Sunday, August 20, 2006

Simply Unforgettable by Mary Balogh

While returning to the school after a Christmas spent with her great-aunts in the country, Frances Allard encounters Lucius Marshall, Viscount Sinclair, and becomes stranded with him for a couple of days when they are both overtaken by an unexpectedly harsh snowstorm. It is a traumatic encounter, but Frances declines the less than honorable offer Lord Sinclair makes her at the end of it and persuades herself that she will be quite content never to see him again.

Lucius has just promised his dying grandfather and the rest of his family that he will marry before the end of summer, and the perfect bride has already been picked out for him. For a brief interlude he is distracted by his encounter with Frances, but on the whole he considers himself fortunate when she rejects his offer. He will be--or so he tells himself--quite happy never to see her again.

Fortune, however, has other plans in store for Frances and Lucius, who are fated to meet again at a soiree in Bath. And after that neither can be sure that they will never meet again. Indeed, one of them sets out actively to make sure that they will--in London, where Lucius's potential bride awaits his offer of marriage as a certainty and Frances's past waits just as eagerly to catch up with her.

I had read many reviews of this author's work so decided to give it a try. It was interesting and kind of fluffy read. I'm not sure I buy into the getting stranded bit in which they end up having sex with no consequences except they fall in love later. It seemed a bit modern to me. I guess I always enjoyed the Barbara Cartland type of romance where you let your imagination take over. Lots of swooning, etc. It is supposed to be the first book in a quartet featuring four teachers at Miss Martin's School for Girls in Bath. It felt dis-jointed to me as I didn't feel like this book needed any sequels or made me want to know more about these teachers. It almost felt like I had missed a few books before hand to be honest.