The First Snowdrop by Mary Balogh (1986)

I normally love Balogh's work. But this one just didn't sit right with me. I think it's because the hero rubbed me the wrong way. I get that it's a product of its time and back in 1986, when this was published, this type of hero (and his behavior) was considered romantic. I can think of other plots from the time that echo this dynamic and its toxic masculinity. But fast forward to today and it just seems to be reinforcing this dynamic that's not healthy and playing into the dysfunctional trope that surrounds the bad boy romantic hero in a way that her later novels don't. Rakes and cads pepper series like The Bedwyn Saga, the Survivor's Club, and the Westcott Family. Heck, Jasper Finley and Joshua Moore are 2 of my favorite heroes. But they also have heroines that level the playing field and there's that moment where they eat crow. What do I mean?

Our hero, Alex Stewart, Viscount Merrick is mean (sometimes down right vicious) to our heroine most of the time and yet she falls in love with him. The synopsis made it sound like Anne Parish is going to grow into a woman with a backbone, who becomes indignant with his behavior, but there was no blistering set down over his attitude and abuse. She gets angry, but there's never that moment when she realizes her own worth and right to demand better. 

A Rogue of One's Own (League of Extraordinary Women #2) by Evie Dunmore (2020)

Synopsis:

A lady must have money and an army of her own if she is to win a revolution—but first, she must pit her wits against the wiles of an irresistible rogue bent on wrecking her plans…and her heart.
 
Lady Lucie is fuming. She and her band of Oxford suffragists have finally scraped together enough capital to control one of London’s major publishing houses, with one purpose: to use it in a coup against Parliament. But who could have predicted that the one person standing between her and success is her old nemesis and London’s undisputed lord of sin, Lord Ballentine? Or that he would be willing to hand over the reins for an outrageous price—a night in her bed.
 
Lucie tempts Tristan like no other woman, burning him up with her fierceness and determination every time they clash. But as their battle of wills and words fans the flames of long-smoldering devotion, the silver-tongued seducer runs the risk of becoming caught in his own snare.
 
As Lucie tries to out-maneuver Tristan in the boardroom and the bedchamber, she soon discovers there’s truth in what the poets say: all is fair in love and war…

Review

Continuing with the characters we met in ‘Bringing Down the Duke,’ we follow fearless leader Lady Lucie in her further efforts to get the Married Women’s Property Act amended. She and some other Suffragists have created an investing consortium with the purpose of buying a publishing house so they can publish their report detailing how it’s not just poor women like Nancy in ‘Oliver Twist’ who are abused and misused in their marriages. Lucie’s plans are complicated by the rogue Lord Tristan Ballantine when he buys the other 50% share of the publishing company and seems bent on impeding her just for the fun of it.

Bringing Down the Duke (League of Extraordinary Women #1) by Evie Dunmore (2019)

Synopsis

England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women's suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain's politics at the Queen's command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can't deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.

Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn't be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn't claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring...or could he?Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke...

Review

She is Annabelle Archer, a ‘country woman’ who wants to study Greek and Latin at Oxford University and to escape the indentured nature of her life in Kent. At present, she is dependent upon the whims of her cousin, an uptight noddy clodpole who fears that such an education would be a waste and rather unseemly, not to mention how it would unduly inconvenience his life, were she no longer available to serve as free labor in his home. But Annabelle is not deterred and maneuvers him into consenting to her plan - as long as she sends him 2 pounds a month to pay for an additional servant. Annabelle agrees to this burden, even if it is exorbitantly more than he pays for any servant in his employ. The agreement is worth it to get away from a man who can’t manage his money enough to make it last through the month but still seems bent on creating more heirs to feed. Freedom from being under the man’s thumb and to have a room of her own is worth the burden that extra work as a tutor will entail.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer (1950)

One dour household of the upperclass. Add unconventional niece who has everyone’s number. Let the fun begin!

This was a terrific book! It took a little to get into, because we first meet Lady Ombersley and her brother, Sir Horace, and both are caricatures of the proper lord and lady of their day. But once Sophia (pronounced Soh-fie-uh) arrives on the scene, the fun begins. Sophia, Sophy to her friends, is an amiable, kindhearted, irreverent female who would have made an excellent man, with how well she can handle the ribbons and being such a capital whip. Or to quote Heyer, “From being a female sunk below reproach Sophy became rapidly an unconventional girl whose unaffected manners were refreshing in an age of simpers and high flights” (and mothers given to nerves, spells and vapors.)

Sophy’s time on the Continent with her diplomat father has given her prolific insight into the human condition and the ways people work (it's all that hobnobbing with its aristocrats and power players). Blessedly, she uses that knowledge for the betterment of others rather than herself. She sees the good in people and does not take offense when they behave badly. Generous of spirit, she is someone easy to befriend and she is also more than a match for the Ombersley clan’s current overlord: its eldest son, Charles Rivenhall. 

Simply Unforgettable by Mary Balogh (2005)

Who knew a snow storm could lead you to the love of your life?

Frances Allard, a music teacher at Miss Martin’s School for Girls (yes, that former governess and that school that Freyja Bedwyn anonymously sponsors), is returning from a Christmas visit with her great-aunts. It begins to snow. Even though she’s been yearning for it all through her holiday, it’s not a welcome sight.

Lucius Marshall, Viscount Sinclair, is returning from a Christmas at the family estate in Somersetshire and is in a most foul mood, even before an ancient, plodding boat of a carriage hogs the road. His beloved grandfather, the Earl of Edgecombe, is dying. More worse, the man extracted his promise that he would marry this season. Worst still is the woman that his family is promoting as his bride: Miss Portia Hunt, the daughter of Baron and Lady Balderston and the granddaughter of the Marquess of Godsworthy, is perfect candidate. “There was no one more beautiful, more elegant, more refined, more accomplished, than Portia.” The thought of marrying her is not just a leg shackle but a noose tightening on his neck. 

A Secret Affair (Huxtable Quintet #5) by Mary Balogh (2010)

A fine end to a terrific series. 

After her year of mourning, Hannah Reid, the Duchess of Dunbarton, has decided to take a lover: Constantine Huxtable, the veritable devil of the ton. It will not be her first lover, if gossip is to be believed. She’s a fickle woman who tosses aside her playthings after a mere week or two. She’s the widow of a man three times her age and was constantly surrounded by men eager to be her cicisebo. The choice of Constantine Huxtable is quite scandalous. He is a dangerous man after all.

When Constantine is approached by Hannah, he’s intrigued. It’s obvious what she wants and he decides to play along. Things proceed according to plan for about a day. Because neither he nor the Duchess are quite what they seem. I’d love to expose their secrets, but I’m not one to write spoilers. 

After 4 books, we finally get to know the man who, at the open of the first book, said a heart-wrenching goodbye to the grave of his beloved brother and rode away. Con has been a constant character throughout the series, a dark protector of his cousins, an enigma because he seems to care and shouldn’t. Stephen inherited the Earldom of Merton, a title that should have been his, if he had just waited 3 days to be born. Of course, he should hate him, them, and yet he doesn’t. Con admits that he did hate them before he knew them but his cousins are impossible to hate. And so he doesn’t. We get to know the truth behind the horrible fight between Con and Elliott, what really happened to the family jewels, what Con is doing on the estate he bought, where he got the money for it, and whether or not he truly is the blackguard that society believes he is.