Let’s talk about Mary Balogh
Guess how many times AAR has reviewed Mary Balogh? 20? 30? 50? 60?
Nope–we’ve written 69 reviews of Balogh’s works. She’s written 120. Our first review was in August of 1997, over 23 years ago, a DIK review of a lighthearted Regency romp called The Famous Heroine. Our guest reviewer wrote: Best of all is the refreshing hilarity that practically jumps off of every page and makes The Famous Heroine my all-time favorite romance.
Our most recent, published in August of 2020, was a B+ review of Someone to Romance. In between, we’ve given Balogh 29 DIKs, 28 Bs, 9 Cs, 2 Ds, and one N/A. I personally have read 25 books by Balogh–according to Goodreads, I gave nine a full five stars. My favorite are the Huxtable books. although I too find the last book, A Secret Affair to be a trial.
How about you? Are you a Balogh fan? If so, which is your favorite and why? What do you love about her work?
I just finished the Wescott series, and loved every single book. I couldn’t put them down. I love all Mary Balogh books and when a new book is published it’s the first on my list.
My favorite series of hers is the Huxtables. But I’ve enjoyed so many of her books.
The comments on this thread are fascinating to me. I have read nearly all of Mary Balogh’s works, and I cannot think of one I actively disliked. I taught English Lit for years, and I was seldom as severe a critic as many of the commentators here. While I do find some idiosyncrasies annoying, the use of “had had” comes to mind and phrasing and plot devices are nearly a copy of Jane Austen, for the most part, Balogh’s writings are just good light reading.
As for Wulfric, he is simply a man who feels the weight of his responsibilities. Part of what makes him very lovable is that he is a hero in conflict. I don’t think he dislikes Christine; he dislikes not living up to his expectations of himself. If you read the previous five books, you will realize Balogh has built his identity from the beginning with Aiden’s story. Here is a man whose basic character was forced out of him by adults who believed the position was more important than his person. That boy is released to live again when he falls in love with Christine. But not too much. To have him totally break free from the duty driven man he has become would not be true to the character Balogh has created or to the expectations of the times. I don’t think Wulfric loves Christine in a flawed way; I think he loves her in the only way he knows how. She is an unexpected joy in the life of this man who never expected to be loved or to love just as he is the accepting and caring bonus for Christine whom she never expected to have. If you read Eleanor’s story (Can’t remember the name, but the short story is in a collection), you see Wulfric allowing Christine to be Christine just as she allows Wulfric to be Wulfric. I really like Wulfric. I think Christine would not be able to love him as much as she does if he felt the weight of his responsibilities any less.
If you didn’t like Wulfric’s story, I hope you will try it again and not place too many preconceived ideas to ruin the beautifully written story.
Balogh has always been a comfort read for me. So to get through my very difficult 2020, I decided to read her entire oeuvre, in publication order. I’m enjoying seeing the patterns in her books, the experiments she tried over the years when she moved from Signet’s shorter Regencies to longer, more fraught (and often more melodramatic) stories, until she found her sweet spot returning to her character-driven Regencies but at a longer length. I just finished rereading her HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE trilogy, and am about to revisit the MISTRESS books—so I’m only up to 2000! Obviously, the Balogh canon project will take more than a year to finish…
“Irresistible”, the last of the Horsemen books, is one of my favorite Balogh’s and I’ve reread it many times. Other favorites are “The Notorious Rake”, “The Temporary Wife”, “Summer to Remember” and “Only a Kiss” from the Survivor series. As you note, when she left the Signet Regencies her books were sometimes overwrought and the dialogue stilted, but I think she then found her stride again However, have to note I’ve loved books written in all of her eras, and she’s my most frequently reread author.
Mary Balogh is not one of my favourite authors but nevertheless I always read her books with pleasure. I mean, she is not an autobuy, but I always read her books whenever I need something solid and reliable.
That’s why I have always given her books either 3 or 4-stars reviews. My favourites? The secret pearl, Simply love and Simply perfect.
What do I love about her work? Well, the books are more character-driven than plot-driven, which is something that coud bore you easily, but she knows how to engage the attention of the reader, so I guess there’s something in the way she writes, she tells the story that I find very compelling.
I really enjoy the emotional intensity she puts in her heroes and heroines and also how mature they are. One of the problems I usually have with historical romances is that many of the characters sound like 21st century high school teens in disguise. But that does not happen with her characters, they are real and they act and talk like adults.
I have not read all 120 of Mary Balogh’s books but I’ve read a lot of them, some multiple times over. Discovered during the heyday of the Signet Regency. She is definitely on my ‘automatically add to wishlist’ if not ‘auto-buy.’ One thing I’ve seen one too many times is the Poisonous Blonde (usually a woman, though occasionally a man), invariably a gaslighting manipulative extortionist. And I’ve tripped over the ‘big family recap scene’ in a few of the Westcott books.
Understandable that tying back to all the previous stories can feel important (maybe even necessary) but I don’t actually need to see all those people and catch up with their latest procreations in order to enjoy the present book. :-) I thought the family recap in ‘Slightly Dangerous’ was stellar, though, in which the siblings discuss how best to facilitate Wulfric’s romance. They were all in there, and we got to be reminded of their situations, but they were there to serve the present story.
I have only managed to scratch the surface when it comes to Balogh’s works, her back catalogue is so extensive, but I find her an interesting author. I am partial to character driven, quieter stories, which is something I think she does with great skill. Some of her books I’ve liked more than others, but even the ones I’ve not been quite as excited about have been solid reads and given me food for thought. Like, in some books, I’ve found the amount of angst resulting from communication problems a bit exhausting, but it has never felt like a matter of quality but of personal preference.
My favorites are First Comes Marriage and More Than a Mistress. MTaM’s ending was a bit of a let down to me, but the scene in the music room, for example, where Jane goes looking for a book to read on a sleepless night and finds Jocelyn playing a pianoforte instead – holy wow, I felt it down to my bones, it was so powerful!
I love MTaM and have re-read many times. Have struggled to find any other Baloghs I like as much.
There really is something special about MTaM. It was the second novel I read by Balogh, and while I have liked her other books, some a lot, I have not had such a strong emotional reaction to anything by her since MTaM. The novel moved me deeply, and somehow on a more personal level than her other books.
Mary Balogh has long been an automatic buy/read for me. Even with that, there are definitely some I liked much more than others…some I’ve even said, “meh” to when I’ve finished (meh = so-so), although not many. One of my favorites is Lord Carew’s Bride….I think because he was described as average, she was a good person…who finally saw she loved him deeply …the scene where she tends to his crippled hand was so touching. And that heartfelt emotion that Mary Balogh brings is what makes her several notches above most writers in the genre.
I’ll be contrary. I used to love Balogh because of the polished prose, the period-appropriate feel and the nuanced emotions. When I started reading romance in the 1990s she really stood out as a cut above most other authors. But then I started to get fed up with the martyr heroines who would not speak up to tell the hero their troubles to save their life. I felt they didn’t deserve their HEAs after behaving so stupidly. And Slightly Dangerous was the last straw; not that Christine was a martyr but I wanted more than a rerun of Pride and Prejudice. After paying for the hardcover because I was so eager to read Wulfric’s romance, I then abandoned Balogh. Maybe I should try one of her newer books to see if my rage has cooled enough to enjoy them again….
Regarding martyr heroines, I really liked A Precious Jewel except for the ending, when Priscilla refuses to marry Gerald (at first) even though he wants to support and take care of her, and she’s pregnant with his child. Yes, it made for a moving scene where she finds out he wanted to marry her even before he knew she was having a baby, but still. The book is on my keeper shelf, because the rest of it is so good, but it goes beyond martyrdom to make your child grow up illegitimate because the father didn’t say the L word when he proposed.
That’s a great example of what I’m talking about: heroines who’d rather die in a ditch than seek help from the hero. It’s one aspect of Balogh’s books that seems anachronistic, given the social strictures and lack of financial independence for women in those times.
I love Mary Balogh, she is on top of my favourite authors. And yet, the way she treats disability is problematic, especially in her full-length romances. There was a discussion about this on AAR, though I am having trouble finding it quickly in the archives.
It’s something that I only became aware of when I developed a disability myself. For example, for me Sydnam Butler in “Simply Love” is not inspiring – he is unrealistic and demoralizing. The “I am the hero who will learn to do everything despite the pain – whether it is to use utensils or to ride, and I need love to finish it so that I can even paint” is an attitude to recovery that is not plausible for a lot of people in pain, despite well know exceptions. So when I am reading that, I am mostly sighing about how the book misrepresents the reality of living with disability and chronic pain which inevitably involves big losses and compromises. And then there’s a book that I read once and never re-read, with a learning-disabled boy and “oh, it’s not his fault that he stole something, let’s all support him”. I lived in a country where the attitudes towards intellectual disability are more similar to UK in the 50-ies (never mind XIX) century. Reading that book made me shake my head at a completely unrealistic representation of what it would really be like, or of what the people properly caring for such person need to do to support them, either then or now. This one I cannot even remember the name because it ended up on my F “never again” pile.
That said, I still like her characters and stories a lot, and re-read lots of books. “A precious jewel” and “A Christmas bride” are particular favourites because they offer tales of redemption with more muted HEA endings that feel much more realistic. And I love “Slighly Dangerous” as well. But it’s possible to both love the stories and see the problems at the same time. In many ways I think it’s the testament to the quality of her writing that I am willing to overlook those problems which in less excellent books would be complete deal breakers.
I just counted 77 “real” books by Mary Balogh on my shelves plus probably another 15+ on my kindle!!! And that does not include the short stories in Signet anthologies of one sort or the other. Yes, perhaps you can tell she is in my top 5 favourite HR authors! In 1999 I first heard about Amazon, which didn’t yet have a really viable UK presence, but I started spending time looking at Amazon.com, reading some good quality reviews and discovered so many writers that simply were not published at all (or yet) in the UK. Coming from the US and being very familiar with many American and US-published British HR and CR authors, I was amazed at what had proliferated since I left for the UK in 1979. I was in heaven! Somehow I stumbled across Mary Balogh and I was off and running, discovering along the way via Amazon and AAR (also discovered in 1999) Mary Jo Putney, Jo Beverly, Edith Layton, Barbara Metzger, Judith A Lansdowne and Carla Kelly as well in the Regency genre which remains a personal favourite.
I particularly like the angst in Mary Balogh’s books. I loved the Simply series, the Bedwyns and the Mistress duo plus many, many more. The early books are charming though perhaps for some a bit dated. My very favourite of all, re-read many times, is The Secret Pearl. No doubt some younger and new-to-HR readers won’t like her heroes but, for me, she nearly always hits the buttons.
The Secret Pearl is my favorite too. I still get a bit misty-eyed when I reread it.
I love Mary Balogh! She does a wonderful job of creating characters who are fully formed, with psychological depth and consistency. They do not do things out of character to further the plot. Their personalities drive the plot. When the characters evolve, it is gradual and hard-won, with introspection and perhaps some faltering along the way. To me, this depth makes the failures more painful and the victories sweeter. While I love the Bedwyns and Westcotts, I particularly like The Survivors Club as these characters are dealing with the aftermath of war, and each book is very different. Yes, they are more serious, but they have lingered in my mind longer than many a lighter book.
more than a mistress is a comfort read for me. there’s a balance between alpha hero who’s desirable and alpha hero who’s a douche and more than a mistress straddles the line perfectly for me, partly because the heroine is willing to push back. it’s also a romance that takes joy in simple companionship. i read romance for the angst and the passion and the tension, but it’s also lovely to read about a couple who can spend time together in peace. the scenes where Jocelyn and Jane just exist together, working on their interests are possibly my favorites from all of balogh’s books.
in general, there’s a tenderness to her novels that i love. there’s a sense of two people growing into each other and learning to build a life together. she doesn’t shy away from using characters that are different from the usual gorgeous lords and ladies, so you can find a balogh work for every mood.
I love the idea of talking about a writer’s body of work! Count me a Balogh fan.
The books of hers that stand out for me – that I don’t have to pull of the shelves to remember basic plot points – are Simply Love, Slightly Married, Slightly Dangerous (although you need to read at least some of its predecessors to fully appreciate Wulfric), and More Than A Mistress (which has been problematic for more recent readers based on some comments I’ve seen in other posts?). I keep meaning to reread MTAM to see if it still holds up.
I stand in awe of Mary Balogh. Not only is she the Queen of Yearning, but she creates magnificently nuanced and believable characters. They not only achieve their happy endings, but they earn them. I have any number of her books on my keeper shelf, and I frequently reread them.
That said, they are not books I truly love. What I miss in her books is joy. Her characters find their happiness in peace, understanding, acceptance, contentment—and I do not wish to denigrate these things. In fact, they are probably the best foundation for happiness in the long run. But I miss joy.
I don’t have anything super innovative to add to this discussion, but I wanted to pop in and say — Mary Balogh is great! To me, she is The Standard for historical romance of a certain era and I think her style has had such an obvious influence on several authors today, especially Grace Burrowes and Mimi Matthews (although, Mimi Matthews also reminds me of Carla Kelly too).
I don’t love Mary Balogh’s books equally. Even in the Slightly series, I think there are some weak links but I’m continually impressed by her historical world building, solid characterizations, and balance of internal and external conflict. And she just has this phenomenal storytelling gift — even when I’m not “into” certain aspects of the story, I find myself charmed regardless.
Georgette Heyer is my all time favourite historical romance writer but Mary Balogh comes in second because, IMO, she very successfully straddles the divide between the “ no sex on the page” writing of GH’s era and the “ sex over several pages” writing of modern writers and yet doesn’t fall into the trap of giving Regency era heroines 21st century sensibilities and opinions. I have enjoyed many of her books but won’t ever reread some of the more angsty ones. Every couple of years I find myself rereading a number of books that follow a group of linked characters , starting with A Summer to Remember ( Kit and Lauren) , Slightly Scandalous (Frejya Berwyn), Slightly Dangerous ( Wulfric. And Christine) and The Proposal ( Lauren’s cousin Gwen ). My all time favourite is Slightly Dangerous as I consider Wulfric a wonderful hero and Christine one of the most charming and delightful heroines in historical fiction.
Balogh is my favorite historical romance author, without a doubt. The Slightly series is my favorite of hers, and I think it is her best work in character studies, of which she is a master. Slightly Married, the opening book in that series is in the top five of my all time favorite books, and Slightly Dangerous is not far behind. I did recently read a book of hers that I’d somehow missed that had the most intensely emotional fifty pages I’d ever read in a romance called The Secret Pearl. I don’t know how I missed that book and I’m not quite ready to reread it. Her newest series is also very good – The Westcotts. Someone to Wed and Someone to Care (older heroine) are my favorites.
I met Mary years ago at an RT convention and had asked her prior to that event if I could meet her as we were friendly on some author chats. She told me to meet her in the lobby at 8:30 am on a given day and we had a wonderful talk about books and our family. At 9, I indicated I did not want to hold her up any longer and she that she had some others to greet and would I meet her later that evening to continue our discussion. I quickly agreed and stood from the table and realized there was a line waiting to speak to her. There were hundreds of women standing in the hallway, clutching their books and I was appalled I’d held her up. She shook her head and said no, she’d planned on starting to sign books and greet readers at 9.
Later that evening, when we met she wanted to talk to me about self-publishing and that she’d recently read my book Romancing Olive, the second book I ever published, and loved it. I would have started to cry if she had not immediately begun to ask specific and good questions about how to go about self pubbing. Not many years after that she began to get rights back on older books and self publish them and I hope my advice was useful. All said, she’s a kind and generous person and a fabulous writer.
That’s a lovely story. Thank you for sharing.
Wow, so many books to love that it is hard to choose one single favorite story. I think if I had to choose, I would go with the first book of hers that I read: Deceived. It’s one of her older titles. Other older books that have stayed close to my heart are Tangled and Truly. I believe I have read almost all of her Signet Regencies and practically everything else too. Some standouts include Dancing With Clara, Dark Angel, The Famous Heroine, A Precious Jewel, the Survivor series, Heartless, and Silent Melody. While many of her stories are set in the Regency period, she has set some in both the Georgian and Victorian periods. I still remember her description of the hero in Heartless with his makeup and the red heels on his shoes. She was one of the first romance writers that I know of who portrayed people with physical disabilities as the hero or heroine. Clara, from Dancing With Clara, uses a wheel chair. The heroine from Silent Melody is deaf. Then there are the heroes or heroines from the outskirts of society like Priscilla from A Precious Jewel who while from a good background, is working as a prostitute (not a mistress) and the hero is one of her clients. I agree with Always Reading in that I find her sex scenes a little too clinical. But her characters, the settings, and the stories are always compelling. And I do love Wulfric.
Co-sign everything that you’ve written! I too love how she includes such varied heroes and heroines in her books. I love the hero of Heartless (I think his name is Lucas), precisely because he doesn’t look like the typical alpha hero. Another hero who comes to mind is the Marquess of Carew, in Lord Carew’s Bride, who is very ordinary looking and has a limp.
I’ve enjoyed Balogh’s storytelling since her Signet Regency days. Her well-drawn character-driven stories can make me sympathize with characters I usually wouldn’t.. There are tropes and character actions I normally avoid, but I trust Balogh enough that I’ve auto-bought her books for 30+ years.
I’ve posted before about how, when I was burned out on bodice-rippers in the late 1980s, Mary Balogh’s THE OBEDIENT BRIDE was one of the books that brought me back to romance reading (the other book was Edith Layton’s THE ABANDONED BRIDE). Balogh surprised me by including on-page sex (which I hadn’t seen in a Regency before) and a hero who continued to maintain a mistress after he married the heroine. During most of the 1990s and early 2000s, I read everything Balogh wrote, but during the last decade I’ve moved to reading mostly contemporaries and haven’t kept up with her as much. Of her books, my favorite (going waaaay back) is THE DEVIL’S WEB, which is about a mismatched couple, featuring a very tortured hero, who must figure out a way to make their marriage work. It’s incredibly angsty and hits all my catnip buttons (it’s also the third book of a trilogy and it really helps to read the first two books before reading THE DEVIL’S WEB). Of Balogh’s later books, I loved the entire Bedwyn series, with SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS being my favorite.
Mary Balogh is the queen of angst. I love her work. My two favorites are The Notorious Rake and Slightly Dangerous. The Notorious Rake was published in the 90s but it still works for me today. I love how Mary and Edmond discover so much about themselves and each other during their romance. It’s also just hot – the scene in the rain storm – goodness! Slightly Dangerous is one I have reread many times. I still get swoony thinking about Wulfric Bedwyn, the Duke of Bewcastle. Who knew a quizzing glass could be so sexy!
I too like Slightly Dangerous. It’s also the top ranked Balogh at Goodreads! OLDER LEADS ROCK!!
Brilliant romance novelist who is always so consistently good. The bedwyn series best of all and great as a collection but the last book slightly dangerous is the best but even better if you read the others first. Westcott series good. Survivors club excellent. Huxtable very good. I have probably read 25-30 of hers and she is one of my all time favorite romance novelists. I give them 4-5 stars always. She was interviewed by Sarah Wendall on Smart bitches trashy books last year. I highly recommend that interview to all fans of her writing.
I love Mary Balogh, and echo Manjari’s sentiment that the best aspect of her novels is that they are ‘quiet’ books. I love how she focuses on two lonely people, who gradually open up and find peace and love with one another. In terms of character development, I am hard-pressed to think of any writer who does it as well as Balogh. I also love the sheer range of stories that she writes, from stories of military men, survivors of trauma, haughty dukes, high-minded guardians; the list goes on and on! I am not a huge fan of her sex scenes however, I find them too clinical.
I completely agree that her range of characters and stories is amazing. I also find it so interesting how she themes her series. The Survivors’ Club members have something in common (surviving the war) but also issues to work through when they come home that are particular to their situation. The latest Wescott series examines how one discovery (of bigamy) has a ripple effect amongst numerous members of the same family.
Another thing I like is how her series show families that support each other, not just families related by blood but those created by bonds of friendship.
Absolutely, her themed series are the best! Her ability to portray complex family and friendship dynamics is one of the reasons why I keep re-reading her books. I also think that she has written some of the best, subtle villains that I have read in the historical romance genre. I won’t mention the characters here because they can be construed as spoilers, but the books that I have in mind are Heartless and Slightly Dangerous.
I like your use of the word “clinical” for her sex scenes. They come off that way to me as well but the rest of the writing is so very good that I don’t find it that big of a deal.
Exactly, the rest of her writing overshadows that particular element, so I don’t mind it too much.
I always interpreted her sex scenes as being a reflection of the historical period. Her characters understood sex in this way. Si love had to happen for them to even get differernt ideas about the bedroom. Sometimes they jarred a bit, but often, they were just totally fitting in her plot.
I’m one of the few who doesn’t find Balogh’s sex scenes clinical. In “The Temporary Wife” Anthony has arranged a marriage of inconvenience as a slap in the face to the father who seeks to control him. It is then quite telling that the second time Charity and Anthony have sex, the oh-so-controlled Anthony loses control as he starts to fall in love with her (not that he’d admit it at the time). In “Irresistible”, the first time Sophie and Nathaniel have sex, she is so overwhelmed by the thought that she is making love to the man she’s had a crush on for so many years that she cannot lose herself entirely in the moment and come to completion. There are so many other such scenes where the sex truly advances the relationship and tells us who these people are, and I’ve enjoyed them more than some more detailed, supposedly hotter scenes that are just one more “Tab A in Slot B” scenes to me.
I have not read either books but I am very intrigued! I do think that sex scenes are very subjective, perhaps the ones that I like might come across as too ‘purple’ to others. I have to say that although The Secret Pearl is extremely problematic, I absolutely loved the scene in which the two main characters hold hands. It was filled with longing and tension.
I adore Mary Balogh. I own 35 of her books, mainly long form novels in series starting from the late 1990s. I haven’t read her older category romances. What I love about her is that her books are “quiet” books where the focus is on relationships. There aren’t usually big dramatics and the books’ conflicts typically are internal rather than external. The characters tend to be mature and act consistently with their upbringing and the time period. Her heroines are usually intelligent and inherently good people. Even her younger, more immature heroines demonstrate a great deal of personal growth throughout the story. Some of her books are sexier than others but the focus overall is on deeper emotions and love. Sometimes this is just the kind of book I want to read! Her current Westcott series is my favorite so far and in that series I like Someone to Honor the best because I really liked both the hero and heroine and the journeys they took separately and together to get to their happy ending. The last few chapters where the Westcotts support Gil and Abby made me teary. I also really like the Huxtable and Bedwyn series. Of these, my favorite is the Huxtable book First Comes Marriage. I do enjoy a good marriage of convenience story and that book does it well. I’m really looking forward to Someone To Cherish, Harry Westcott’s story that will come out this summer. I read on Ms. Balogh’s website that this was supposed to be the last Westcott book but she might write a few others about some related characters and I hope she does!