When I want an emotionally intense story with rich characters, I chose Mary Balogh. This book was intense...intense in my dislike for the characters, plot, and especially the ending. This is an old school romance wrapped in a 2008 cover. By page 50 I was begging Madeline and James to just have an uninterrupted conversation about their feelings. By the middle of the book, I was ready to hold a gun on them and force the conversation. I thought I would get rewarded in the end, but instead got a ...

When I want an emotionally intense story with rich characters, I chose Mary Balogh. This book was intense...intense in my dislike for the characters, plot, and especially the ending. This is an old school romance wrapped in a 2008 cover. By page 50 I was begging Madeline and James to just have an uninterrupted conversation about their feelings. By the middle of the book, I was ready to hold a gun on them and force the conversation. I thought I would get rewarded in the end, but instead got a short confession of "I love you" from each and some quick sex that truly solved none of the overall issues. Where was the groveling and heart felt apologies for being such idiots? I don't have the words to adequately describe my disappointment in that. The one thing that kept this from being a DNF was the lovely but too short secondary romance of Jean Cameron and Howard Courtney. She is a businessman's daughter from Canada visiting England for the first time. He is a very successful local farmer. Their entire romance encompasses less than 10 pages of this book, but when they kiss for the first time (the first kiss for both) it is awkward and beautiful. He loves her. She loves him. And in a moment of craziness rarely found in old school books, they TALK about it. I wish they'd given some relationship advice to our main characters. It was this lovely hint at what I usually like about Balogh books that kept me hoping for a good end. I wish I'd quit reading after Jean accepts Howard's proposal (before page 200).

This is not an enjoyable book by any stretch of the imagination.
Having met and singled out James and Madeline as my favorite characters from ‘The Gilded Web’, I was bracing myself for pining and a whole lot of denial in their own book. But Balogh far surpassed my expectations with what is probably the darkest novel I have read from her. For the first time this series lived up to its title, as it really felt like an inextricable web our characters were caught in.

Madeline and James could ...

This is not an enjoyable book by any stretch of the imagination.
Having met and singled out James and Madeline as my favorite characters from ‘The Gilded Web’, I was bracing myself for pining and a whole lot of denial in their own book. But Balogh far surpassed my expectations with what is probably the darkest novel I have read from her. For the first time this series lived up to its title, as it really felt like an inextricable web our characters were caught in.

Madeline and James could give Heathcliff and Cathy a run for their money when it comes to denial and codependency. Their relationship is not comfortable or easy or even elevating, for a good part of the story it seemed that they could only bring out the worst in each other. I almost found myself agreeing with them when they kept repeating that their relationship had no future. But then they would both privately admit to a deep love for each other, one that had existed for five years and survived (and even grown stronger) a four year long separation, and it was obvious that avoiding each other wasn’t an option for these two. The obstacles they faced before and after their wedding sometimes felt insurmountable, and more than once I found myself doubting that the author could pull off a believable HEA for these two. But fortunately Balogh stuck the landing with James and Madeline, and although brief, their final reconciliation felt like a personal victory.

James’ final love confession: ‘because my soul will die in me if I walk out through that door without you’ reads a lot like ‘I cannot live without my life, I cannot live without my soul!’

Once I reached the last page in the book, I wholly believed that they’d earned their happiness and were going to nurture their relationship and not let other misunderstandings ruin it. These two went through hell side by side once they decided to make a life together, and after this metaphorical katabasis, their bond was indestructible. I do however wish Balogh had written an epilogue for these two, as I desperately wanted to see them having a happy family life months or years down the road. Even a longe reconciliation would’ve gone a long way to soothe all the fights they shared throughout the book. But then again, this is definitely an earlier Balogh novel and I can’t expect the same level of thoroughness that distinguishes her later books. I think this book would’ve definitely become a classic of the genre if Balogh had written it a decade or so later.

There were instances where I wished I could tell both MCs to get their shit together, but then again they both went through so much and it was clear, more so than in perhaps ANY other HR I’ve ever read, that a happily ever after depended exclusively on their willingness to trust one another and their feelings. I also experienced the entire spectrum of human emotions while reading this: I was annoyed, awed, moved to tears, frustrated, jealous on account of one or the other main character, and angry. And yet I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve connected this deeply to a group of characters.

Madeline and James were both deeply flawed, and almost the opposite of what the main characters in a historical romance ought to be: an inconsistent flirt who doesn’t know where she belongs and an antihero whose guilt is eating him alive to the point where he almost destroys the love of his life. And yet they make their relationship work and find their happiness. And if THEY managed to achieve that, well then there’s certainly hope for everyone.