Mary Balogh, Simply Love

Simply Love

Mary Balogh

Delacorte, Aug 2006, $22.00

ISBN 038533883X

Twenty-nine-year-old Anne Jewell may be a pariah in some circles as an unwed mother to nine year old David, but she enjoys her independence and teaching at Miss Martin's School for Girls, a place with a well earned reputation of providing a fine academic education to girls from all social classes. Her only friend from a decade ago when she fled Wales, Marquess Joshua Moore and his wife wants to acknowledge David as their cousin. They invite Anne and David to spend the summer at the Bewcastle estate in Wales where she once was governess and home to David's father.

Aristocrat Sydnam Butler wears a patch to cover the eye he lost in the Peninsula Wars, but has nothing to hide his missing right limb. He has become a recluse, but earns his bread as steward to the Duke of Bewcastle. Neither Sydnam or Anne are in the market for a spouse; however neither anticipated the kindhearted Bewcastle clan having enlisted David as one of them deciding that this mentally wounded pair make a perfect match. However, in spite of their efforts, it remains a question of whether Anne or Sydnam trust love nurtured in a style unlike what either once dreamed of.

This is a terrific Regency romance starring two delightful protagonists who have suffered in life, but with the help of others may have found happiness if they can step outside the barriers that traumas have placed around their hearts. The delightful plot is a simple love story made complex by the insecurities and loneliness of Sydnam and Anne. Mary Balogh is at her Regency best with this strong SIMPLY LOVE tale.

Harriet Klausner