Here a Bedwyn, There a Bedwyn

I've met Mary Balogh a couple of times, once at a tea she gave when RWA was in NYC, and then later at the Celebrate Romance convention. She's a lovely person, who really seems to appreciate her fans. (Just had to start with something nice, since Balogh is my favorite romance author, bar none.)

Slightly Married by Mary Balogh
(2003, Regency Historical) 7/8/07
Grade: 3

When Aidan promised a soldier on the battlefield that he would take care of his sister, he never thought that would mean marriage. As a career military officer and the brother of a Duke, he had other plans for his life. But what began as a matter of honor became something more, as Aidan got to know Eve and her family of misfits and lame ducks.

This book was deeply disappointing. I found it very hard to care about either the hero or the heroine. The hero starts out as arrogant and unlikeable, and for most of the book, there’s very little to his character other than his stiff arrogance. I can empathize with an “unlikeble” hero if there’s something more there, but Aidan just left me cold and uninterested. The heroine was depicted as more “likeable” and sympathetic, but I didn’t get much from her either. She was stereotypical - even her moments of spirit and independence seemed like romance heroine formula. I couldn’t help thinking of other books - by Balogh and other writers - that took similar situations and made the characters sing despite the familiar storyline. This one didn’t. Aidan finally showed some life in the last part of the book, when he tells Eve about his childhood and why he went into the military, but this was 50 pages from the end of the book! Too little, too late.

It's disappointing, to be looking at five unread Mary Balogh books with a feeling of drudgery, rather than the joy and excitement I usually feel. Hopefully I'll have better things to say in my next review...