The Proposal by Mary Balogh

Natalie · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 1566

I'm plowing through this book right now. It's not exactly boring (or I would have simply abandon it, I don't have much patience with my reading these days) but it didn't hook me up the way some other Balogh's book did. There's just something about the hero's blunt manner that rubs me the wrong way. I guess I'm more of a fan of roguish charm (Kit from A Summer to Remember) or calm elegance (Wulfric from Slightly Dangerous).

Really, would a man with the middle class background talk openly about lust with the lady he'd just met? First of all, he's been in the aristocratic circles for a while and had to know at least the basic of good manners, and secondly, from what I remember, middle class in general was more prudish than aristocracy (it's actually mentioned in the book at some point).

dick · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2263

@Natalie: But doesn't the opening of the book suggest that all of the members of the Survivors' Club are unusual in that regard? The comments they make to one another, even though supposedly in jest, are brutally frank, even when Lady Barclay is present. And wouldn't a man who led--and survived--the Forlorn Hope on Badajoz be likely to eschew such niceties as you speak of? To me, that he blurts out what comes to mind at the moment fits his characterization well.

Natalie · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 1566

Yeah, but she wasn't his friend at that time.

PWNN · Joined: 11 Apr 2010 Posts: 827

I agree with Dick. Years in the army, in brutal war trumps middle class prudishness - there's not much place for it. Now would that affect how he speaks to a woman of a certain class outside of a shared war experience, maybe - but then she's also an older widow and not an ingenue and he's currently surrounded by people of similar experience which probably also makes him freer with thoughts and language.
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Natalie · Joined: 25 Mar 2007 Posts: 1566

I barely finished the book. Didn't like the hero at all and there were no new interesting elements.

However, the returning characters made me want to reread their books. So I grabbed a copy of A Summer to Remember (Lauren's book) and it was just as great as I'd remember it was! I think I'm going to reread Freyja's and Wulfric's books. I think Balogh was in her peak form when she wrote that series and connected novels.

carolydixon · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 88

This was a really good read. The supporting cast was as interesting as the H/H.
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Holly Bush · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:53 pm Post subject:

Just started Dark Angel, Balogh's rerelease packaged up with Lord Carew's Bride.
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MEK · Joined: 09 Dec 2010 Posts: 228