Amazing story about two broken people and their way back to life, home, and love.
It was different, and it tackled hard issues that you don't usually see in these kinds of books.
I loved it.
I could do with less Bedwyns mentioned by name when it didn't really contribute to the story. But the story was so good that I could let it go.

Amazing story about two broken people and their way back to life, home, and love.
It was different, and it tackled hard issues that you don't usually see in these kinds of books.
I loved it.
I could do with less Bedwyns mentioned by name when it didn't really contribute to the story. But the story was so good that I could let it go.

Simply Love is a historical romance and is the story of two troubled souls who meet,find love and in that journey they start to heal.

Anne Jewell is a teacher at an all girl school in Bath, England. She is a fine teacher well liked by both students and teachers and also an unwed mother the results of a rape nine years before. Sydnam Butler is the steward of a remote seaside manor in Wales owned by Wulfric Bedwyn,Duke of Bewcastle, Sydnam lives a reclusive existence. He is the youngest son ...

Simply Love is a historical romance and is the story of two troubled souls who meet,find love and in that journey they start to heal.

Anne Jewell is a teacher at an all girl school in Bath, England. She is a fine teacher well liked by both students and teachers and also an unwed mother the results of a rape nine years before. Sydnam Butler is the steward of a remote seaside manor in Wales owned by Wulfric Bedwyn,Duke of Bewcastle, Sydnam lives a reclusive existence. He is the youngest son of an Earl, wealthy in his own right but a man with many demons, a man of deep sorrows and passions. During the war he was captured by the French and brutalized, leaving him crippled with one eye, and half his face disfigured. The handsome man he once was is now a shell of a man who cuts himself off of society and a man children call monster. Anne first spied him in the deepening dusk of evening --- a lone figure of breathtaking strength, his handsome face branded by his pain. Yet he senses in Anne a kindred soul, and between these two wary hearts, desire stirs. Unable to resist the passion that has rescued them both, Anne and Sydnam share an afternoon of exquisite lovemaking. Suddenly the unwed mother and the war-scarred veteran must make a decision that could forever alter their lives.

This is a wonderful story and an outstanding romance. Mary Balogh once again shows her talents in writing about topics that are very sensitive. She weaves a very believable story of healing, understanding and forgiveness, while creating a love story that is timeless. Simply Love is a stand alone book but is part of her Simply series, it is book 2, also characters from other series, Bedwyn series, do make an appearance now and then in the story. Sensual level I would put at a 7, Ms Balogh writes passion, and the reader feels the hot and sizzle but she is not graphic in her sex descriptions. I highly recommend this book to read again and again.

I`d read about Sydnam in The Proposal and my heart broke for him there. He`s an artist with two very masculine big brothers and in an attempt at proving his own masculinity, he went into war on the Peninsular. Unfortunately with devastating results because he came home scarred and without his right arm and eye. Because he was very strong-willed, he managed to ride a horse and took a position as a steward instead of just being cared for and collecting dust in his own home. I found Sydnam a v...

I`d read about Sydnam in The Proposal and my heart broke for him there. He`s an artist with two very masculine big brothers and in an attempt at proving his own masculinity, he went into war on the Peninsular. Unfortunately with devastating results because he came home scarred and without his right arm and eye. Because he was very strong-willed, he managed to ride a horse and took a position as a steward instead of just being cared for and collecting dust in his own home. I found Sydnam a very admirable character in The Proposal.

I read about Anne in Simply Unforgettable and was curious about this single mother - unwed, not a widow - who was now a school teacher. She`d had her son David when she was just 19 as a result of a rape.

These two characters made my heart bleed even before I started reading Simply Love and I was looking so much forward to reading this book when I opened the first page. Luckily Mary Balogh did not let me down. Simply Love was an extraordinary book about two people with scars (inside and/or out) who find each other but find it hard to trust the other person. They build a good friendship but can they ever be more?

Sydnam was very far from the typical alpha male. He was an artist with a strong will but he was also quiet, considerate and very much a thinker. He did not force Anne into bending to his will - on the contrary. He was a very sweet person and so was Anne. It`s alway so gratifying to see two nice people finding each other - especially when life has treated them cruelly.

This book moved slowly and there was no big drama in it. But that only made the emotional drama inside these two hurt people all the more stronger.

I can truly recommend this book if you want to read something else than "big alpha male grabs the woman he wants and makes her fall in love with him whether she wants to or not".