I have been binging on romance novels ever since school got difficult, and thankfully, I managed to glom onto Mary Balogh, whom I haven't read before and has an extensive backlist I can dig into. I've previously picked up her books before, but was unimpressed by the prose and dialogue, which tends to be fairly expository rather than lively. Balogh also tends to do giant series in which all the other protagonists show up, usually with lots of children.
However, she also writes non-alpha heroes and focuses a lot on the heroines, and for that, I will suffer through a lot of sequelitis. Plus, because I love many of her characters so much, I am less annoyed to see them show up happy (although the Bedwyns still grate on my nerves a bit). Balogh's heroes tend to be quiet and honor-bound, and even the rakes I've encountered have not been very rakish. They also usually fall in love, rather than lust, with the heroines, and I very much like that many of her books are about the heroines deciding if they will be able to live with the heroes, even if they are both in love. Her heroines also tend to get quiet angst and character development, as opposed to existing solely to nurse the hero through his angst, which I also approve of. I wish there would be a few more commoner heroes and titled heroines, as opposed to vice versa, but as I said, I will forgive a lot for romances that read like actual romances and make me believe the hero and the heroine are genuinely in love and will remain so.
( At Last Comes Love )( A Precious Jewel )( Simply Magic )( Slightly Dangerous )( Slightly Tempted )( A Summer to Remember )So what Balogh books do you guys rec, and which ones should I stay away from?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}