A MATTER OF CLASS - MARY BALOGH

Reginald Mason is wealthy, refined, and, by all accounts, a gentleman. However, he is not a gentleman by title, a factor that pains him and his father within the Regency society that upholds station over all else. That is, until an opportunity for social advancement arises, namely, Lady Annabelle Ashton. Daughter of the Earl of Havercroft, a neighbor and enemy of the Mason family, Annabelle finds herself disgraced by a scandal, one that has left her brandished as damaged goods. Besmirched by shame, the earl is only too happy to marry Annabelle off to anyone willing to have her.

Though Reginald Mason, Senior, wishes to use Annabelle to propel his family up the social ladder, his son does not wish to marry her, preferring instead to live the wild, single life he is accustomed to. With this, Reginald Senior serves his son an ultimatum: marry Annabelle, or make do without family funds. Having no choice, Reginald consents, and enters into a hostile engagement in which the prospective bride and groom are openly antagonistic, each one resenting the other for their current state of affairs while their respective fathers revel in their suffering.

So begins an intoxicating tale rife with dark secrets, deception, and the trials of love - a story in which very little is as it seems.

The new book by Mary Balogh… longer than a novella, but not quite a novel either. Although not a traditional Regency book, it does deserve to be reviewed here, on the blog, because of the theme and also because of Mary Balogh (who will always be a trad writer, even if her stories tend to be a little unconventional)

The difference between the two classes: the very highborn and the industrial class, has been depicted in many books, even Mrs. Balogh has a few more titles with this theme (A Christmas Promise comes to mind), so it’s not easy to come with something new. I confess I was very skeptical about it, and maybe with a good reason, but lucky me (us) I was wrong. This book was quite unique, in writing style and in the way the author managed to twist the theme.

First of all, for anyone who reads this review and hasn’t read the book yet, I want to warn you that there will be spoilers, this being the type of story that will get spoiled by a review no matter how carefully written. Actually, what is best about this book lies in exactly that – the power of surprise and it would be a pity to know in advance about what’s going to happen. My advice is simply to read the book – because it’s well worth it, and only after that to comment upon it…

*** SPOILER ***

That being said, I want to mention that the writing style is a little different than what we’re used to. You get one chapter in the present (after the scandal that ruined Annabelle’s chances of making a good marriage) and the next is in the past, so you get to know how everything came to this happening, glimpses of the past with Reggie and Annabelle meeting, forming a tentative friendship and falling in love...

I have to say that I didn’t have a clue about the secret arrangement between the two characters until I was way into the second part of the book, so I got to enjoy almost fully the double-entendres, the little surprises and the fact that the hero and heroine who remained almost throughout the whole book a mystery...

The book is quite dynamic, it doesn’t dwell much on inner emotions (because it can’t :)), some of the scenes are very funny (one of the best proposal scenes ever!!) and it has one of those rare qualities – it makes you want to start all over again as soon as you finish and it’s even better on a second read.

As for what I didn’t like about this book, then it has to be the scene where the hero and heroine have sex. Okay, Mary Balogh’s sex scenes have never been her forte, so I don’t expect much anyway, but I expect at least that it made sense, that the plot requires it, that is not forced… So to me it felt like the publisher asked for a love scene and the author wrote one, but it wasn’t well done, it didn’t make sense and I just passed through it hoping it wouldn’t last much...

In the end, a very nice read, uncomplicated and funny in parts, the type of book that leaves you with a warm, lovely feeling.

Grade: 4.5/5.