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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4 1/2 *s Full of emotion, angst and family secrets, July 5, 2003
This book introduced the Rutledge siblings Camden, Earl of Treyhern, his sister Catherine (No True Gentleman) and youngest brother Bentley (The Devil You Know). I read (and enjoyed) Catherine's story first, then read (and adored) Bentley's so I thought I should go back and read Cam's. Ms Carlyle has a definite knack for creating an overall tone that reflects her characters. Cam is pensive, circumspect and deliberate and, as with the man, this book had me a bit impatient waiting for things to happen. Therein lies my only complaint with this book. Because much of the story is told in flashback, at times it felt slow, like nothing was happening. Their father, the dissolute and lecherous Randolph "Randy" Rutledge is a notorious libertine who is quickly running his estate and family into ruin. When Cam was young, his father took a mistress whose daughter Helene became Cam's best friend. But as they grew to teenage, they became something more and Cam wound up compromising Helene. Helene's mother whisked her off to the Continent never to be heard from again breaking both teens' hearts. It falls to Cam to drag the family back from the brink of financial ruin and he does so by marrying the malevolent, but wealthy Cassandra. The marriage is torture but ends several years later with Cassandra's death and leaves Cam with a daughter who cannot or will not speak. After his father dies (while debauching the governess) Cam hires a new governess - who turns out to be his long lost Helene! The shock of seeing one another again after all these years turns them both inside out and both realize that the attraction they felt so long ago is still very much alive. But what to do about it? He's an earl and she's a mere governess. Not to mention that Cam has made a verbal agreement to marry his cousin, Joan. Meanwhile Helene is making good progress with Ariane and determines that there is nothing physically wrong with her - that the child has suffered some sort of trauma that has caused her to keep silent. During her years on the Continent Helene studied the controversial subject of psychological disorders and feels confident that she can reach Ariane. But perhaps someone does not want Ariane to speak for fear of what she might reveal! There's lots of emotional angst here, between Cam and Helene, between Cam and Bentley (that boy is such a lost soul!). There are also secrets to be revealed about Cam's late wife Cassandra, a shocking trip to Gretna for an unexpected couple and of course, will Ariane ever speak? A recommended read.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A "BEAUTY" Of A Read!!, December 6, 2000
"A beautifully written story" are the words that came to my mind while I was reading "Beauty Like The Night" by Liz Carlyle and those are the words I felt as I finished it. It is EXQUISITE. Liz Carlyle has a very special talent. She is a writer of "quality". Quality storylines, quality characters, quality "words". She is intelligent and so are her stories and characters. It is apparent to me as a reader, she writes with great "care". Cam Rutledge and Helene de Severs are complex characters but one's you can feel comfortable with and care for both of them. Helene is especially interesting to me because of her "occupation" in the little studied (at the time) field of psychiatry. Their love for each other is established immediately and the obstacles between them are handled in a way that is reasonable - but not uncomplicated - yet not silly with "mistaken assumptions" - you know what I mean. Generally children in my romance reads are very irritating to me, but the child in this story is KEY and is not "overdone". She is very endearing (and her thoughts are quite humerous in some parts). If you haven't read this book yet, I say you'd best not miss it. Mz. Carlyle has done it again - and I say that with all sincerity. It did not have as much sex in it as "A Woman Scourned", but as with most things, "quality" far outweighs "quantity". The love and sexual tension is beautiful, as is the "act" when it happens. I simply cannot find fault in this book. Congratulations Ms. Carlyle on another fine piece of work!
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ANOTHER WINNER BY LIZ CARLYLE, December 5, 2000
After writing 2 magnificent books, My False Heart and A Woman Scorned, Liz Carlyle has again written another winner! Beauty Like the Night is a wonderful, beautiful book! When but just teenagers, Cam and Helene were best of friends. During their friendship they realized that their feelings for each other ran far deeper than friendship: They were in love with each other. Unfortunately, Helene's mother, who was the paramour of the previous Earl of Treyhern, discovered them both in a compromising position. Because of her mother's station in life, a wedding between these 2 was not permitted. So Helene was sent away to a private school in Switzerland while Cam, left with a broken heart, decided to do his duty and marry a woman befitting his station. Faith has brought these 2 star-crossed lovers together again 10 years later, because Camden Rutledge, the Earl of Treyhern and now widowed, needs a special governess for his child Ariane who has stopped speaking after suffering a traumatizing experience. Helene de Severs, who has built a name for herself across the Continent for healing children, was just the right woman to do the job. Here starts the story of Cam and Helene rediscovering their feelings for each other with the help of excellent supporting characters that only Liz Carlyle can write! Ariane, the 6-year-old child in the story, is believably portrayed. Not like some children in historical romances where the children are smarter and know more vocabulary far beyond their years. No, Ariane is the typical child trying to understand words and things she doesn't know. The way Liz Carlyle wrote about Ariane and her feelings is poignant and beautiful. Bentley, the younger brother of Cam, is an absolute rake and definitely deserves a story of his own. He supported the story magnificently! Yet never overshadowing our hero and heroine. Beauty Like the Night is so well written that the author virtually brings you in the world of Cam and Helene. When Liz Carlyle writes, she makes you feel, see, touch and smell everything giving you the feeling like you're in the book yourself! Beauty Like the Night by Liz Carlyle is a book to definitely read and be savored, for it is a book that once you start, you will find it difficult to put down, because Liz Carlyle knows how to write romance! She delivers brilliantly and her prose is superb! BEAUTY LIKE THE NIGH is going up, together with My False Heart and A Woman Scorned, in MY KEEPER SHELF!
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