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43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A deeply passionate and moving novel, May 27, 2003
I'd rather not review this book but, instead, "share my thoughts" as we are invited to do by amazon. Mary Balogh is so talented that she rarely fails to please and those who may have been disappointed by this story perhaps prefer stories which are not quite so introspective as this one. One aspect of this novel I enjoyed was that it brought a happy outcome for some of those wonderful characters in One Night for Love. It also allowed us to watch a deeply hurt and misunderstood man and woman reach tentatively, hesitatingly for mutual fulfilment and and happiness. Kit Butler, Lt Col Viscount Ravensberg had, from all outward appearances, a brilliant military career working under particularly dangerous circumstances. Balogh alludes to this sparingly but with great effect as she explores the impact that war and command can have on a man. However, he is damaged and confused and hurt as a result of his experiences and this has helped to bring about a collapse of relations with each member of his family. Miss Lauren Edgeworth was the jilted bride from One Night for Love who, we now find out, has turned inward on herself because of loss of her parents at a young and vulnerable age. She has some rather deep psychological scarring which needs to be expunged if ever she is to find true happiness and serenity of spirit. Her calm and cool manner hides a deeply passionate and loving woman who, sadly, all her life has felt she must exist to please others and never herself. Balogh writes with great insight into Lauren's character. Balogh has written a novel examining the psychological make-up of two very interesting and sympathetic characters. They think and behave in a wholly credible and believeable fashion. She has truly made them come alive for me and, by placing them in a setting of a large extended family, she shows how sadly isolated both of them are, despite the surroundings of the comings and goings of everyday family activity. I am truly interested to see if the author can make me like Lady Freyja Bedwyn who makes her somewhat alarming debut here. I look forward to reading about her and her family in the Bedwyn saga. I also hope that Sydnam Butler, Kit's younger brother will find a happy outcome in a future story. Much of the torment and turmoil experienced by Kit is directly attributable to his relationship with Sydnam. Sydnam deserves "fleshing out" and I hope to read more of him. All in all, another marvel from Mary Balogh and not to be missed if you like heart-wrenching, immaculately plotted fiction with a rounded, mature H/H who mature to loving completion in a most heart-warming way.
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I am of the opinion that this book should be mandatory.., March 26, 2003
reading for every aspiring author (and some professional ones too). Maybe then we readers would be spared some of those atrocious, embarrasing books that are being published nowadays (and become bestsellers too!! Who buys this dreck???) Anyway, the point of that rant is that Mary Balogh has produced a gem of a book, a true keeper in every sense of the words. After his older brother's untimely death the notorious Kit Butler inherited the title of Viscount Ravensberg (sp). His family, aghast at Kit's exploits in London order him home immediately to take his rightful place as the heir to a powerful earldom and also to fulfill his duty by marrying a bride chosen by his father and producing heirs. Kit, already estranged from his family, balks at his family's command and decides that he will find his own bride and marry on his own terms not his father's. He will even go a step further and instead of choosing someone completely unsuitable as his family would expect he decides he will choose the perfect lady.
Lauren Edgeworth is the perfect lady. She has devoted her whole life to perfecting the art of being a lady. She thrives on prediction and takes comfort in routine. In short, Lauren Edgeworth is a dead bore (or so Kit thinks) therefore she is the ideal woman for his plans. Lauren surprises him by agreeing to be his fiancee in name only until he can find a bride not of his father's choosing. In exchange, Lauren wants Kit to give her a summer she will never forget. He readily agrees. At the end of Lauren's perfect summer she will break off the betrothal and move to Bath to begin the life a respectable spinster. However, for Kit this was easier said than done because he was not prepared for the other side of Lauren. He finds himself captivated by the woman hiding behind the icy facade, apparently afraid to come out. Since Kit is not one to resist a challenge he is determined to bring that woman out. In the process he finds himself caring far too much for his "pretend" fiancee.
Lauren, on the other hand is determined to leave at the end of the summer with her heart intact. After her first wedding was scandalously aborted (see One Night for Love) Lauren is convinced she will never be able to love again. However, she is not made of stone and very soon she finds herself hopessly drawn to Kit. His devil-may-care attitude fascinates her and the pain she glimpses behind his laughing eyes and happy-go-lucky attitude brings her dangerously close to falling madly in love. Balogh has outdone herself with Kit and Lauren. Never before have I read a book with characters that were so perfect for one another. Kit is an absolute joy to read, his charm and endearing ways had me sighing over and over. Also, the dialogue sparkles and the developing relationship between Kit and Lauren is belivable and incredibly executed. I have said before that Balogh is the closest one can get to a modern day Jane Austen and this book just reinforces my opinion. In short, this is an incredible book and I cannot recommend it enough. :0)
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
an enjoyable 3 1/2 star read, August 5, 2002
This review is from: A Summer to Remember (Hardcover)
While I don't exactly share the first reviewer's sentiments about "A Summer to Remember" honesty compels to agree that while this was a rather agreeable and enjoyable read, there was really nothing incredibly earth-shatteringly new or fresh about this latest Mary Balogh Regency romance. Everything depends on one's personal taste: compared to "No Man's Mistress (too improbable a plot -- supposedly 'honourable' heroes don't force their presence on the households of respectable young ladies, no matter the circumstances) and "More Than a Mistress" (the last few chapters of that book made me quite ill), "A Summer to Remember," was a welcome relief. It seemed to herald (for me anyway) the return of the Mary Balogh who knew how to make her characters engaging and sympathetic. For all of us who wondered whatever would happen to Miss Lynn Edgeworth after "One Night of Love" this novel answers those all questions in spades. And while it is not exactly essential to have read that book before embarking on this one, being familiar with some of the finer workings of that plot does help. It's been almost a year since Lauren was left at the altar because of the return from the dead of her intended's previous wife. Outwardly, the very cool, calm and collected Lauren gives the impression that she's recovered from the humiliation of losing Neville (her intended and her greatest love) but inwardly, the pain of the rejection has never left. Now, she's in London for some time away from painful memories. Unfortunately, her family and friends seems to have plans to introduce her to as many eligible bachelors as possible. And for a young lady who has decided never to marry, such a situation is well neigh intolerable! In the meantime, Kit Butler, the Earl of Ravensberg, receives news that his father is planning to marry him off the his dead brother's fiance. Kit is both angry and bitter about his family's highhandedness; and desperate to thwart his father's plans, he concocts a scheme to find his own bride. However, which respectable young lady would marry an infamous rake such as he? And when he notices Lauren and learns of her reputation, he decides that Lauren just might be the bride for him. Lauren however has other plans -- she has no wish to marry. And so she poses a counter scheme: she will pose as his fiance, and Kit will give her a summer of fun (her previous life has suddenly struck her as being rather unadventurous and dull), but at the end of the summer, she will disengage herself from him and they will each go their separate ways. Kit is intrigued and nothing loath, agrees to Lauren's scheme. But as the summer progresses, Kit comes to see that Lauren just might be the ideal wife for him, and he discovers that he is in danger of losing his heart to her. But not only is Lauren (he thinks) still in love with Neville, she has no intention of marrying at all. Can a rake who used to pride himself on his ability to seduce any woman persuade a respectable and decorous young lady to give up her plans and settle on him? The plot is a much used and rather basic one. What makes this novel incredibly engrossing and enjoyable was the manner in which the authour brings Lauren to life -- the pain she suffers when her hopes were dashed, her dissatisfaction with her life, the joy she takes from the simple pleasures that Kit introduces her to (like swimming) and the manner in which she handles a few sticky situations. This is a tale of a young woman coming into her own, and what a joy it was to read those bits of the novel. Kit's and Lauren's romance however had me in two minds -- Balogh does show how well they deal with each other, but while their romance was quite sensuous, it was also at times a little ho-hum. As for Kit, well he's the usual self-centered hero, with some redeeming characters. I, personally enjoyed the scene in which his younger brother finally told him off. I probably would have broken his nose as well, but if you only have one arm (as Kit's brother has) breaking other people's noses could be a problem. On the whole, I'd say that this novel was quite an enjoyable read and rates somewhere in the 3 1/2 stars realm. It even hints that there may be more novels featuring a few characters from this novel. I do hope so, for I'm dying to see how things turn out between Gwen and Ralf Bedwyn! A good read.
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