Where Devlin Puts His Foot in It

Remember Love by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another satisfying and entertaining book by an author I really enjoy. It didn't have quite as much closure as I would have liked, but I think some of that is coming in the sequels.

[Some minor spoilers. Probably none are surprising.]

I enjoyed the whole thing, but I especially from about a third of the way in, part 2 of the book, where the story really begins. The first part is more like an extended prologue, with the characters half-formed and their relationships murky. This follows the huge scene at the end of part 1, when Devlin blows up his family, his love life, his future, and the whole community by publicly revealing his father's infidelity. Very quickly, he finds himself pushed out, and goes straight into an officer's position in Spain against Napoleon. And we jump ahead six years.

I find all of Balogh's books have a somewhat awkward setup. It's like those chess puzzles in the newspaper where the pieces have been put in odd positions and the reader is supposed to put the black king in check mate in so many moves. It doesn't really matter how we got to that point, or if such a starting position is realistic or not. Just accept it and move on. That's how the author's plots are constructed--usually starting in a rather odd place that doesn't feel exactly organic, but that works its way through in a realistic way after that to a satisfying conclusion. The sudden emergence of love or revelation of love between young Devlin and even younger Gwyneth, occurring on the same day that he sabotages his future by acting in the most astonishing, foolish way, getting himself kicked out of the house and disappearing for six years, is a bit awkward. But the rest of the story, IMO, makes up for it, progressing in a much more believable way.

And all her stories (that I've read) are kinda similar. I think she dreams up the setup and has to work backwards to explain how they got there, then go forwards again. This is my theory. Ahem.

Anyway, the rest of the book works well, leading the protagonists towards each other once again in a slow, choppy, seemingly-hopeless but ultimately inevitable way. What I like is how so much of the story is taken up with all the other relationships that need repair, like that between Devlin and his younger sisters, his brothers, his friends, and between him and the community. Nothing is simple, but there is growth and forgiveness and healing in all of these areas that makes good sense. The fact that some of the repairs are not absolutely completed by the end of the book but are hinted at works well enough, and that includes Devlin's somewhat muted emotions. It's a curious deviation from genre norms, I think, a bending of the rules even, but nothing broken.

I was sad that his sister Pippa still seems broken by the events early in the book and isn't exactly herself by the end, but I think that may be resolved, as I said, in the sequels. And his half-brother is still not quite there. Same answer, I guess.

Anyway, I liked it. It's supposedly the first in the series, though I don't think they have to be read in order.

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