A review by juliannerose99
Always Remember by Mary Balogh

5.0

Absolutely classic Mary Balogh. A beautiful, touching book about Ben and Jennifer overcoming various social stigmas (illegitimacy and disability) to fall in love and claim their HEA. I had reservations on this book because Jennifer was introduced in the second book in this series and I found the constant “she’s handicapped, but still so cheerful!!” Descriptions of her grating and borderline offensive. But this book peels back these layers and you realize that this was largely because the second book was from the perspective of her overly protective but, a bit “of a slow top” to quote Balogh, brother. What was wonderful about this book was how Ben grew to see a full person in Jennifer, someone who desperately wants some independence from her loving but coddling family. At the same time, Jennifer also sees Ben’s delicate balance of being an illegitimate son of an Earl who’s legitimate family embraced him as their own- he was loved, but coddled in a different way and deliberately kept himself in the background to navigate this challenge.