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A review by teaandspite
Remember Love by Mary Balogh
2.0
Disappointing for a Balogh book. I think she was trying to do too much. The general premise is that two characters who had a single day of whirlwind romance after a childhood of pining are reunited years later, but the structure meant that neither the whirlwind romance nor the reconnection are given the attention they need to really shine.
The first half or so is the whirlwind romance and lead-up to Devlin leaving Ravenswood. It's a bit silly, as any relationship based on maybe an hour or two of actual conversation will be, but in a sweet, teenagers in love kind of way. 18-year-olds are just Like That.
Primarily, that first half serves to set up the characters, location, and history as you get drawn into the necessary Traumatic Event to separate Devlin and Gwyneth. It does a good job of that, but IMO takes too long to do so. You know what's coming early on, both from the jacket blurb and the first chapter or two themselves, but then you have to wait forever for it to actually happen. I think the book could have been improved by either shortening the history section or omitting it entirely and letting it reveal itself as Devlin and Gwyneth reunite after his return.
The return is the second half of the book and it also has some pacing issues. There's little time spent on Gwyneth and Devlin themselves. It seems that because they had crushes on each other as teenagers we're supposed to believe that they're naturally suited as adults. It's a little absurd, even for a romance novel. Devlin's individual character arc is reasonably compelling and well done, but for a romance I'd have liked to see more emphasis on the relationship between the characters. As it is, it reads more like a story of Ravenswood and the surrounding village rather than one of Devlin and Gwyneth's relationship.
All of this comes down to the original problem: the whirlwind romance simply takes up too much story space relative to its narrative importance. A book that began with Devlin's return would have been more effective and granted space for a proper romance between him and Gwyneth as adults.
The first half or so is the whirlwind romance and lead-up to Devlin leaving Ravenswood. It's a bit silly, as any relationship based on maybe an hour or two of actual conversation will be, but in a sweet, teenagers in love kind of way. 18-year-olds are just Like That.
Primarily, that first half serves to set up the characters, location, and history as you get drawn into the necessary Traumatic Event to separate Devlin and Gwyneth. It does a good job of that, but IMO takes too long to do so. You know what's coming early on, both from the jacket blurb and the first chapter or two themselves, but then you have to wait forever for it to actually happen. I think the book could have been improved by either shortening the history section or omitting it entirely and letting it reveal itself as Devlin and Gwyneth reunite after his return.
The return is the second half of the book and it also has some pacing issues. There's little time spent on Gwyneth and Devlin themselves. It seems that because they had crushes on each other as teenagers we're supposed to believe that they're naturally suited as adults. It's a little absurd, even for a romance novel. Devlin's individual character arc is reasonably compelling and well done, but for a romance I'd have liked to see more emphasis on the relationship between the characters. As it is, it reads more like a story of Ravenswood and the surrounding village rather than one of Devlin and Gwyneth's relationship.
All of this comes down to the original problem: the whirlwind romance simply takes up too much story space relative to its narrative importance. A book that began with Devlin's return would have been more effective and granted space for a proper romance between him and Gwyneth as adults.