Yours Until Dawn

Yours Until Dawn
4.5 Stars

After losing his sight at the Battle of Trafalgar and being abandoned by the woman he adored, Gabriel Fairchild, Earl of Sheffield, has sequestered himself at his country estate to lick his wounds. Convinced that she can help him cope with his disability, prim and proper nurse Samantha Wickersham engages in a battle of wills with the arrogant and angry earl who will do anything to rid himself of the shrewish spinster - at least that is what he tells himself...

Yes, this is another retelling of Beauty and the Beast - What can I say? I love this trope.

Mederios's version contains several original elements that contribute significantly to the story. To begin with, her portrayal of Gabriel's blindness, both in terms show more of the physical realities and psychological stresses, is very realistic. Second, Gabriel and Samantha's adversarial relationship, with its verbal sparring and slow-burn chemistry, is a typical representation of the theme; however, the twist revolving around her real identity is delightful even if it is easy to guess.

Several reviewers have highlighted certain issues that I personally did not find objectionable. First, the miraculous return of Gabriel's sight is not only believable but is also crucial for the progression of the plot following the revelation of "Samantha's" secret. Second, Gabriel's failure to recognize that Cecily and Samantha are one and the same, and the idea that he ostensibly "cheats" make sense within the narrative as it is clear that Gabriel's love for Samantha is actually an extension of his love for Cecily and perhaps he even suspected the truth on a subconscious level. After all, he basically falls in love with the same woman twice..

Overall, this is a well-written romance with engaging characters and a surprising twist or two. I will definitely be reading more books by this author. show less

I read a bunch of Teresa Medeiros while I was in highschool and it was until recently that someone made me remember the plot in Yours Until Dawn that I choose to reread it again out of boredom.

The book started by introducing Samantha Wickersham, a nurse arriving at Fairchild Park to attend to a recent war hero who became blinded and heartbroken after his fiance left him. Gabriel Fairchild is a stubborn and very proud young lord who had his sight and love robbed from him. He blamed himself deeply as he did against everyone around him. The presence of a nurse hired by his absent family who never know how to handle him had somehow hurt his feelings so he went all out like a tantrum boy and brood alone in his estate.

Unlike any other show more historical romance, the book doesn't restrict itself according to the genre. It carried itself in a simple light-hearted way around the subject matter. Half of the book is about Sam's struggle with Gabriel's beastly ways that was mostly comedic and rather enjoyable. However, it was leading to the end of the book that things got more than a bit heated as they became trusted companions and lovers before one of them choose to leave the other for a good reason.

It's an enjoyable and a tame story about love, forgiveness and trust. About how two character, one who learn from the mistake done and tries to fix it and another who learn to trust and open to more possibilities and to others. show less

An excellent historical romance!

'Yours Until Dawn' is about an earl, Gabriel Fairchild, who is blinded in a naval battle, disgraced and abandoned by his family and fiancee, and Samantha Wickersham, a prim but spirited young woman who accepts the position of his nurse.

This combines two great characters and a well-written story. I was laughing at the first chapter at the banter between the two leads; banter is something that is so rarely done well and without being cliché, but here it was great. Their development had just the right amount of depth, and the writing was superb. Just when I thought it was getting soppy and I was feeling guilty for reading a fluffy paperback, there came such a twist that I actually gasped out loud and show more attracted some very strange looks. This is the danger of assuming that the plot will be totally formulaic!

There was some repetition and a few Americanisms and I felt that after the twist, the ending ran about in circles - it was obviously the author's attempt not to rush the end after such a revelation, but it didn't quite match up to the build-up: that said, it was a practically impossible task! There were obvious influences as well - 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Jane Eyre' - but they're both stories I love. This isn't the thing to read if you want something world-changing, just something that will stay with you for a while and that you can look back upon fondly.

I read this entire book with a smile and I recommend it to anyone who is secretly longing to read a romance novel to get all the warmth and cuteness, but wants one that has as well the depth, narrative skill and plot of 'literature'. show less

So, this book wasn't too bad. I'm honestly not going to pretend that I read this book for any other reason other than to put me to sleep during a stressful time at uni. Desperate times call for desperate measures. But, let's see.


Gratuitously attractive, tortured male meets gratuitously attractive girl. Circumstances keep them apart for whatever reason, something happens, they're together.

... That's a bit harsh. This book was actually alright. The writing could've been a lot worse, the characterisation was a little bit limp but there was a nice little twist at the end. I cringed at some lines, but some lines were interesting.

I liked the female character, Samantha, she was pretty sassy. The most interesting part of this book was the fact show more that the male protagonist, Gabriel, is blind, so it's interesting to see him deal with that. show less

"The Dreaded Plot Twist"

Yours Until Dawn suffers from an age old problem in genre related fiction, although not usually in the romance genre, thrillers and mystery novels on the other hand ... the dreaded plot twist. Where the author expends almost all of the their energy to create a great jaw-dropping plot twist, and it must be jaw-dropping, it must take the reader completely by surprise. And it will not be revealed until the last 50 or so pages of the novel. And they succeed - it is a plot twist...that no reader could possibly predict, mainly because it doesn't make a lot of sense and the writer had to jump through hoops to make it work, in some cases not all destroy characters, and often jump outside the realm of logic. So the reader show more as result is left sputtering in rage and disbelief.

Don't do this writers! Seriously, the plot twist is not worth it. You can write a perfectly wonderful book without a plot twist. Trust me, it can be done. Plot twists are actually quite hard to pull off. Few people do it well. Actually I'm having troubles thinking of any books that have recently...maybe Henry James Turn of the Screw? Or Dauphne Du Maurie's Rebecca - but those were mystery novels. It's easier to do in the mystery genre.

The best plot twists - can be predicted by a reader, but are so good the reader is thrilled that they figured it out and can't wait for it to happen. Most if not all plot twists are done using an unreliable narrator. We're in the point of view of someone who is either clueless or in denial or doesn't have all the information. The plot twists when we change points of view. Example of this approach is the movie The Sixth Sense. Or when information is revealed to the protagonist - such as the scene in Empire Strikes Back where Darth Vader reveals he's Luke's father. And a good plot twist works regardless of whether or not you've figured it out ahead of time.

In Yours Until Dawn this is unfortunately not the case - while I did figure out the plot twist ahead of time partly because I was aware there was one - from reading reviews on Good Reads and Amazon, I didn't think it made sense and tried to come up with another possibility, but no that was the only scenario that halfway worked. So when it was revealed, I wasn't surprised, nor was I was happy about it. Sort of hoped I was wrong and it was something else. (That is not the reaction you want when doing a plot twist, you don't want the reader to be disappointed and wish it was something else.) Medeiros in her attempt to ensure the reader didn't figure out the plot twist - inserts a lot of red herrings or character related tid-bits to mislead you but they also make you think - okay, this can't be work because well it makes no logical sense and if we ignore logic and it is the twist, then dang, the heroine is a complete nit-wit and not all that likable or sympathetic. Also, in order for the plot twist to come out, and for the hero to find out about it - the writer had to change the hero's circumstances in a rather cliche and somewhat abrupt manner. In short the story became about THE PLOT TWIST.

Shame. Because the writer could have made the plot twist work - either by letting the reader in on it or by placing the entire story in just one point of view. But no, she wanted her cake and eat it too and as a result it ruined a perfectly good story. show less

Hah, disability cured by One Twue Wuv for the win. I saw the twist coming pretty early too. All of the characters behaved inconsistently but I found the about-face from Samantha to be particularly confusing. I'm glad I waited for my library to get a copy and that I didn't spend my own money on it. I generally like Teresa Medeiros' work, but this one was a disappointment, especially since I love the Beauty and the Beast trope.

Yours Until Dawn kind of reminded me of the story of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan. Gabriel, the blind hero, is stubbornly independent, bumbling his way around the house, because he can't stand to be coddled, yet at the same time he can get worked up into childish piques of temper that have him deliberately destroying things in frustration. Samantha is an admirable heroine who is equally stubborn and determined to prove to Gabriel that his life isn't over just because he's lost his sight, and that with some work, he can lead a fulfilling and relatively normal existence. The banter between Gabriel and Samantha could be quite amusing, especially when he is trying everything in his power to make her resign her position as his nurse, but show more she persevered with long-suffering dignity, doing everything he asked of her even though he was making a complete pest of himself. I thought that it was very sweet how Samantha was able to bring little joys back into Gabriel's life. The game of blind man's bluff with the servants was hilarious, and the little puppy she brought home for him was just too cute. It was funny how Gabriel's griped and grumbled about the dog, but then was a total pushover for the little beast. While not exactly a seeing eye dog, Sam certainly earned his keep. Best of all, I liked how Samantha stood up to Gabriel's family when they tried to treat him like an invalid. It's no wonder he didn't want them around.

Yours Until Dawn was a likable and entertaining story, but during the first half or so of the book, I found my mind wandering a bit. I think part of the reason for this is that the character development seemed to be somewhat lacking. The author hints at past heartbreak for both Gabriel and Samantha but never takes it much further than that. I just kept finding myself eager to know more about them, but not discovering much. Then there were the snippets of correspondence that act as epigraphs for each chapter. I have to admit that initially I was completely baffled as to their purpose. As the story progressed, Ms. Medeiros revealed enough information for me to realize that they were excerpts from love letters that Gabriel had written to Cecily, the woman he had loved and who had abandoned him after learning of his blindness. Even still, I was a little confused about their meaning, but decided that they were there to demonstrate the confident, charming man that Gabriel had been before his battle injuries had robbed him of his sight. As it turns out, I wasn't entirely correct, because a little over halfway into the novel, the author threw me a major curve ball that I didn't see coming until I was right on top of it, at which point, everything came together to make perfect sense. Then the ambiguous character development which I had initially viewed as a weakness wasn't quite as big of an issue anymore. Even though I still wanted somewhat deeper characterizations, I 'm not sure how the author could have accomplished that and still told the same story.

Although it didn't quite reach the heights of perfections for me, Yours Until Dawn was still an enjoyable read. I think it was generally a little lighter and more cheerful than I was expecting given the subject matter. Gabriel was tortured by his affliction, but perhaps not to the extreme of some other romance heroes I've read. Samantha is a little tortured by her past actions too, but again not in an extreme way. I think this just left me with the feeling that there wasn't as much depth of emotion as there should have been. I also wasn't entirely sensing the love connection. At first, it just seemed like they were only falling in love because Gabriel felt challenged by Samantha and she felt empathy for his situation. However, once it got to the plot twist, the story took a very touching turn. After that, I was very much on board with this couple finding their HEA. I do wish that Samantha hadn't kept running from Gabriel quite so much and had just stood her ground and told him the truth. In the end though, she finally found her courage, so alls well that ends well, I suppose. Yours Until Dawn was perhaps a bit too neat and tidy of a story for my taste with everything coming together a little too perfectly, but in spite of that, it was still an entertaining read that had some decent emotion without being too angsty and was lighthearted without being silly. In some ways it reminded me of the one Julia Quinn book I read a while back, so fans of hers may enjoy Teresa Medeiros's style as well. Yours Until Dawn was my first book by Ms. Medeiros, but it has definitely left me open to trying others by her in the future. show less