahC rated it it was ok

I found this story to be only slightly able to carry it off as a novel -- I felt that what it brought to the reader was really more of a novella story or even less. There was some amount of beautiful writing and an attractive setting, but overall I just didn't find what I was looking for emotionally in this novel.

There is a beautiful relationship that suffers due to the traditional, well-meaning efforts of family who have other marital arrangements in mind, and the relationship then sadly plays ...more

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Aug 12, 2013 Verity rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: diversion, fiction

Not bad albeit a little bit predictable. Since it has been more than a year since I read it, I recall wishing that the lead male protagonist, whose name escapes me, was more fleshed out and developed. Perhaps it is something for a follow-up work.

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