Mini Reviews - XXVII (Mary Balogh)

Lady with a Black Umbrella

  - Mary Balogh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The premise of the book is not new - two sisters come from countryside to London intending to make a 'brilliant match' for one (and sometimes both) of them. In fact, I have recently read two others with the exact same theme. But they usually end up with a number of comedic situations, and therefore provide good entertainment.

It starts off quite well - the initial scene, with the eponymous umbrella, is hilarious. The heroine, with her indomitable spirit, keeps landing into scrapes and bringing the hero in with her. However, I felt her outpouring became progressively shrill, and her actions more stupid than naive. Her repeated assertions regarding the undesirability of her spinster status (by men, particularly the hero) became annoying. The hero was also more irritating than the kind soul or misunderstood gentleman that usually feature in these stories. So, given the theme and what I heard about the author, I expected it to be much better than in turned out to be.

A Certain Magic

  - Mary Balogh
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The book started off well, with a lifelong friendship between the MC and their banter. Their banter continues intermittently through the rest of the book and I enjoyed it. But I didn't like the rest of the plot. No spoilers, as its quite outlined in the blurb - they have been in love with each other forever. I find that less palatable than if they had grown to love each other, because it gives a tinge of unfaithfulness even if they believed and behaved with loyalty while their spouses were alive. Their restraint in confessing their feelings to each other is foolish but pardonable, but the hero is a big idiot for falling into a trap that he himself senses and everyone else knows, and even more so for continuing the farce after certain truths are brought home to him. Moreover, he comes across as a weakling, failing to stand up for anything he believes in.

Though I have been enjoying the genre, especially the ones with subtle, charming novel and witty banter, certain patterns of deep prejudice that keep recurring (with different authors), troubles me. One of the most prominent of these is the portrayal of the non-titled people - they are referred to as 'not gentleman', 'not genteel', or most degradingly, 'cit', and they are most often characterized as vulgar, scheming, dishonorable or immoral.