In The Eye of The Beholder

I found this book to be not very interesting.

I'm afraid I didn't really like this book. There wasn't anything I particularly liked. It had nothing to do with the writing, that was fine. It was more the characters and plot. I hated the heroine Claire. I didn't really feel the love between Erik and Claire. I hated the ending where Erik was dead and Gilbert came back into the picture. I don't mind stories where there is no villain or mystery to solve, and its most about a couple trying to make a life together, but this story didn't even have that. There wasn't any real communication between Erik and Claire. I really wanted to like this book, but I'm afraid this book didn't do it for me.

(no rating)
I haven't read The Phantom Of The Opera in many years and didn't see the play, but familiarity with the story which forms the background for this novel isn't necessary. This romantic novel picks up a year after those events, with the Phantom falling in love with a very different young woman. (Both different from his previous paramour and also "different" from some of the social mores of the time and different from the high society she's eventually thrust into.) She is in danger and needs his protection (societal as much as physical). At times it reads like a fantasy (and that's not a bad thing). The story unfolds in a natural manner with some interesting historical interludes before drawing to a very satisfying conclusion. Readers who enjoy historical romance will find much to like here.

I'm a big fan of "The Phantom of the Opera" so I was initially a little skeptical of this - thinking perhaps it was just going to be a knock-off or something like that. I was pleasantly surprised to find an interesting story, well-written characters and plot twists I wasn't expecting! Would love to see more stories like this!

My first impression: If 90% of everything is crap, then this definitely falls within the remaining 10%. And in the end, I retained that impression, even though along the way, I had a number of complaints. Yet for all those complaints, I still ended up rating it 5 stars. Yes, I teetered on the edge between 4 and 5, but I finally came down on the higher side, because if the next book I read has all the characteristics of this one, that would make me very happy, because of all the things this story did right. The characters captivated me. I ended up thinking of Claire as an actual person, inconsistencies and all. The story dealt with a real issue, and one close to my heart, the human need to love and be loved. A theme that (whether Sharon intended it or not) strikes more deeply than the title implies: Not just that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That everyone needs some sympathy with others, in order to survive.