amyiw reviewed Simply Perfect by Mary Balogh
None
4 stars
I started out not liking either of main characters. Claudia is judgmental too quickly and doesn't judge on her own merits. We get why she does this later but it still colored me to her for the first part of the book. Joseph's thoughts and decisions seemed to define him as the aristocrat that Claudia dislikes though. As we go through the first half of the book, we see him making very poor decision for his future. So I really didn't think I was going warm up to this one but Balogh pull it off. Not perfectly but quite well.
For the first 1/2 of the book, if we didn't know that these two somehow were going to get together, you would've never guessed by the dialog and actions and feelings toward one another. They never consider one another for even a dalliance as it seemed absurd and neither had …
I started out not liking either of main characters. Claudia is judgmental too quickly and doesn't judge on her own merits. We get why she does this later but it still colored me to her for the first part of the book. Joseph's thoughts and decisions seemed to define him as the aristocrat that Claudia dislikes though. As we go through the first half of the book, we see him making very poor decision for his future. So I really didn't think I was going warm up to this one but Balogh pull it off. Not perfectly but quite well.
For the first 1/2 of the book, if we didn't know that these two somehow were going to get together, you would've never guessed by the dialog and actions and feelings toward one another. They never consider one another for even a dalliance as it seemed absurd and neither had awe of beauty overwhelming the other. Their lives are painted while we get to see them bump into one another and create a friendship. This is were Balogh turns the feelings of contempt to admiration slowly and surely until it is only admiration with the hope that Joseph will do something and in a way that will not hurt too many people. Well, he takes too long. This was my only real issue. He knows that what his is planning is wrong yet he continues on course and for too long. So things come to a head and he is in it too far, what now? Well, it is answered for him. A bit of a cop out. This drawn out continuation is what brought down my star. Though really I think the couple just didn't have the zing that some romances have, so that would have done it in itself.
It was a really good read that I read right through. I have been in the mood for historical romance so that could color my opinion a bit. This gets all the characters from the Slightly series and the prequels together with the 3 Simply before it to make a nice wrap up. We get to see how the Bedwins are coming along and new kids along with Lily and Lauren from the prequels. This add even more to my enjoyment. I got to see a couple of them in Simply Love but this was more fully realized. Since I already read the series set in the same time, The Survivors Club, I got to see where the idea of the dog came from. This was more wrapped up than that one though and I enjoyed the ending more though not the books altogether.
