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A review by lunelis
Slightly Married by Mary Balogh
3.0
The 2nd of my thrifted reads, costing but a mere quarter. Again, I went in with relatively no expectations of what I was getting.
A pretty standard "forced by circumstance to marry" kind of romance where the whole "this marriage isn't real" problem persists as the leads are torn between romance and maintaining the lives/dreams they had previously thought were the most important things.
Aiden and Eve were decent enough characters; I liked that Aiden was described more harshly and less attractively than a lot of other heros, with a large frame and hook nose and serious countenance. They didn't endear themselves to me especially, though.
Overall, not a bad read, and in fact more pleasant than my previous mass market paperback romance read was, but I didn't feel especially moved by the romance. In fact, how easily the two of them have sex and then refuse to communicate themselves throughout most of the story really dampened things for me. It's a usual kind of "I thought you didn't like me but you actually do like me so you took my words more harshly than intended and now I see your actions as an affirmation you don't like me so I'll continue to hide my feelings also" situation that's not uncommon in romances--especially historical.
The immersion of regency England was fine, the writing was fine (though I did find a number of grammar and punctuation errors; tsk tsk), and overall the book was decent to get through.
I didn't love it, I don't hate it, I'm not sorry I read it but I'm also unlikely to read it again. I don't think I'll bother with seeking out the other books in the series because they all seem to essentially be "strangers have a night of passionate sex but then they fall in love later" and that's not my preferred way of romances happening.
A pretty standard "forced by circumstance to marry" kind of romance where the whole "this marriage isn't real" problem persists as the leads are torn between romance and maintaining the lives/dreams they had previously thought were the most important things.
Aiden and Eve were decent enough characters; I liked that Aiden was described more harshly and less attractively than a lot of other heros, with a large frame and hook nose and serious countenance. They didn't endear themselves to me especially, though.
Overall, not a bad read, and in fact more pleasant than my previous mass market paperback romance read was, but I didn't feel especially moved by the romance. In fact, how easily the two of them have sex and then refuse to communicate themselves throughout most of the story really dampened things for me. It's a usual kind of "I thought you didn't like me but you actually do like me so you took my words more harshly than intended and now I see your actions as an affirmation you don't like me so I'll continue to hide my feelings also" situation that's not uncommon in romances--especially historical.
The immersion of regency England was fine, the writing was fine (though I did find a number of grammar and punctuation errors; tsk tsk), and overall the book was decent to get through.
I didn't love it, I don't hate it, I'm not sorry I read it but I'm also unlikely to read it again. I don't think I'll bother with seeking out the other books in the series because they all seem to essentially be "strangers have a night of passionate sex but then they fall in love later" and that's not my preferred way of romances happening.