This is one of her best earlier works. The story was a one sitting read. I just could not put it down.

William Mainwaring is trying to escape from the mess his life has become over the past year, in which he fell in love with the (then) estranged wife of his best friend. So he retreats to Graystone, in the north of England, intending to try to forget Elizabeth and avoid polite society. However, he reckons without the inhabitants of the local town, who are determined to include him in their activities; after all, while he may not have a title, he is certainly one of the wealthiest single gentlemen around at the moment, which makes him extremely eligible and desirable.

Lady Helen Wade, youngest daughter of the Earl of Claymore, hates the sort of 'proper' behaviour required of a young lady of the ton, and she avoids any kind of interaction with Society as much as she can, simply by slipping out and running to her favourite place, in the woods by a stream on Graystone land. Although she's almost twenty, she does her best to pretend that she won't have to secure a suitable marriage some day; in fact, it's clear that Helen hasn't really grown up yet.

One day, William Mainwaring comes upon a young woman sitting by the river on his land, 'learning water', as she tells him. She's wearing a faded dress which is unfashionable and far too short for her; unsurprisingly, he takes her for a village girl. Helen, realising his mistake and the impropriety of her presence in his land and in his company, allows him to carry on believing that she's a simple country girl, and tells him that her name is Nell.

'Nell' and William become friends, actually seeking each other out as escape from their mundane and unwelcome daily lives; they discuss poetry and landscapes and nature, and find themselves becoming drawn to each other. Attracted to each other. Until the inevitable happens...

William thinks that Nell is a village girl. So it never occurs to him that, since he realises he needs to marry and he's actually considering one of her sisters as a potential wife, that he could marry Nell instead. And anyway, he's not in love with her, is he? He still loves Elizabeth! Nell knows that she needs to tell William the truth; after all, she's spent time with him under false pretences. But good intentions go their usual way, and very soon it's too late. William has left, and Nell is... well, Nell has to grow up very quickly in a very short space of time.

This represents the early part of The Wood Nymph; the remainder of the book is set mostly in London, and readers will need to read it for themselves to find out what happens. All I can say is that this book satisfies my desire for closure for William Mainwaring completely. A wonderful book, and well worth the 'collectible' price I paid for it.

I have read several of Mary Balogh's novels, and IRRESISTIBLE is by far my favorite. Ms. Balogh is very adept at creating poignant moments in her books, and many such moments involving the characters Sophie and Nathaniel in IRRESISTIBLE are simply beautiful. I found myself re-reading some of the more touching passages, trying to savor every description, every thought, every emotion. Like another reader/reviewer, I enjoyed this book so very much that I didn't want it to end.

I did not realize unil now that this is the 3rd of a series- but, yet, I enjoyed it by itself. I just recently discovered MB books and really enjoy them. So far, they don't seem empty and silly. The characters are well-developed and intelligent. There isn't the silly conversations used to develope the story as in some books.

Nathaniel (Nat) Gascoigne is one of 4 friends that went thru war together being nicknamed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Since the war, 2 friends have settled down in marriage. Nat returned home to take over family obligations since his father's death but has no desire to marry. His ideal life is that of finding a widow that is interested in having a relationship without ties. First, though, he must find husbands for the last sister and cousin living at home. So off to London they go to participate in The Season of balls, parties, etc.

Sophia Armitage is a widow of a colleague of the Four Horsemen who died in the Peninsular War. While traveling with her husband she became close friends with the 4 men. She is now residing in London and comes across the 4 friends after losing contact with them over the last 3 years. Friendships are renewed- and after escorting her home after a party Nat and Sophie agree to try a relationship with no strings attached. Nat has no idea that Sophie has had a secret love for Nat all these years and discoveres that shy, plain, little Sophie has a side of desire, passion, and beauty to her that has been hidden all these years. But the relationship doesn't last long due to a blackmailer that threatens to bring light on his discovery if Sophie doesn't detach herself from her friends. But Nat is not satisfied with Sophie's reasoning for breaking this off and it determined to find the source of the problem.

The book has a good story to it that is one of passion. I highly recommend it and am looking forward to finding the first two- Indiscreet and Unforgiven that are about the 2 friends that are married in Irresistible.

I loved this book so much I did not want it to end! I read most of Mary Balogh's novels, some of them I really enjoyed,others I liked less, but this one is my favorite! The characters are so endearing and the story is simply beautiful. I strongly recommend it.

Mary Balogh is one of my fav's but this one fell short of my " I love Mary" books. The one thing I love about Mary is her ability to include the reader in a sympathetic and 'realistic' tale about the heroines story. I felt in this book that the male character wasn't passionate enough about his heroine; however funny. The characters in the book make you laugh, but you do sense the lack of passion and intimacy between them, which leaves you wondering whether (long after the story finishes)the hero and heroine find true happiness.

Cora Downes is a merchant's daughter who enters London's elite society after rescuing a duke's son. The genuine and fun-loving Cora feels out of place in cold London society. Her fear of the aristocracy does not extend to Francis Kneller though. He is a duke's son, but Cora feels comfortable around him. Francis is amused by Cora and decides to ease her entrance into society by paying attention to her. After he inadvertantly compromises her twice, Francis offers Cora marriage. They enter into a marriage neither really wants.

I loved that Cora was not a member of the ton. I loved Francis Kneller's pink coats and lace. I loved their relationship. There is much humor to be had in The Famous Heroine, but it never overshadows the romance. It develops slowly and believably. Mary Balogh has written another winner!

While Balogh's longer, more involved novels are usually a far better purchase than the standard 200-page Regency, she is an author who can alter her style to fit this genre if necessary, and in 'The Famous Heroine' she's done just that. Cora is a wonderfully amusing and enjoyable heroine, and Francis a rather unexpected but thoroughly likeable hero. Cora's misconception about Francis is actually very plausible, and the scene in which this gets straightened out between them is one of the most amusing in any Regency I've read. It's also good to see a heroine who isn't a simpering miss in the bedroom.

Don't expect the usual Balogh angst in this book; but for a comedy with a light touch this is wonderful.

The back cover is deceiving, and I strongly suspect that the cover illustration is that of Lady Sophia's estranged parents. And the reviewers are right - this story, of a couple estranged over a one-time indiscretion (well, a one-night stand) by the father which the mother cannot forgive, is what caught the eye. Mind you, reading about Sophia's and Francis's childhood was funny. I could just imagine that little girl eagerly tagging after four bigger boys, with the older boys more tolerant of her. Balogh does childhood scenes so wonderfully.

I have to admit that through most of the book, once I realized what the cause of the estrangement had been, I felt rather sorry for Sophia's father - being estranged from his wife over something he did when completely drunk, and then missing his only child growing up. I was also impressed by the fact that the couple seemed to share a bed more happily than their true feelings. In this book, particularly, you can find out more about the characters through their sexual relations, than through what they say or think.

Sophia was a bit silly and immature through most of the book. I have to admit that while I understood her feelings, I also felt that she was *very very* lucky that Francis's feelings for her had changed over the years. Francis of course fully realized what he was getting into, especially when Sophia decided to insist upon an early marriage.

The family relationships are wonderfully portrayed, but the true romance is not that between Sophia and Francis but between Sophia's parents Marcus and Olivia (or Marc and Livy). The flashbacks to their estrangement, the subsequent misunderstandings even after they have spent some time together at their daughter's wedding, and their genuine fears and worries about their daughter marrying so young are all beautifully portrayed. On the other hand, neither couple will stick in your mind as much as the couples Balogh creates slightly later - Carew and Samantha, Francis (another Francis!) and Cora, Bridgwater and Stephanie. And these are only from her traditional Regencies.

This book is short and sweet, and it will leave you with a smile. Not one of her best, but hardly one of her worst either.

Rating = 4.3 stars (points off for more attractive heroes than heroines; for less-developed and immature characters, particularly an immature Sophia)

Balogh's Regency novels never fail to capture the reader's attention. This one has characters less well deveoped than in Indiscreet, et al. Nevertheless, she writes an entrancing novel and keeps us with her characters until the end.

Lady Sophia Bryant isn't enjoying her first Season. She doesn't want to get married, because her own experience of marriage is disastrous: her parents separated when she was four and neither has seen the other since then. Talking to some friends, a scheme is borne: if Sophia pretends that she wants to marry someone her parents will find ineligible, but is of perfectly good ton, then maybe they will have to join forces to talk her out of it.

Step forward Lord Francis Sutton, youngest son of a duke - a duke who happens to be the Earl of Clifton's (Sophia's father) oldest friend. Sophia and Francis have known each other since they were very young children - and unlike characters in another author's books I've been reading recently, these two really do sound as if they've known each other all their lives. Francis and Sophia have quarrelled all their lives, too, and even in agreeing to pretend to be madly in love they fight. It's already apparent that this pretend engagement is going to be a lot of fun - and that Sophia and Francis are actually not as indifferent to each other as they pretend.

And now we meet the principal characters of this book: Sophia's parents, Olivia and Marcus. Although they're the parents of a debutante, they are actually relatively young still: Marc is 40 to Livy's 36. But they haven't seen one another for 14 years. Olivia rejected Marc after a stupid mistake of his: drunk, he slept with a prostitute because his friends were egging him on, and he compounded his error by telling Olivia. At her young age at the time - just 21 - she'd put him on a pedestal and couldn't cope with discovering that he was human. She didn't know how to rebuild their marriage at the time, so she told him that she couldn't forgive him.

So how do Marc and Livy cope, meeting each other after all this time? Has time healed the wounds? Are they now two strangers? Or can they be indifferent to each other, behaving like polite acquaintances? Or is it possible that they are each still in love with the other?

We get two love stories for the price of one in A Counterfeit Betrothal. Frances and Sophia's is fun all the way; extremely humorous, and it's entirely obvious that the two of them have bitten off far more than they can chew in pretending to their families that they are madly in love and can't wait to be married. But... is it really all a pretence? Is it possible for two people to be quite so convincing? And will they actually be able to extricate themselves before they really find themselves in front of a vicar? But then, as Francis keeps telling Sophia, they're both headed for Bedlam anyway.

And then, in stark contrast, Marc and Livy's story is utterly poignant. Their separation left each of them bitter, Marc because he'd pleaded with Livy for six months to forgive him, and Livy because of Marc's betrayal. Seeing each other again is unbelievably painful for both. Being together, pretending to be the happily married couple for friends and relations - and especially in front of Sophia, so that they don't spoil her engagement and wedding plans - takes its toll on both. Is it too late for them? Once the wedding - what wedding? - is over, will Olivia just go back home and never see Marc again?

It takes a very good, very believable, angsty romance to make me cry. This one did. It takes something special in a book to make me think and obsess about the characters when I'm not reading it - I do have to work sometimes! - but this one did. Unfortunately, like just about all of Balogh's early Regencies, it's out of print. But if you can get hold of it second-hand, grab it. You won't want to let it go.

Just perfect!

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I THINK THIS HAS A NICE LOVE STORY IN THE END. HOWEVER, I FELT MORE DISAPPOINTED AFTER READING THIS STORY. IT DIDN'T REALLY TOUCHED ME AT ALL.

I love it when I can find my favourite authors' back catalogues! I picked this book up secondhand recently, and even with the transatlantic postage charges it was well worth the money. This is an example of the kind of story Balogh does best.

Truly is one of her 'Welsh novels', and it follows a similar pattern, at least in terms of setting and 'A-plot', as Longing. (Incidentally, I think the reviewer who mentioned Tangled is confusing that book - another Balogh classic, by the way - with Longing). A theme of both of these books is that of a wealthy aristocratic landowner who is made aware - usually by the heroine - of how rents and tithes and other unfair policies are resulting in his tenants starving and being ground into poverty. In these books, in addition, the heroine is not of the hero's class; she's one of the villagers, perhaps a schoolteacher or the minister's daughter.

The similarities of theme don't matter one bit to me; both stories are very different, and all unmissable, in my opinion.

One of the big differences in Truly is that the Earl of Wyvern, Geraint Penderyn, actually grew up among the village people; he was the son of a governess, whom everyone thought was an unmarried mother. She'd been driven out of her home and lived in a hovel up in the hills. Geraint, until the age of twelve, was a village child, to some degree an outcast, but he was befriended by Margred and by Aled. Then papers were found which confirmed that Geraint's mother was married to his father, and Geraint - now the heir to the earldom - was taken away to London to be brought up in a manner befitting his status. He never saw his mother again; she died when he was 18.

The book starts as he is returning to his Welsh estate after ten years away, now the owner of the area in which he grew up, and landlord of all his former friends and neighbours. On his last visit, things had been awkward between him and his childhood friends; he and Margred had begun to fall in love, but he'd handled it badly and she'd been hurt. Now, he's looking forward to seeing her again, although he is pretty sure that she'll be married.

What he isn't prepared for is the hostile reaction he gets from all around, and the anger and bitterness Margred throws at him. What he soon finds out is that his agent, in his absence, has behaved like any other landlord and has raised rents year after year, and evicted those who couldn't pay. And changing matters isn't that simple; other landowners in the area are resistant, and he is viewed with suspicion.

From Margred's perpective, Geraint is the man she used to love, but whom she now hates with all of her being. For her husband was arrested for trying to help their friends and neighbours, and sentenced to transportation. She wrote to Geraint to beg him to intercede, but he never responded. And since her husband died as a result of his treatment, she blames Geraint for his death.

So Geraint has an impossible task in front of him: how to win back the trust of his tenants, how to improve conditions for them - and how to prove to Margred that he still loves her and that he never deliberately betrayed her, even if his neglect caused her pain. His one remaining friend - Aled, now the village blacksmith - plus the continuing Rebecca Riots in the area might offer a way forward...

But even if he succeeds in breaking down the barriers between himself and the villagers, there's no guarantee that Margred will be interested. She realises that her feelings for Geraint are conflicted, but that soon becomes less important once she finds herself falling for 'Rebecca', the man in disguise who leads the Rebecca Riots against unjustified tollgates.

This is a wonderful story about the importance of loyalty, belonging, the effect of class differences on relationships and ultimately, how love and friendship can overcome differences. It's an unforgettable love story, but it's as much a story about a community and about friendship. Don't miss it!

I have always loved Mary's Regencies, and even tho' this is not a Regency, I loved it. I loved it in part, because it takes place in Wales, the author's native country. She really made the story of the Rebecca Riots come alive.

Lady Mary Gregg is what is normally called a bluestocking: she dresses plainly, doesn't care for balls and parties, and prefers to spend her time discussing literature, philosophy and so on. She's far from the type of woman whom the known rake, Lord Edmond Waite, would be interested in - and yet, stranded alone together in Vauxhall Gardens in the middle of a thunderstorm, they discover each other in the most intimate way possible.

How could this have happened? This is exactly what Mary asks herself once she's home again. She hates men of Lord Edmond's type; he was a rake in the worst possible sense, and she was well aware that only a few months earlier he'd been involved in a scandal with another woman, who had apparently almost run off with him while engaged to another man. But Mary is terrified of thunderstorms due to a childhood trauma, and she knows that she can't exactly blame Lord Edmond for making love to her; in her terror, she had pleaded with him to do it. But it will never happen again. He is not her type. He is everything she despises... and yet. And yet she is powerfully attracted to him, as she has never been to any other man. Not even Marcus, the Earl of Clifton (hero of A Counterfeit Betrothal), who was her close friend for so many years.

As for Edmond, still stinging from Felicity's rejection, he is equally determined that Mary is not his type. Despite the fact that being with her haunts his dreams, he knows very well that he doesn't belong in her world, and he can't imagine her wanting to belong in his. And yet he is still attracted to her: Mary, the mousy bluestocking, a type of woman he tells himself is beneath his notice. He can't seem to stop himself coming up with excuses for them to meet, and when they do, he can't prevent himself baiting her just to see her shaken out of her studied politeness.

No, Edmond and Mary are worlds apart... or are they? For Mary, little by little, begins to discover that Edmond is not the ignorant, heartless, Philistine rake he pretends to be. She gradually discovers, to her shock, that he can be hurt. That *she* can hurt him. And also that he has a knowledge of culture and literature better than her own - but why does he try to hide it? And what is the mystery surrounding his brother's death, when Edmond was only eighteen, and for which the world - including Edmond himself - holds him responsible?

Is Edmond really such a notorious rake as he appears?

Can Mary use her engagement to another man to put Edmond out of her mind and make him keep away from her?

This is in many ways an unforgettable book, and Edmond is one of my favourite 'tortured' Balogh heroes. We begin by disliking him - and for anyone who read the first book in this linked trilogy, The Trysting Place, the dislike is even greater. But by even a quarter of the way into the book, we find our perceptions changing. We haven't even found out any of Edmond's secrets by this stage, which is what is so skilful about Balogh's writing. She can make readers feel empathy even for a character we should dislike. But as we learn more and more about Edmond, discovering along the way that he is compassionate, sensitive and capable of showing great nobility, we long to know the real secrets of his past - and for him to find the happiness he deserves.

A keeper, this book, if you can get your hands on it.

The Notorious Rake starts quite surprisingly with what looks like the climax of a story: Mary Gregg, Lady Mornington, blames herself for letting her terror of thunderstorms push her into Lord Edmond Waite's arms one night in a secluded shelter at Vauxhall. Mary hates everything about Lord Edmond: he is a luscious, lewd, mocking and spiteful libertine, a rake of the worst kind, whose reputation makes him the black sheep among the ton. He's still accepted among his noble peers only because of his wealth and title, but everyone in London despises him, most of all Lady Mornington. She, on the other hand, evolves around the high ton; she's famous for the literary salons she organises every week, and she managed to keep her reputation intact despite the rumours of a liaison she might have had with a married male friend.

But on the night of Vauxhall, everything changes for Mary. Her unexplainable but nonetheless very real physical attraction to Edmond revolts her. And at first, when Edmond pursues her for days without taking no for an answer, the reader is bound to hate Lord Edmond Waite and his tactics that not any better than those of a stalker's.

And therein lies the strength of this story: the hero is a truly tortured character, who first offers to us the image he gives to the world, and whose true self is progressively uncovered both by the heroine and the reader, one step at a time. For Lord Edmond is a very tortured and loveable character, who put love to a far corner of his being long ago and decided not to bother with the painful emotion any more.

Lord Edmond's character is no doubt fascinating. He's mocking, vulgar and obnoxious most of the time, but the mask is progressively pulled off his face as he keeps pursuing his quest for Lady Mornington's body (but despite what he claims, is it just her body he's pining for?) and she valiantly fights her attraction to him.

This story is one of two heroes that everything seems to keep apart, but shows us that reputation are deceitful and that every character is a lot more complicated than what they appear.

Yet another Mary Balogh keeper!

Cleaning out my closet this week, I came upon an old paperback copy of the Notorious Rake by Mary Balogh. I thumbed through it and ended up sitting down and re-reading it (for the fourth or fifth time) It really is, I think, one of her best novels. The book's romance and conflict isn't contrived between the two main characters. You can understand and believe the attraction between the two and also understand why they both would resist such an attraction.

The resolution was particularly sweet with Mary helping to bridge the gap between Edmond and his family. Very good book!

We last saw Lady Freyja Bedwyn in Ms. Balogh's captivating gem A Summer To Remember and she is now the central protagonist in the conclusive episode to the Slightly series. A haughty and spirited character, Freyja is seen retreating to Bath to avoid the christening of the son of ex-flame Viscount Ravensburg who spurned her for icy maiden Lauren Edgeworth. A brief sojourn turns into an adventure as she meets Joseph Moore, Marquess of Hallsmere in her inn bedroom as he hides in the cupboard to escape a bunch of wedding schemers. A misunderstanding ensues when Freyja chances upon Joseph with a screaming lady on his way to visit his grandmother at Pulteney Street. She denounces him as a libertine in front of the ton at the Pump Room.

You would never expect this two to turn up allies in a scheme to thwart a marriage-foisting ploy concocted by Joseph's aunt. They recklessly engage themselves to each other and Freyja's protective brother Bewcastle arrives to prevent further mischief. Freyja and Joseph feel growing attachments as understanding develops; Freyja's insecurity with love after her devastating rejection and Joseph's hidden secret in shouldering his cousin's disgrace.

Slightly Scandalous wraps up the Bedwyn series beautifully and is a renewed testament to Balogh's ease and fluidity in her character sculpting. The sparks fly between the oddball couple. It brims with emotions as Joseph takes responsibility of his mentally-challenged cousin Prudence and makes us laud when they outsmart Joseph's aunt. This Regency Series is consistently entertaining and this ending is no exception - even when it is slightly inferior to her masterpiece A Summer To Remember.

We last saw Lady Freyja Bedwyn in Ms. Balogh's captivating gem A Summer To Remember and she is now the central protagonist in the conclusive episode to the Slightly series. A haughty and spirited character, Freyja is seen retreating to Bath to avoid the christening of the son of ex-flame Viscount Ravensburg who spurned her for icy maiden Lauren Edgeworth. A brief sojourn turns into an adventure as she meets Joseph Moore, Marquess of Hallsmere in her inn bedroom as he hides in the cupboard to escape a bunch of wedding schemers. A misunderstanding ensues when Freyja chances upon Joseph with a screaming lady on his way to visit his grandmother at Pulteney Street. She denounces him as a libertine in front of the ton at the Pump Room.

You would never expect this two to turn up allies in a scheme to thwart a marriage-foisting ploy concocted by Joseph's aunt. They recklessly engage themselves to each other and Freyja's protective brother Bewcastle arrives to prevent further mischief. Freyja and Joseph feel growing attachments as understanding develops; Freyja's insecurity with love after her devastating rejection and Joseph's hidden secret in shouldering his cousin's disgrace.

Slightly Scandalous wraps up the Bedwyn series beautifully and is a renewed testament to Balogh's ease and fluidity in her character sculpting. The sparks fly between the oddball couple. It brims with emotions as Joseph takes responsibility of his mentally-challenged cousin Prudence and makes us laud when they outsmart Joseph's aunt. This Regency Series is consistently entertaining and this ending is no exception - even when it is slightly inferior to her masterpiece A Summer To Remember.

I really didn't expect to like this book since Freyja was not very likeable in previous books. Plus authors often don't present the story of the sisters in a family series too well. Don't know why that is. However, we are dealing with Mary Balogh here, so.......

Even though it took me awhile to warm up to Freyja, I loved Joshua right of the bat. Their arguments were great although I feel there was too much fist throwing by Free. Once, to prove she was a Bewcastle, would have been plenty. Well, the one toward the end of the book was satisfying. But beating up on the hero more than once was too much.

All in all, I enjoyed the book a lot. Now, I want to read the stories of the other 3 Bewcastles. Even though Wulfric reminds me a lot of Jo Beverly's Rothgar, I'm sure he'll be my favorite. I love a good brooding, emignatic hero.

I did like the fact that the three "Slightly...." books were published one month after another. At no loss of quality. Ms. Balogh is truly at the top of her field.

Kit Butler, Viscount Ravensberg, a rake, wagers with friends that he will marry Lauren Edgeworth. Lauren, a lady, was deserted at the altar, a year before. She considers herself unmarriageable. And, as luck and Ms. Balogh will have it, the two meet.

As Kit and Lauren become acquainted, they will bargain to meet each other's needs. Kit needs a pretend-betrothed to satisfy his family. And, Lauren needs to have a summer to remember, before she sets up her spinster life in Bath.

Two more likeable leads I've never read about, in a romance. And, I fully enjoyed their story. All the secondary characters are fascinating, too. And, I would like to see some of their stories continue.

My only quibble with this book, was in the way all of Lauren's and Kit's mysteries, problems, are wrapped up so quickly. A Summer to Remember, really should have been longer. Otherwise, this book was almost perfect.

As a long time reader of historical romances, I'm embarassed to admit that this is my first book by Mary Balogh! And it won't be my last. An absolutely lovely, warm and poignant story and a highly recommended read!

Stubborn and reckless Christopher "Kit" Butler, Viscount Ravensberg, refuses to succumb to his father's plans for him to marry the fiancee of his deceased older brother now that he is the heir. Determined to do things his own way, he plans to return to the family seat with a bride of his own choosing - one that is beyond reproach. But where to find such a creature? And more importantly, how to woo and win her (especially with his wild reputation)? When his friends suggest a candidate, and a wager is made, Kit is off and in hot pursuit of his quarry.

Being left behind by those she loves has been Lauren Edgeworth's greatest sadness and continuing fear. At the age of three, her mother left her and just the year before, she was left at the altar. She's always been proper, dutiful and perfectly behaved so that no one will ever want to leave her again. Her self-esteem has taken a devastating hit leaving her feeling unattractive and unwanted. So when rogue Kit Butler begins to energetically and enthusiastically pursue her, she knows that something is up and calls him on it.

A contrite Kit confesses his plans to Lauren, apologizes for using her, and moves to leave when she does the unexpected. She agrees to become engaged to Kit in exchange for a summer of adventure. Once the summer is over, Lauren will then break the engagement and retire to a quiet life alone in Bath leaving Kit the option to marry where he chooses. But the reality of what they've agreed to is much more complicated than either had planned and both wonder what they've gotten themselves into. Feelings start to develop and not just between Kit and Lauren. Kit's family comes to love Lauren and she them, making the charade even more painful. And while Lauren is resolved to help Kit reconcile with his family before she leaves, Kit is equally determined to give Lauren the most wonderful summer of her life in the hope that he can convince her to become his wife for real! Just a wonderful book!

This book introduces the Bedwyn siblings (Freyja Bedwyn was the woman Kit was supposed to marry) who will star in 6 upcoming books. They are arrogant, proud and sound like fascinating subjects to follow and I look forward to their stories.

Miss Lauren Edgeworth was left at the alter a year before but she is strong--and wishes for nothing more than her independence. When handsome rake Kit Viscount Ravensberg swoops in with marriage in his mind, Lauren sees a way to get them both what they want. The plan--an announced engagement that will let Kit avoid his family's schemes. Once the engagement is broken, Lauren's reputation will prevent any future marriage plans and let her get on with her life. In the meantime, Kit can open Lauren's eyes to adventure for a SUMMER TO REMEMBER.

Set in Regency England, A SUMMER TO REMEMBER offers a combination of the best of regency manners with steamy desire. Both Lauren and Kit are powerfully damaged characters with inherent nobilities that make them sympathetic and right for one another. Still, Lauren's clever plan may turn out to be too clever by half when she begins to fall in love with Kit only to realize that his soulmate is another woman.

Author Mary Balogh delivers an emotionally powerful novel. Lauren's slow opening to womanhood is satisfying and believable. The steps she takes to help Kit reach reconciliation with his family--despite the risks she takes by doing so--further endear her to the reader. Her history of abandonment makes her desire for independence seem essential and non-negotiable, even if it means forgoing the love of her life. Kit is a wonderful hero--a combination of rake and hero, willing to protect the weak with no thought for society's rules. Only he can help Lauren escape from her past--just as only she can rescue him from himself.

Ms. Balogh is one of my favourite writers for regency novels but this is indoubtly not one of her best as the heroine is somewhat boring (because it seems that she doesn't really know what she wants), and so is the hero. There are too many peopole involved in the plot. The whole plot is not very convincing anyway: a girl has to choose her husband from her five cousins because it was her grandfather's last will. Though: still better than most other regency novels. I'd say, only read it if you haven't got any other Mary Balogh books at hand.

I enjoyed this book; Julia faces a difficult situation bravely and there are some very funny moments. But in the book I read Richard was the new Earl and definately NOT a rake. Freddy was another cousin.

This is my first book by Mary Balogh. I've never known a romance writer who can write so well, except Jane Austen. I couldn't put the book down until I finished it.