The Gilded Web

Web #1

by Mary Balogh

From one of America’s most beloved storytellers comes a classic love story—the breathtaking tale of a man and a woman caught in a web of temptation and seduction.

All she wanted was to escape the hot, crowded London ballroom. But moments after stepping into the bitterly cold night, she is seized by a pair of strong hands and spirited away. Fully expecting to be ravished, sheltered Alexandra Purnell instead finds herself at the mercy of the man who saved her from certain scandal. Edmund, Earl of Amberley, is bold and sensual, tempting Alexandra to be reckless for the first time in her life. But as passion ignites, Edmund’s offer of marriage takes Alexandra completely by surprise. Now a woman who craves her freedom above all else is about to discover how far one man will go to protect and possess the woman he loves.…

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Regency, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Regency Romance

480 pages, Paperback

First published December 5, 1989

About the author

Mary Jenkins was born in 1944 in Swansea, Wales, UK. After graduating from university, moved to Saskatchewan, Canada, to teach high school English, on a two-year teaching contract in 1967. She married her Canadian husband, Robert Balogh, and had three children, Jacqueline, Christopher and Sian. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading, music and knitting. She also enjoys watching tennis and curling.

Mary Balogh started writing in the evenings as a hobby. Her first book, a Regency love story, was published in 1985 as A Masked Deception under her married name. In 1988, she retired from teaching after 20 years to pursue her dream to write full-time. She has written more than seventy novels and almost thirty novellas since then, including the New York Times bestselling 'Slightly' sextet and 'Simply' quartet. She has won numerous awards, including Bestselling Historical of the Year from the Borders Group, and her novel Simply Magic was a finalist in the Quill Awards. She has won seven Waldenbooks Awards and two B. Dalton Awards for her bestselling novels, as well as a Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award.

Reviews

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gilded Web is a very thoughtful, character-driven romantic story. As typical for Mary Balogh, she turns a keen eye on the interpersonal relationships of the characters in this novel. Although the main focus is on the unfolding relationship between Edmund and Alexandra, she also delves into their relationships with their brothers and sister, and how each one of these secondary characters relate to other people.

Alexandra is a very complex, and sometimes unlikeable character. Part of me really understood where she was coming from. She'd been completely repressed by her overbearing, domineering, religious zealot of a father. He had suppressed much of her personality to the point that she appeared robotic and blank to others, including Edmund, for a significant portion of this book. The truth was, she had a very profound stew of emotions that she didn't know how to deal with. I really did sympathize with her, but she started annoying me towards the end. The message about woman having control over lives is an important one, and a message that hits home with me. However, her decision to break the engagement and go out into the world on her own as a governess so that she could experience some nebulous idea of 'freedom' struck me as immensely foolhardy, especially when Edmund was really the ideal man for her. He was all about freedom and respect. From the beginning, he tried to make sure that she was happy and her needs were met. She always interpreted his attempts to take care of her as some sort of control attempt on his part. She was kind of clueless in that regard. Had this book ended differently, it probably would have been a wall-banger for the behaviors that Alexandra insisted upon. She had effectively made Edmund her punching bag, instead of dealing with her father and being honest with him and standing strong. I realize how hard that must be, but transference upon Edmund, who showed her nothing but caring, acceptance and love, was ridiculous. In the end, I was satisfied that she finally got a clue. It almost took a frying pan knock to her thick skull though. Frankly, I don't think Alexandra's healing is done yet. I feel that Alexandra needs to work through her issues and learn to find her way and establish herself within the framework that her society allows her. She was naive about the world, and she didn't realize that the world was a very scary place for women without the protection of their family and men, even though that's a hard pill for a modern woman to swallow. It truly was better to be in a loving marriage with a protective husband who was willing to give her as much freedom as she needed, than to live a lonely, unprotected life as a governess. I think she'll come to realize how better off she will be as Edmund's wife.

Edmund was a delightful character. He is the kind of person who is self-sacrificing to the extreme. He put his own life on the backburner to take care of his family. When his brother Dominic inadvertently ruins Alexandra, he steps up to offer to marry her. Every action he took showed with a good man he was. I don't think a woman could ask for a better future spouse. I do realize that he had to learn to make sure that his needs were met and to be honest about what he wanted. Although Alexandra really annoyed me with her actions, some good came out of in that he was able to open up and be less private and tell her how much she meant to him.

The secondary stories were pretty interesting, especially James Parnell and his complicated relationship with Madeline, who is Edmund's sister. Their story continues in The Devil's Web. I confess I am very eager to read that one soon. James is a very dark, somewhat emotionally-dangerous character. He is so full of anger and rage. His heart was broken by his father's actions, and he is dead in some ways because of what he's lost. My heart really connected to him. I didn't like how cruel he was to Madeline, though. Madeline seems like a flighty, shallow flirt, but she wasn't really. She was just a happy person who took being unconditionally loved for granted. But, with maturity, it was clear that she'd put shallow tendencies behind her and become a deeper woman, with a huge capacity for love. It's pretty clear that these two will have an intense story.

Dominic, Edmund's younger brother, and his desire to join up with the army for the war against Napoleon, contrasted with his tendency to fall in love every week was a lighter aspect of this story. Sometimes I wanted to tell him to grow up, but he's pretty young. He had a good heart, and I'm looking forward to seeing him as a mature man.

The Gilded Web was a thought-, and emotion-provoking read. I felt some degree of frustration with Alexandra that made it less likely to be a favorite of mine. But it shows the usual complex and not always comfortable, intense emotional depths that I have come to associate with Mary Balogh's writing. I think that readers who enjoy Regency romance along the lines of Jane Austen would enjoy this story.

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might not be the light read that readers expect in the romance section.

Keeping in mind that this was originally published in 1989, in the early days of the hero's POV and when many authors began addressing serious issues like alcoholism and abuse - this is a nuanced romance.

Alex and Edmund are complex characters, thrust into a situation not of their making. Many reviewers don't "get" Alex - they think her bid for independence is childish or demanding in the face of Edmund's love, but I think they underestimate or fail to understand the way that religious-fanatics can brainwash or control their subjects in the name of eternal salvation. From personal experience and having read many memoirs about people escaping cult-like situations, Alex has very real reasons to fear she is being forced from the one controlling situation to another, rahter than having any choice in the matter. When you mix in the lack of independence for women in the time period, I think Balogh did a fantastic job and put thought and time into having their relationship develop in a realistic way, just not in the quick way we've come to expect from the romance genre.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comfort reread.
This isn’t one of my favorites from Balogh, but paradoxically the first book in what is imo one of her best-crafted series overall. While I find the main romance tepid at best, there are some true gems to be found in its set of characters (and protagonists of future books). And of course the set up of my favorite MB romance, James and Madeline, deserves its own star!

[Crystal's Bookish Life · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexandra is very much a wallflower, she's lived a life of constant suppression by her religious zealot father. She's mistakenly kidnapped one night, thought to be her kidnapper's sister, he tried to save her from a less than advantageous marriage proposal. When Alex is rescued by her kidnappers brother Edmund, he immediately proposes marriage to her to prevent her reputation from being ruined. Slowly, everrrr so slowly the two fall in love while Alex discovers how she really wants to live her life. And it's not being held under the thumb of a man.

I'm really conflicted with rating this one, on the one hand it has some passages of such progressive feminist thinking, and some beautifully quiet romantic moments between the characters. But it also had sooooooo much description and exposition, and multiple perspectives while on the same page.

[Lady Wesley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. A very unsatisfying Mary Balogh book.

I alternated between feeling sorry for the heroine -- whose religious fanatic father was unloving and downright abusive -- and feeling completely out of patience with her. To an extent, I could understand her overwhelming desire for "freedom," even though that was a virtually unachievable situation for women of her day. It was completely incredible, though, that she would prefer to run off and be a governess over marrying this rich, handsome, kind, and openminded earl. But she's determined to be "free," until, in the last twenty pages or so, she decides she'd like to have sex with him before parting. (This, from a woman who was truly shocked and offended when he had chastely kissed her after their betrothal and who had been so sheltered that she would have had absolutely no idea what sex actually involved. But never mind -- there's always a guaranteed orgasm in HR world.) And then, when she virtually forces him to confess that he loves her and will be brokenhearted when she's gone, she decides, oh, no, what I really wanted was to be "needed." At this point, I wouldn't have blamed Edmund if he threw her over the cliff.

I generally love Mary Balogh's books, but the entire Web trilogy is way below the quality of her more recent series, such as the Bedwyns and Simply. So glad that I got the Web trilogy from my public library and didn't spend any money on them.

[Kurisuchina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The issues the heroine had were unbelievable in general, especially so given the historical setting. She goes from being completely submissive (to an ogre of a father) to rejecting marraige (to someone she loves) because she wants to assert herself and be free. The pacing, dialogue and character development were also 2 star-worthy in my opinion.

I read that this is early work of this recommended author so maybe I will still try some of her later works, even though I was underwhelmed by this story.

[Dagmar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful and compelling story of great depth. If you're looking for a very unique and profound read this is it. I found it absolutely unforgettable. I think this book will speak deeply to those who comprehend its meaning and intent. One of a kind, very different from the usual historical romance.

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked all the characters in the book, with the exception of the heroine, Alexandra, and her father. Alexandra was so wishy-washy that I wanted to smack her. She had it made and still kept whining.

[Christi (christireadsalot) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story starts out wild...Dom (Lord Eden) had told his friends to grab his twin sister (Madeline) because he thought she was about to elope to Gretna Green. Well his friends mess up & grab Alexandra, a 21-year-old daughter of a Baron, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Alexandra was escaping the ball she was attending during her first season and was just trying to enjoy a stroll in the gardens. She gets left tied up in a bedroom of the Earl of Amberley’s home and once he arrives home later that night, Edmund (Earl of Amberley & Dom’s older brother) is beside himself with finding her. Edmund and Dom figure out what went wrong and both end up offering marriage to save Alexandra’s reputation & honor. Alexandra surprises the men by actually turning down them both. This is her first season & she grew up very sheltered in her father’s country home, Alexandra is naively convinced no one in the ton will even care about this silly mistake. But once the scandal is out, Edmund offers his hand in marriage again & this time does it in front of the ton to make sure Alexandra accepts.

I really enjoyed this one & was intrigued immediately. I thought it was refreshing that Alexandra understood it was all a big mistake and didn’t get that upset about the kidnapping bit. Marriage of convenience is one of my fav tropes, so seeing these two practical-strangers being pushed together into a marriage they were not expecting/wanting really worked for me. Alexandra was raised by a very strict, religious-zealot father and was naive to a lot of societal ways and how a man should treat her. Her father’s way was to discipline & punish and not to show love, but the more time she spends around Edmund and his family she sees the loving, friendly, respectful relationship they all have and realizes she can maybe have this too.

I loved how Edmund was determined to make the best of their “thrown together” situation and how much he tried to ensure Alexandra was as happy & comfortable as she could be. He finds out hobbies she likes to do & makes sure she has access to those in his home (riding horses, the pianoforte, painting, poems in the library). He also realizes she likes to have her time to herself sometimes & tells her she is free to have that. Being an Earl, Edmund knew he would marry eventually to continue his family’s line and always wanted to have a real & loving relationship with his wife. Most marriage of convenience tropes have the couple trying to remain “just friends” or deny/avoid their feelings, so it was nice to see Edmund wanting to lean into/create a trust, friendship, and life out of this sudden engagement instead of shying away from building a relationship with Alexandra. I also really liked Alexandra’s character growth.

Dislikes: it was a bit long since it repeated a lot of the same thoughts often, focused a lot on Dom & Madeline (the hero Edmund’s siblings) which I know their books are next in the series.

[tacitus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frustrating...Repetitive...Confusing

The primary complaint was just how slowly this story moved. There were far too many repetitive and unnecessary scenes and could have just been omitted entirely. The characters in question must have gone walking on the cliffs a dozen times and gone to half a dozen parties, all settings that led to really nothing.

Of course, the overriding frustration of this whole story is the heroine and her incomprehensible reluctance to marry the hero. Does she refuse to marry him because she doesn't love him? That can't be it. She was more than prepared to marry a brutal task master twice her age who didn't love her. Is it because she finds the hero repulsive, or doesn't like him? Quite the contrary; she loves him. Is is because she wants to be free? That doesn't make any sense. She won't be free. If she doesn't marry him she will either be under the harsh thumb of her father or under the rule of some male employer if she chooses to become a Governess. The woman is infuriating and--as the hero states--appears to see the entire male sex as her enemy. She is punishing him for the frustration she feels at the male-dominated world, despite his being the most forward thinking, indulgent man imaginable, who would NEVER hinder her freedoms. WTH?

The heroine reminds me of a spoiled college protester, or some other kind of mindless person who rails against "society" by punishing individuals, who have no more control over society than she does. She is brainless, stubborn, and...not to be too harsh about it...downright stupid.

[HÜLYA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aslında kötü bir kitap değildi. Ama ne bileyim baba baskısından sapıtmış bir genç kız Başlarda da ne istediğini bilemeyen bir adam, herşeye maydanoz olan bir erkek kardeş vs. Baydı... Yazarın çok daha iyi kitaplarını okudum...

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because I loved The Devil's Web so much and wanted an older Balogh. Plus it helped that multiple people referred to the heroine as "unlikeable." (Spoiler: she is an abuse victim and all her decisions make total sense with that background!)

Only when I got to the denouement did I realize: I had definitely already read this. I think maybe I read it right after The Devil's Web to get more context for James and Madeline? But still-I enjoyed it a lot! It is interesting to see how Mary Balogh spells out of her family reconciliation stuff here in this earlier series, where the family reconciliation doesn't really work.

Alexandra Purnell is sheltered and abused by her father (physically until she is 16, spiritually after that) and when she goes to London for a season prior to a prearranged marriage with a Duke (this is one part that is unclear--why does the Duke want to marry Alex? Her family is not particularly wealthy. The only possible explanation is that Alex's abuse at the hands of her father would make her more willing to accept the planned abuse of her husband? Maybe no one will let their daughters marry the Duke?). In a prank turned kidnapping that really doesn't have any mal intent, somehow, Alex ends up spending the night tied up in the home of the Earl of Amberley.

The Earl and his brother Dom, responsible for the prank, have a (metaphorical) pissing contest over who will have to propose to Alex to save her reputation. The Earl wins out after he suggests to the ton that he is courting her to help save face after a group has given her the cut direct. Alex feels trapped by the marriage. This I think is the part that readers might have the hardest time understanding. Alex seeks freedom from her abusive father, but was ready to enter into the marriage with the Duke, but not with the Earl (Edmund) who is really nothing but sweet to her.

But Alex's former almost betrothed and her father have similar modes of control and Alex understands that. When Edmund invites her into the decision making for the relationship, she feels like he is granting permission or giving her conditional freedom, given that she felt like she had no choice to accept the proposal.

Alex goes to Edmund's family home and they spend a few weeks attempting to form a connection. Edmund really is only ever incredibly sweet to sex-anxious Alex, but Alex is having rational responses to her feelings, given the puritanical worldview her father gave her. On the side, Dominic is concocting harebrained plans to steal Alex away from Edmund because he thinks owning the scandal himself will be a sign that he has matured and he is confused at the idea that Edmund has genuine feelings for Alex.

It wasn't until Edmund allows Alex to break the engagement, despite the potential ensuing scandal and then they sleep together. After they sleep together, Edmund is prepared to be noble, until Alex goads him into dropping his saint like persona in order to fight for her to stay. that I realized that I had definitely read this book already!

Anyway, I'd recommend it for anyone who loves my favorite Baloghs (Someone to Hold, Slightly Scandalous, Only Enchanting, The Devil's Web). Excited to read Dominic's book because even though he was so annoying the whole time in this book, Balogh generally does a great job of making me like incredibly frustrating characters once they are the romantic leads.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 1 in the Web Trilogy.

This was a frustrating book on so many levels. First of all, it was slow, which I actually don’t mind for a HR, but when the characters start talking in circles about the same thing they have been talking about for 100-200 pages, it really gets tiring. Second, I am very sorry to say this of any character, but I hated the heroine, Alexandra Purnell. She is frigid and bitter and she doesn’t change until about the last 5 pages of the book (and it’s a long HR, about 450 pages, give or take depending on the edition you are reading). The hero, Edmund, Earl of Amberley is slightly more tolerable, but not by much. For my third reason I have to state that Edmund and Alexandra are engaged at almost the very beginning of the book because of a misunderstanding involving Edmund’s brother and sister, who happen to be twins (Dominic, Lord Eden and Madeline), however, in the whole of the book they don’t get married! It was beyond frustrating. I thought they would be married by page 200 at the latest. However, unfortunately, the marriage takes place sometime after the book ends.

I was very intrigued, however, by the secondary characters of Dominic, Madeline, and James Purnell (Alex’s brother). Especially by the interaction between James and Madeline, whose book is the last in the trilogy, The Devil’s Web. So, even though I disliked this book I am looking forward to reading the next two books in this trilogy.

[Tuba Özkat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okuduğum en kötü tarihi aşk romanlarından biriydi. Milyon tane karakterin gözünden anlatılmaya çalışılmış, sürekli kendini tekrara düşen, beş sayfa önce okuduğumuz şeyi bile özet geçen, normalde 300 sayfa olacakken bu saydıklarım yüzünden 488 sayfa olmuş bir kitaptı.

Cidden ne karakterleri, ne karakterlerin amacını, ne (olmayan!) konusunu anlamadım...

Zaten adam eviyle gurur duyuyor falan anlıyorum. Ama kitapta konu yok... Neredeyse 50 sayfa adamın evini anlatmasıyla geçiyor :D Ne istediğini kendi de bilmeyen yarım akıllı bir kız, garip birkaç herif... Ayy... Düşününce de daralıyorum.

Ay neyse, diyeceğim odur ki, okumadıysanız hiç zahmet edip okuyarak içinizi kurutmayın.

[Gamze · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sabır
Sabır
Ya, sabırr 🤭🎧

[Jacque · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof.

I read this for a book club and I ~really~ struggled with it🤦🏼‍♀️ I didn’t particularly care for either of the protagonists (Edmund was better than Alex imo, as just a white bread boring dude. Alex came off as a repressed waif who was either dumb—unlikely— or so WILLFULLY naive that she just made dumb decisions) and it was vexingly slow. I liked Balogh’s writing, and I appreciated the work she was doing around power/religion/freedom, but I wasn’t invested in either protagonist & the book was just s o s l o w w w w w that aside from the writing/themes, there wasn’t much I enjoyed

I’ve read other books by Balogh that I’ve enjoyed, so I think this book was just not for me🤷🏼‍♀️

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Mary Balogh and I can safely say that she’s one of my all time favorite authors. She just has this incredible talent of sucking me into the story so deeply that I have a hard time coming up for air.

The Web series had been published awhile back, and it has been on my TBR forever, so it was time I dived in.

After many stories that featured funny, likeable and charming characters that I enjoy reading about, I was ready for some unique, intriguing and complex heroes and heroines to sink my teeth into, and let me tell you, Mary Balogh delivers on all the above in spades.

The first story is Edmunds who is the Earl of Amberley; second one is one of the twins’ Lord Eden’s, and the third is Lady Madeline’s.

As the eldest and the head of the family, Edmund shoulders a lot, and has been since he inherited the title at nineteen after his father’s unexpected death. He is wise, loving and patient, as well as respectful and caring son and brother. He is brought up in a loving home, by caring parents who were not afraid to foster love in their children, as well as free thinking.

Quite by accident and brought on by his brother, who had best intentions and yet the worst timing, Edmund finds himself in the inconvenient circumstances that require him to offer marriage to our heroine.

This story is without a doubt character driven and I loved it!

To watch the heroine as she slowly, and I mean very slowly, comes to think for herself and not blindly trust and follow her pious and domineering father was something to behold. I know that many might not have enjoyed her character much just because of that, but I thought it fascinating. The confusion, the battle within this woman of what her deep, inner self desires and the love for her parents despite their lack of the same for her, was heartbreaking and painful to go through with her.

If you like conflict and struggle of any kind in your love stories, this is a book that will give it to you. It is not a book for the faint of heart, impatient and those that need a quick fix of ‘sugar & spice, and everything nice’.

I have deep respect and appreciation for all authors who take the risk and put their characters through an extreme, just to see how they’ll come out of it. Well played Ms. Balogh, well-played.

*Melanie for b2b

[Jess the Romanceaholic · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a Quickie Review. For the full review, please visit The Romanceaholic.

Expected Release Date: November 28, 2006
Publisher: Bantam
Imprint: Dell
Author’s Website: www.marybalogh.com
My Source for This Book: Local Library
Part of a Series: Book 1, Web Series
Series Best Read In Order: N/A
Steam Level: Steamy
Pet Peeves: Overly Stubborn Heroine
Favorite Tropes: Marriage to Avoid Scandal, (Emotionally) Abused Heroine

Mary Balogh books have always been very hit or miss with me. I either really enjoy them or end up completely disgusted with them. Unfortunately, this one falls into the latter category.

The heroine, Alexandra, had such potential — having been raised in an unloving, ridiculously strict environment, and being forced into an unwanted marriage to a stranger because of something that was completely out of her control, this was her chance for her to really shine. Instead, she acted like a spoiled brat, even going so far as to refuse to marry the man she’d fallen deeply in love with because everyone else told her she had to marry him. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!

Don’t get me wrong, I could understand how she would chafe at having her entire world turned upon its head by a thoughtless prank of strangers, and how frustrating her situation had to have been, but there comes a point where you have to pull up your big girl knickers and make the best of what you’ve got. Alex did none of this, and while I could forgive some of her behavior, the sum total left me with nothing but disgust for her character.

Not only that, I found myself far more interested in the burgeoning relationship between James and Madeline, as well as that of Dom and the lovely young Susan. This was most unfortunate for me since, despite the many pages dedicated to these side romances, none of them got a happy ending. Practically everyone in the book ended up miserable, as did this reader at having wasted all that time on a disappointing tale.


1.5/5 Stars

{Edited October 5, 2013 for formatting}

[Jultri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5. Argh!!! This could have been have been better if the heroine, Alexandra, didn't frustrate me so with her nonsensical behaviour, going from timid and oppressed woman with barely a voice, to rejecting the hero's offer of love and marriage because she wanted to assert her freedom. Overwhelmed by choices, she never had before and unused to make decisions, she failed to make the correct one when given the choice by the hero. In her naivety, she thought that losing herself in love meant, she will lose herself completely. For half the book, she took her anger and resentment out on Edmund, blaming him for being overbearing and paternalistic in his desire to protect her against her father and offer her the freedom of choice, when he wouldn't have needed to step forward, if she had the strength herself to stand up against her father's autocratic ways, which she finally did in the last few pages. I do understand how a lifetime of oppression affected her judgement. Her rigid upbringing resulted in her constant misinterpretation of the hero's verbal and nonverbal cues, as she tried to fit them within the limits of her experience. As she slowly discovered her voice and slipped free of the restrains imposed by her father, she became more verbose and her descriptions and word choices started to reflect her exhilaration of discovering the world around her. This is a product of the high calibre of Balogh's story-telling skills. The hero, well, his only fault was that he was too patient and kind and perpetually understanding, when I started to lose mine.

As I read the series entirely out of order (I LOVE the last one, The Devil's Web), it was interesting to read about the meeting of James and Madeleine and their early interactions. Dominic did annoy me with his immature and tunnel-visioned insistence on courting his brother's fiancee, but then again, his story was the least enjoyable out of the first 3 Web books.

[Liz F · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful awful awful!! This was awful!! The female lead is AWFUL!!! She is completely unsympathetic!!!! How is this book still around?!?! Who liked this?!?! Alexandra is the main female character. Her father is crazy religious. I'm not sure if he was a preacher or just a zealot. Whenever he thought she was misbehaving as a child or not behaving in a godly manner, he beat her and once she turned 16, he stopped beating her and started starving her and making her stay on her knees and pray for days at a time when she didn't act as he thought she should. Sympathetic, right?? You feel for her! BUT NO!! YOU DON'T!!! She is so cold and unfeeling!! I won't even bother with a synopsis or an overview. It isn't worth the time. This book was the worst book I've ever read. Period.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alexandra drove me bananas and I thought Edmund would be better off without her. That's the only reason I gave this book a bad rating.

[Gilgamesha · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a great start.....what terrible drag. The heroine simply pissed me off. She made no sense whatsoever.

[Petra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a deep emotional drama I was truly immersed with these characters.
The book started of with a kidnapping and I was hooked. Also at the beginning I had no idea who is going to be the hero which I really liked

[Nesli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Balogh seven nadir okurlardanım. Bu kitabıyla hayal kırıklığına uğramak üzere-idim. Başlarda gayet guzel ilerledi hikaye.

Alexandra baskıcı, fazla muhafazakar bir babanın kızı. Duygularını göstermeyi hiç öğrenmemiş, her hissettiğini içinde yaşamış oldukça kontrollü bir kadın. Hayatı boyunca bir Dükle evleneceği aklına yerleştirilmiş, evden dışarı adım atmamış, eğitimini evde görmüş. Ağabeyiyle ata bindikten sonra saçları dağılmış bir halde eve gelmesi gibi saçmalıklar sonucu hep odasında ceza almış, dua etmeye zorlanmış, ekmek ve sudan başka birşey yiyip içilmesine izin verilmemiş, babasına asla karşı çıkmamış, sürekli sürekli susmak zorunda kalmış bir kadın.

Mary'nin karakterleri hep böyle zorlu olmuştur zaten. Şimdi kitabı okurken hissettiklerimi not alsaydım keşke diye düşündüm, daha fazla şey aktarabilirdim böylece. Böylesi içe kapanık ve dışarda olup biten gerçekliklerden uzak bir kadın, katıldığı bir baloda iki haylaz kardeşin birbirleriyle uğraşmak için planladığı bir şakanın içine düşüyor ve lekeleniyor. Sosyete acımasız, insanları dışlamaya bayılıyor pudra kokulu yaratıklar. Hal böyle olunca şu iki kardeşin ağabeyi, Kont Amberley Alex'e evlenme teklifi ediyor. Olaya kardeşlerden erkek olan da dahil olup 'benim hatam ben evlenmeliyim Alex'le, ağabeyimi bu kadere mahkum edemem vs.' diye evlilik teklif etse de Alex, Edmund'ın teklifini kabul etmek zorunda kalıyor ve nişanlanıyorlar.

Edmund ise erken yaşta babasını kaybetmiş ve o andan itibaren ailesinin her türlü ihtiyacına kendini adamış bir adam. Almayı değil hep vermeyi amaç edinmiş, duygusal ve hayalleri olan bir adam. Yalnızlığına düşkün ancak bir kadına kalbini açmak isteyen, aslında o şekilde tamamlanmış hissedeceğinin bilincinde olan bir adam. Sırf bu yüzden, tam anlamıyla tanımadığı Alex'e kendini açmaya, sırlarını paylaşmaya ve kendini tanıtmaya, Alex'i tanımaya çalışıyor var gücüyle. Kapılar suratına kapandıkça sinirlerse de centilmenliğinden ödün vermiyor ve yine almak değil sadece vermek,paylaşmak bütün istediği. Buraya kadar hikaye iyi ilerledi.

Ne olduysa Alex, Edmund'a bir şeyler hissetmeye başladığını farkettiğinde ve bu hislerden kaçmaya çalışırken oldu. Kitaptan, karakterlerden koptum. 3 hafta boyunca elim değil gözüm bile değmedi kitaba. Ehh yarım bırakamayacağımdan ve gerçekten Mary'i sevdiğimden tekrar aldım kitabı elime. Beni Bana Bırak kitabındaki Adam karakteri gibi bir potansiyel olduğunu düşündüm Edmund'da, beni teselli eden en önemli kısım buydu:) Halen gelir aklıma Adam, sen nasıl bir varlıktın Adam? derim sürekli:))

Okumaya devam ettim. Okudukça kitap açılmaya başladı. Sadece Alex ve Edmund değildi bize aktarılan, Alex'in umutsuz erkek kardeşi James, Edmund'ın kardeşleri Madeline ve Lord Eden'ın içinde düştüğü duygusal bunalımları da okudum, bunlar bence kitaba tat katan kısımlardı. James ve Madeline'ın arasında geçenler, Eden'ın şıpsevdiliği ve sonra kapıldıkları umutsuzluklar.. Hepsi ayrı güzeldi.

Alexandra'nın hislerinden kaçamayacağını anladığı sırada gururu çıktı ortaya. O an onu öldürmek istedim. Aklımda kanlı sahnelerle okumayı sürdürdüm. Ama sonra o gurur kırıntısı Edmund ile birbirlerine daha çok bağlanmalarına sebep oldu.

Karşımızdaki sıradan bir aşk hikayesi olmadı hiç. Hep zorluydu, kırgınlık doluydu. Ama ben bittiğinde yüzümde oluşan tatminkar gülümsemeyi her okuduğum kitapta yaşamıyorum. Ben sıkılırım, ayrıntıya çok takılırım diyorsanız okumayın kitabı. Ama ben yine de tavsiye ederim.

[KM · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️ Waah, waah, waah. Gosh, she was annoyingly unhappy the entire book. She actually was okay with the idea of marrying the old duke who probably would have beat her to death, but GOD FORBID she marry the kind young earl who wanted to protect her and take care of her forever. Absolutely no sympathy for this woman and her “problem”. If the rest of us were only so lucky.

Pacing was super slow and repetitive dialogue and inner monologue. I trudged through it.

I was far more interested with the siblings’ secondary plots (because they had actual personalities) and I’m excited to read their stories.

[ѕєяєηιтι · Rating 3 out of 5]

sıkıldım yaaaw. karakterler çoğu yerde anlamsız davranışlar sergiledi.. başlangıçta aslında çok ilgimi çekti konu ama sonrası gelmedi..

3 yıldız bir yıldız yazarın hatrına

[etherealfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Library Kindle e-book

[Myfanwy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the like when you were a child and ate an entire tub of ice cream or something and you thought it would be such a good idea but instead you just puked a lot and can’t eat strawberry ice cream anymore.

This book has lots of things that I really like to see in a heroine: trauma! Statue-like self control that is a mask for innermost passion! Nascent feminism! Vaguely anxious! So I was expecting to love this book. But, like with ice cream, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and this is it. The heroine’s anxieties about the amount of control her husband will exert over her feel very believable and legitimate, but they also don’t lend themselves well to developing romance, especially since the heroine seems to be unable to move past them until the last few pages.

I liked this book. I didn’t like it as much as I expected I would and I’m not hugely interested in reading the remainder of the series, but I also think that Miss Balogh did an amazing job depicting incredibly complex characters, even if she wasn’t quite able to work her way out of the maze she created.

[Nidofito · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 2.5/5

I'm not too sure. I like the book and the story, and I think Balogh did a god job trying to make a tough story and the not-so-likable characters come across as complete as possible. And for the most part, I sympathized and on a lesser degree empathized with Alex and the other female characters. We may not have a life exactly like the one described in the book, but you'd be surprised how close some families/communities are to that kind of lifestyle. I just wish that there weren't so many repetitive inner monologues. Also, I just wasn't very happy with the ending, especially the rushed way it was presented
, and the middle kind of dragged too.

I am very curious about James' story though. He's one to keep an eye out for.

[melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

early mary balogh was on some other shit y'all

alex's turn from being completely scandalized by a kiss to sleeping with edmund (which because she does it after they've broken their engagement, makes her realize he's really not going to try and control her) within like... three weeks seems like a fast turn for the character, but also satisfying in a way? the extra plotlines d r a g g e d, and tbh i skipped some pages of dom and madeline's pov b/c they were exhausting