Title: Blue Skies
Author: Catherine Anderson
Sub-genres: Contermporary/Cowboy
I don’t read much mainstream contemporary romance and I think I’m discovering that the reason comes down to this: most romance novels need a prop, something to distract you from the fact that the love story is only mediocre and the characters are cardboard cutouts.
Not so with Catherine Anderson. I didn’t need exotic locations, magic, mystery, or action/adventure to distract me from the love story that quite simply worked magic all on its own. I’ve read a few novels by Catherine Anderson by now, though this was my first, and what I’ve come to realize she does is write about wounded people in an honest and compelling manner. Her happily ever afters are earned and they don’t come with a bright red bow.
In Blue Skies, Carly was blind for her entire life until a few weeks before the book starts. (Yes, I have a soft spot for blind characters, but in this case she was actually well written.) Thanks to a surgery and intensive treatment, she is able to see now for the first time, and everything is new. She goes to a bar just to watch people dance, but there she finds more than she bargained for — a smooth-talking cowboy whose hunting ground she has inadvertently wandered onto.
In an incredibly unromantic encounter in the back of his truck, he gets her pregnant, and that’s where the story really begins. She really shouldn’t have gotten pregnant, not with her eye condition, and doing so is going ot make her lose her vision once again.
Meanwhile, Hank receives a loud wakeup call about the life he’s been leading. He always thought he might get hurt some day, but he never thought he would get someone else hurt.
This was simply a wonderful story, full of heartache and joy.
Overall Rating: 5/5
Recommended to those whose fantasy involves real people growing, changing, and healing thanks to love.
**Fantastic Love is a no-nonsense look at romance, from the popular to the obscure, recent to classic, and from any sub-genre I feel like reading. I’ll tell you what works, what doesn’t work, and most of all, what kinds of fantasy it fulfills. Because whether or not we’re talking about the fantasy or paranormal sub-genre of romance, it’s all wish-fulfillment fantasy.