Simply Unforgettable

February 21, 2005
What happens when a haughty, rakish aristocrat and a prim, beautiful schoolteacher are stranded in a deserted country inn together during a snowstorm? They fall in love, of course. But as all this takes place in fewer than 100 pages—and as this is a fairly conventional Regency-era romance—the story doesn't end so quickly or easily. Instead, Frances Allard denies her feelings, pushes Lucius Marshall away by refusing his offer to join him in London and, when they're coincidentally thrown together again in Bath, attempts to ignore him—all of which makes Lucius try even harder to get her attention. A devastating secret from Frances's past keeps her from giving in, even when Lucius proposes marriage, but this secret turns out to be so unsurprising and so easily surmountable that Lucius's 200 pages of pursuit hardly seems worthwhile. Readers will feel some satisfaction when this well-matched duo eventually come together, and as usual Balogh peppers her tale with vibrant, amiable secondary characters, including a handful of Frances's colorful schoolteacher friends and Lucius's merry sisters. However, this romance, which launches a new series focusing on the young ladies' academy where Frances works, is far more forgettable than Balogh's popular Bedwyn family Regencies.

In this period piece, reminiscent of Jane Austen, a young teacher with a mysterious past loses her virginity in a one-night stand with a virile nobleman. They separate, but over the ensuing months they become obsessed with each other. Of course, numerous obstacles are eventually overcome. The pleasure derived from romance novels comes not from originality, but from the author's finesse in serving up the familiar contrivances. For the jaundiced male sensibility of this reviewer, plaudits for aplomb go to the narrator. Employing consummate taste, Rosalyn Landor makes the sex scenes erotic, the characters vivid, and the complications convincing while maintaining an overarching gentility appropriate to action set in Regency England. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine