A Summer to Remember

I must stop reading Mary Balogh historical romances. I just get too irate about egregious anachronisms and 20th century people with 20th century attitudes play-acting as Regency characters.

Kit is pretty amazing, swimming the crawl 30 years before two Native Americans outraged England with their unprecedented style of swimming which the English considered splashy and "savage"! We know he'd been in the Peninsular wars, but when did he have a chance to learn a New World style of swimming from the natives?

And inventing the word "sexy" in a time when "sex" meant M/F --check one, or (I'm sure I've seen this, but OED is being coy) a euphemism for genitalia. That's pretty special. I cannot imagine what that word could have possibly conveyed show more in that time and place. Balogh obviously knows that it's an anachronism as Kit muses: "sexy. Is that a word? It should be..." No. No, it should not. Not until sex acquires the meaning of carnal knowledge and you get "sex appeal" in the 1920s does "sexy" appear (1929 according to the OED supplement).

This story contains a scene of tree-top frottage (a real Regency lady would have been so surprised by the hero's sudden groping that she would have likely fallen out of the tree, breaking bones and bringing the story to an abrupt and premature end), followed by (thankfully ground-level) incidents of actual sex, in the 20th century sense, with 20th century attitudes. The "marital act", as it was known in pre-modern times, only without marriage. Please. This is not how things went, then. There's an outstanding story within the book; Lauren's courtesy and conversational adroitness as she deflects the rudeness of the Bedwyns and reconciles her beau with his family are delightful. That wit and social adeptness is what I look for in a historical romance. Explicit, gratuitous, and period-inappropriate sexual activity, not so much.

I think I will go reread some Georgette Heyer. show less

ALL THE FEELS!!!!!
A hero who gets into a fight to defend a milkmaid’s honor? Kidding me? Marry me now!

This was a fake engagement, reverse grumpy-sunshine romance with a sweet heroine and a hero to die for. I loved how their relationship developed, how Lauren helped Kit to reconcile with his family and how Kit taught Lauren how to be happy (and a little wild

Terminada a leitura de mais um livro desta maravilhosa autora fico satisfeita por constatar que as minhas primeiras impressões acerca do livro anterior estavam correctas. Não só estes livros cativam pelas suas personagens como também pelo ambiente pitoresco no qual se passa a acção. Este foi um livro que acabou por me surpreender bastante, sem querer entrar em spoilers confesso que anteriormente a personagem Lauren pareceu-me um pouco apagada e quase sem vontade própria. Alguém que se vivia apenas para as aparências e que não se deixava levar pelo prazer de viver a sua própria vida. Talvez essa imagem até era correcta, pelo menos até conhecer o irreverente Kit Butler, que tudo fará para que a fria Miss Edgeworth desabroche show more e se torne numa mulher doce e com vontade de se aventurar por caminhos desconhecidos. O romance entre os dois é sem dúvida cativante, sem contar também com a forma chocante como as suas personagens tão diferentes acabam por se completar. Claro que, como em todos os livros, há sempre algo ou algum personagem que não gostamos e desta vez foi Freyja Bedwyn que mostrou ser uma menina mimada a quem tinham tirado o seu brinquedo favorito e que só agora parecia querer dar-lhe algum valor. Ao mesmo tempo fico ansiosa para ler o seu livro, pois tenho a esperança de que tal como aconteceu com Lauren, Freyja venha surpreender de forma positiva e justificativa para o seu péssimo génio. Tenho a certeza que toda a saga dos terríveis irmãos Bedwyn irá trazer-nos bons momentos de leitura e até mesmo algumas gargalhadas. Espero sinceramente que a Asa nos traga até nós essa saga, pois acredito que irá fazer um enorme sucesso entre os já amantes destes dois livros lançados no nosso país.
Tirando o meu gosto pessoal pela personagem Freyja, não tenho qualquer ponto negativo a apontar na história, que acabou por ser quase devorada em poucas horas.
Fico então à espera do próximo livro da autora…. show less

Lauren Edgeworth is resigned to remaining unmarried and to purchasing a house in Bath to live in peace and dignity. Kit Butler is a rakish, handsome man who has become the heir of the earldom after his older brother's death and must return to his family from whom he is estranged. He despises his father's plan to marry him off and makes a wager with his friends that he will be able to persuade the inaccessible and flawless Lauren Edgeworth. When they meet, Lauren is shocked and repulsed by Kit's behavior, but she is also fascinated and soon finds out that there is more to him than his rakishness.

I was a bit bored by the first half of the novel because both Lauren and Kit seemed over the top to me in their behavior. I could not condone show more how Kit treated Lauren. However, I loved the second half, when they finally opened up slowly. There is much more to the story than one expects at a first glance, especially when it comes to Kit's family. I was touched by these characters and their experiences and rooted for them not only as a couple but as individuals who fought to overcome what held them back.
I could have done without some of the steamy scenes and some of the chapters featuring the Bedwyns, but the main reason for the second aspect is that I have never liked Freyja and this book only reinforced that.

Although I did not enjoy the first half of the book that much, all in all it is still one of my favorites by Mary Balogh so far and I am looking forward to continuing with the series. show less

Let me just state for the record - I don't like Kit. I never have. Maybe it's because I'm a fan of the Bedwyns and I think he did Freyja wrong, or maybe it's just something about his characther that grates on me. I don't know - I just don't like him, and this book certainly doesn't help. My first problem with Kit is this - he wanted to marry Freyja, didn't he? So why is he so upset when his parents offer him exactly what he always said he wanted? And second, for someone who was head-over-heels for someone like Freyja, what on earth does he seen in Lauren?! Kit is immature, self-absorbed, and needs a good smack. Lauren, on the other hand, is exactly what Freyja accuses her of being - a boring little milk-and-water miss. In my opinion, show more the best parts of this book were the parts with Sydnam - he's a character worth exploring, a character with depth and warmth. Lauren is cold as ice, and Kit is a lost little boy. While this book is well written and better than the vast majority of romance novels I've read out there, it ranks towards the bottom of Mary Balogh's books, mostly because I can't find a connection with either of the main characters in this book. show less

I truly enjoyed this one! "Freedom" is the theme, and we have a hero who cannot free himself from the demons of his past and a heroine who believes she'll find freedom by living the life of a spinster in Bath. It's a very well done version of the let's-pretend-we're-betrothed plot. The sex is hot without becoming clinical, and mirabile dictu we have a virgin who does NOT experience a shuddering climax the first time out.

This is a prequel to the Bedwyn series, and I guess I'll have to read them all now.

I loved this so much: Kit and Lauren became one of my favorite couples of all time. Both grew so much during the story, and as a whole this was a lovely warm blanket comfort read. I do have to say that considering this is a prequel to the Bedwyn books, none of the Bedwyns were shown in a good light which makes me not want to read about any of them.