“I don’t think anything inspired me except the necessity of coming up with a story so that I could fulfill my obligation to a contract I had agreed to! I had to dream up a story, and this one popped into my head.” Mary Balogh in the interview following A Matter of Class. Nonetheless, as an experienced, and clearly honest, professional writer, she delivered a sincerely charming historical romance novella. Reggie and Annabelle are lifelong neighbours divided by a waterway as well as the barriers […]
What Was Being a Duke, If Not Arching a Sardonic Eyebrow?
What was being a duke, if not arching a sardonic eyebrow? [fires confetti cannon, then starts pointing and yelling, “YES!” at Tessa Dare] Girl Meets Duke has all of Dare’s cleverness and less of her recent series’ tweeness. She’s back and I’m in! It’s not her best work, but it’s what I (and very possibly no one else as captious as I am) consider a return to form, and in some ways a step up. It’s like she unleashed her full wit and wordplay on […]
You’ll like it if you can get past a major WTF
So, it took me until now to get around to this romance classic, and I admit to experiencing joyful laughter a few times at what a thorough template this book is for so many of the tropes that I’ve experienced later, as they’re being lovingly upended some of the more satirical, referential romance authors. And I don’t mean any of that in a snarky way: there was such a delightful guilelessness to this book that made it so simple to enjoy. Here’s the Goodreads summary: […]
Not an Affair to Remember
Born a commoner, Hannah Reid has been Duchess of Dunbarton since she was nineteen years old. Now her husband is dead and, more beautiful than ever at thirty, Hannah has her freedom at last. To the shock of a conventional friend, she announces her intention to take a lover—and not just any lover, but the most dangerous and delicious man in all of upper-class England: Constantine Huxtable. So this book bored me to tears. I know that Mary Balogh is a beloved author, with a […]
The Governess is a Lady
This book is the third in the Desperate Duchesses by the Numbers, which is kind of a sub-series of Desperate Duchesses. These books feature the children of the original group, so it can be confusing sometimes if you haven’t read the original series, and even if you have (which I did) and forgotten who is related to whom. The first book in this series, Three Weeks with Lady X, is one of my all time favorites; the second book wasn’t as good and this one […]
The Last Hellion Takes a Wife
This is the third book in the Hellions of Havisham series, telling the tale of Killian St. John, Viscount Locksley. He is the son of the mad Marquess of Marsden that we’ve met earlier in the series. The marquess is said to have lost his mind with grief after his wife died and Locke has done his best to survive on his own and not upset his father overly much. The manor is falling into disrepair, and the marquess needs to be locked in his […]
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