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Mary Balogh has won seven Waldenbook Awards and a B. Dalton Award for her bestselling romances, as well as a Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award. She is one of the romance genre's most popular and bestselling authors.Tags
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In this regency romance, Helena and Edgar meet at a social function where Edgar is trying to find a bride before Christmas. Helena seduces him and they wind up spending the night together. The steamy scenes were super steamy! However, Helena is the queen of push and pull and as soon as the passion is through, she coldly dismisses Edgar.
I found myself really drawn into the writing, especially enamored with the secondary characters, and charmed by the Christmas setting. The only element of the story that I wasn’t so keen on came about very late in the story when certain aspects of character backstory came to light. Before that, this was on track to be a 5 star read for me. It seems Helena had during the course of her first marriage show more tried to seduce her husband’s son when he was a very young teenager. The author tried to explain it away in the writing with their ages only being so many years apart (I still felt really uncomfortable reading it as written—this was clearly penned long before #MeToo), but the victim was traumatized by her actions, it gave an unsavory element to an otherwise nice Christmas story, and I rather wished this one aspect of the story would have been omitted. show less
I found myself really drawn into the writing, especially enamored with the secondary characters, and charmed by the Christmas setting. The only element of the story that I wasn’t so keen on came about very late in the story when certain aspects of character backstory came to light. Before that, this was on track to be a 5 star read for me.
I did not think I would like this book; it started out with them immediately getting into bed together and I thought give me some plot please! But then she pulled through with a great plot although it continued to be hot! Our heroine has issues she just cannot get over, but our hero is up to the task (it is another problem for his businessman's brain) and they both come through with flying colors (as expected!) So I really enjoyed it and gave it 4 1/2 stars.
Obnoxious woman
Piacevole, intrigante e anche divertente.
Jan 28, 2023 (Edited)Italian
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Author Information

173+ Works 44,756 Members
Mary Balogh was born in Swansea, Wales on March 24, 1944. She received a B.A. with honors from the University of Wales in 1965. From 1967 to 1988, she taught high school English in Saskatchewan, Canada, becoming principal of the school in 1982. Her first novel, A Masked Deception, was published in 1985 and she won the Romantic Times Award for best show more new Regency writer. Since then, she has written more than 60 novels and has received a lifetime achievement award for her work in the genre of historical romance. Her works include The Wood Nymph, Christmas Promise, The Plumed Bonnet, Famous Heroine, A Matter of Class, No Man's Mistress, More than a Mistress, One Night for Love, and Only a Kiss. Her title's Someone to Hold and Someone to Care made The New York Times Bestseller List. (Bowker Author Biography) Mary Balogh grew up in Wales. She later came to Canada to teach & there she began a second career as an author. (Publisher Provided) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Christmas Bride
- Original publication date
- 1997-11
- People/Characters
- Edgar Downes; Lady Helena Stapleton; Sir Gerald Stapleton; Cora Downes; Alistair Munro, Duke of Bridgwater; Lord Francis Kneller (show all 11); Samantha Newman; Hartley Wade, Marquess of Carew; Jennifer Winward; Gabriel Fisher, Earl of Thornwood; Priscilla Wentworth
- Important places
- England, UK
- First words
- Mr. Edgar Downes had decided to take a bride.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She nestled her head against his shoulder as they walked
- Disambiguation notice
- This is for the work A Christmas Bride by Mary Balogh. Please do not combine it with any other works.
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- 161
- Popularity
- 202,975
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.77)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 1
- ASINs
- 1

























































