Book Review: A Summer To Remember - by Mary Balogh

Synopsis: A Summer To Remember is the second (and primary prequel) to Mary Balogh's Bedwyn family series. It is in this book that we first meet several of the Bedwyns. Lauren Edgeworth, the jilted bride from One Night for Love, has pretty much soured on the whole marriage thing after being left at the altar a year ago. Having lived her entire life feeling bound to be stolid and dutiful to her family, she has never allowed herself to have any adventure, any passion. Now she has some vague plans of spending a few weeks with her aunt Elizabeth in London for the season and then hightailing it off to Bath to set up house and settle in for a long, boring spinsterhood. Kit Butler, the new Viscount Ravensburg, is being manipulated by his family into a betrothal to a woman he does not wish to wed. There's a good deal of bad blood between him and his family, and he's decided to thwart them by finding a bride on his own and presenting her to them all at his grandmother's birthday party back home in a few weeks. He sets his sights on the beautiful Lauren and begins a thorough wooing. However, he comes to respect her as a person and finds that he cannot in good conscience continue to court her. Just as he tries to set her free from his attentions, she stays his hand and strikes a bargain with him: She will pose as his betrothed so that he can foil his father's plans if Kit will agree to give her a little adventure.

Needless to say, there's a great deal of potential for "adventure" in any romance novel. Kit doesn't disappoint. He is sexy, charming, masculine, and truly honorable. He has a wonderful sense of humor and uses it to help bring Lauren out of her shell. Through her adventures with Kit, she discovers that she has the freedom to be whomever she wants to be - that it is ok to be herself. Then, after finding that freedom, she goes on to discover just who that person is. She also falls in love with her hero as he, in turn, falls in love with her. She guides him gently into facing his past. With her help, he learns to let go of the painful responsibility and self-recrimination that he has carried with him for years. At last, he is able to accept the love of his family.

I absolutely loved this book. I enjoyed One Night for Love and admired the character depth and storytelling ability of the author in that book. However, I think A Summer To Remember is a truly wonderful love story. Balogh's writing is superb. The characters are very real and you really do understand why they feel the way they do - about themselves, their lives, and each other.

This one is definitely worth 5 stars in my LibraryThing catalog!