Customer Reviews

The Morning Side of Dawn

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you're one of the few who hasn't read and re-read this story or, horror of all horrors, are allowing it to collect dust on your To Be Read shelf (like I was) I urge you to read it, ASAP. It's about learning to see past the surface and finding the true beauty within a person and getting past assumptions and misconceptions and learning to love. The hero is disabled (and that's all I'm going to give away!) and, after being rejected by the people who meant the most to him, has spent the majority of his adult life avoiding people. The heroine is a super-model, who has millions but is unhappy with her life and finds herself envious of those who've found love because she's been unable to. People just don't care to dig deep enough to see the beauty inside of her. Whaaaa, you say, right? How can I sympathize with a rich super-model? Well, I didn't think I could - until I read the book. She's not a self-centered snot and is a surprisingly sympathetic and likable character with a few insecurities of her own. Her dogged attraction to the reluctant hero and her determination to break down his barriers come across realistically and touched me deeply. The hero is one of the most unforgettable I've ever read about in a romance. He's beautiful and wounded - both inside and out - and oh-so-deserving of love. This is a compassionate love story even my shoddy memory won't soon forget. Read it!

I have worked with people who have special needs as well as having my own. This book had great insight about to how to deal with prejudice and love. The hero in this book thought he was more limitted than he was and he had his own prejudices to deal with. His experiences with prejudice did much to cause this. The heroine handles the situations with an insight that is wonderful and helpful for anyone dealing with such circumstances. The heroine really loves her man. (She even discovers that there is prejudice towards her because of her modeling job ). This book balances lessons and love well. Enjoy!

The third in a trilogy that includes "Stevie's Chase" and "Left at the Altar", "Morning Side of Dawn" follows the story of "supermodel" Cassie "Cassandra" Cameron, who is being stalked and thinks she may have had enough of the world of modeling. Enter Dar Cordell, a friend of her brother's who is the only one able to protect her while her brother and sister-in-law are out of town on a much-needed family vacation and her sister-in-law's brother and his wife are dealing with a difficult first pregnancy. Dar is attractive, an athlete, and a double leg amputee who hides away from the world when he is not competing in - and winning - races. The two romantic leads are, perhaps, overly perfect - a supermodel and a super athlete, but this is a romance novel, after all, and they have their faults as well. There are many obstacles in their way, not least of all their own stubbornness.

What sets this book apart from others in the romance genre is the handsome Dar Cordell, a very rare example of a double leg amputee being the leading man/hero of the story. Justine Davis realistically portrays his physical experiences and reality while, at the same time, showing him as attractive and desirable exactly as he is. If you like "wounded hero" romances, this is definitely one of the better examples of that genre. And it is not a bodice-ripper, although it does have its intimate moments which are well worth the wait as the story builds and Cassie and Dar's friendship and romance build along with it. It is sexy without being smutty, and it leaves you wanting more.

While this book is best read after reading the other two in the trilogy first, it also stands well on its own. It is intelligently written, well-researched, and, most importantly, it engages the reader in a way that makes you really care about what happens, not just to the main characters, but to the supporting characters as well. I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys wounded hero romances, and Dar Cordell is one of the best wounded heroes I've encountered in all of my reading. Justine Davis has shown real commitment to her material and to the various characters that are included in these books by writing a trilogy rather than stand-alone novels, and I have yet to find any other romance novels that even come close to giving us another hero like Dar Cordell.

A double amputee is reluctant to accept the love of a beautiful fashion model (also the sister of a good friend). The characters are more well developed than usual for a book this short. I suspect this book is the third in a series about this family/group of friends, but I have not been able to find the other two yet.

This is a pretty good "wounded hero" romance, slightly better than average. Dar is a double amputee who occasionally uses prosthetics but prefers wheelchairs he designs himself. The perfectly gorgeous supermodel heroine, Cassie, is kind of annoying, but Dar is an interesting character. It's rare to find a double amputee male character in a romance novel, so this book gets props for handling the issue head-on.

I loved this book. I couldn't stop thinking about the characters when I was finished. The hero and heroine were wonderful. Dar is a double amputee who designs high performance wheelchairs. Cassie is a super model who is taking a break to hide out from a creepy stalker. The only downside to the story was that there was a lot of internal musings but not so much that it interfered with my enjoyment of this story.

I really enjoyed this one.

The characters were interesting and their struggles to come together felt plausible. I loved that Dar is not a two-dimensional stereotype. He's running his business, designing wheelchairs for hiking and other sports.

Cassie, as a well-known model, understands him in a way he doesn't expect. They both know about being judged on appearances.

I have no idea where I picked this book up but what a fabulous find especially if you're anything like me and have a soft spot for the wounded heroes. Written in 96 and the last in a trilogy (which I'm now actively searching for) TMSOD contains one of the most seriously shut-off and tortured heroes I've come across since JR Ward's Zsadist.

Dar Cordell is bitter and perpetually grumpy. Standoffish and intimidating he's often just downright mean, allowing precious few into his inner circle, and even those he manages to keep at arms length. Dar is also impossibly handsome, a superior athlete and a double leg amputee, preferring a wheelchair to his seldom used prosthetics. This is one hero with a serious chip on his shoulder, belittling and biting out at everyone while using his missing legs as an excuse to shut himself off from the world.

Still, Dar would have to be up there with my top tortured heroes of all time because given the right circumstances (as is the case here) this unlikely romantic lead quickly gains your sympathy. So that despite his attitude he becomes desirable as you gain an understanding as to why he is the way he is. And as it turns out Dar's issues have very little to do with his legs.

The actual story here is pretty standard Harlequin romance; following supermodel Cassie "Cassandra" Cameron as she grows tired of the superficial world of modeling and escapes to her brothers for a much needed vacation. Of course then we have her stalker, and when he catches up with Cassie the only place she has left to turn is to her brother's friend Dar. Forcing this reluctant couple together while the police investigate.

I really liked Cassie, despite her supermodel status she reads like a real person managing to call Dar on his crap, which is just what he needs. As it turns out she`s just as stubborn as he is and faces some of the same issues too, with the public just assuming she's nothing more then her looks.

The sparks really fly between this couple with a palpable level of sexual tension throughout, despite the fact that Dar continually pushes Cassie way because he just can't believe she would `want' him. However when they finally make it into bed lookout, its smoking hot and sweetly intimate.

You can definitely tell that Davis has done her research here as we learn about the different types of wheelchairs (Dar designs racing chairs) hand controlled driving, and what it feels like to be looked down on or just looked through. And because Cassie moves in with Dar we also learn about modified kitchens and bathrooms, wheelchair ramps and accessibility issues in general.

All in all I loved this story and if it wasn't for the authors annoying overuse of the word "Chagrin" this would have been a 5 star read. Cheers people!

So, I think I've learned my lesson: any disability-themed romance novel readers gush over as "heartwarming" or a "tear-jerker" invariably plays up a number of insulting stereotypes of disabled people that insult me as they generate cheap angst. This book is no exception.

The book opens with supermodel Cassandra Cameron walking out of her agent's office after declaring she's taking an impromptu sabbatical. Worn out from reconciling her public image with her private life, she takes off to housesit for her vacationing brother. Unfortunately for her, she's attracted the unwelcome attention of a creepy dude who's determined to make contact with her. Unwillingly, family friend Dar Cordell finds himself drawn into her predicament. Though he'd rather hole up and make racing wheelchairs in solitude, he eventually agrees to help Cassie out by letting her hide out in his remote home.

The story Davis wanted to tell and the book she actually wrote do not match up. She clearly wanted to tell a story of love transcending superficial appearances and overcoming differences. What she actually wrote, however, was a pitying tale of a sad cripple and the condescending woman determined to show him how he should live his life instead. It wasn't a story about a disabled man finding the love he deserves. It was a story about readers being able to imagine themselves the charitable good girl who magnanimously befriends the downtrodden. The hero's disability is merely a means to an end.

The problem lies in the stark morality of the novel. There's little nuance or grey area to the novel. The good people unquestionably accept disability as charmingly normal and the bad people callously shun and dehumanize the disabled. It takes something complex and morally neutral and turns it into a simplistic moral play. This makes me think of a line from Tim O'Brien's "How To Tell a True War Story." Like war, disability is never moral:

"It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things they have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie."

Being disabled doesn't make a person stronger, wiser or more heroic and befriending, accepting or loving a disabled person doesn't make the able person kinder, nobler or better than anyone else. Unfortunately, Ms. Davis didn't get the memo on this. Throughout the book, Dar's ability is trotted out to define his father's and fiancee's perfidy and Cassie and her family's goodness. No one ever puzzles through any conflicted feelings, Dar never gets to talk about what disability means to his life, acceptance and rejection are just two stark, binary options. Dar is sad, and Cassie just yells her "acceptance" at him until he adopts an outlook she approves of.

And yet, the novel perpetuates patronizing attitudes towards disability, even as it's trying to be the benevolent champion of the poor cripples of the world. The first thing to really throw me was the scene where Cassie watches Dar playing NCAA baseball before his injury. Dar walks in as she's crying at the video and they get into an argument. She goes through amazing mental gymnastics about how they aren't tears of pity then yells at him for being selfish - because he doesn't want to talk about his feelings with people. To begin with, crying at what she terms a tragedy is pity, full stop. You can't spin that. Tears equal an assumption that disability is a negative. Secondly, why does she get to lecture this guy she's known for a week about how he should live his life? Because he's not a happy, grateful, "inspirational" cripple, he's doing it wrong?

Later on, when they finally fall into bed, we get this exchange:

"Dar?" She was looking at him, that hint of doubt back in her eyes, as if she sensed him withdrawing. "Dar, please, don't. I... It doesn't... I don't mind."
"My fiancée thought she didn't, either," he said, unable to stop himself, "until one of my stumps touched her."
"Dar, stop." She bit her lip, and shook her head as if in pain. "Oh, please, I don't know what to say. How to tell you ... not that it doesn't matter, of course it does, but ... Dar, I don't care! Can't you see that?"

Oh, she "doesn't mind." How gracious of her. Imagine if this was a hero saying this to an overweight heroine about her curves she's self-conscious of. Would this seem so romantic with the roles reversed?

In addition to appropriating disability to tell a story about an able bodied character, the book's just not written very well. The narrative is repetitive, rewording and restating simple concepts ad nauseam as if she didn't trust the reader to draw her own conclusions. The dialog is laughably unnatural. The story rests on a cast of characters endlessly psychoanalyzing the hell out of each other using their best daytime TV pop psychology terminology. They didn't talk to each other so much as try to outdo each other's metaphors. Dialog read more like a chain of overwrought monologues than the give and take of conversation. Way too melodramatic for my taste.

In the end, I just resented the novel. It's just another novel that defines the disabled character by what he's lost then uses the angst not to tell his story of acceptance and adjustment but to illustrate the able heroine's generosity and heroism. It does the disabled no favors with how it treats the theme. It's dripping with ableism.

I can't recommend this to anyone looking for disabled characters in romance. It perpetuates the negative attitudes it purportedly rejects.

The idea of a crippled hero finding love is a good one and also not typical for this genre of fiction. The way it's handled in this book is too pollyanna-ish for belief. A supermodel (Cassandra)decides that she's losing herself and wants to take some time to get away and "rediscover" herself & decide what she wants to do. I liked her to some extent and the hero was properly dark & tortured, but the romance was tepid to me and her determination to prove her love despite his handicap got downright annoying. I found it hard to believe that this romance would EVER occur and with a supermodel this famous, it's hard to believe that she wouldn't have been dogged by papparazzi at all times. There were lots of other characters from previous books, but you didn't have to read the books to understand their part in the story, which was good. An OK read.