While I always look forward to a new Mary Balogh historical, I can't say that I was crazy with enthusiasm when I read that her new one would be a prequal to her Mistress series. The Mistress series involved two books, More than a Mistress and No Man's Mistress, featuring a couple of rakish brothers who find love with women who they initially see as mistresses and only later as wives. The Mistress books have just been reissued and the new book, The Secret Mistress has been timed to take advantage of this. I didn't dislike either of the previous books, but they certainly were not favorites of mine. So, the idea of revisiting Lady Angeline Dudley, the sister of the heroes in the previous books did not excite. That said, a mediocre Balogh is better than most, so I grabbed it as soon as it came out and proceeded to revisit the Regency world of the Dudleys. I am so glad that I did.
In the previous books, Angeline and her husband Edward Ailsbury, the Earl of Heyward are used mostly as comic relief. She is all fluttering, feminine enthusiasm and he is all stoic, solid, and slightly boring straight man to the impetuous, passionate Dudley brothers. I did enjoy their turns in both books and I can see why many fans clamored to know more about how this unlikely duo came to be. In The Secret Mistress, Balogh reveals exactly how Angeline and Heyward meet, court and fall in love. The book opens with the anxious and very innocent Angeline ignoring propriety and getting herself in a bit of a spot, from which she is rescued by the very upright and proper Earl of Heyward. He immediately notices her beauty and impetuous nature, she notices his decency and quiet authority. Angeline is on her way to London for her first season and she wants very much to find the right man and fall in love. She is not interested in a rake, having watched her beloved brothers play that role for so long, she wants someone who can provide her the stability and security that she has never known. While Edward thinks Angeline the most beautiful woman he has ever seen he realizes immediately that she is not for him. In addition to lacking the proper sense of decorum, she obviously has too much fire and spirit for the quiet, dignified Earl of Heyward. Of course, one knows exactly where this is headed, but in the hands of a master like Balogh, the journey is so much more important than the destination.
Of all of the things that I enjoyed about this book, I think I most appreciated the fact that it is utterly romantic. Yes, I'm aware that it is a romance, but we all know that is no guarantee of romance these days. Both Edward and Angeline are wonderful people. They are interesting, decent and kind and although they have few personality traits in common, their differences make for a terribly well-balanced pairing. She provides him with a sense of fun and a lightness of spirit and he provides her with a steadiness and stability that helps keep her grounded. Angeline recognizes immediately that Edward is her soulmate, Edward takes a bit longer, but when he falls, he falls hard. The intensity of the feelings between these two is one of the strongest aspects of the book. Balogh is so good at presenting that sort of quiet intensity and attraction, which makes for a remarkably sexy pairing.
After I finished The Secret Mistress, I was struck by how much it mirrored two other recent romances, Julia Quinn's Just Like Heaven and Sarah Maclean's Eleven Scandals...
As in Quinn's book, the story basically involves two decent people falling in love. There is really not much more than that to it. And as in the Maclean book, the heroine is an impetuous sort who is deeply in love with a much more staid and stoic hero. While I like and respect both Maclean and Quinn, I could not help noticing how much more depth and heart the Balogh book had. Somehow, Mary Balogh seems to be able to pack so much feeling and emotion into her work, even a fairly common and somewhat cliched trope becomes something deeper and much more meaningful. I mean no disrespect to Quinn or Maclean, but if you read these three books back to back, I suspect you will immediately see what I am talking about. Balogh just does it better.
