Bridgerton author Julia Quinn perfectly said it when she was quoted as calling Mary Balogh “The queen of Regency romance”.

She is a 37 time New York Times best selling author and the creator of fan favorite series such as The Bedwyn Saga and the recent Westcott Series. Her standalone novels from the 1980s are so popular and well loved that they have been reprinted and digitized in the last six years.

I remember sitting in the stacks in the public library in high school and college reading classic Mary Balogh romances in between my studies. My favorites were always her stories of second chance love. For a fan of Jane Austen’s Persuasion (my all-time favorite romance), I think the first Mary Balogh romance I ever read was The Constant Heart that to this date still makes my throat constrict with the raw emotion when the hero goes crashing through the trees after proclaiming his passion for our heroine. A speech by a Balogh hero (and heroine) is not one to be easily ignored nor dismissed.

Fans also adore when Mary Balogh draws upon her native Wales for inspiration such as she did with Simply Love and Longing, to name but two favorite Mary Balogh novels. It is with delight that we see the heroine of Remember Love, Gwenyth Rhys, is Welsh and prone to spout Welsh lyrics and terms of endearment.

read entire review at The Joyous Living (https://www.thejoyousliving.com/remember-love)

Thank you to Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book. It was a wonderful start to what looks to be another great series from Mary Balogh. The main characters in this book are both strong minded and strong willed people, however by telling the truth Devlin suffers a severe setback to his life's plans which alternately upsets Gwen's life plans as well. As these two navigate through this upset you find yourself cheering for them to be reunited. It looks to be an interesting family which will lead to many more stories about the Ravenswood's. As per always Balogh has written a wonderful story with great characters and has y0u already thinking about all of the other family members stories and what they will be. Thoroughly enjoyed book one and can't wait for book two!

Being honest changes the course of many peoples lives in Mary Balogh's newest book, Remember Love. I loved everything about this heartbreakingly beautiful story. It immediately drew me in and all the characters are realistic and easy to connect with, including the two main characters, Dev and Gwyneth. Mary Barlogh is a wonderful storyteller and she writes an emotional story set in the 1800’s. I felt as though I was right there with the characters and I never wanted this story to end.

Dev is the perfect hero and he goes through many changes in this story as he grows into a man. He is devastated when he discovers the people he loves aren’t perfect. Dev is serious, honorable and he can be inflexible. He is honest and expects honesty from everyone else. Unfortunately, he discovers the world isn’t always good or bad or black and white. Things aren’t always as they seem and people don’t always want to acknowledge the truth.

Dev and Gweneth have been neighbors for years and just when they finally admit their feelings for each other, they are torn apart. Both Dev and Gwyneth are so easy to like. They are perfect for each other and all their interactions are filled with yearning. Their story is emotional, heartbreaking and wonderful and it also has light and funny moments.

There are many entertaining characters in this story, including the townspeople and Dev’s family. Dev comes from a large family and each one of them has a unique personality. I’m hoping MB’s future stories will be about them. This is a passionate story filled with intrigue and complex and entertaining characters.

A harsh but gentle love story. Of love denied, gone wrong and Remembered.

Just as the untamed Gwyneth Rhys finds her heart’s desire, as Devlin Ware, Viscount Mountford, recognises and bravely tells her he loves her, and asks her to marry him, ‘just like that’ within moments, their hopes are dashed.
At the local fete Ball held at Ravenswood Hall, Devlin and Gwyn come upon his father comporting with a lovely widow who has newly taken up residence in the village of Bascombe. Devlin confronts his father over his actions, the older family adults club together in the face of scandal and accusations, and Dev is gone, banished from Ravenswood and Bascombe, as are Gwynn’s dreams.
Six years later and two years after his father had died, Dev returns to Ravenswood, a man who doesn’t know love, a hardened, battle weary soldier from the Napoleonic wars.
What he returns to remains to be seen.
Gwyn is unmarried but that seems about to change. She is keeping company with Alec Morgan, a well known musician and composer. Gwyn has decided that romantic love was for the past. It was painful and for the very young.
Now Dev is home and of course they meet. The chemistry between Gwyn and Dev is curtailed and halting. Gwynn’s wildness has retreated. The promise of her beginning seems to have faded. Dev is shutoff, fortressed. I felt there should have been so much more between them on their reacquaintance, but then I looked again at the title and I remembered. So maybe this is all there can be. Dev has to learn to feel and trust again. In his interactions with his siblings he was little more than an uptight vey young man. In youthful righteousness and anger, he called out a situation that he knew to be wrong. For that, he suffered. Can one remember love, or must that fade away with the past?
It’s only when Dev returns to Ravenswood that he begins to realize that he was not the only one to suffer.
There’s more hidden in the folds of this book, about love and life, about relationships, and taking stands that on the surface are correct, but it seems there’s always a price for those beyond the immediate focus.
An interesting and thoughtful start to the series, not mind blowing, but laying the groundwork for another Balogh family saga. I very much look forward to seeing how this work expands.

A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley. Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Historical romance queen, Mary Balogh introduces us to another brilliant extended family and reminds up to remember love in one swoop with this series opener!

First off, this epic second chance romance gave me pure romantic chills that were remittent to reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Her beautiful storytelling and detailed descriptions and character building really immersed me into this story and made me root for second chances and love!

Childhood neighbours, Devlin Ware and Gwyneth Rhys never know the other felt the same attraction and pull towards the other until the stars aligned at the neighbourhood fete and they finally discover their mutual affection… but they were not mean to be young lovers, since family scandal befalls Devin and he is banished from his family home.

White no where to go and a determination to shed his innocence and become a man, he enlist in a foot regiment… and stays away at war for 6 years. HE returns home to find that everyone has changed, even himself, but some things endure hardship and become stronger for it.

Can I say, that this story of love reclaimed and redemption made my heart full. Balogh is one of those authors that really knows how to set up a series and pull you into a family. I am eager to continue with the Ware family and find HEA’s for the other siblings!

This book was an absolute delight and I don’t thing I could forget love after reading it! Definitely a must read for classic historical romance lovers.

Remember Love by Mary Balogh was released July 12th, 2022.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Berkely Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#RememberLove #MaryBalogh #Netgalley #pinkcowlandreads

This book starts out with a lot of background information setting up details about the two main families and many other people from the village. I was thankful the author gives us a family tree to help keep the main families straight.

I did think it was odd that the main character reflects back on all of the well-satisfied women he slept with when he was in the military. He reflects on this at length…twice. Then when he is contemplating his proposal at the spot he first told our heroine he loves her, he briefly ponders on it again! That had such a creepy vibe to me.

Don’t read this book expecting a Bridgerton-like Regency romance. It is more like the work of Barbara Taylor Bradford–extremely detailed and with an ensemble cast of characters.

3.5 rounded up

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, and Ms. Balogh for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

I’m a longtime reader of Ms. Balogh’s and I was very excited to be given early access to her new series launch. Unfortunately, while the series itself has promise, the opening book just didn’t fully succeed for me.

Devlin Ware, eldest son of the Earl of Stratton, is described even in his (idealistic, naïve, bucolic, joy-filled) youth as “dour” by his neighbors. He and Gwyneth Rhys, daughter of neighboring landowner Lord Rhys, have been attracted to each other for years but due to miscommunications, shyness, misread signals and personality quirks, they each felt the other one disliked them. (Sorry about the cumbersome sentence!) They confess the truth to each other at the summer festival, immediately followed by Devlin’s discovery of his father’s indiscretion and subsequent loud, dramatic and messy public scene. (This is my opinion, but I felt that the Big Messy Scene itself was a little overblown. It seemed like a scene straight out of a Maury Povich confrontation show.)

Devlin is basically evicted from his family and, along with half-brother Ben, joins the army to fight in the Napoleonic war. His dourness evolves into a granite-hard shell of moroseness and bitterness until he is suddenly recalled to Stratton following his father’s death. Meanwhile, Gwyneth follows a frequent Balogh heroine pattern and stays single throughout these six years since no man can really live up to Devlin’s memory in her heart.

The storyline had so much promise. Unfortunately, the pacing is completely off. The vast majority of the book is preliminary scene-setting: describing the beautiful, bucolic, happy family and gorgeous estate, establishing Gwyneth’s friendship with Nick (Devlin’s younger brother) and her true feelings about Devlin, spending lavish time on Gwyneth and Nick deciding to separate due to friends and family getting the wrong idea about their friendship, and describing the summer festival in extensive detail. The messy scene itself, and its immediate emotional fallout, receive a large chunk of the book as well. Even Devlin’s time in the war, with its attendant descriptions of dangers and aaaaaaaaalllllllll the many women he sleeps with but doesn’t love (of course, because they are not Gwyneth), receives more than its fair share of attention.

Devlin’s reunion with his family and all his estranged family members is given equal page time (if not more) than his reunion with, and complicated feelings for, Gwyneth. I was really surprised that the actual adult romance only started happening around 75% or so. Devlin was still insisting he would not, could not, love anyone at 95%. Of course, Gwyneth and Devlin have a happy ending (it is a romance, this is not a surprise) but it was very unexpected to me that such a large portion of the book was devoted to preliminaries and so little to Devlin and Gwyneth’s mature relationship. I felt that as slowly paced as the beginning was, with its pages and pages of descriptions, the ending was absolutely rushed. This IS a series starter. I get that. Clearly each of the family members will get their own books. But shouldn’t Devlin, arguably the most emotionally disturbed of them all, get more time in his own book? For all the time we spent with him as young man and at war, his emotional recovery once he returned home was hurried and his time spent primarily on reconciling with and helping his family members. There wasn’t a lot of romance with Gwyneth, just angst, and their single intimate scene together was peppered with his recollections about his wartime dalliances (how sweet).

I don’t know. It’s Mary Balogh, so I’ll probably give the series another chance, but this one did not leave me feeling happy and full of those loving feelings. It felt more like a long therapy session. I do hope that the role of this book as the series starter means that the next books will benefit from the absence of the long explanatory portions and introductions featured here. If the next book is about Philippa, I’ll probably read it. I’d love to see her get some revenge.

Mary Balogh launches her new series with this heart-tugging story of love discovered, lost, and, ultimately, remembered. It's is a tale of two parts, both the story and my review, and my thoughts about each are quite different.

This book does not begin quickly. In fact, if I had not agreed to review it I most likely would have stopped reading somewhere around the fourth chapter. The first half of the book is slow, excruciatingly slow, with scene setting and multiple character introductions overflowing with wordy prose and superfluous details. I began skimming before I finished chapter one. Somewhere around the 40% mark, however, the pace started to pick up and my investment in the main characters began to deepen.

With Devlin's return to England after a six-year absence, the story took a welcome turn as well. I enjoyed the exploration into each of the main characters, the layers of emotion unveiled, the hurt and bitterness that had been allowed to simmer, and the barely glowing embers of love and affection that still remained. Devlin and Gwyneth were finally given the time to dig beneath the surface of the new emotions they shared six years earlier and get to know one another as real, flawed humans rather than a starry-eyed ideal. I appreciated the fact that the author did not hold back in exploring all the messiness of their relationship, giving it an authenticity that centered my confidence in their eventual HEA.

Devlin's and Gwyneth's precarious relationship isn't the only one at play in the second half of the book. The Wares are a family that has been destroyed from within and bringing them back together will not be an easy task. First steps are taken; threads that previously bound them tenuously restitched. The scenes between Devlin and the various members of his family are where emotions are laid bare, where my heart clenched with heartache...and hope. By the end of the book, I was attached to them all, eager to discover what their futures would hold, and happy that I had continued to read through the slow start.

If you enjoy emotional, closed-door, Regency romance with a large, complex family at its core, give this one a try. I'll be back for book two.

*ARC received for fair and unbiased review

This will be quite spoilery, so if you don't want to read spoilers, would be best to skip my feedback.

I have read Mary Balogh before, and she is often more miss than hit for me. However, she is constantly recommended to me, and since I hadn't read her books in several years, I wanted to try again. Although her writing style is often heavy in description, to the point where I skip large sections of text, I did find myself enjoying her writing style much more now. I appreciated the depth of emotions, the plot points that had messages buried within, and she has so much complexity in her characters.

That being said, I was overall very disappointed in how this story played out. I loved that she gave us plenty of backstory for the two MCs, so we could feel how their connection was established once time moved forward. However, while helpful in a sense, it also was very frustrating. The first part occurs six years prior, and we see how the two MCs had tiptoed around their feelings for each other for years. In fact, both thought the other didn't like them. Then during a celebration one evening, after spending much time together that day, they suddenly find themselves expressing interest...but not just interest...LOVE. And all of a sudden we're jumping from them being interested to being in love to "I'm going to call upon your father tomorrow to ask for your hand in marriage". I have to tell you, that was ridiculously fast. Yes, she's 18 and he's 22, and they're young. But it didn't make any sense to me, honestly. Courtship would have made more sense, not marriage. And then all hell broke loose and they were separated for six years.

Now the hero comes back from war scarred and disenchanted with the world. He, of course, has not been celibate all this time, which the author points out frequently. Even when they share their first kiss after he has returned, the author has him thinking about ALL the women he had slept with during the war WHILE he is kissing the heroine. So romantic. Then the majority of the story he tells everyone who will listen that he doesn't believe in love, doesn't have a heart, and he will marry for heirs alone. The heroine is cool with this, and they decide to marry anyway. Now, here is where I about threw my kindle across the room - at 96%...yes, you read that right...96% through the book, he actually tells the heroine the following: "I can say the words if it is important for you to hear them. I will even mean them in an impersonal sort of way. I just cannot feel them. I love you." WHAT in the WORLD was the author thinking to have this in the book at the very end? And then a few paragraphs later, he is proclaiming that he actually does love her and she is the air he breathes.

I don't know about you all, but that gave me the worst sort of whiplash and quite literally killed the book for me. I could forgive a lot of things, and I even like a hero who has to learn how to feel love again. But for him to tell the heroine that...ick. No. No, thank you.

Sadly this may be the end of Mary Balogh for me. This was the book that was supposed to bring me back into the Mary Balogh fan club, but I am not feeling it.

This was beautiful, heart wrenching, romantic, and honestly perfect.

In typical Mary style this is a slowly developing story with a longer introduction to the family as I would expect for the first in a series. Our couple gets introduced right away and it's clear that they both have secret feelings for each other, believing them to be unrequited by the other person.

They share one day where they realize their feelings are in fact returned before a scandal strikes that tears them apart for several years.

The bulk of the story is the two of them trying to deal with their jewelry, changed lives, while fighting once again, the fact that they are still in love.

This book was a beautiful romance full of so much longing it made me ache. And the siblings were all so well fleshed out that I can't wait for future books. This is going to be a series I look forward to every year.

*I received an advance copy for review*

I typically love Balogh's stories and I was so excited to be able to get this one of early via NetGalley. Sadly, it fell way short for me in comparison to her others that I've be read. I didn't really feel chemistry between the mains and didn't much care if they got together or if they each found someone with more spark. Because it's Balogh I will likely continues the be series, but I hope the next one is better.

Devlin Ware, son of the Earl of Stratton Caleb Ware, idolizes his family especially the relationship of his loving mother and father. His happy, much loved family share their ancestral home Ravenswood with the small town, and are happy to use its grounds and facilities for town events such as festivals and balls. At one such event, Devlin finally declares his true feelings to neighbor Gwynette Rhys and is happy to learn she feels the same. He'll speak to her father in the morning and ask for her hand. Sadly, this wasn't to be as Devlin's perfect world is shattered that same night when he happens upon his father in a compromising situation with a town widow. Unwilling to sweep it under the rug, Devlin causes a scene that embarrasses his family resulting in his mother sending him away. Not understanding, Devlin leaves and doesn't return for six long years. The Earl is dead and Devlin must return and take his place as head of household. What he discovers upon his return shocks and saddens him, but is it enough to melt his hardened heart? Will his family accept and welcome him back? And what about Gwynette . . . surely she has wed by now. Either way, she will never desire nor recognize this shell of a man as her once almost fiance.

Mary Balogh has rendered an emotionally charged story of love, family, acceptance and forgiveness in Remember Love. Breathtaking descriptions draw readers into the time period and landscape of a beautifully delivered, powerful tale of shattered illusions and lost dreams. They say you can never go home again, but Devlin has no choice in the matter. He must face what he sees as his own failings and piece his broken family back together again. What he learns along the way proves to be a lesson in the power of real love. The family dynamics are complex with Devlin's siblings each struggling with their own issues. Balogh does a masterful job of exploring the acceptable social customs of men vs. women in this time period as well as the many phases and types of love. Remember Love is a great start to the Ravenwood Series. I highly recommend it to fans of historical romance.

3.5 stars, rounded up because it is Mary Balogh

For years Gwyneth Rhys has yearned for Devlin Ware, Viscount Mountford, and heir to the Earl of Stratton, but was too shy to make her feelings known. In fact, most people would assume that she was in love with his younger brother Nicholas, as they were best friends and constant companions. But little did she know that Devlin returned her feelings and kept his distance because like many others he thought she and Nick were in love. All that changed on the day of the annual Ravenswood fete, when Devlin learned the truth of Gwyn’s love and they shared their first kiss, and promises of forever were made. But within moments of attaining his heart's desire, his perfect world came crashing down when he caught his father kissing his mistress.

What happens next changes everyone’s lives, Devlin causes a scene by berating his father in front of their family and guests, believing his rage was in fact righteous anger in defense of his mother and female relatives, but instead of supporting him, his mother turned on him and demanded he leave. So he did, he walked away from his family, friends, and his love and stayed away even after his father died. For six long years, Devlin fought in the Penninsula wars, cutting himself off from everyone, save his half-brother/batman Ben and his brother Nick, who was also fighting. But with Napoleon defeated, he could no longer ignore his duty to his title and his family.

Gwyn is still living with her parents, she has had offers of marriage over the years, but no one has touched her heart, she is on the brink of settling for a comfortable marriage when Devlin returns, but gone is the man she knew. Regardless of his proclamation that he cannot love her, her heart refuses to believe that the darkness she senses in him has annihilated the man she loved and she sets out to help Devlin remember their love.

This was a bit of a slow read with a lot of setup for the series, so the book ended up being on the wordy side and the romance seemed to be lost in the details. I also feel like Gwyn and Devlin never really “fell in love” they were in love when the book started, so this book was more of a story of healing and remembrance, rather than a true romance novel. I also wasn’t a huge fan of Devlin for most of the book, especially in regards to multiple mentions of the women he was with while in the military – nothing shouts romance like reading about how the hero slept with A LOT of other women after proclaiming his everlasting love for the heroine. In the end, he comes around and there is healing and love, but their journey to HEA was a slow trek. This is the first book in a new series, and while it was not my favorite MB, I am not sorry I read it and I will certainly be looking forward to the next installment.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Mary Balogh has a new Regency Romance series, Ravenswood! Book 1, Remember Love, will be released this month.

In this introductory novel, Balogh carefully establishes the perfect, almost fairy-tale quality of life for the aristocratic Ware family before turning the whole notion of perfection on its head. The patriarch, Caleb Ware, is the Earl of Stratton. He and his wife and their five children, along with his firstborn illegitimate son Ben, live in the lovely country home Ravenswood. The estate is thriving. The people under the earl’s care and governance are prosperous and happy. The children (ranging from 9-year-old Stephanie to the 22-year-old heir Devlin) are healthy, close-knit, and dutiful. Moreover, a wealthy neighboring family, Sir Ifor and Lady Rhys, have a beautiful daughter, Gwyneth, who has fallen in love with Devlin. And Devlin is in love with her! At the traditional summer festival held by the earl and planned and executed by the countess, Devlin and Gwyneth discover their mutual love and Devlin essentially proposes.

Things could not be anymore perfect than this. It’s all too easy, isn’t it?

Then things explode. Devlin has been suspicious for some time that his father is not the devoted, faithful husband he pretends to be. When he stumbles upon his father and his father’s mistress in a compromising position at the Ravenswood ball, he is outraged. His effort to support his mother and condemn his father’s actions backfire tremendously. It is Devlin who is ordered to leave the estate at once.

Devlin buys a commission and joins the fight against Napoleon. It is six years before he returns, two years after the death of his father. Duty drags him back, but he is an embittered, wounded man, who has survived by refusing to feel. However, awaiting him back at Ravenswood is the healing he needs. There he finds his family — the siblings and mother he still loves — and also Gwyneth.

The novel is everything fans expect of Mary Balogh. The protagonists are strong. The obstacles are credible. The resolution is satisfying. I’m ready for book two!

4.25 Stars
As a child, Devlin Ware eldest son of the Earl of Stratton thought his family stood for all that was right and good in the world. They were kind, gracious, and shared the beauty of Ravenwood, their grand country estate, by hosting lavish parties for the entire countryside. But at twenty-two, he discovered his whole world was an elaborate illusion, and when Devlin publicly called his family to account for it, he was exiled as a traitor. So be it. He enlisted in the fight against Napoleon and didn't look back for six years. But now his father is dead, the Ware family is broken, and as the heir he is being called home. It's only when Gwyneth Rhys-the woman he loved and then lost after his family banished him-holds out her hand to help him that he is able make the difficult journey and try to piece together his fractured family.
This is the first in a new series & I always look forward to a new book by the author. This book is in two parts the first introduces the family & portrays them as a loving close family, then there’s the fete & the ball when the family’s lives are turned upside down. Whilst the event that rocked the family wasn’t unusual in itself it was unusual for a supposed very close loving family. The second part takes place six years later when Devlin returns & he discovers he isn't the only one to have suffered. A very well written book, as you’d expect, the characters have lovely depth & on the whole are likeable. I loved Dev who, in my opinion was wrongly banished but it did make him grow up & become a better man, I also loved Gwyn who saw Dev & empathised with him. I loved their second chance of love, I would have liked them to have been together more but could still see the chemistry between them.
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Remember Love is a hauntingly beautiful romance. It is a tragic story full of angst, pain, redemption, and unconditional love. This novel is everything I expect from Mary Balogh.

Devlin and Gwyneth share a few moments of young love right before Devlin, and his father’s actions tear his family apart. Devon is exiled. After six years of war, Devlin is broken and is a shadow of the man he once was. This cold, disillusioned version of Devlin returns home to assume the title after his father’s death. Gwyneth has also changed over the years. Unlike Devlin, her emotions have evolved, and she is much wiser than the young girl that was infatuated with Devlin.

This is so much more than a romance. Remember Love is an emotionally charged story that explores the moral conundrums of love. Devlin sees the world in black and white, good and bad. Unfortunately, Devlin’s family lives in the grey. This novel explores the nature of love as it evolves and matures. This is a tale of a broken man returning to a devastated family. Devlin can only be healed by reflection and the support of a kind, intelligent, patient woman.

I was taken on a journey that had me reflecting on how love evolves and how it is expressed. The writing and plot are classic Mary Balogh, drawing the reader in and captivating them through a journey of innocence lost, pain, and redemption. Remember Love is the first book in the new Ravenswood series. Each book focuses on a sibling fundamentally changed when their façade of perfection is destroyed. I look forward to each sibling’s story. I was emotionally drained by the end of this heart-wrenching romance. Mary Balogh has again created a thought-provoking, emotionally charged romance.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Mary Balogh has such a way with a broody, emotionally damaged hero! I enjoyed the love story between Devlin and Gwyneth, even though I wanted to shake her a few times. I hope to see more stories in the Ravenswood series soon.

Can honesty and patience restore what was once …

Don’t strike me but this is only my second read by the author, but when I was once more able to read some years ago, while digging into the wast world historical romance has become, so much different from my teens/early twenties with only Woodiwiss and Cartland to choose from my corner of the world, it was mostly indies that popped up on my eshelves. Why many well renowned authors are still that, famous names but still unknown to me, no time out of my arcs-to-read lists for them.

Why I am more than happy to be able to read this book as the first in a new series, it is like watch a kid growing, one character is featured but others await in the shadow to spread their wings.

It was not the story I expected, it is of course a romance but it more than that, as the love story is obvious even when I was very upset at a time with the heroine, it also the tearing down then rebuilt of a family.
Even if the task of reconstruction will take more than this book as all the siblings were in their own way much affected by the truth exposed.
A truth that shattered all their lives, the adults behavior exposed to everyone’s eyes, the youngest lost with no more markers to guid them, the elder sons sent away.

Devlin did the honorable thing when he chooses to expose a reality people knew but preferred to turn a blind eye instead of acknowledging what was wrong.
But for it, he was ostracized, singled out then asked to leave.
His estrangement affected him in more ways than a simple distance should have. By leaving, he shredded his young self dreams and hopes, he locked all feelings so deep into himself, he is unable to feel anything beyond mild emotions.
The young love that was burgeoning between him and Gwyneth burned to ash in the wake of his decision.
Six years later, it is a man who has seen the worst of human cruelty, who suffered physically but rose up from the rank through his own fairness and dutiful actions. Now a stranger in his own home. But the kind man is still there, the one who chose truth to comfort, and paid the price. He might have retreated into himself, he comes back in the household that has lost its spark, its liveliness.
And it is him, the quiet child, the awkward son among people who will piece together the remnants of what was once whole.

Gwyneth is the vibrant and spirited neighbors’ daughter, the one he loved in secret for years but too lively for the silent son, so he thought. When she believed he thought her a hoyden, the wild girl next door.
When in fact it was their differences that drew them.
Yet when she lashed out on Devlin for being true to himself, I did not know if I could forgive her her spiteful and hurtful words.
But six years is a long time, one she tasked herself to paint her young love into a child infatuation. But never was she able to feel the same emotions for another one.
Until his return, she finally accepts she lied to herself, being no better than all those who knew about the late Earl and said nothing. She had and will always love Devlin. So she has to stand by his side, whatever he might still or never feel for her again. He needs a shoulder while patching the pieces of his family together.
I would have loved an epilogue but the narrative does not really allow it, it is one that is only to be expected when the siblings are all healed, journeying toward their happily ever after.
5 stars

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 onscreen lovemaking scene

I have been granted an advance copy by the publisher, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

I had been looking forward to this book because it is the first book in a new series – and – because – well – Mary Balogh. The book is presented in two halves – Part I takes place before the ‘event’, and part II that takes place six years later. I thought Part 1 was a bit slow and dragged. Its purpose was to present the Ware family as the idyllic family, living the idyllic life, in an idyllic place – until the ‘event’. Another purpose was to show the budding romance between young Devlin and Gwyneth. The purpose of Part II is to show all of the damage caused by the ‘event’ and to begin the healing process for all involved. Part II moved faster, but was very predictable. We were introduced to the siblings in the Ware family as well as their mother, and I assume the series will feature each of them in books of their own.

Devlin Ware is the son and heir of the Earl of Stratton. He adores his father, his mother, and all his siblings – Nicholas, Owen, Philippa, Stephanie, and their older illegitimate brother, Ben Ellis. They were all happily raised together at Ravenswood where the wealthy earldom sponsored fetes, picnics, and other community events and opened the Ravenswood grounds to the villagers. It was a happy time in a happy place. They are the perfect family, living the perfect life – until – it was all ripped apart and they were separated for six long years. Devlin had just proposed to Gwyneth and they were ecstatically happy – until they too were separated.

After six years apart, the old earl has died, and Devlin has been summoned home to assume the role. Nobody would recognize the hardened, cold man who arrives as the same joyful, naïve, very hurt young man who left. Everyone he finds at home is different too – they have all suffered. Can they make it right? Can they find their joy again? Can Devlin and Gwyneth find their way back to each other?

The sound of the story was good, but I just couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t see the real romance between Devlin and Gwyneth because they spent very little on-page time together. But, to me, the ‘event’ was just much ado about nothing. I certainly didn’t personally like what happened, but it isn’t anything compared to other ton scandals and I can see absolutely no reason for the major chaos it caused. So, I was happy to meet the Ware family, but I don’t believe I’d be interested in reading this book a second time – and I’m not sure I’ll read the next book in the series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While growing up together, everyone thought that Gwyneth Rhys would grow up to marry her next-door neighbor. What no one realized was that she was in love with his older brother, Devlin Ware. One magical night they kissed and promised to be together. That was the same night that Devlin discovered a secret about his family that led to his banishment.
Six years later, after a lifetime of being in the army, Devlin is back and is now the Earl of Stratton. Everything has changed and Gwyn is on the cusp of being engaged. But can old love be rekindled? Or did it never die?
The first part of this book was So Slow. Even slower than most Balogh novels. But in the second part, it picked up and was a better Balogh flow.

Four stars
This book comes out July 12, 2022
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own