Unforgiven by Mary Balogh

This book was very different from the first installment of this series (Indiscreet). When reading this book you get the impression that the author was in a bit of a rush to tell a story but not committed to it’s outcome.

At the end of Indiscreet we find that Kenneth Woodfall, the Earl of Harverford needs to rush back home to Dunbarton Hall in Cornwall because he needs to marry a woman he hates since she will be having his baby in 6 months time. So based on the timeline of the novels, while Rex is getting in trouble with Caroline, Ken had already done his damage to his neighbor, Moira.

Moira Hayes has given up hope for a HEA after many years of hatred poisoning her heart for a man she once loved and that betrayed her. Her father has died and a distant relative has inherited her home. He has decided that Moira would make just as good of a wife as the next and formalizes that betrothal over the Xmas season. What Moira didn’t expect was that Ken would return to his home seat after 8 years absence and that the idiot that she is to marry wants to mend fences with the Earl.

The book is divided in two parts. Before the pregnancy and after. The first part we see the enmity between these two fester and explode after a Christmas Ball, where Moira’s pride gets her into a predicament that causes her to be trapped in a cabin under a snow storm with Ken.

The After takes place when Ken returns from the duel fought by Rex in Indiscreet. The hasty marriage and the terrible aftermath the day after the wedding. I can’t say what happens there since it would be a spoiler but Ken removes himself from his home a week after the wedding and spends two months in London with his buddies trying to forget. When that fails he decides that he must at least try to make the marriage work and calls for Moira to come up to London.

Now, first of all, the story is mostly narrated with an occasional dialog here and there. I don’t get that. There is a lot of story telling but not enough content that SHOWS us what is going on. I think Ken and Moira really shouldn’t have been together. Too much had gone on. There were too many misunderstandings that had sat in their hearts for too long. Then all of a sudden Moira goes off to London and within 24 hours discovers that SHE loves him. I could believe Ken’s affections since he only thought himself betrayed but Moira thought that Ken had not just betrayed her but also lied to her, caused her brother’s death and, if we follow the chain reaction, her own destitution.

I was very disappointed in this one and hope that the last in the trilogy will return to the first's great writting.

Grade: D+
Format: eBook

Indiscreet by Mary Balogh

For the longest time I thought this series was a category romance but when I went to pull it out to read I realized that it was a full length novel masquerading as a category (look at the cover!). Balogh is mostly a hit for me but she is also an author that writes more serious regency romances. They are books that have more bite to them and at times that is not what I’m looking for. This is why the book has been in my TBR pile for such a long time.
This year I put it on several of my challenges so that I could get it off my TBR list.

Rex Adams, Viscount Rawleigh heads out to visit his twin brother with two of his friends. When he arrives he lays eyes on Caroline Winters who has confused him with his brother and smiles at him. Rex confuses this gesture with flirtation and singles her out for his attention.

Caroline wants nothing to do with the Viscount. Her past holds many secrets that must remain hidden if she is to continue enjoying the peaceful life she has made for herself. She is frightened by her own urges but holds herself steadfast and denies Rex.

Rex, being the dumbass he is, thinks she is playing hard to get and continues on his pursuit until it’s too late. With her name in tatters, Lord Rawleigh must do the right thing and step up to the plate. Caroline is forced to expose her past to the man that has destroyed her present.

Rex was a bit moronic through most of the beginning of this book. His arrogance was his downfall. He just could not accept that Caroline wanted nothing to do with him. She avoided him like a plague and yet he kept seeing a game she was playing with him instead of seeing it for what it was. She was scared that her attraction for him would lead her to an indiscretion that would cause her to lose everything she had built.

Caroline was a strong heroine. A regency woman that learned from her mistakes and was determined not to fall again. She was so determined to keep what she had, she gave up all pleasures. She was frightened of living beyond the comforts her current life offered. But when she had to confront that past she did (kicking and screaming by her husband but she did do it).

Great first installment to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse trilogy.

Grade: A
Format: eBook