Reviews

At Last Comes Love by Mary Balogh

nicolesa's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

franwiththebookaddiction's review against another edition

3.0

2.9 stars.
What is it with Mary Balogh’s obsession with quizzing glasses? I cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, see them on a romance novel hero. It’s just wrong.
Perhaps she has a quizzing glass fetish?
I believe every single Balogh novel I’ve read at some point has the hero wearing one and it’s just the biggest turn off ever.
The foppish, affected villain wearing one is quite acceptable but I have read quite a few of her novels and each time the hero decides to put one on I think “wtf?!” Who would ever think THAT sexy or hero like? It’s WRONG.
Hence- three stars for this one. I was with it until the quizzing glass part at which point I completely disengaged and got irritated by every character and plot point.
I had wondered why it had been so long since I picked up a MB as she’s an eloquent and well researched historical romance writer.
This reminded me.
Quizzing glasses.

reading_historical_romance's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse

pseudowoodo's review

2.5

My least favorite of this series. His backstory was over the top and her reaction to the very obvious last minute twist was awful

virginiaduan's review against another edition

4.0

Another great re-read. The way their love grows is sweet and purposeful.

simplyparticular's review

2.0

I was looking forward to margaret's story, since Balogh makes a point of pointing out how worthy she is. And Duncan is a worthy hero, but this book dragged for me. It also didn't set me up to want to read #4 now, based on the tease included.

ssejig's review against another edition

3.0

Margaret Huxtable, the oldest of the Huxtable siblings, is, at thirty, unmarried. But she's run into her old flame, the man she gave up in order to care for her siblings. He went off to war, promising to love only her, but marrying a Spanish woman. Now he's back, looking at her with pity, so she invents a fiance. But the man that has twice offered for her in the past is now engaged to someone else. What is she to do?
Duncan Pennethorne, Earl of Sheringford, kicked up quite the scandal when he absconded with his fiancee's sister-in-law. Now he's back and has fifteen days to marry in order to gain his inheritance. He has a son to support and his servants so he's in somewhat of a fix.
He needs to get married, she needs to get married... it works out perfectly. Or... maybe not. The course of true love never did run smooth and Duncan and Meg have their own hurdles to get over.

kecresser's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thebookishgoddess's review against another edition

4.0

Review type: Quick whips + slight character analysis + small spoilers.

Another sweeping story from Ms. Balogh. This was a well-written book with driven characters and a tremendous romance at hand. My only wish was there were more on Duncan’s reason behind his eloping with his supposed bride’s sister. I wanted to know more of his five years with her. Duncan clearly didn’t have to explain that to Meg, but I was really waiting for a more... pressing story on the elopement, at least in Duncan’s third person POV. It just felt a little empty reading so little about him. I merely wish he had been... better developed.

In spite of that, Meg was a wonderful female lead. I definitely commend her for choosing to care for her family out of obligation and willingness rather than to be with Crispin Dew. I admire how she’s so forward with things and that she doesn’t take crap (or lies, in this story) from just about anybody. The fact that she has trust issues, especially during the climax, was certainly understandable. Hell, Crispin Dew left to go to war promising Meg that they would be together once he came back. Alas, Crispin chose to sleep with numerous women during his time at war, married a woman and spawned a child. If that doesn’t hike up anyone’s trust issues, after being promised a solemn life as lovers after a dreadful war, then I don’t know what is. I pity Meg as a person and she most certainly deserved better (thank the stars she did get something better after marrying the Earl of Sheringford a.k.a, Duncan), thus I was delighted to read her as a character. Last of all, I admire her for being accepting and seeing the victim’s views first before the final judgement. It makes me wish that people were more like her.

As mentioned on the first paragraph, Duncan could have been better developed. I think we could have had more of what his character was like if he had elaborated in third person POV how he was during those five years of elopement with Laura. All we got was the fact that he saved her from an abusive husband and treated Toby (Laura’s child, whose father was neither the husband’s nor was it Duncan’s) like his own son. Given, the whole “past is in the past” is concocted on Duncan as a character, but there was just far too many questions that needed to be answered. But despite my hopes for more on his story, I found his intentions not only brave but very selfless. He gave away title, honor and reputation for the sake of saving a woman from an abusive husband. The fact that during the book’s time period where husbands had the right to discipline (which is basically just another word for abuse) his wife made the whole thought extremely repulsive. And despite how no man or anyone outside the toxic relationship had the right to have a say in the abuse makes it more compulsory on Duncan’s end. He practically risked a law in which no one had the right to interfere in a very toxic relationship that clearly needs saving proves that he is more than what meets the eye. I suppose, after writing this paragraph straightly without pause, that this was Balogh’s aim on his being human, being a developed character in her novel. Which is, greatly, a huge applause from me.

Overall, this was a very optimistically romantic book. It had a lovely premise and it was quite the story. Although there were a few dull moments here and there, I am simply to blame and not Balogh merely because I’ve been reading this book in a noisy environment. But what can I say? It’s a rarity to find silence when you live in the city. I’m giving this book a four because it’s not as appealing as the other books Balogh has written. In fact, from the very beginning, it was not my intention to read this book or the other book about Vanessa Huxtable. But I wanted to read more from Balogh and between Vanessa and Meg’s story, Meg’s sounded more interesting. Alas, it was good, but not as good as the others. It’s not a definite recommendation from me, but I can certainly tell you that I highly recommend Mary Balogh for anyone wanting to give regency romance novels a shot.

“Could a love of that magnitude die? If it was true love, could it ever die? Was there such a thing as true love?”
― Mary Balogh, At Last Comes Love

mskyle's review against another edition

3.0

Took kind of a long time to get going. And the stakes didn't feel all that high. Also sometimes I feel like Mary Balogh has really awful things happen to peripheral/offstage characters just to give her main characters something to misunderstand each other about. Sometimes it walks the line of being positively offensive.