What Eyes Can't See by Paulette Stout
When I sat to write this review, I looked at a blank page for a long time — a really long time — because there is so much here. What Eyes Can’t See (Media Goddess Inc.) is Paulette Stout’s most layered and complex romantic women’s fiction story to date. The central themes here are race, privilege and family, and if you’re going to do any justice to these three loaded themes, plus craft a convincing romance with HEA, you’ve got to go deep. Ms. Stout does just that.
What Eyes Can’t See introduces us to Barbara Washington, a lawyer who’s on the verge of a promotion at tech company Xervo, or so she thinks. She’s at her non-refundable beach destination wedding alone because she caught her fiancé cheating (there’s no cheating on page, though, so calm down everyone) and decided to gift the wedding event to her friend Rebecca. She catches the eye of Sebastian Kingsbury as he’s running along the beach. Coincidentally, he’s also a lawyer, and he’s starting a new job at a new firm after his vacation.
Their attraction is instant, flames burning hot through the rest of their vacation. After falling in love in the tropics, they head back to reality — both to New York City — and their lives, hopefully getting the chance to see each other once they’re back. But Barbara, who’s Black, has found out that she lost her promotion to a white guy hired from outside the company. Sebastian.
Characters From Different Worlds
On the surface, Barbara and Sebastian seem like complete opposites. Barbara’s a Black woman from the Upper East side of Manhattan — privileged, sheltered, with a wealthy, well-known father and a trust fund to support her dreams. Sebastian’s a white guy from Alphabet City (a neighborhood in Manhattan’s East Village) with a juvie record and ties to one of the biggest drug dealers in his neighborhood. The only privilege he has is from being white, but it’s just enough — with hard work — to get him into the top spot of Xervo’s legal department.
However, underneath the surface, Barbara and Sebastian are both struggling with identity and their place in the world — both the work world and their home lives. They have parents who’ve imprinted on them what their futures should be, and have steered them on their paths with a firm hand and an unyielding work ethic. Has it helped them? Yes. Has it hurt them? Also yes.
It’s no surprise that these two can’t turn away from each other. Their connection is more than physical attraction. Mentally and emotionally, they’re searching for the same thing — for the authentic version of themselves. Who are they without the labels? Are they who they were meant to be? One thing is certain, they were meant to be together.
Authenticity in Social Justice
As much as any of the characters, the culture of Xervo (which is an extension of its CEO Marshall Barr) is its own presence in this novel. This is the most racist, misogynistic company I’ve ever seen, with loopholes upon loopholes to continue operating the way it does. It’s a frightening view of what Corporate America could be if EEOC and Affirmative Action policies were to be completely overturned. After reading this book, if readers are not compelled to vote consciously, then our society is doomed.
The confusion and outrage Barbara felt when she lost the promotion and in subsequent events afterward took my mind back to millennials and Gen-Z’s’ reacting to George Floyd’s murder. It was eye-opening for them, as the injustice Barbara endures is to her, to see how truly systemic and ingrained racism is in our society. It permeates most facets of American society, but it’s regularly ignored and rarely changed. While I came to this novel for the romance, I stayed to see if Barbara would prevail over the Dumpster fire that is Xervo and its CEO Marshall Barr.
Closing the Genre Gap
This is Paulette Stout’s third book in the Bold Journeys series, and the closest one to romance. While this is still very much women’s fiction, the relationship between Sebastian and Barbara is the foundation for each of them to make their emotional transformations — a necessary element in women’s fiction novels. Without the romance, complete with HEA and spicy to boot, Sebastian and Barbara wouldn’t have the courage or the willpower to change their lives and find themselves. Here, the old adage is true: Love changes things. It also makes this story more engaging, and it keeps us rooting for these characters to win. Because you believe they will change the world when they win.
What Eyes Can’t See will have readers cheering on this couple who “found love in a hopeless place” (a lyric from “We Found Love” by Rhianna and Calvin Harris) while thinking about race and privilege in the workplace and society — long after they’ve read the last page.
Paulette Stout is the fearless author of contemporary fiction whose books say the quiet things out loud. Her debut, Love, Only Better, is a relatable and empowering story readers are calling a “must read.” Her follow-up, What We Never Say, explores a ripped-from-the-headlines #MeToo topic with a surprising twist. Book three tackles race, class and belonging featuring two characters with sizzling chemistry.
Born in Manhattan and raised by a single dad, Paulette loves crafting stories that make readers feel and think. You can usually find Paulette rearranging words into pleasing patterns while wearing grammar t-shirts. Either that, or texting pictures of something she’s whipped up in her kitchen to her two adult kids while her husband rolls his eyes.
Enjoy free reads on Paulette’s website at paulettestout.com/free. Follow Paulette on Instagram: @paulettestoutauthor, Tiktok: @paulettestoutauthor, Facebook: @paulettestoutauthor Twitter: @StoutContent and on her website at paulettestout.com. And don’t forget to leave a review after you finish reading!
