Willy W. reviewed on 9/14/2012 + 503 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Another nicely written, beautifully told story from Mary Balogh who is truly one of the best in the genre.

In Simply Love, she tells the story of Anne Jewel, an unwed mother whose son is the product of rape, and Sydnam Butler, the disfigured war hero missing both right arm and right eye. Both are scarred and lonely in their own ways. They become friends, and maybe more, but both have serious issues that impede their romance. Balough's device to resolve their impasse was kind of disappointing.

The book was a bit slow, and the sensuality in the book was kind of tepid. Considering it was such a significant hurdle for Anne, the ultimate consummation of their relationship was rather a let down.

The biggest quibble with the book is the telling of the backstory of Anne's rape. It was difficult to tell if the story had been told in more detail in Slightly Scandalous (which I haven't read) or she simply didn't wish to tell the reader what happened to Anne. We know she was raped, but how it happened or how anyone found out about it, besides her winding up pregnant, is unexplained. Having read what happened to Sydnam in A Summer To Remember, perhaps I didn't feel that way about the exposition of his backstory, but Balogh also took the time to have Syd tell Anne what happened to him that offered more details that in the other book.

Certainly a keeper, Sydnam is a wonderful character. Anne was a bit of a mixed bag. Easy to understand her emotional and sexual hangups, but she made a lot of choices that made her a bit of a fool.

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