Book Review: Red Rose by Mary Balogh

Red Rose by Mary Balogh is a straightforward Regency romance with a satisfying Happily Ever After ending.

Red Rose by Mary Balogh

Class Ebook Editions Ltd., 2016
Format: Ebook

“Red Rose is the digital reissue of a previously published and long out-of-print novel by New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh.
“Edward Marsh, Earl of Raymore, is a connoisseur of beauty, whether it be music or art or women.
“When he inherits two wards, however, and decides to marry them off as soon as possible during a London Season, he finds one of them virtually unmarriageable. Rosalind Dacey has none of the delicate, blond beauty of her cousin, and a pronounced limp resulting from a childhood riding accident has robbed her of grace and self-assurance. She resents what she sees as Edward’s ruthless, high-handed tyranny, and he is infuriated by her outspoken stubbornness.
Their volatile quarrels soon lead to passion of a different sort, however. And Rosalind possesses talent as a pianist that draws Edward secretly and against his will to listen, enthralled, to her daily practices in his music room…”
From the book description on Goodreads

What I thought of Red Rose

A straightforward Regency romance with a satisfying Happily Ever After ending. That probably undersells it a bit, but sometimes a reader just wants a comfort book, especially at the tail end of summer when the days are flying by and beach time is becoming an ever-more-precious commodity not to be squandered on unpredictable disappointments.

Mary Balogh reminds me a bit of Georgette Heyer in that she writes engaging but ultimately consistent romances. You don’t always know how it will end up turning out all right, but you are reasonably certain that it will. Balogh doesn’t break the rules of the Regency romance genre and that’s pretty much what I look for in a last days of vacation read.