Katherine and Jasper's story is lovely and what Mary Balogh does best--healing wounded people with love. The Huxtables is her best series, even though I really liked some of the Survivors and the Bewcastle books, too. Still, every book in this series is a solid 5 star read and is cleanly crafted, without a lot of repetition and head narrative that too often plagues her books, especially the Survivors. A solid read with a wonderful cast of characters. A great hero and strong heroine. A must read.

Katherine and Jasper's story is lovely and what Mary Balogh does best--healing wounded people with love. The Huxtables is her best series, even though I really liked some of the Survivors and the Bewcastle books, too. Still, every book in this series is a solid 5 star read and is cleanly crafted, without a lot of repetition and head narrative that too often plagues her books, especially the Survivors. A solid read with a wonderful cast of characters. A great hero and strong heroine. A must read.

This is the second book in Ms. Balogh's Huxtable series. The first book, First Comes Marriage, introduced us to the Huxtable family and was the middle sister, Vanessa's story. In that book we watched the family adapt to an unexpected inheritance, the acquisition of a title and life among the ton. This book continues the Huxtable's story and features the beautiful youngest sister, Katherine.

Katherine has never lacked for suitors, but yearns for more than compatibility in her marriage. She ...

This is the second book in Ms. Balogh's Huxtable series. The first book, First Comes Marriage, introduced us to the Huxtable family and was the middle sister, Vanessa's story. In that book we watched the family adapt to an unexpected inheritance, the acquisition of a title and life among the ton. This book continues the Huxtable's story and features the beautiful youngest sister, Katherine.

Katherine has never lacked for suitors, but yearns for more than compatibility in her marriage. She is determined to hold out for love and passion. She meets Jasper Finley, Baron Montford, and is immediately intrigued. She knows him to have a reputation as a rake and has been advised to keep her distance. However, one night she throws caution to the wind and walks alone with him on one of the sheltered paths of Vauxhall Gardens. An intimate encounter ensues and Katherine retains only her physical innocence when Jasper pulls away and announces that his interest in her is only as the subject of a scandalous wager.

Three years pass before Jasper and Katherine are thrown together again. Events occur which bring the occurrence of the wager to the attention of the ton. Now Katherine must either accept Jasper's offer of marriage or bring shame to her family and displacement to his.

As always, Ms. Balogh tells a moving tale. This is one of her quieter works and the pace is slower than many will like. It probably is a truer representation of how we find love, not in a lightening bolt but rather in a storm. The characters are multifaceted and Jasper's story and his character are revealed slowly through the pages of the book. Through his story we are bidden to consider some of the deeper issues in life: Can you truly love another if you do not love yourself? Does being alone mean being physically separate from others, or something more? Are dreams foolish fancies or are they vital to life? All ponderous issues which add weight to this story, but at times also seem to weigh it down. The book is longer than is typical, at almost 420 pages. Editing it down to the more typical 350 pages would have tightened the story up and made it a bit more palatable to some.

I would definitely recommend reading this book but advise patience, it is a quiet tale.

I just finished re-reading this book and I am glad I did. On my first read, I had difficulty getting past the beginning of the story because Montford agreed to a wager at a gentlemen's club to seduce and debauch an innocent young woman. To make it worse in my opinion was her reaction which seemed to let him off the hook instead of expressing how she was hurt by his callousness. I'm being very careful not to write any spoilers so I'm being deliberately vague.

Mary Balogh is at the top of my...

I just finished re-reading this book and I am glad I did. On my first read, I had difficulty getting past the beginning of the story because Montford agreed to a wager at a gentlemen's club to seduce and debauch an innocent young woman. To make it worse in my opinion was her reaction which seemed to let him off the hook instead of expressing how she was hurt by his callousness. I'm being very careful not to write any spoilers so I'm being deliberately vague.

Mary Balogh is at the top of my list of favorite authors. She creates complex characters and storylines and has perfected over the years the ability to rehabilitate villains by the end of the story by revealing their backstory. Furthermore, she builds her stories on the premise that no offense is unpardonable if the remorse is real. She is quite convincing, believe it or not. She convinced me in this story by the time the story is about two-thirds the way through. Both Montford's and Katherine's actions were satisfactorily explained and justified the love that had grown between them. I loved the way their relationship was built on and in spite of their initial physical attraction to one another. Each of them came to understand that lust was not enough to build a lifetime together.

This is definitely one of Mary Balogh's best love stories.