This is the first Mary Balogh that I did not like at all. In fact, I almost put it down without finishing. For a change, she has made very shallow characters here, and the "romance" is built on the theory that if you constantly quarrel with someone and feel that you hate them, but are sexually attracted, then this is "love." That is a horrible & damaging premise that has done harm to the minds of untold thousands of young woman over the decades. I am very sorry to see it promulgated in one of Mary's novels.

The whole novel was rather slapdash, with fairly flat characters that did not capture me. It almost made me think that Ms. Balogh might be tired of romance - or out of ideas. I don't recommend it. ( )

Enjoyed reading this one very much. It leads to Dancing with Clara which I’d already read so I partially knew the outcome and plot. (If memory serves, Dancing was a much more somber sort of novel, not one I chose to keep as I did Julia’s story.) ( )

Romance