Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold
author: Ellen O’Connell
Historical Romance
April 8, 2010
About the Book: Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold is a story of romance and family conflicts set in Colorado in 1885.
Anne Wells has embarrassed her rigidly proper family since she was a child with occasional but grievous lapses from ladylike behavior. They blame those lapses for the disgraceful fact that she is a spinster at 28.
Cord Bennett, the son of his father’s second marriage to a Cheyenne woman, is more than an embarrassment to his well-to-do family of ranchers and lawyers – they are ashamed and afraid of their black sheep.
When Anne and Cord are found alone together, her father’s fury leads to violence. Cord’s family accepts that the fault is his. Can Anne and Cord use the freedom of being condemned for sins they didn’t commit to make a life together? Or will their disapproving, interfering families tear
them apart?
Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold has been on my Goodreads shelf since 2015, waiting to be read. I was intrigued enough to add it, and to never forget about it, but I haven’t been as invested in Historical Fiction/Romance for a long time. I went through my historical phase, and then I left it and for the last few years I’ve read very little historical romance.
What changed is it’s been a very rough month for the Birdie Bookworm family, and I’ve really struggled with heavier books, or long intricate reads. The only thing that manages to distract me are the feel good, quicker romance novels. I’d been completely at a loss, not sure what to read, and found myself finally picking this one up. Turns out Cord and Annie were exactly what I needed to cure my blues.
I think the reason Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold was the perfect escapist read had a lot to do with how balanced the story was. It was exactly what I was looking for in a romance, with all the tummy flutters and soft sighs, but it also had two layered characters who took their time to use the big L word while navigating a future with each other they never expected. Falling in lurrrve was a progression, not a combustion. My favorite!
I also thought the author did an amazing job with creating our hero, Cord, who was realistic to this violent time in history while also giving him some of our more modern ideals. I think it helped that Cord didn’t consider himself, nobody considered him actually, a ‘gentleman’. It meant he could buck convention and do what he wanted. For a man of very little words, he managed to express just what he thought of genteel society when he interacted with Anne. (If you decide to read this, I guarantee you will giggle at the corset scene!) Not only did his wildness make me fall in love with Cord, he was exactly who our heroine needed in her life, seeing as how she had been treated by ‘polite society’.
I think the only way this one could have been better is if it were a series. I’d love to see one of the old saga type book series out of this one, with the entire family over generations. The Bennett Family Saga series. 😀
Birdie Bookworm 