Where Ben And Lady Jennifer Get Their Courage Up

Always Remember: Ben's Story by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There aren't very many surprises in the book, but it does everything you want it too, just the same.

You know going in that illegitimate son/brother Ben is going to find some way to end up with the high-born but disabled Lady Jennifer. He doesn't fit in anywhere because of his origins; she doesn't fit well because the marriage market was cruel; but they're both great people who deserve to ignore the rules.

What I love about Mary Balogh books is the way she weaves in subplots and interesting conflicts. For Lady Jenny, there is a subplot regarding everyone who helps take care of her, especially her aunt, who is patient and giving but would kinda like to remarry, but she won't do anything to abandon her niece. And for Ben, there's the issue often brought up but never resolved about who his mother was, who her family was, and when a half-brother finds him and reaches out to him by letter, he's not sure if he wants to try to meet a whole family who may not want to actually know him. There's also his own family's feelings about who he is to them and how he should live his life, and he has a young daughter to think about. She really wants a mother, and he's prepared to choose someone he doesn't love if there is no other option.

So the romance progresses in fits and starts, with both cautious about being anything more than friendly, but his kindness changes her feelings, and her lovableness makes him start to have the courage to break society's rules. Both of their families see what is happening and urge them to be careful, but they win them over as much as they win each other over. As usual, the author has the main characters growing and changing individually as much as she has them growing together, and I find that very satisfying. And entertaining, of course.

The first half moves a little slowly (still pretty good), but it picks up the rest of the way, and the second half especially is great. IMO.

Recommended.

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Where Freyja Punches the Guy. Twice.

Slightly Scandalous by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm pretty convinced Mary Balogh makes little bets with herself that she can make rough characters sympathetic and make unlikely couples somehow work. IMO, based on seven or eight books so far, she's batting 1000. But I thought she gave herself too hard a task this time.

Freyja Bedwyn is hard to make romantic. She's usually angry; she's combative; she's not terribly pretty; she's impatient; she's a tomboy; she's grouchy, and grumpy, and utterly opposed to sentimentality; and she is quite prone to violence. I mean, there's still a lot to work with: she is active and competitive and proud, and though she can be mean she can also be funny. Not content with that challenge, the author made her even more difficult than necessary for the first 200 or 250 pages. TBH, I wished she had given her softer edges well before that, make it a little easier for the reader to feel sympathy and connection, but she wanted to wait until the last minute...

Kinda the same with the MMC, Joshua Moore. He is framed as a a rogue, almost a cad, who is always laughing and calling Freyja "Sweetheart" in a (in my mind anyway) condescending and insulting way. I was not loving him. Then their meet cute was more weird than cute (he ran through her room at in inn trying to get away from an angry mob and she punched him in the nose). When they bump into each other in Bath later they continue their odd dance--he's joking and insincere; she's angry and aggressive. You can see how he could be right for her, because she would never go for a sweet, sincere, sedate kind of guy, nor would he like a mousy woman. But they remain badly matched almost all the way through, long after they get into one of those fake engagements. (Not my favorite trope.) Their attraction is similarly violent, but doesn't feel like it has legs. If you know what I mean.

What finally works, nearer the end than I would have liked, is that both reluctantly and accidentally reveal how kind and loving they actually can be. They meet each other's families, where they are shown to advantage. They're not softies, but they are good people. It turns out he isn't really a rogue, because he takes care of his cousins and other vulnerable folks, and she's not really a misanthrope, because she has a bunch of family that love her and she loves back. She likes that about him; he likes that about her. And they both like that they're still very highly charged, competitive people.

So, the author wins her bet. She pulls it off. They were both a little unsympathetic at first and their connection was unlikely, but I like them both at the end and feel like their romance makes good. I wasn't feeling it for more than half the book, though, and almost all the fun is in the second half. (IMO.) In any case, I'm sure lots of people will enjoy their battling at the beginning more than I did.

Recommended. Good series.

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Where Judith Stops Hiding

Slightly Wicked by Mary Balogh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an entertaining book. I enjoyed it about 5 stars-worth.

[some general spoilers throughout]

As one can guess from the title, this book turns the norms of the Regency romance upside down. Some of them. Primarily, it allows the story to begin with the FMC and MMC meeting one another, having a brief fling (imagine Elizabeth Bennet having a fling! Wait, someone has probably written a P&P variation exactly that way), then separating, lost to one another (they both lied about their names) and finding each other later--when they finally fall in love. Usually, Regency heroines are either completely chaste until the wedding night--basically the last page--or they might break the rules about sleeping together late in the book after both are pretty deeply in love. Starting the book the way she did, with Judith shyly but happily jumping into bed with Rannulf Bedwyn, it seems like Mary Balogh was setting herself a challenge to see if she could still make the romance work, forging a proper novel out of it despite the irregular inciting incident.

I think she really did. It worked well, IMO.

Judith is sent to live with relatives where she has to cover her beautiful hair and wear shapeless, unflattering clothes, and work more like a servant than a family member. Rannulf shows up to court her cousin, but keeps finding himself interested in Judith. Of course, she's more like Fanny in Mansfield Park, a poor relative who shouldn't be considered in the same way as her highborn cousin, and while everyone wants to keep her covered up and hidden, she can't help but shine through sometimes, almost by accident. I suspect the author of imagining Judith as a version of Venus, the one found in Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," except, you know, not naked. This description near the end seemed to suggest it stronger than others:

There was a noticeable breeze on the hilltop. It sent her dress fluttering behind her and flattened it against her at the front. It lifted her hair in a red-gold cloud behind her back... she gazed back at him, her head tipped proudly back, a soft smile on her lips, her cheeks flushed. She was all beautiful, breathtaking goddess and woman...

Maybe I read into it. But I'm about half sure I'm right.

There's a villain, and Rannulf gets to intervene and protect her from him and see that he gets what's coming to him, and that's fun. And there's some excellent healing going on in Judith as she discovers she's internalized some unfair criticism that she can finally crawl out from under. She may be "slightly wicked"--by the norms of the time--and so is he, to be fair (though gender norms are not fair) but despite that, she's a very sympathetic heroine who the reader is sure deserves all the happiness.

The author wins her little challenge. Good book. I think the next one is about her sister-in-law Freyja, who is unruly and competitive and gives tomboy vibes. Should be good.

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Where Grandma and Grandpa Crack Me Up

Remember Me by Mary Balogh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very good book. IMO. All five stars.

As a reader, coming from the Jane Austen universe, I've always liked a Regency setting, which makes this author and series a draw for me. I didn't understand any of it when I read Pride and Prejudice in college--but that was a while ago, and now it makes a lot more sense to me. I also like how these novels are clustered in "series," though they're more related than consecutive. (Which is fine, either way.) That means the reader already has an idea of characters and backgrounds going into the novel, making the early parts smoother and more entertaining. I feel the same way about big series, like Star Trek books, or Doc Savage, or popular characters like Sherlock Holmes, where you're familiar with the people and background so you can pick up the book and be into the story very quickly. It lowers barriers to enjoying the novel. And the way Mary Balogh writes several books about a single family, you have the same advantage here--many of the same characters show up in multiple books.

I especially find that a help when I'm trying to remember the names of the characters, who is related to whom, and where we know "Aunt Kitty" from. I have often made charts for myself (and taught students to do the same) because I am crap at names in books and real life. And TBH, the author OFTEN throws a whole paragraph of names at the reader in a way I can't absorb all at once--but spread across several books, I work it out. It's a brain saver.

Speaking of the book on its own--it's really good. This is a satisfying story with a lot of sympathetic characters and human moments. The FMC and MMC are likable from the start, but so are most of their relatives and extended families. The main characters are flawed, sure; they're damaged, for certain. But they're good people, and it's easy to root for them. What I found very curious is how the two had a genuine issue separating them, a moment in their past when Lucas accidentally insulted Philippa in her hearing. What he said was horrible, particularly for that era, but it was out of character for him, being spoken in anger, and we learn [spoiler of a general nature]....................... that he had good reason to be angry--just not at her. Anyway, it's a wall between them, when they should have been perfect for each other. The curious part is how his grandfather, acting like a matchmaker or fairy godfather, pushes at them to break down that wall. He's relentless, and kinda selfish because he wants his heir to marry and make another generation of heirs, but he's also sympathetic and pretty funny. His wife is cool, too. But the point is--still spoiling a bit--his meddling is an actual help.

(He's like the anti-Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whose opposition and meddling did more to drive Elizabeth and Darcy together than almost anything else. He meddles on the side of the angels.)

And the final ending (you see, there is a sort of ending, then a bigger ending, then a final ending...) is touching and sweet, and though the novel has its obligatory HEA, a very satisfying one, there is also a sad, sweet, lovely ending after that.

I found this both fun to read and emotionally satisfying--a love story as well as a family story. Recommended for just about any reader.

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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 liked it 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 leads to 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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Where They Should Just Wake Up

Slightly Married by Mary Balogh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Pretty good. I still like the book and the author, but this is my least favorite of her novels so far. 3 stars.

I liked Aidan and Eve--by the very end. But it took me a long time to warm up to them (and them to each other). They were admirable all the way through. Honorable. Good people, trying to do the right thing. But I didn't care much about them. Both of them were so cold to each other, outwardly, anyway, and formal, and uncommunicative. It wore me out. In the other books I've read by Mary Balogh, I liked and enjoyed and rooted for the main characters almost from the beginning, and that didn't happen here. (Could have been me, obviously.)

Aidan promises a dying soldier to protect his sister, Eve. He brings her the news of his death and discovers by a quirk of their family's will that she will lose everything if she isn't married by a certain date--in about a week. Because Eve makes a home for servants who have been cast off by the world and a pair of orphaned children that she is more or less parent to, it is not just for herself but for their sakes she wants to keep her home and property. So... Aidan marries her, promising to leave her alone as soon as the wedding is over. Problem solved!

Complications arise, obviously. Everyone learns about the marriage, and they have to follow through on more than just saying "I do." They hang out, and she meets his family and wins them over. But both of them think, until almost the end, that the other one wants to be left alone to go back to their regular, single life once everything is done. He thinks she does; she thinks he does. Even though they have been growing closer during all this time together, learning to admire and care for one another, they keep that feeling hidden. Really hidden. Smashed down deep. A smidge of communication could have fixed this much sooner.

It ends well, and I almost gave it a 4, but 3 is right--it was good, good enough to read and recommend to people who like this type of story.

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Where Lily Stays Lily

One Night for Love by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very entertaining book. I enjoyed reading it, hoping for happy endings for a number of characters, wondering how it would all work out, and I was eagerly looking for the answers to questions through the whole second half like it was half mystery. A couple of those questions are left somewhat unanswered--technically revealed, but in a vague way--which I didn't love, but it didn't detract too much. Still a lot of fun.

(For example--Lily was told to find something in her father's bag, and the reader knows it involves a secret. I want to find the bag, or find what was in it. Lily never finds it, unfortunately, and though Neville locates someone who knows what it involved he never tells us explicitly what that was. We're clued into the secret already by that point, so it's kinda moot, but I really hoped they would somehow find the original document, at least for closure. Same for their original proof of being married--I hoped that would turn up, somehow, like in the TV show Belgravia. We didn't need it, but it felt like a missed opportunity.)

But overall, it's a cool plot with good twists and lots of great scenes.

The FMC, Lily, is a great character, original and likable, and so is Neville, which makes them easy to root for. And the people who are at first kinda anti-Lily come around in a way that does them credit, so that we can like them, too, or almost all of them. I like that Lily herself is unaffected, friendly with people of all stations, and remains that way throughout, chatting with people her peers would never chat with, peeling potatoes that they would never peel, but still able to be herself with the gentry. At first, they are put off by that aspect of her character, but later they appreciate it. That's a lot of her charm, for the reader as well as for the other characters in the novel, and she keeps that innocent quality from beginning to end.

Some of the story, by the last few chapters, is a little melodramatic, and that stretches the conclusion out more than I would like. It also takes the tone in a too-serious direction--too many apologies and reminiscences, too many starts and stops and partings, too many "I'll wait until you're ready" moments--so that I winced a tiny bit in the last 30 or 40 pages. But it still was mostly upbeat and fun, which preserved (for me) an "I liked reading this a lot" 4-star rating. (I've read the books in the wrong order, accidentally, so I knew how the plot came out before I started, and I'm not sure if I would have liked this more or less if I had read it in the right order. Doesn't really matter. I enjoyed it fine.)

In any case, I find myself entertained and charmed by Mary Balogh's books, enough that I've already ordered another one in the related series, and I'm looking forward to it. Maybe I'll buy and read them one at a time, all 40 or 50 of them, like ET following a trail of Reese's Pieces...

Recommended.

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Where Kit and Lauren Rescue Each Other

A Summer to Remember by Mary Balogh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is my second title by this author, and I really liked the book--again--even though this is not my genre or surely didn't used to be. (I've always liked Jane Austen, and more recently have enjoyed Georgette Heyer, so maybe I've been sneaking up on these books over time.)

The first one I read on a sort of whim. It's not condescending to remark that I was very surprised to like it--the criticism is for the reader, not the book. But I did like it, quite a bit, and decided to try others by the same author. I'm glad I did.

I don't know enough about romance in general or Regency romance in particular to say whether or not this is a remarkable writer or book, but I thought it was really good. It was touching, thoughtful (in a "hey, that's kinda wise" way), sexy, and literally laugh out loud funny in places, with a compelling, emotionally satisfying, and appropriately complex plot.

The setup of the story is sort of a stock arrangement, familiar in movies anyway, where the FMC and the MMC agree to pose as an engaged couple for a period of time for reasons that make sense for both of them. This is perhaps the weakest part of the story, a little cliched, but it has sufficient character and plot justifications to make it acceptable. Once past that, the story is fresh and entertaining, with sufficient stakes and secondary plots to make it fun to pick up each time.

Kit is a familiar sort of rake, a complex man with difficulties in his history and his psyche that he disguises underneath behavior bordering on the scandalous. That he is deeper and more consequential than he appears is a given, though his revelations through the course of the story are expertly handled and very believable. Lauren, the FMC, is even more of a surprise and more engaging (for me)--a prim, almost prudish woman in a prudish era who has personal biographical reasons to be that way, though she is hiding even from herself the person she might truly be in a different world. Again, I don't know enough yet to say whether it is the genre in general or Mary Balogh in particular who is behind it, but both books I've read by her are very concerned with characters becoming authentically themselves, and the way they discover what that means is, for me, at least as engrossing as the romantic relationship (which is entirely enjoyable). Trauma and disappointment and fear and hurt stand in the way of many of the characters, and it is the genius of Lauren and Kit both that they are able to untangle many old problems plaguing their families--all in a way that feels genuine and organic.

Happy ending, of course. Also a given. But it arrives in a satisfying way that makes perfect sense. Well done all around. 5 stars.

With recent (2026) Booktok discourse regarding "anti-intellectualism" and the worth of genre fiction being very much on my mind, I have to note that I am not now nor am I ever passing judgment on the value or cultural relevance or intrinsic worth (whatever that means) of any work of art. Not only is that sort of critique beyond me, it's beyond everyone else, too, and I will gladly argue the point with anyone at any time. When I review a book, all I can do is give some indication of how much I enjoyed it, how I subjectively reacted to it. I read for enjoyment, and this was enjoyable, so... mission accomplished.

My recommendation (or prediction, really) is that if you are an Austen reader or a romance reader, you will probably like this book. If you read Heyer or other Regency-type novels, you will almost certainly like it. Everyone else--who knows? Maybe you would, too. Anyway, if I'm wrong I'm wrong, but my opinion is free. : )

I'll soon know if this author can go 3 for 3. Fingers crossed.

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Where the Dowager Countess Takes a Chance

Remember When: Clarissa's Story by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here's another book I'm not exactly the audience for, but I enjoyed reading it. Quite a bit, actually. It was an entertaining story with some genuinely touching scenes.

Romance is not really my genre, though Jane Austen led me to Georgette Heyer novels (on the recommendation of some other Austen fans), and the fact that I liked those let me take a chance on this. Similar setting; similar social milieu. I bought the book on a whim because I made myself a deal--anytime I had to go in a drug store (not a frequent thing) I would try a book off the shelf. Last book was a Jack Reacher novel. I liked that too. In any case, I probably still won't read any modern-day romances soon, but I dig a good Regency story.

Clarissa, a well behaved rich girl, and Matthew, a bit of a misfit from a good family, were well-born neighbors, close friends as kids and teenagers, and though they might have been more than friends, Clarissa accepted an offer from the young Earl of Stratton that separated them and set the course of both their lives. Matthew wandered Europe and South Asia for a decade before returning to England to take up woodworking out of a rented room; Clarissa and her husband raised a family. Thirty years after they parted, with Matthew making tables and cribs and carving on the side, he's more working class than gentry, quietly content with his life, and she's a well-off widow with grown kids. But they take a chance on reconnecting, seeing if there's still some friendship to be had, and seeing how they both have changed.

With an understated conflict--there is one, but it's not that stressful--and fairly low stakes overall, it's a cozy romance (if I can use that term). However, there's still lots of interest, and a big part of the conflict is between Matthew and his estranged family. It becomes clear he has to sort that out before he can pursue a real romance. The scenes with his older brother and his family are very sweet, very touching, with a surprising emotional payoff. Nicely done.

It's romance. There is a happily ever after. It's not gonna fail you there. But it's a nice story getting to that point. Now I'm curious about this author's giant back catalog. Sheesh! I thought the prose was effective and appealing, usually signs of a thoughtful, careful writer, but she clearly writes at a freakish pace... Anyway, it works, so I'll try another.

This one is recommended.

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