A Summer to Remember by Mary Balogh

Setting: Regency

Summary:

A year after being abandoned at the altar during the wedding she had dreamed of all her life, Lauren Edgeworth is in London to spend a quiet couple of months with her aunt, Elizabeth, Duchess of Portfrey, during the latter’s confinement. Christopher “Kit” Butler, Viscount Ravensberg, is in London getting into every imaginable wild scrape and fast becoming one of London’s most notorious rakehells.

But now he has been summoned home in order to become betrothed to a woman chosen by his father, who banished him for life just three years before. Desperate to do things on his own terms, Kit hastily searches for a bride to take home with him, someone his father cannot possibly object to, someone above reproach, someone dull, respectable, prim, and perfect. One of his friends suggests Lauren but then adds that Kit is surely the very last man she would accept for a husband.

The challenge proves irresistible, and Kit wagers that he will have wooed and wed Lauren within six weeks…

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Review:

I had read the prequel to this book titled One Night For Love, very much liked the secondary character Lauren, and empathized greatly when she got jilted at the start of that book. You can imagine my delight when I discovered Lauren would get her own romance and happy ending in this book. And once again, I was very satisfied with this wonderful, touching, beautifully written story about two people, both with painful pasts, who find hope, happiness and freedom in love.

Lauren is not your usual heroine-she’s subtle, gentle, reserved and prim to the point of prudishness. And yet, as with the case with all of us, there is more to her than meets the eye and as the talented Balogh slowly reveals all the layers of her personality, you will fall in love with her kindness and gentle strength, just as I did. I’m so glad she finally got her happy ending!

Kit is a wonderful hero and exactly the kind of man every woman would fall for! Warm, kind, sexy, slightly scandalous, he would make any woman swoon-and yet, as with Lauren, there are deeper depths to his character. I especially loved his tenderness for Lauren, and how he fell in love with her quiet, sweet nature, while giving her the best summer of her life.

I melted over the romantics scenes, and swooned over the love scenes (which were sizzling with loads of chemistry ) and teared up when it seemed the hurt from their pasts would get in the way of them being together. Balogh has a talent for writing in a way that brings the characters to life, and creating a strong emotional bond between the lovers. Her writing might be considered slow or boring by some readers because of the traditional nature of her plots, but I doubt anyone can match the emotional poignancy she brings to her books. Her love scenes are also very traditional but that doesn’t mean they are boring as sometimes, as she proves, less is really more.

You won’t be disappointed with this deep, emotional romance. I was hard pressed to find a single flaw in this book and tried to stay up just to finish it! So even if you prefer more adventurous romances, give this one a try. I’ll be reading this one again!

Sensuality Rating: Warm (Love scenes are short and non explicit)

Verdict: A wonderful classic Regency romance. Highly recommended!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Slightly Scandalous by Mary Balogh

Setting: Regency

Summary:

From feisty manner to long, tumbling hair, Freyja Bedwyn is pure fire, a woman who seeks both adventure and freedom. Adventure soon finds her on the way to Bath, when a handsome stranger bursts into her inn room in the middle of the night and entreats her to hide him. He is Joshua Moore, Marquess of Hallmere, a man with a hell-raising reputation of his own. They meet again in Bath, where sparks fly as two strong wills clash and each tries to best the other. But when Joshua needs sudden rescue from the matchmaking schemes of his aunt, it is Freyja to whom he turns . . . because he knows that only she is reckless enough to engage in a fake betrothal with him for the sheer fun of it. And fun it is until the Duke of Bewcastle, Freyja’s eldest brother, learns of the betrothal. And until passion blindsides them both. And until a danger more deadly than marriage threatens Joshua. But there is no doubt about the fact that it admirably suits both Freyja and Joshua to be caught up together in something very slightly scandalous…

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Review:

I was so glad when I found this book by chance at a bookstore, as I had read all the previous Slightly books and only had this one to go! This book didn’t wow me but it didn’t disappoint me either. It was just ok. I can’t say I completely fell in love with it as I did with others in the series, but it was still a good read, compared to other romances.

Freyja Bedwyn is introduced as a fiery young woman who is still nursing a broken heart. She hides her wounded heart beneath a mask of arrogance. I felt that this could have been elaborated on as this was an important obstacle in her relationship with the hero.

The hero was one of the major pluses of the book as he was charismatic, charming, witty and funny and one could not imagine why Freyja took so long falling for him. I think that was the biggest flaw in the book-the lack of conflict between the hero and heroine. I wasn’t engaged as it was clear from the start that the two were perfect and it seemed silly that they would try to deny the obvious fact. The use of a fake betrothal only served to bring them closer together and yet they still resisted each other, for no apparent good reason.

I enjoyed the start when the two meet each other but after they perform the fake betrothal, it went a little downhill from there. I think if Freyja’s wounded heart might have been expanded on, i would have enjoyed this book a lot more. As it was, I found myself itching for the ending. The book did pick up near the end, but was overall not what I normally expected from the usually winning Mary Balogh.

Sensuality Level: Warm (Short and not explicit)

Verdict: Just ok but don’t expect to be wowed.

Rating: 3 and a half starts out of 5