Her intention to do so is more than understandable considering her painful estrangement from members of her late husband’s family whom she will be facing for the first time since the death of her spouse.
Attending only as a reluctant favor to the hostess (who – gasp! – certainly couldn’t have uneven numbers!), Christine plans to stay in the background and refrain from doing anything that would draw unwanted attention to herself. Upon his arrival, his already low expectations about any enjoyment he’s likely to find there sink even lower when a poorly dressed young woman leans over the balustrade and spills lemonade into his eye.Ĭursing herself for her clumsiness, Christine knows instantly that the man she’s inadvertently assaulted is none other than the party’s most illustrious guest. And, to put it bluntly, what a tumble it is!įeeling at something of a loss with all his siblings married and happily reproducing and the recent death of his long-time mistress, Wulfric Bedwyn, Duke of Bewcastle, finds himself reluctantly attending a two week summer house party at the invitation of a casual acquaintance. Darcy whose thoughts, actions, and motivations largely remain a mystery to the reader, our admittance into Wulfric’s thoughts gives us the ability to follow almost step-by-step (though there are still some wonderful surprises) his very reluctant, but undeniably inevitable, tumble into love. In fact, in what I’m certain is a tip of the hat to the great Miss Austen, Mary Balogh even recreates almost verbatim several of Lizzie and Darcy’s exchanges.īut, of course, Mary Balogh is a very different author living in a very different time and Slightly Dangerous is an altogether very different book. And, while I don’t want to give too much away, the basic structure of the book does bear some resemblance to that beloved novel. Equally, heroine Christine Derrick is lively, social, blessed with a pair of “fine eyes” and – just like Elizabeth Bennett – is most attractive when she is animated.
Darcy in his dedication to his family, his extreme reserve, his omnipresent awareness of his responsibilities to his class and heritage, and – let’s call a spade a spade – the extreme Control Freak aspects of his personality. It’s impossible not to draw comparisons between Slightly Dangerous and Pride and Prejudice. With that said, though, I most assuredly do love this Mary Balogh book and, to go even further, I don’t think it’s overstating the case to call it an instant Romance Classic. To put my assessment of this book in perspective, I haven’t loved every book ever written by Mary Balogh and I’ve found the Slightly series to be more uneven than it seems many readers did.
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