BOOK REVIEW: Remember Love by Mary Balogh

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Mary Balogh has a new Regency Romance series, Ravenswood! Book 1, Remember Love, will be released this month.

In this introductory novel, Balogh carefully establishes the perfect, almost fairy-tale quality of life for the aristocratic Ware family before turning the whole notion of perfection on its head. The patriarch, Caleb Ware, is the Earl of Stratton. He and his wife and their five children, along with his firstborn illegitimate son Ben, live in the lovely country home Ravenswood. The estate is thriving. The people under the earl’s care and governance are prosperous and happy. The children (ranging from 9-year-old Stephanie to the 22-year-old heir Devlin) are healthy, close-knit, and dutiful. Moreover, a wealthy neighboring family, Sir Ifor and Lady Rhys, have a beautiful daughter, Gwyneth, who has fallen in love with Devlin. And Devlin is in love with her! At the traditional summer festival held by the earl and planned and executed by the countess, Devlin and Gwyneth discover their mutual love and Devlin essentially proposes.

Things could not be anymore perfect than this. It’s all too easy, isn’t it?

Then things explode. Devlin has been suspicious for some time that his father is not the devoted, faithful husband he pretends to be. When he stumbles upon his father and his father’s mistress in a compromising position at the Ravenswood ball, he is outraged. His effort to support his mother and condemn his father’s actions backfire tremendously. It is Devlin who is ordered to leave the estate at once.

Devlin buys a commission and joins the fight against Napoleon. It is six years before he returns, two years after the death of his father. Duty drags him back, but he is an embittered, wounded man, who has survived by refusing to feel. However, awaiting him back at Ravenswood is the healing he needs. There he finds his family — the siblings and mother he still loves — and also Gwyneth. 

The novel is everything fans expect of Mary Balogh. The protagonists are strong. The obstacles are credible. The resolution is satisfying. I’m ready for book two!