Book Review: The Pretender - by Celeste Bradley

The Pretender is the 1st book in Celeste Bradley's series of regency-era romances centered around a group of spies known as the Liar's Club.

Synopsis: Agatha Cunnington has come to London determined to find her missing brother, James. Though James has grown distant over the past several years, he is all the family she has left and the sheltered country miss is willing to risk whatever it takes to find him. Agatha's got problems, though. She has a conniving neighbor back home who wants to marry her off to his slimy son at the first opportunity. On top of that, a young unmarried lady cannot simply go gallivanting around the capital alone. So Agatha concocts a fake identity for herself: one Mrs. Mortimer Applequist. To make her disguise complete, she enlists her handsome new chimney sweep to pose as Mr. Applequist himself. Simon Raines, spymaster and chimney sweep extraordinaire, cannot believe his good fortune. As the leader of the Liar's Club, a secret ring of spies working for the Crown, he too is searching for James Cunnington. He believes that James is responsible for the recent deaths of several Liars and the leaking of critical information to the enemy. Believing that Agatha is James' mistress, he tries insinuate himself into her confidence while posing as her "husband."

This author came highly recommended to me and I was delighted with this first book. The plot is exciting and I got caught up in the drama involving the secondary characters. Bradley does a good job with character development. Often in romance, one or both of the main characters are really just character archetypes with little depth and simple motives. Bradley's heroes and heroines are complex, with many different emotional motivations based on their unique experiences and needs. Both are wary of telling the truth, but for very different reasons. Agatha is protecting her beloved brother while Simon is duty-bound to keep his mission secret. Then, when it all comes out in the open, Simon struggles with balancing his love for Agatha with his need to protect her from the dangers of being involved with a spy. For her part, Agatha is a very determined woman who selflessly loves her man. I think that's a really admirable quality. When he tries to push her away, instead of taking what she can from him and then letting him go, she focuses all of her energy on loving him and helping him to face his demons.

Favorite Parts: When Agatha "kills off" Mortimer. It's priceless. Also, the scene where "Repulsive Reggie" shows up and Simon nearly annihilates him.

I gave this book 5 stars in my LibraryThing catalog.

Celeste Bradley novels - reading order

For the past few weeks, I've been reading Celeste Bradley's "Liar's Club" and "Royal Four" series of regency-era romantic spy novels. These books contain a continuing storyline with a definite chronological order. The order of each series is listed on the author's web site but, over the course of reading them, I'm finding that the second series actually begins in the midst of the first. There is also a short story thrown into the mix. So. I'm putting down the proper reading order of the books here so I can better keep track.

1. The Pretender (Liar's Club #1)
2. The Impostor (Liar's Club #2)
3. The Spy (Liar's Club #3)
4. "Wedding Knight" in My Scandalous Bride (short story)
5. The Charmer (Liar's Club #4)
6. To Wed a Scandalous Spy (Royal Four #1)
7. The Rogue (Liar's Club #5)
8. Surrender to a Wicked Spy (Royal Four #2)
9. One Night With a Spy (Royal Four #3)
10. Seducing the Spy (Royal Four #4)

I suspect there may be another Liar's Club book forthcoming because of certain plot elements that have not yet been resolved. However, these things may all be resolved in the remaining Royal Four books - I don't know yet. I'm also planning to review all of the books in this series (they really are all excellent); I just have to overcome my laziness and do it.

Book Review: Slightly Dangerous - by Mary Balogh

Synopsis: Slightly Dangerous is the 6th and final novel in the Bedwyn family series of regency romances by Mary Balogh. This is Wulfric's long-awaited and much-anticipated story. The impoverished widow of a jealous man, Christine Derrick lives in a tiny cottage with her mother and spinster sister. When she is invited to a wealthy friend's house party, she intends to spend most of her time quietly observing the other more fashionable guests from the sidelines. However, her cheerful and fun-loving nature has a tendency to land her into all kinds of awkward situations. Stodgy, top-lofty Lord Wulfric, the Duke of Bewcastle, first meets the pretty and vivacious Christine when she accidentally drips lemonade in his eye from an overhead balcony. What happens after that is a series of comical mishaps wherein Wulfric is forced by gentlemanly honor and common decency to aid her. Christine finds the stuffy duke amusing and can't resist teasing him on occasion. Of course, she has some unpleasant secrets from her past, including some questionable business having to do with her husband's death. In fact, her late husband's family spurn her at every opportunity and disparage her character to anyone who will listen. Everything in Wulf's nature tells him that he should stay away from the wild miss, but instead he feels drawn to her. Finally, he decides to act on his attraction to her by asking her to become his mistress. Needless to say, Christine is unimpressed with the offer and sparks fly.

This is one of the best novels of this series. After seeing Wulf in the preceeding books, it was very satisfying to see him in his own story. He is a wonderfully interesting character. He hides his inner dreams and feelings behind a VERY heavy veneer of aloof pride and his ever-present quizzing glass. And yet, when he is with Christine, he cannot help himself: his uncomfortable feelings bubble to the surface. She has an effervescent vitality that he cannot resist. And in true Wulfric fashion, he decides he must have her, only he could not possibly condescend to marrying her. Christine, on the other hand, wants him too, but sticks to her guns. She is not going to satisfy her heart at the cost of her self-respect. In the course of the story, though, she manages to bring stoic Wulfric out of his shell (at least a little) and helps him to realize that it is alright to let others into his heart and that he can realize his own dreams if he would only allow himself to do so.

My favorite parts: When Christine grabs his quizzing glass and throws it up in a tree and he has to go and get it. Then when they are at the ball and he looks at her from across the room and raises his quizzing glass to his eye to examine her, she whips out her own glass and lifts it to her eye to stare back at him. Wulf laughs and is transformed by such a never-before seen display of humor.

I gave this one 5 stars in my LibraryThing catalog!

Book Review: Slightly Sinful by Mary Balogh

Synopsis: Slightly Sinful is the fifth novel in Mary Balogh's Bedwyn family series of regency romances. This is Alleyne's story. He's the youngest Bedwyn brother and he's just embarked on a career with the British embassy in Brussels. On a mission to deliver a letter from Wellington at the front lines of the battle of Waterloo, Alleyne is shot. He falls from his horse and lay unconscious and dying, stripped naked by pilferers, in the woods outside Brussels. It is there that orphaned lady's maid Rachel York finds him.

Rachel has her own set of problems: She, along with a group of kindly prostitutes she has been trying to help, has been swindled by a man posing as a charitable man of the cloth. The villain has cheated them of all of their savings and fled to England; the women want their money back (and some revenge) - but first they have to get hold of enough money to get them back to England. Since she has been denied access to her inheritance by her uncle, a man she has not seen since childhood, Rachel has no money or family of her own. The women decide (along with half the city's population) to loot bodies in the aftermath of the battle in order to gather enough money for passage to England. However, Rachel finds that she doesn't have the stomach (or conscience) for the job. When she comes across Alleyne's unconscious body in the woods, she brings him back to the brothel and nurses him back to health.

When Alleyne regains consciousness, he finds that he's died and gone to heaven: he's being nursed by four whores and one beautiful angel (our Rachel). The only trouble is, he can't remember who he is. A warm friendship forms between the ladies and their handsome patient, and they all end up concocting a scheme wherein Rachel and Alleyne pose as a married couple in order to deceive Rachel's uncle into giving them her inheritance. But pretending to be married is more difficult than they first realize: their feelings for one another grow and they find themselves longing to make the marriage a real one, only Alleyne still has no idea of who he really is or whether he is already married to someone else.

The action in this book overlaps that of Morgan's story in Slightly Tempted. All the time Morgan thinks he is dead, he is really just a few blocks away, convalescing in a house of ill repute. I really enjoyed this book. I liked Alleyne's character from the previous books - he was the handsome, fun-loving, jokesy Bedwyn. I have always thought the amnesia plot device is pretty cheesy and very soap opera-esque. However, I was able to take it in stride in this book - probably because Mary Balogh is such a good writer. I actually got caught up in it. It was hard to see Alleyne so unhappy in this book, struggling to figure out who he was and how to deal with his feelings for Rachel when he was really not at liberty to make a commitment to her.

I liked Rachel also. Probably what I liked most about her was the changes she went through learning to let go of her feelings of hurt and bitterness toward her uncle. She comes to love him in spite of herself. The secondary characters of this novel were pretty entertaining, although I thought the concept of four "hookers with a heart of gold" a bit of a stretch. Everything worked out a little too neatly with one of them being a master cook, one a master gardener, two of them passing off as gentle ladies, etc. However, romance novels are a kind of fantasy and it is still satisfying to see everything tied up in a neat little package at the end.

Another interesting thing about this book is that Alleyne pretty much falls in love with Rachel at first sight. I don't always buy into that kind of thing, but in this book I think it worked pretty well. At first, he falls in love with her as a sort of savior/angel and then they develop a true friendship over the weeks of his recovery. He finally comes to love her more fully as they spend time together as a "married couple."

My favorite parts of this book, though, were the scenes at the end when Alleyne regains his memory and returns home to Lindsey Hall. The romance in the story was nice, but I felt that the entire novel was really moving toward the final point of Alleyne's reunion with the Bedwyns. There was an overall feeling of anticipation throughout the entire novel, growing more intense toward the end, when he is finally reunited with his family. And, yet again, the best bit was when Wulfric sees him again for the first time and hugs him.

I gave this book 4 stars in my LibraryThing catalog.

Jane Austen series to air on Masterpiece Theater

In the coming weeks, PBS will be airing Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen. They will show film adaptations of ALL SIX of Jane Austen's novels (*drool) on a weekly basis beginning on Sunday, January 13th. According to my local PBS station's schedule, the first one to air will be Persuasion and the second one will be Northanger Abbey. I have never seen a film version of Northanger Abbey before, so I'm particularly excited about that one.

Book Review: Slightly Tempted - by Mary Balogh

Synopsis: Slightly Tempted is the fourth novel in the Bedwyn family series of regency romances by Mary Balogh. This novel tells the story of the youngest Bedwyn sibling, Morgan. Only 18 years old, she is already a bit jaded to the frivolities of ton life. When she is offered the chance to accompany a friend's family to Brussels on the eve of the renewal of war with France, she cannot pass it up. She is truly interested and concerned in the business of the brewing war. Meanwhile, the handsome Gervase Ashford (the newly minted Earl of Rosthorn) is mouldering away in Brussels. Having been exiled for 9 years from England by his father for crimes he didn't commit, Gervase is thrilled to run into Morgan, the very sister of the man he blames for much of his troubles. He plans to seek revenge upon Wulfric Bedwyn by seducing his sister and generating a scandal. He has only begun to succeed at his plans, flirting shamelessly with her on numerous occasions, etc., when the battle of Waterloo erupts.

While most young aristocratic women are content to stay at home safely behind closed doors, Morgan boldly ventures out to the city gates to help others treat and care for the wounded soldiers pouring into the city - all despite her own fears for her brother, Alleyne, who has been commissioned by the embassy to take an important missive to the front lines of battle. It is at the city gates where Gervase finds her tending the wounded and offers to go look for her brother. When Alleyne cannot be found, Gervase tries to comfort and aid Morgan, offering her friendship and support. The two become true friends over the next several days as Morgan continues to tend the wounded while holding out hope of her brother's return. Finally, news arrives that confirms that Alleyne must surely have died at the battle, and Morgan turns to her dear friend for comfort in a night of passion. She will not marry him though, so he compromises by escorting her back to England to break the news to her family. They find that their scandalous behavior in Brussels has been reported in London, and Gervase has unwittingly had his revenge against his enemy Wulfric after all. Only by then, he doesn't want revenge, he only wants Morgan. And when she learns the truth about his motives on first meeting her in Belgium, she does not believe that she can trust him again. In her anger, she vows to go through a mock-betrothal only to make him fall in love with her and then cruelly abandon him.

Like so many good books, it is really hard to do this story justice. I absolutely loved this book. I loved the two main characters, I loved the setting, and I loved the struggles the characters went through.

I just love it when the characters are as dynamic as these two. They both change over the course of the story. Morgan discovers some of the real world from which those around her have tried to shelter her all her life. She is awakened to many harsh, bitter realities. At the same time, she discovers a deep feeling of friendship with Gervase, something she has never had before. I also think Gervase is a great hero. He, too is jaded - but for different reasons. He has been terribly wronged in his past, and cannot see beyond his need for revenge. With gentle guidance from Morgan, Gervase learns to forgive and let go of his desire for revenge. And through teaching Gervase about forgiveness, Morgan herself learns to forgive.

Of course, the scenes with the other Bedwyns were great also. I got really caught up in Morgan's desperate hope for Alleyne to be found, even though I knew that he wouldn't. And then watching the family mourn the loss of their brother was really heartbreaking. Especially Wulfric. You get a few more glimpses of Wulf's backstory in this book - as well as a glimpse of his hidden vulnerability as he grieves for his brother. I am looking forward to reading his story in Slightly Dangerous.

Favorite parts: When Gervase keeps riding out of Brussels to look for Morgan's brother. She is the sister of his age-old enemy, and yet he devotes himself to doing whatever he can to serve her. It reminded me of Darcy's devotion to Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice when he searches London for the evil Wickham and then fixes everything - all so that Elizabeth won't be hurt. It's a mark of how much Gervase really cared for Morgan.

I also really liked the part where Morgan shows Gervase the painting by the river and he understands that the painting is about how the trees and the water and everything else in the world are all connected. He asks if he can keep the painting and says: "I will hang it in my bedchamber so that I may see it every day. After you have broken my heart and left me, I will remember that we are always and ever connected." (I had to get out my tissues.)

This one was definitely a 5 star book for me.

Book Review: Slightly Scandalous - by Mary Balogh

Synopsis: Slightly Scandalous is the third book in the Bedwyn family series of regency romances by Mary Balogh. This is the story of Freyja, the eldest of the two Bedwyn sisters. It opens with headstrong, independent, and haughty (read: reckless, bitchy, and autocratic) Freyja pretty much fleeing to Bath to lick her wounds after having the guy she was in love with three years ago (a.k.a. Kit Butler - see A Summer to Remember) get married to somebody else and then additionally watching two of her older brothers get happily married one after the other while she remains unmarried and alone. Now her old flame's wife is about to give birth to their first child and it's just all too much for Freyja to take, so she heads off to the resort town of Bath to escape the hubbub back home. While there, she meets dashing former spy turned Marquess of Hallmere, Joshua Moore. She hates him on sight (which is pretty much how she reacts to most people) and even confronts him at a crowded gathering, accusing him of a transgression which he then publicly proves he did not in fact commit. Instead of eating humble pie, though, our heroine can't back down and they spend a few days sparring with one another. Poor Joshua has his own problems, with a kindly grandmother who would like nothing better than to see him wed, an evil aunt who tries to manipulate him into marrying her daughter, and an accusation of murder flying around. To deflect some of the matrimonial tension, he and Freyja decide to form a sort of mock betrothal and then they head off to Joshua's country estate to fend off the murder accusations.

I did not really like this book. I didn't absolutely hate it or anything, I just didn't like it. I think the main reason, really, is that I didn't like Freyja. At all. I have had a hard time liking her since we first met her in A Summer to Remember. I did try to like her. Truly I did. I even told myself when I started this book that I should not apply any kind of double-standard on this character - that I would not dislike traits in a female character that I would find acceptable and understandable in a male character. However, I think that if the roles had been reversed and Joshua behaved as Freyja does, I would have disliked him as well. Freyja is just so abrasive and mean.

The other thing that really bugged me was the way she ran around punching people in the face. I mean, I was ok with the first punch, when she thought she was defending another woman from an attacker. However, after that it just bothered me. I would not have accepted that kind of behavior in a male character. It is difficult to see why Joshua puts up with her at all, much less falls in love with her. And I really did like his character - he is charming, kind, caring, etc. It is hard not to admire these Balogh heroes who love their grandma's so much.

Otherwise, I thought the storyline was pretty entertaining, with the scheming aunt and the way Joshua comes to realize how much he loves the people and place where he grew up. I also enjoyed the further interaction with the rest of the Bedwyn family. I really like the other Bedwyns, especially Aidan and Wulfric. It's neat to see how the characters from the previous books are doing and what's happening in their lives even after their main romance story has been told.

This was only a 2 star book for me.

Book Review: Slightly Wicked - by Mary Balogh

Synopsis: Slightly Wicked is the second novel in Mary Balogh's Bedwyn family series of regency romances. It stars Rannulf Bedwyn, the 3rd Bedwyn brother. It starts out with Rannulf on his way to visit his grandmother who, having made him her heir, has found what she thinks may be a suitable bride for him. On the way there, he comes across an overturned post coach stranded by the side of the road. One of the passengers, exceptionally beautiful redhead Judith Law, accepts his offer of a ride into the next town to seek aid. Intent on a guiltless dalliance, he gives her a false name, not letting on that he is really the brother of the powerful Duke of Bewcastle. He assumes she is a stage actress, one willing to share her bed with the right gentleman, and she does not disabuse him of this belief. In reality, Judith is a parson's daughter who has been farmed out as a poor relation to live with her well-to-do aunt in the country. She has led a fairly uneventful, sheltered life and the chance to pose as a ballsy, flirtatious actress for an hour or so is too good to pass up. She flirts with Rannulf all the way into the next town and they spend a couple of nights of passion together, he believing her an accomplished actress and lover, she thinking him a charming, rakish gentleman. Neither suspects the other's true identity. Of course, they must go their separate ways and Judith slips away in the morning, leaving him only a brief note of farewell.

Both of them think the adventure is over for good, but neither can forget those two nights together. Of course, come to find out that the girl Rannulf's grandmother has in mind for him is none other than Judith's empty-headed cousin, the daughter of the aunt that she has been sent to live out the rest of her dreary days with. They are both shocked to meet again and discover one another's true identity (like we didn't see this coming), but now they must face the reality of their situations: Judith is a poor relation and treated like a nobody while Rannulf has promised his grandmother that he will seriously pay court to the young girl she has chosen for him. Meanwhile, the crabby old aunt, afraid that Judith's natural beauty will detract from her own daughter's attractions, forces Judith to dress unflatteringly and behave as no more than a servant. All the same, Rannulf can't keep his eyes off her and eventually determines to make her his.

And most of that happens in the first 100 pages or so. There's also a dastardly villain in the form of a lecherous cousin, a ne'er do well spendthrift brother, and the theft of some family jewels (for which Judith is blamed).

This book kind of dragged a bit for me. I think maybe it was because it is the first book by Balogh that I did not thoroughly enjoy every step of the way. Judith is an interesting character, with her natural acting talent and her family situation (although I did find her a bit of a victim), but I thought Rannulf was a little lackluster for a hero. He's a nice guy, but he doesn't have a lot of individuality - just your average, garden variety regency romance rake/gentleman. And the bad guy is really bad, almost too bad to be believable. But I did enjoy the bits with the other Bedwyns, particularly the parts with Wulfric but not so much the parts with Freyja. I just don't like her character. She's bitchy and snobby. I didn't like her in A Summer to Remember, either. Her story is the subject of the next novel in this series, Slightly Scandalous.

Best part: Probably when, after Judith is accused of the jewel theft and then runs off to London, Rannulf rides after her and takes her to his family to protect her. He never once believes that she is guilty and he does fight for her - far more than she fights for herself.

I give this one 3 stars.

Book Review: Slightly Married - by Mary Balogh

Synopsis: Slightly Married is the first novel in the Bedwyn family series by Mary Balogh. Set in regency England, this book tells the story of Aidan Bedwyn, brother to the Duke of Bewcastle and member of the mighty Bedwyn family. Aidan is the second son, the one destined for military service. He did his duty and has spent most of his life fighting in the peninsula, rising in rank over the years to Colonel. At the open of the novel, one Percy Morris, having once saved Aidan's life in battle, lay dying on the battlefield. His final request is that Aidan find his sister and protect her "no matter what." Aidan, a man of his word, takes a two month leave and journeys to England to bring the sad news of the young man's death to his sister. Eve Morris is devastated to learn of her brother's death. Just as devastating is the realization that Eve and her entire household (including her two young adopted children) will all be turned out of their house in a few days' time due to a quirk in her father's will. Aidan, ever bound by his promise, decides to marry the woman in order to save her from her fate. Both of them assume it will be a simple marriage of convenience, neither of them expecting to see the other again after the wedding. Of course, they don't count on the fact that they are falling in love.

This was an enjoyable novel. I really liked Aidan. He was so stoic. He thinks that love is a bunch of nonsense and that duty and honor are all. Eve is a sensitive, loving, bleeding-heart who cannot bear to allow others to suffer injustice. This might be an almost annoying trait in a heroine, but Balogh paints her as a warm, living, breathing woman and I found myself liking her immensely. She is not weak, nor is she tragic. She is practical and determined to do what is right. I suppose this is one reason why she and Aidan fit together so well. They are both so honorable.

I loved how Aidan kept trying to leave her and kept not doing it. At first, after he does his duty by telling her about her brother's death and offering to help her, he figures he's done his bit and prepares to leave. But circumstances conspire to keep him around a few extra days until he realizes that, in all honor, he must stay and help her. Then, after they are married and he has no more obligation to stay with her, he keeps finding reasons to stick around a little longer. He eventually allows himself to love Eve, her children, and her home.

I really like how the Bedwyns have these big noses and sort of harsh features - they are not traditionally good-looking, and yet they have a certain appeal. They are not perfect. I also liked how Aidan just didn't give a damn about the fact that Eve Morris was essentially a "nobody." She worries about it a good bit, but this is not the essential obstacle to their romance for Aidan. For him, the real hurdle is accepting that it really is ok to have feelings beyond those of duty.

My favorite parts: When Eve wears black to her court presentation (it was so satisfying to see her throwing it in all their faces!) and then when Aidan smiles for the first time.

I can't wait to read about the other Bedwyns now. Especially Wulfric. He's so stodgy and wound up. His story is the final one in the series, so it will be a while yet.

I gave this book 4 stars.

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!

Book Review: One Night for Love - by Mary Balogh

Synopsis: I consider One Night for Love to be the first of two prequels to Mary Balogh's Bedwyn family series of regency romances. Neville Wyatt, Earl of Kilbourne, is literally moments from marrying his lifelong friend and adopted cousin, Lauren Edgeworth, WHEN the woman he married and left for dead two years before comes rushing down the aisle to stop the wedding. Our heroine, Lily Doyle, is a mess, having traveled across the peninsula, over the channel, and through the English countryside to make her way back to her beloved husband. Poor Lauren, the jilted bride, and the rest of Neville's family are shocked and appalled to learn of his marriage to a virtual nobody on a battlefield in Portugal. What follows is a long and heart-rending story of how the two long-lost lovers truly find one another and are able to allow themselves to love each other again.

It is very difficult to describe this book. It is the first Balogh novel I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, thorough is a good word to describe Balogh's writing. She weaves myriad characters into the story as well as providing a rich setting for the action of the story. And yet, you don't ever feel as though you've been mired in too much flowery language or bored with a detailed account of every leaf and twig the characters pass along the way.

The central plot involving the hero and heroine is very, very simple. Their marriage and subsequent joining were an affirmation of life in the midst of the war and death surrounding them. I found the back-story of their time in Portugal very moving. They are torn apart by death, only to be reunited again unexpectedly. Their feelings for one another didn't change, but Lily must still struggle with finding her place in an English society that judges harshly those with no blue blood and formal education. She has to leave Neville, the one thing she loves the most, in order to grow into the woman who can truly be his wife. If that makes sense. Like I said, it is a very difficult book to describe.

Interestingly, one of my favorite things about this novel was the cast of secondary characters. I especially liked Elizabeth, Neville's 36 year old spinster aunt. She made a wonderful champion for Lily among the vicious members of the ton. I also enjoyed the little romance between her and the Duke. I also really liked Gwendoline and Lauren, who didn't want to like Lily, but were strong enough to admit that she really was a good person. They come to like and accept her over time.

I gave this book 4 stars.

Mary Balogh novels - reading order

Since I'm using this blog to track my reading habits, among other things, I've found it useful to provide reading lists of authors. I'm still plowing through Jo Beverley's Company of Rogues series, but I plan to start reading some Mary Balogh at some point. This is a recommended reading list for Balogh's major book series that I plan to read, from what I can piece together from her website. She's written a LOT of books, but I think I'm going to start with these.

Recommended reading order:

1. One Night for Love
2. A Summer to Remember
3. Slightly Married
4. Slightly Wicked
5. Slightly Scandalous
6. Slightly Tempted
7. Slightly Sinful
8. Slightly Dangerous
9. Simply Unforgettable
10. Simply Love
11. Simply Magic
12. Simply Perfect

Book Review: Forbidden - by Jo Beverley

Synopsis: Forbidden is the 4th book in Jo Beverley's Company of Rogues series of regency romances. This installment of the series features Rogues' member Francis Haile, Lord Middlethorpe, who is currently courting one Anne Peckworth, a perfectly respectable Duke's daughter (whom I believe gets her own story in Hazard). Serena Riverton is the widow of sexual deviant, "Randy" Riverton, whom she was forced to marry at the tender age of 15. The story opens with Serena driven to flight from her characteristically evil brothers, who wish to marry her off to the highest bidder. She decides to become a mistress rather than a wife, and heads to London to seek her fortune there. On the way, she gets lost and picked up by young Middlethorpe (ever the gentleman) who is on his way to sort out some rather pesky business involving his mother and an alleged extortionist. Serena sets her sights on making Francis her first protector, and attempts to secure him by literally raping him in the night while weathering a particularly nasty storm in a farmhouse. Francis, a VIRGIN, is at once appalled by and drawn to the woman as a result. Unable to reconcile his feelings for the girl, he drops her off at his aunt Arabella's house in the country and tries to put the beautiful siren out of his mind. While living with Arabella, Serena discovers that she is pregnant, Francis is summoned, and they marry. He doesn't trust her; she doesn't think she is capable of physical tenderness. They both fear that their tenuous marriage will not be able to survive the scandal of its beginnings and of Serena's past.

I am finding, as I read more books in this series, that Beverley likes a very convoluted plot. The above synopsis doesn't really do it justice - it really is much too complicated to summarize. I truly enjoyed this story, though. I really liked Francis' character from the previous Rogues books - he is sensitive, kind, and very gentle. Of the Rogues we've met so far, he's probably the one I would have fallen in love with, were I the heroine of a novel. Serena is a bit whiny at the beginning of the novel, but she kind of grows on you. And by the end of the book, she learns to give as good as she's gotten. I ended up cheering for her during the climactic scene at the inn.

One thing that was noticeably different about this novel from the other books so far, is that the author gives you a lot more insight into what the hero is thinking and feeling. In her earlier books, there are virtually no scenes told from the man's perspective, so you never know what his take on the situation is. Occasionally, you might get little tidbits from conversations he has with other characters, but you never get to see inside his head. In this book, we get a better understanding of how Francis views his wife, what he feels when he discovers the true horrors of her past, and his conflicting feelings of suspicion and desire for her.

On the whole, this series has been fairly enjoyable to read. What I love most about reading series is that you get to see what is happening with a couple from a previous book and you get to anticipate reading the other characters' stories. We're getting to know each of the Rogues a little better with each novel. It makes for a more satisfying reading experience, I think.

Favorite Scene: At the inn when Serena gets fed up with everyone, particularly Francis, and whacks him upside the head with the portfolio. Then she stomps home and throws a big fit in her room. It was funny, but also you see her finally come into her own and realize that she controls her life and won't be controlled by others anymore. Also liked the love scene that follows.

What I didn't like: That Francis never tells her that he loves her. Not once. In the entire book. But I guess it's ok, since you figure he will realize that he loves her in time.

LibraryThing rating: 4 stars

Jo Beverley's Company of Rogues series

I'm trying to whittle down my TBR pile (my "to be read" pile), so I've decided to plow through Jo Beverley's Company of Rogues romance series over the next few months. I've been working on a comprehensive listing of the titles in this series. I may have to edit this list, but here's what I have been able to glean from the author's website and from the romance readers on Library Thing. (edited to clean up the list and add a short story)

The Company of Rogues Series:

1. An Arranged Marriage
2. An Unwilling Bride
3. Christmas Angel
4. Forbidden
5. Dangerous Joy
6. The Demon's Mistress (short story, linked to the Rogues)
7. The Dragon's Bride
8. The Devil's Heiress (linked to the Rogues)
9. Hazard (linked to the Rogues)
10. St. Raven (linked to the Rogues)
11. Skylark
12. The Rogue's Return
13. To Rescue a Rogue
14. Lady Beware (linked to the Rogues)

My very own lite brite!

My brother had a Lite Brite, but I didn't get to play with it much. So I was pretty excited to find out about this one:

LITE BRITE

All the fun, without having all those millions of pegs stuck to your leg when you finish playing with it.

thanks to: (of all places) Tom Mighell's Internet Legal Research Weekly

Free catalogs

I love catalogs. They are like free fashion and home decorating magazines without all those pesky "articles." Even if I can't buy the stuff, I still like looking through the pages for ideas about ways I can decorate, styles to wear, fun gadgets, etc. So with this in mind, I am working on creating a listing of cool designers and retailers who offer free catalogs upon request. I mean, yeah sure, you can just browse their websites, but you don't have to be on a computer to flip through a catalog! I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get this kind of thing published to the blog, so it may be a while coming.

Bug Me Not: the online registration avoider thingy

Web sites that require you to "register" before you can view them are just annoying. They are only doing it for two reasons: 1) they think their content is so all-fired important; AND 2) they want to get your personal info so they can spam you. Why do it? Why register? Why should we have to create stupid dummy email accounts just so we can view some article that somebody sent us the link to.

So, use Bug Me Not to bypass the registration process. It generates a handy user name and password for you so you don't have to cough up your info. Of course, there are a few sites who have managed to work around Bug Me Not (the snooty old Wall Street Journal for one) but, by and large, it is a handy thing to use.

thanks to: puddle for nagging me about blogging this

I love this shirt

It appeals to the librarian/gamer geek inside me.

found via: the great tcritic
get it at: JINX Clothing Company

Harry Potter geeks rule

I'm super-jazzed about going to the midnight sale for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tonight. Can't wait to read it.

favorite word #6: plover

They're always eating plover eggs in trashy romance. Why is that? It must have been a popular dish in regency England...