A review by jackiehorne
A Certain Magic by Mary Balogh

4.0

3.5 Catching up on my Mary Balogh re-releases this December with this one and two others (SNOW ANGEL and A DARING MASQUERADE). I enjoyed this one almost as much as SNOW ANGEL, as it, too, featured an older, widowed heroine who found herself advising an old (male) friend about whom he should marry, and finding herself falling for him all over again. The friend's fiancee in this one turned out to be a scheming miss, which I didn't find as appealing as the situation in SNOW ANGEL, and it had the same effect of bringing about the happy ending through no effort on the part of the protagonists, which I find annoying rather than heartwarming. Still, Piers and Allie are appealing characters in themselves, and they are wonderfully fun and charming as friends, and also as a romantic pair.