Only a Kiss
By Mary Balogh
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: September 1, 2015
Percival William Henry Hayes, Earl of Hardford, Viscount
Barclay, is a man who has everything. The only child of doting, wealthy parents,
he has been cherished and indulged since his birth. Blessed with wealth,
intelligence, good health, and good looks, he belongs to a close-knit, loving
family with Aunts, uncles, and dozens of cousins on both the maternal and
paternal sides. Two years ago, he unexpectedly inherited his titles when the
old earl died the year after the death of Percy’s father. On his thirtieth
birthday, Percy recognizes two facts: he is “the most fortunate of mortals” and
he is bored beyond endurance. In an inebriated state after a convivial birthday
celebration with friends, he decides that the solution to his boredom is to
increase it with a visit to his Cornwall estate. His hope is that life in that
remote area will prove so dull that his usual routine during the London season
will become more appealing by comparison.
Percy and Imogen clash at first sight. His first words to
her when she dares to walk into his
house unannounced are, “And who the devil might you be?” He is offended by the reserve he senses in Imogen and none
too happy that he is sharing his home with her, with Cousin Lavinia and her
collection of stray animals, and with Lavinia’s cousin and companion, the
male-bashing Adelaide. None of them is
impressed with this young lord who is accustomed to being admired and idolized.
Imogen does not hesitate to challenge him or to stop his questions with a
direct reminder that some things are none of his business.
Of course, underneath the clashes, there is reluctant
attraction on both sides. Disagreements lead to conversations. Imogen and Percy
come to know each other, and they are good for one another. She is completely
different from any other woman he has known. She not only refuses to accept his
right to exercise authority over her, but when he bemoans his empty, frivolous
life, she scolds him for his ignorance of how truly blessed he is:
Your life has been so full of love,
Lord Hardford, that it is fairly bursting at the seams with it. Even
that dog loves you, and you love it. It is not unmanly to admit
it. And your life has included a period of intense learning about two of the
greatest civilizations our world has known.”
For his part, Percy provides Imogen with practical help. He
uses his money and his influence to see that her new roof is completed
speedily. And he brings laughter into Imogen’s emotionally impoverished life.
They become friends—and they become lovers, although at first neither of them
thinks of their relationship in terms of forever. Percy also brings a fresh
perspective to the pieces of a puzzle and connects such seemingly disparate
things as his uncomfortable room, a suspicious servant, and the death of
Imogen’s husband. In the process, he falls in love with life in Cornwall and
with Imogen. But can he persuade his deeply scarred lady that she deserves a
second chance at love and happiness?
Mary Balogh is amazing. Thirty years and more than eighty books
after her debut novel—and she is still giving fresh twists to tired
conventions. In this one, she reverses gender roles, adds a new definition of
the heroic, and alters the pattern established in the first five books of the
series.
The hero who has survived the war and returned home scarred
psychically and often physically by his experience is standard in historical
romance. Balogh has given her readers five such heroes in the preceding books
of this series: Hugo Emes, Lord Trentham (The
Proposal), Vincent, Viscount Darleigh (The
Arrangement); Sir Benedict Harper (The
Escape); Flavian Arnott, Viscount Ponsonby (Only Enchanting); and Ralph Stockwood, Earl of Berwick (Only a Promise). Balogh pairs each of
these heroes with a heroine who has also proved herself a survivor. In this
sixth book, it is the heroine who has returned from war scarred probably
irreparably. Imogen accompanied her
husband to Portugal. When they were captured, he was deemed a spy and tortured
while she was forced to watch. She was faced with a heinous choice that still
haunts her. Although she bears no physical disfigurement, she is marked forever
by her experience. In contrast, the hero has known a life of luxury and
indulgence surrounded by people who love him.
One of Percy’s regrets is that his life has been devoid of
the heroic. After he meets Imogen and begins to care for her, he wants to make
her happy. He recognizes that laughter has been missing from her life, and he
exults in his ability to make her laugh.
He wondered if she was smiling, if
only inwardly. It would be a worthy, heroic thing to do, he thought, to make
this woman laugh again as she had laughed at the Kramer house, and to make
her do it again and again. Perhaps he ought to make that his life’s mission.
One of the recurring theme in Balogh’s novels is that a
simplistic happily-ever-after will not be the reality of her protagonists.
Often she has them directly acknowledging that life will be uneven, filled with
sorrow as well as joy. In Only a Kiss,
Imogen and Percy recognize that the damage done to Imogen cannot be erased, but
the love she and Percy share can make her stronger, more willing to laugh, and
more open to all that life has to offer.
The only thing that kept this from being a five-star read
for me is the smuggling thread. I am not a fan of smuggling plots. However, Balogh
does not romanticize or trivialize smuggling. She shows the ruthlessness of the
leaders and the rigid control they exercised over those in their sphere of
influence. She also connects it to the main plot so that the thread becomes
integral rather than distracting.
The Survivors’ Club books overall have been among Balogh’s
finest work, and Only a Kiss is a
worthy addition to this excellent series. I highly recommend it. The
series ends with the release of Only
Beloved, the story of George Crabbe, Duke of Stanbrook, on May 3, 2016. I
have it on pre-order, and I fully expect to be as enthusiastic about it as I
have been about the other six.
~Janga
~Janga
