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As You Desire
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As You Desire, by Connie Brockway (Braxton #1) "Buddy Read" Start Dec. 23, 2011
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Post #48/Q#16 - Oh, "word blindness" - or alexia exists, and it is different than dyslexia. It is just that they didn't have the term dyslexia at the time/setting of the is story.
Post #49 - Ms. Brockway might be able to pull it off! Blake has his moments when he struggles with his conscience, he's just is so arrogant about it, LOL! We'll see.


Vi's Questions for Chapters 19 - 23
22. *rolls eyes* Blake, the English Gentleman strikes again. But he does make me giggle: You must care for the fragile vessel that shelters your sublime spirit. In other ways, it does make me wonder: how were the English people administered in case of any accident etc if there wasn't any English doctors to attend to them? In that case, aren't the number of English people settling there for a number of years taking a risk?
23. Oh yeah, the rest of the book has Blake behaving like a complete worthless prig. We'll skip that part. Nothing new, after all. Do you think the papyrus scroll is really a forgery? Why is Mr. Paget after the scroll?
24. Desdemona does have a good heart. But the interesting question here is: Is she a bit Mary Sue-ish? What do you think?
25. I sort of expected Harry to blackmail Blake. But I didn't think Blake would have refused. (In hindsight, I should have - comes with being a prig, after all) Did you have any expectation?
26. Atta girl Magi. That ought to tell him. I've been wanting to tell Harry the same thing for most of the book. He did behave abominably. But why does he need a third person to make him realize all this? Even when he knew all that was at stake. This is the most irritating thing about Harry in this book.
27. On the heels of that question is Dizzy being dense. That gift does not speak of the gift bought lightly. It's a gift from a lover. Why is she willingly ignoring it? Why is she focusing on little things, instead?
28. Given what Dizzy says about Blake's past, does it change even a tiny bit of your view of him? Can you tolerate him? Or does it sound a lot of self-pity?

22. *rolls eyes* Blake, the English Gentleman strikes again. But he does make me giggle: You must care for the fragile vessel that shelters your sublime spirit. In other ways, it does make me wonder: how were the English people administered in case of any accident etc if there wasn't any English doctors to attend to them? In that case, aren't the number of English people settling there for a number of years taking a risk? I'd imagine there were English doctors there. I think it was more a case of Dizzy loving Harry and wanting to tend to him and Blake being "the proper English gentleman" and wanting to keep Harry from Dizzy.
23. Oh yeah, the rest of the book has Blake behaving like a complete worthless prig. We'll skip that part. Nothing new, after all. Do you think the papyrus scroll is really a forgery? Why is Mr. Paget after the scroll? I figured the scroll was a fake, but after reading the whole book, I was surprised. I suspect Paget realizes it could be authentic.
24. Desdemona does have a good heart. But the interesting question here is: Is she a bit Mary Sue-ish? What do you think? I don't think so because she's got flaws...personally I think she lives in a fantasy world, waiting for the Romantic Knight to save her and take her to picture perfect England, rather than seeing that where she is and what she's got is good enough. And I had to look up the term "MarySue" LOL
25. I sort of expected Harry to blackmail Blake. But I didn't think Blake would have refused. (In hindsight, I should have - comes with being a prig, after all) Did you have any expectation? I did figure Harry would blackmail Blake, but like you, I thought Blake would take it. I guess he figured he could hurt Harry more by trying for Desdemona than by trying for the house that Harry really didn't want anyway.
26. Atta girl Magi. That ought to tell him. I've been wanting to tell Harry the same thing for most of the book. He did behave abominably. But why does he need a third person to make him realize all this? Even when he knew all that was at stake. This is the most irritating thing about Harry in this book. I think Harry's pride got in the way of his seeing the truth. He thinks poorly of himself since he can't read and feels Dizzy needs someone better.
27. On the heels of that question is Dizzy being dense. That gift does not speak of the gift bought lightly. It's a gift from a lover. Why is she willingly ignoring it? Why is she focusing on little things, instead? Dizzy has believed the way she has for so long that she's unwilling to see things from a different perspective. And let's face it, Harry hasn't tried to change her opinion in the last 3 years. he's only played into it. What I want to know is, did Harry carve the hieroglyphs into the mirror or were they there in the first place?
28. Given what Dizzy says about Blake's past, does it change even a tiny bit of your view of him? Can you tolerate him? Or does it sound a lot of self-pity? Blake did not win any points with his woe is me tale that he told Dizzy and she relayed to Harry. He sounds like a spoiled brat who thinks he deserves it all. Like Harry pointed out, there are LOTS who have it worse than Blake did and they didn't complain. I'd venture to say that even Dizzy had a worse childhood than Blake due to the treatment she received at the hands of her parents.

22. *rolls eyes* Blake, the English Gentleman strikes again. But he does make me giggle: You must care for the fragile vessel that shelters your sublime spirit. In other ways, it does make me wonder: how were the English people administered in case of any accident etc if there wasn't any English doctors to attend to them? In that case, aren't the number of English people settling there for a number of years taking a risk?
Well, it really was a “third world country”, so I imagine finding half-way decent medical care was pretty iffy. As much as I would like to go back in time, I wouldn’t have wanted to deal with the lack of medical advances and sanitation back then. Ugh. Yes, they were taking a huge risk.
23. Oh yeah, the rest of the book has Blake behaving like a complete worthless prig. We'll skip that part. Nothing new, after all. Do you think the papyrus scroll is really a forgery? Why is Mr. Paget after the scroll?
LOL! Ditto on your feelings about Blake. As the book goes on, I b/c more suspicious that the papyrus scroll is real or is a copy with info to some important tomb. Paget must know something they don’t.
24. Desdemona does have a good heart. But the interesting question here is: Is she a bit Mary Sue-ish? What do you think?
Nah. She’s just a dreamer; a hopeless romantic. She’s not “straight-laced” enough to be a true “Mary Sue.”
25. I sort of expected Harry to blackmail Blake. But I didn't think Blake would have refused. (In hindsight, I should have - comes with being a prig, after all) Did you have any expectation?
LMAO! Ditto on expecting Harry to try and get Blake to leave Egypt and, therefore, Dis. Yeah, hindsight is 20/20. I figured Blake would take him up on the offer, but something would happen to delay his departure.
26. Atta girl Magi. That ought to tell him. I've been wanting to tell Harry the same thing for most of the book. He did behave abominably. But why does he need a third person to make him realize all this? Even when he knew all that was at stake. This is the most irritating thing about Harry in this book.
Oh, I think Harry knew. He just needed someone to verbalize that they knew. I don’t know, maybe it is a auditory thing. LOL!
27. On the heels of that question is Dizzy being dense. That gift does not speak of the gift bought lightly. It's a gift from a lover. Why is she willingly ignoring it? Why is she focusing on little things, instead?
Oh, it was a beautiful gift. She’s deluding herself. I would say years of a belief is hard to overcome in a few short days. Update: Susan, I believe the hieroglyphs are original.
28. Given what Dizzy says about Blake's past, does it change even a tiny bit of your view of him? Can you tolerate him? Or does it sound a lot of self-pity?
I don’t know, that sort of turned me on my ear, her defending Blake like that and making Harry seem to be the self-centered one, when obviously he isn’t. **shrugs** I guess we all have a little of that in us. Update after looking at Susan’s answers: Still, I agree with Susan; I’d bet Diz had a harder childhood.

29. Tons of roses showed up for Dizzy. Was the kiss between Blake and Dizzy all you thought it would be? I'll admit I was giggling as she gave romance novel monologue to it and they were falling over the flowers :)
30. I started chapter 25 laughing from Harry's comment about it being no wonder Lenore left Blake if that was how he kissed and I ended it breathless. Comments?
31. Total frustration! Marta still hasn't grasped the concept that Harry doesn't want her. Where you surprised that Marta didn't go get Harry and let them take Dizzy? Did you wonder where Rabi went?
32. It was Gunter!!And he's headed out of town. Do you think there should have been some kind of punishment for Gunter for what he had done to Harry?
33. Harry rides a white horse! Did I miss this information before? What a fairy tale right in front of Desdemona and she misses it...her hero on a white horse! Comments?
34. What an interesting bunch of confrontations and conversations were included during the rescue of Dizzy...Blake. Harry. The woman. Abdul. Did any of it surprise you? Did Blake's actions redeem him?
35. The scroll. Were your thoughts on it correct? I was wrong LOL
36. Harry and Dizzy got the HEA! Do you think he's romantic enough? I do. So much so that I named my new Kindle after him :)
37. Final comments?

29. Tons of roses showed up for Dizzy. Was the kiss between Blake and Dizzy all you thought it would be? I'll admit I was giggling as she gave romance novel monologue to it and they were falling over the flowers :)
That was funny!
30. I started chapter 25 laughing from Harry's comment about it being no wonder Lenore left Blake if that was how he kissed and I ended it breathless. Comments?
Ditto! Lovely love scene! **sigh** I thought it was very well written.
31. Total frustration! Marta still hasn't grasped the concept that Harry doesn't want her. Where you surprised that Marta didn't go get Harry and let them take Dizzy? Did you wonder where Rabi went?
I was very surprised. That was a twist I wasn’t expecting. And lastly, yes!
32. It was Gunter!!And he's headed out of town. Do you think there should have been some kind of punishment for Gunter for what he had done to Harry?
Definitely. He got off too easy.
33. Harry rides a white horse! Did I miss this information before? What a fairy tale right in front of Desdemona and she misses it...her hero on a white horse! Comments?
LOL! I’ll have to go back and check what color horse he was riding at the beginning – LOL! I can’t even remember if he was riding a horse.
34. What an interesting bunch of confrontations and conversations were included during the rescue of Dizzy...Blake. Harry. The woman. Abdul. Did any of it surprise you? Did Blake's actions redeem him?
Hmmmm. Lord, he was pretty arrogant through it all. However, I think he did redeem himself a little.
35. The scroll. Were your thoughts on it correct? I was wrong LOL
Me too! Very interesting that Abdul would do that, allow that, don’t you think?
36. Harry and Dizzy got the HEA! Do you think he's romantic enough? I do. So much so that I named my new Kindle after him :)
LOL! Yes. Give Braxton a kiss for me.
37. Final comments?
Loved the book. Loved the ending. Looking forward to the next one.

29. Tons of roses showed up for Dizzy. Was the kiss between Blake and Dizzy all you thought it would be? I'll admit I was giggling as she gave romance novel monologue to it and they were falling over the flowers :)
Yeah, obviously the kiss will not be the same as the one with Harry. It's a Romancelandia rule! I blinked a few times when I read her monologue and then started giggling - all the while thinking OMG! This female! :D
30. I started chapter 25 laughing from Harry's comment about it being no wonder Lenore left Blake if that was how he kissed and I ended it breathless. Comments?
Great love scene. Though only one, well-written to pack a bang!
31. Total frustration! Marta still hasn't grasped the concept that Harry doesn't want her. Where you surprised that Marta didn't go get Harry and let them take Dizzy? Did you wonder where Rabi went?
I thought she would rise above it but guess some people will do anything to ignore the truth. I was very surprised. I was guessing Rabi would have gone to Harry, but I was wrong.
32.It was Gunter!!And he's headed out of town. Do you think there should have been some kind of punishment for Gunter for what he had done to Harry?
I don't think Harry even knows that Gunter's behind it or did I miss something?
33.Harry rides a white horse! Did I miss this information before? What a fairy tale right in front of Desdemona and she misses it...her hero on a white horse! Comments?
I went through the book (thank you, Ctrl+F) but the white horse was not mentioned initially. I missed it until you just pointed it out!
34.What an interesting bunch of confrontations and conversations were included during the rescue of Dizzy...Blake. Harry. The woman. Abdul. Did any of it surprise you? Did Blake's actions redeem him?
Well, Blake's was comedic. Really. Dude didn't have any idea of anything - just going in. But, he did redeem himself a bit. If only Brockway could redeem him all the way through.
35.The scroll. Were your thoughts on it correct? I was wrong LOL
Nah, I was blindsided. I didn't even think it was the real one. But the Apis bull in exchange for the scroll - ha, Blake used it in the end, didn't he?
36.Harry and Dizzy got the HEA! Do you think he's romantic enough? I do. So much so that I named my new Kindle after him :)
Yeah, definitely. Verbal is his forte after all.
37. Final comments?
When are we starting the next book? :P

#29 – LOL! Yes, even Diz’s imagination couldn’t overcome falling pots of flowers.
#30 - ☺
#31 – Needless to say, I was surprised and frustrated with Martha, too. I thought Rabi would have gone to Harry too.
#32 – I do believe you’re right, Vi! Harry wasn’t told, to the reader’s knowledge. Gunter left b/c Maurice went a little wack-a-doodle. Diz certainly knew, but Harry didn’t. Though, I’m sure she told him after the story. I hope!
#33. Ctrol+F ! Thanks, Vi! I knew that worked on the Internet, but I didn’t know it worked on my Kindle for PC.
#34 – I think I’ll enjoy this book – and Blake – more on a second read, in about a year.
#35 – Me too. Yes, he did.
#37 – Sure, I’m eager. I bought it first, and why I read this one – to get to that one. Do you ladies want to do it sometimes in January?


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#16 – Neat that Ashley is excelling in other areas.
#17 – Yeah. They both need to wake up and smell the coffee.
#18 – I think Diz likes the idea of England; the reality of it might not live up to her expectations. Besides, she loves her independence, freedom, and Egypt so much.
#19 – Mind Meld! LOL!
#20 & 21 – Oh! I hate when there is a character with a name that pushes one of my buttons! LOL! I totally agree with you about the Blake’s not wondering about Harry’s safety; however, I mark that up to his self-centeredness.