Book Review: Mary Balogh's One Night for Love

Mary Balogh is one of my favorite authors despite some duds in her book collection. I adore her earlier traditional regencies but she has since branched to regency romances which are generally not as clean as trads. However, I still love most of her books because her heroes are almost never alphas. While I wouldn't classify all of her heroes as betas, I have noticed that she does tend to avoid alpha hero stereotype behaviors (basically being a jerk).

I've read many Mary Balogh books over the years and often reread. I much prefer her earlier books although I think my personal favorite is still "A Precious Jewel" (despite some love scenes). I'll probably do a review in the future when I, inevitably, reread it again.

While its not my favorite, "One Night for Love" is close to the top of my list of favorite Mary Balogh books. It reads almost like a Carla Kelly (my favorite romance author) book because of the war background of both the Hero and Heroine.

Book summary (from publisher)

It was a perfect morning in May . . . 

Neville Wyatt, Earl of Kilbourne, awaited his bride at the altar—when a ragged beggar woman raced down the aisle instead. The cream of the ton saw him stare, shocked, then declare that this was his wife! One night of passion was all he remembered as he beheld Lily, the woman he'd wed, loved, and lost on the battlefield in Portugal. Now he said he'd honor his commitment to her—regardless of the gulf that lay between them. 

Then Lily spoke her mind . . . 

She said she wanted only to start a new life—wanted only a husband who truly loved her. She had to leave him to learn how to meet his world on her terms. So Lily agreed to earn her keep as his aunt's companion and study the genteel arts. Soon she was the toast of the ton, every inch a countess fit for the earl, who vowed to prove to his remarkable wife that what he felt for her was far more than desire, that what he wanted from her was much more than . . . One Night for Love.


Pros

1. I love that the hero has a dorky-ish name! Neville! It seems like the type of name that people always give to the somewhat geeky friend of the hero like Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter series. Or the somewhat dim fellow such as Julia Quinn's Neville Berbrooke. And I don't really blame them since there's something about the name Neville that sounds so... undashing. And I think that's what I like about Mary Balogh. She's never afraid to let her heroes be not quite so perfect. 
2. Both Neville's and Lily's love for one another was very deep. It was not founded on just physical attraction alone. While there were some sex scenes, it wasn't a central point of their relationship. At one point, all of the secondary characters acknowledge the depth of their love for each other to the point that everyone realized the inevitability of their union. They genuinely care for each other and their love was not at all selfish. While Neville did have some feelings of jealousy and possessiveness towards Lily, he was generous enough to let go of Lily when she needed it.  
3. The conflict was real and not at all contrived. I admire Lily's sensibility in realizing how their marriage could not work the way it was in the beginning. Mary Balogh very sensibly portrayed the difficulties of a marriage between a commoner that was not gently bred and a lord. I absolutely love stories that actually show the difficulties that a couple may encounter after a fairy tale marriage. I hate it when people assume that wedded bliss would defnitely follow once a couple gets married.  
4. I thought that the sensitivity that Mary Balogh displayed in writing about Lily and her reaction to what happened to her was amazing. What happened to Lily during the war was respectfully given just enough coverage in the story. While it is made clear that she was, naturally, quite affected by her experiences, she didn't dwell in self-pity. I love that Lily was determined to heal herself. I love that Neville's very alpha-atypical fear of knowing the details of Lily's experiences. I can definitely relate to not wanting to know the details of a loved one's horrific experiences. But he wasn't a coward by no means. He did what he had to do to help Lily heal.
5. I love the concept of equality in a marriage that Mary Balogh was pushing for here. I hate damsel in distress stories where the hero just basically saves the damsel and the damsel just lets the hero protect and provide for her. 

Cons

1. The alignment of Lily's personal ambitions to the duties of a countess/lady of the realm, seemed a little too convenient. While I respected Lily's determination to become her own person, it felt like she was just trying to become a suitable countess for Neville.
2. The subplot about the attempts on Lily's life... I could have done without it. It didn't add much to the story really. 
3. I wanted to know more about the Aunt Elizabeth's story! There seemed to be so much potential there!

In a nutshell, this is one of Mary Balogh's best books in my humble opinion. It is a bit serious and dramatic so I wouldn't read it if you're in the mood for some fluff material. It's a beautiful love story and is unique in that it dares to question the fairy tale romance of a prince and a cinderella. 

Story: 8.5/10. 

Characters: 9.5/10

Drama Score: 8/10 (higher: more drama)

Sensuality Score: 4/10 (higher: more sensual)

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Author Review: Dean Koontz

While I'm mostly a romance reader, I do have a soft spot for science fiction. Probably because I'm sandwiched in the family order by an older brother and a younger brother who both loved Marvel comic books and Street Fighter.

I was first introduced to Dean Koontz by a good friend of mine who described his books as "challenging" vocabulary-wise. Because I was fast running out of good authors, I gave it a try. I think the first book that I tried was The Door to December and boy was it an experience. Dean Koontz is a master at suspense! I remember getting so scared that the hairs on my arm actually stood up! I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next. It remains one of my favorite Dean Koontz books.

After that, I started hunting down his books at used bookstores (which thankfully always had a large supply of them). While I haven't read all of his books (he has so many!), most of his books are definitely top notch. Sure there were some duds here and there (*cough* The Funhouse *cough*), but overall his collection is definitely read-worthy.

Pros

1. I do like building up my vocabulary and I find that one of the best ways to do that is to read fiction that use more difficult words. Dean Koontz books are definitely in that category. While I consider myself to have a pretty good vocabulary, I find myself having to consult a dictionary at least a few times when reading his books. 
2. In most of his books, the suspense factor is through the roof! It's definitely a page-turner because you want to know what happens next. 
3. His characters are intelligent. There are no silly plot points where conflicts could have been avoided if the hero just paused to THINK. They are smart about what they are doing and I sometimes find myself thinking how well I would have done when faced with the same situation and almost always conclude that I would have failed miserably. 
4. Many of his characters are ordinary (but smart) guys. They don't have genius IQs, movie star looks, unlimited sources of money or powerful connections. I love my beta heroes and most Dean Koontz heroes are definitely betas. 
5. Plots are so interesting! And the way he unfolds them is simply amazing. While he is great at being suspenseful, the big reveal is almost never disappointing. 
6. Mostly happy and satisfying endings. I absolutely hate sad endings. I'm paranoid about that and often read the last page of suspiciously sad books just to make sure that it doesn't have a sad ending. Sally (from When Harry Met Sally) would find that horrible but that's just the way I roll... :)
7. He has so many books and he's still churning them out like a machine! 

Cons

1. Kinda prosy. To others, this may be a good thing. Dean Koontz spends a LOT of time describing things. Especially places. Usually I just skip them so its no biggie. 
2. He has a couple of duds. I absolutely loved Odd Thomas but I really did not like Brother Odd which seemed so over the top. I may do a reread just to make sure I wasn't tired or something but I remember skipping whole sections just so I could finish the book.
3. Not exactly light reading. His books gets you really emotionally invested and I sometimes find myself exhausted after reading his books. I love Dean Koontz but its hard to get into the proper mood for him. 

Some of my favorites are From the Corner of My Eye, The Door to December, and Odd Thomas. If you want to start reading a little Dean Koontz, I definitely recommend these as starters. 

Author Review: Carla Kelly

Its fitting that my very first blog post be about my favorite author of all time: Carla Kelly. To this day, I have never read a Carla Kelly book that I didn't love.

I was first introduced to Carla Kelly when Goodreads recommended it to me based on my reviews of books by the prolific Georgette Heyer. I was immediately hooked to her beautiful and emotional stories of (mostly) ordinary people falling in love and facing challenges together.

Why I love her...

1. She's squeaky squeaky clean!! Her romances are all about the emotions and the physical aspects of love is left mostly to the reader's imaginations with subtle references. 
2. Her stories are unique in the sense that she mostly writes about ordinary people in historical settings. It's so refreshing to read about servants, soldiers, and navy officers instead of dukes, earls and princes. I have a soft spot for beta heroes and most Carla Kelly heroes can probably classified as beta for their basically GOOD personalities. Her heroes are never like the cookie-cutter alpha hero that is rich, handsome, and arrogant. 
3. Her plots are beautiful and emotional with a perfectly reasonable and valid conflict. She doesn't create a conflict just for the sake of having a conflict. I've never gotten so frustrated at the characters to the point that I want to yell at them to "Just.Talk. To. Each. Other.". 
4. She has Kindle e-books!! Considering that many of her books are quite old, its a testament to her works that her publishers have decided to republish them in e-books. Not all of her books are available in electronic format yet but it looks like they're working on it. I buy and read so many books that my mother and sister are always secretly hiding (or even selling) my books behind my back because it took so much space at the house. That's when I decided to only buy e-books from now on so I only need my trusty Kindle Touch to reread old favorites. 
5. While I'm a devout Christian, I do like the fact that her books aren't very preachy. I'm glad because she can have a wider audience (because a lot of people are turned off by preachy stuff). I do enjoy Christian fiction but sometimes I just want some light reading. 
6. It's an easy read. While I love Jane Austen and some of Georgette Heyer's books, they're a little hard to read because of complicated (to me anyway!) proses and wordings.

Cons...

1. Libraries almost never have her books. I seriously don't understand this. She's actually quite famous and has had a very long career. But I almost never see her books or e-books at the local library. Plus they're very clean. I don't understand why libraries stock up on 50 Shades of Grey (Are kids allowed to check those out??) but don't even have one single book of Carla Kelly's. 
2. Some of her books are hard to find. As I said, not all of her books have been republished as e-books yet. Some of her paperbacks are really rare and even used copies sell for very high prices in Amazon because its almost a collector's item. Some of her books have been republished in the paperback format recently so if you prefer paperbacks you do still have that option. 
3. You can't put her books down. I don't know if this is a con really. But I really have to actually make time to read a Carla Kelly book because I know that they're really hard to put down. I also can't read her books in public because I usually cry at one point or another (Note: Its not because she writes really heavy and sad material, I just cry really really easily. Ask my family.)

My Carla Kelly favorite books so far are Lady's Companion and Wedding Journey  So if you want to try Carla Kelly, I definitely recommend those two.