Simply Magic

5 stars!

I like Mary Balogh, so I expected to enjoy this book; but I was surprised that I absolutely loved it!

Susanna Osbourne is a teacher at Miss Martin's school in Bath. She has no family, since her mother died in childbirth and her father died when she was twelve. She was sent to Miss Martin's by an anonymous benefactor as a charity student, and she remained to become a teacher. She is quite happy and content with her life.

While visiting a former teacher, who is now Countess of Edgecombe (see [b:Simply Unforgettable|110410|Simply Unforgettable (Simply #1)|Mary Balogh|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171637213s/110410.jpg|1391369]), she happens to meet Peter Edgeworth, Viscount Whitleaf. He is handsome and charming, and seems to feel show more it's his mission in life to flirt with all the ladies, even the elderly spinster Miss Honeydew. Susanna is immediately on her guard, not just because she thinks he's shallow and frivolous, but because she met him once as a child and his presence brings up unhappy memories. During their two weeks in one another's company, however, they strike up a genuine friendship, which culminates in an afternoon of lovemaking before they part.

Susanna expects never to see Peter again, but when he comes to Bath for a wedding of yet another teacher (see [b:Simply Love|71644|Simply Love (Simply, #2)|Mary Balogh|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170782650s/71644.jpg|427962]), Susanna realizes that she has indeed lost her heart to Peter. (And may I just add right here that being a teacher at Miss Martin's school looks to be a better way of finding a titled husband than attending dozens of balls in London.) Peter proposes, but Susanna turns him down, feeling that he has made the offer out of guilt and obligation rather than love. She also has strong feelings about remaining independent, and she truly loves her life at the school. Again, Peter leaves, and they don't expect to meet again.

I won't go into detail about the rest of their story, but their pasts turn out to be more complicated, and intertwined, than first suspected. Peter has a lot of maturing to do, and he needs to get out from under his mother's domination.

Peter is not a rake or an alpha hero; he's really more of an overgrown boy, but he truly wants to live a meaningful, productive life, having a family and running his estate successfully. At the same time, Susanna has to stop ignoring terrible events from her past, and with help from Peter (and sometimes a little interference from him), she comes to envision a future much different from that which she had long thought was inevitable.

The obstacles to their HEA are serious and real and don't seem contrived. This is just a really sweet story that will leave you feeling happy at the end. show less

So many feels happening here in Susanna and Peter’s story, and I loved it. I adored them becoming friends and thinking that’s enough and not realizing the love happening. Also there were tons of secrets that we don’t really get to completely find out about until the end, and needless to say it’s the Regency equivalent of super awkward. But I think they’re going to have a truly lovely HEA.

Simply Magic is the third book in Mary Balogh’s Simply Quartet that follows the teachers at Miss Martin’s School for Girls in Bath. In this one, we have Susanna, the youngest teacher, who started out as a student at the school. She’s paired with Peter, a viscount she met once as a child when he briefly visited the family for whom her father worked. The two chance to meet up once again while visiting mutual friends over a magical summer holiday. During that time, they become close friends, and by the time they both must return home, they’ve also become lovers. But the differences in social station loom between them, as well as Susanna’s desire to remain independent and her love for her job, keeping them from making any further show more commitment. But fate has other plans in store for them as it brings them together again and again, until it becomes clear that they’re meant for each other. There’s a great deal of beauty in the subtle simplicity of this story. The two week summer holiday that Peter and Susanna spend together truly is magical and I could feel deeper emotions passing between them. However, their respective difficulties in identifying and admitting those feelings could become just a tad tedious at times. This knocked my rating down just a bit, but I did still enjoy the story overall.

Susanna’s mother died when she was born and her father passed when she was twelve. Her father had been a secretary to a titled gentleman and she’d become close with the family. But after her father’s death, she overhead remarks by the lady of the house that made her suspect she would be a burden on them, so she ran off to London and applied for a job with an employment agency. Unable to find work in spite of lying about her age, Susanna faced an uncertain future until someone offered her a spot as one of the charity pupils at Miss Martin’s School where she’s lived ever since. She was a star student and eagerly took up a position as a teacher when she was of age, a job which she loves. When Susanna visits her friend and former teacher, Frances, and her titled husband over the summer, she chances to meet Peter while out walking with her friends. Upon hearing his title, she instantly remembers him, and although she only briefly met him once before, she has a rather sordid and tangled history with his family, making her instantly dislike him. But Peter is nothing is not persistent, charming his way into a friendship with her that makes her realize her preconceived notions about him were wrong. However, in spite of her growing feelings for him and their status changing to that of lovers before their summer sojourn is over, she can’t bring herself to even entertain any kind of future with him. I admired Susanna for her dedication to the girls she teaches and for not being in any way influenced by Peter’s title and wealth. Still, I don’t think I could have made the same choices she did when up against his considerable charm, especially after admitting to herself that she loved him. I did understand, though, that she wanted his love in return, and perhaps more importantly that she was a young woman still suffering from past wounds that hadn’t quite healed and that needed to be confronted before she would be ready to share her life with someone else.

Peter was the youngest child in his family, the surprise son finally born after five daughters. His father died when he was only three, so he was raised by his mother and all his older sisters, who coddled him as the heir. His uncles and other male relatives stepped in to teach him his duty, but rarely allowed him to make his own decisions until he finally tossed them all out upon reaching his majority. However, because of his gentle temperament and how he was brought up, he has a serious aversion to conflict and has a hard time standing up for himself even when his mother is redecorating the sitting room of his estate in frothy pink lace that he abhors. Perhaps because he’s been surrounded by women all his life, he genuinely adores them and is an outgoing, consummate flirt, although refreshingly not a rake. When he meets Susanna, he’s instantly smitten, but she presents a challenge in that she’s completely inured to his charms. Therefore, he must work hard to gain her trust, but is rewarded with a beautiful friendship that turns into something more. Despite that, though, Peter struggles with exactly what his feelings for Susanna are. At first, he thinks it’s mere infatuation and let’s her get away, believing they’ll never see each other again, but as fate brings them together once more, he slowly gains insight into the true nature of his emotions where she’s concerned and gradually comes around to being more proactive. Peter is definitely a sweet, beta hero, unerringly kind and gentle, but sometimes a bit of a pushover, particularly where his mother is concerned. I enjoyed watching him grow and come into his own, while learning to like himself, and in doing so, he became totally worthy of Susanna. When he finally stands up for what he wants, I was cheering for him, and yet he somehow does it while still maintaining his good-hearted nature which I loved.

Simply Magic has a number of supporting characters that are seen in other books of the Simply Quartet, and since it’s also a spin-off of the Bedwyn Saga, we see a few of those characters as well. I believe that Peter was first introduced in the Bedwyn Prequel, A Summer to Remember, as he’s a cousin to the heroine of that book. Parts of Simply Magic take place concurrently with the previous book, Simply Love, so we get to see Anne immediately after her return from her summer holiday in Wales, as well as her and Sydnam’s wedding breakfast through Susanna’s eyes. Since both Peter and Susanna are in attendance at the celebration, we also get to see a few of the Bedwyns, namely Wulfric and Christine (Slightly Dangerous), as well as Freya and Joshua (Slightly Scandalous). When she was a girl, Susanna unsuccessfully sought employment with Freya, who she believes may have had a hand in getting her accepted to Miss Martin’s School. During Susanna’s summer holiday, she visits with Frances and Lucius (Simply Unforgettable), and of course, the head teacher at Miss Martin’s, Claudia Martin, herself is seen in a number of scenes. Her book is the final one of the series, Simply Perfect. I’ll be eagerly looking forward to seeing what type of man it takes to catch this independent lady’s eye and finally pin her down.

Throughout her books that I’ve read so far, I’ve come to realize that Mary Balogh is masterful at creating subtle romantic entanglements, and such is the case in Simply Magic. Readers who are looking for something grand and audacious won’t find it here. This is a story that is heavily reliant on past secrets and habits that have to be overcome in order to make room for an HEA ending between our hero and heroine, as well as their individual hang-ups regarding a possible permanent relationship. Stories like this can be dicey for me, because I often find myself becoming frustrated by the various excuses and perceived stubbornness of the characters. But here, it was done well enough that I remained nicely engaged in the story. Even when Peter and Susanna parted ways on more than one occasion, leaving me slightly irritated each time, it didn’t last for long before they were thrown back together again. Each time that happened, their connection deepened, and during their time apart, they seemed to learn things about themselves, making the separations more worthwhile. Although my emotions never reached the soaring highs and lows while reading this book that they have with others, I still very much enjoyed it. I knew that Peter and Susanna loved one another and it merely took time and patience for them to realize it themselves and finally come together once and for all. For readers who can appreciate a more artful, nuanced romance with delicate and refined undertones, Simply Magic is most definitely worth the read and one that I can certainly recommend. It has left me very much looking forward to reading the final book of the series. show less

What I found most sad about this book was that all the heartache that Susanna experienced after the death of her father could have been avoided if she hadn't been eavesdropping and if she hadn't been impulsive. There are some interesting themes of family and forgiveness and the damage that can have far reaching effects because one person's selfishness.

"Simply Magic" is the third book in Mary Balogh's "Simply" Quartet. Following "Simply Love" - one of the best romance novels I have ever read - was a difficult thing to do, but this book did an admirable job. While not as emotionally intense as that book, this book certainly has its own charms. Fans of Mary Balogh will recognize Peter, Viscount Whitleaf, as Lauren Butler nee Edgeworth's cousin from "A Summer to Remember." Peter is an utterly charming character. Gentle, kind, and almost obsessed with making other people happy, he comes across as a rather shallow rake until Susanna comes to know him better and finds out that things are not always as they seem. Susanna's journey through this book comes with revelations of and show more confontrations with her past - both which draw her closer to Peter and push her apart. But the best part of this book is how the relationship between Peter and Susanna is allowed to grow - it is not love at first sight, but a strong friendship (with attraction, of course) that is allowed to grow and blossom into love. A beautiful book, and I look forward to the conclusion of this series! show less

Susanna Osbourne is a teacher at Miss Martin's school in Bath. She has no family, since her mother died in childbirth and her father died when she was twelve. She was sent to Miss Martin's by an anonymous benefactor as a charity student, and she remained to become a teacher. She is quite happy and content with her life.

While visiting a former teacher, who is now Countess of Edgecombe (see Simply Unforgettable), she happens to meet Peter Edgeworth, Viscount Whitleaf. He is handsome and charming, and seems to feel it's his mission in life to flirt with all the ladies, even the elderly spinster Miss Honeydew. Susanna is immediately on her guard, not just because she thinks he's shallow and frivolous, but because she met him once as a child show more and his presence brings up unhappy memories. During their two weeks in one another's company, however, they strike up a genuine friendship, which culminates in an afternoon of lovemaking before they part.

Susanna expects never to see Peter again, but when he comes to Bath for a wedding of yet another teacher (see Simply Love), Susanna realizes that she has indeed lost her heart to Peter. (And may I just add right here that being a teacher at Miss Martin's school looks to be a better way of finding a titled husband than attending dozens of balls in London.) Peter proposes, but Susanna turns him down, feeling that he has made the offer out of guilt and obligation rather than love. She also has strong feelings about remaining independent, and she truly loves her life at the school. Again, Peter leaves, and they don't expect to meet again.

I won't go into detail about the rest of their story, but their pasts turn out to be more complicated, and intertwined, than first suspected. Peter has a lot of maturing to do, and he needs to get out from under his mother's domination.

Peter is not a rake or an alpha hero; he's really more of an overgrown boy, but he truly wants to live a meaningful, productive life, having a family and running his estate successfully. At the same time, Susanna has to stop ignoring terrible events from her past, and with help from Peter (and sometimes a little interference from him), she comes to envision a future much different from that which she had long thought was inevitable.

The obstacles to their HEA are serious and real and don't seem contrived. This is just a really sweet story that will leave you feeling happy at the end. show less

Simply Magic - Balogh
Audio performance by Rosalyn Landor
3 stars

One of four books in the ‘Simply’ series. Each book features a teacher at Miss Martin’s School for Girls in Bath. Very faint shades of Jane Austen. Spinster teacher, Susanna Osbourne encounters someone from her traumatic childhood, Viscount Whitleaf. Given the early history of these characters, it was hard to believe in the success of their HEA.