Title: Yours Until Dawn Author: Teresa Medeiros
Published: July 27, 2004
Genre(s): Romance: Historical
Page Count: 373
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Gabriel Fairchild's valor during battle earns him the reputation of hero, but costs him both his sight and his hope for the future. Abandoned by the fiancée he adored, the man who once walked like a prince among London's elite secludes himself in his family's mansion, cursing his way through dark days and darker nights.
Prim nurse Samantha Wickersham arrives at Fairchild Park to find her new charge behaving more like a beast than a man. Determined to do her duty, she engages the arrogant earl in a battle of both wit and wills. Although he claims she doesn't possess an ounce of womanly softness, she can feel his heart racing at her slightest touch. As Samantha begins to let the light back into Gabriel's life and his heart, they both discover that some secrets—and some pleasures—are best explored in the dark...
Retellings of Beauty & the Beast are in no short supply in Regency romance. Just off the top of my head, I know that I’ve read Ravished by Amanda Quick, Simply Love by Mary Balogh, Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare, and Darling Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt (not Regency, but you get the general idea. There are also several that I haven’t read. Clearly, it’s a popular trope. Teresa Medeiros’s Yours Until Dawn is yet another entry into the pretty long line of retellings that’s come before.
And while this book is arguably a retelling of Beauty & the Beast, it’s also an example of the ever-present “beautiful young woman teaches depressed disabled man how to accept his disability” (take Me Before You, for example). Books like this tend to be rather problematic, and, unsurprisingly, Yours Until Dawn is disappointing in that respect as well. Nothing like a super ableist Happily Ever After to ruin the mood.
The plot is, obviously, pretty straight-forward. Gabriel was badly wounded during the Peninsular Wars; he’s now blind and “ugly.” Samantha answers an advertisment for a nurse, and over a period of time she helps Gabriel adjust to his new reality. They fall in love, and everything is going well. It’s an incredibly familiar plot and Medeiros stays true to readers’ expectations in that regard.
Until two things happen. First, there is a plot twist about Samantha’s past that I genuinely wasn’t expecting. Second, and more important, Gabriel’s sight is magically restored to him. Yikes.
As I am not a disabled person, it’s not for me to preach on the subject. I leave that to intelligent, #ownvoices reviewers like Ridley. However, I’m just going to say that the resolution of Yours Until Dawn is incredibly harmful and ableist. It seems as if the “reward” for learning to accept his disability is that Gabriel no longer has to deal with said disability. Not only is that unrealistic, it perpetuates the common narrative that disabled people are Bad People who must somehow deserve their lot in life, and maybe if they just worked harder to be good, god (or the universe) would alleviate their suffering.
Bull crap.
Additionally, a person doesn’t need to be 100% able-bodied in order to have a Happily Ever After. Fiction tends to set up this idea that disabled people have only two choices: a cure to their illness, or suicide (see also: Me Before You). A third choice, that it’s entirely possible to be both happy and disabled, never seems to occur to authors, who are overwhelmingly able-bodied themselves. This is why we need #ownvoices narratives, thank you very much.
In conclusion, Yours Before Dawn was well-written, sweet, and charming. It was also ableist. I liked it, personally. I thought it was well-written, and the plot twist really was well done. At the same time, I don’t think I would recommend this book to another reader, since it does perpetuate some rather harmful narratives about what is required to be happy. (Hint: you do not need to have 20/20 vision in order to be happy.)
Someone was just telling me I should read this. I’m sorry to hear about the issues with it. Have you ever read this author before?
I have not! I know that this one is widely regarded as her best, though. I mean, I still liked it, so it’s worth a read if you want! I think there are some pretty good reasons it’s so popular.
I read this eons ago and everything you said. Of course I read it back in the day before social media when there were fewer #ownvoices readers in my sphere. At the time, while I liked the book, I was so annoyed with Gabriel’s blindness being magically cured. And what I couldn’t voice at the time of my initial reading but can now is that my dissatisfaction with this story is entirely wrapped up in the ableist narrative.
I haven’t read Medeiros in a while but I recall in the hazy recesses of my mind that I think I enjoyed The Bride and the Beast (yes, there’s that trope again!) – but it’s been so long since I’ve read it I can’t give you any heads up on any potential problematic elements.
Hahaha, it’s SUCH a popular trope, especially with Regency war veterans! I liked Medeiros’s writing enough that I would definitely check out another books of hers, so I’ll add that one to the TBR Mountain.