A History Nut's Romantic State of Mind

Hello Ms. Balogh, always a pleasure.

This is a re-read for me. I read the Bedwyn saga years ago. I don't think I loved them but I did not dislike them either. I also seem to remember a great deal of them. Slightly married is the story of the second son, Aiden, and his wife, Eve, in a marraige of convenience. I think this is the second best of the story in the series, with Wulf's story being the best.

I won't go to great length describing the story. This is a well liked book and many reviewers did a splendid job of it already. I will just give my 2 cents: this is a gentle love story, but only in the second half. The first half was rather boring for me because Aiden and Eve were really strangers to each other. It would have been very unnatural for them to all of a sudden act like husband and wife. For that I cannot fault Ms. Balogh. It is how it should be: Aiden and Eve had to get to know each other in the first half of the book. While it may be boring for readers like me, it was necessary.

I do however think, there were too many "incidents" that kept them together. Aiden kept wanting to go, and Even kept saying goodbye. But things happened one after another to keep them together. It got a little tiring and as understanding as I tried to be, I wanted to scream: it is enough already! What is going on? Are you guys in love or what?

The book got significantly better in the last 20% where they had a few days to actually be a real couple. Aiden and Eve were very kind to each other. There was no bickering or misunderstanding so to speak. They just were 2 very honorable people who tried to give each other what they believed the other would want. Both acted very respectably and maturely, which I very much appreciated. Their sex life is rather dull, so for action-seekers, brace yourself.

I have to admit that I had a little trouble seeing them deeply in love. This is a rather "reserved" book, not overly sexy or passionate, not angsty or painful. It is very.....tender but without a strong emotion base. So it felt kind of shallow to me. OK I know I am not making sense. It is a very a subtle thing I am trying to describe and I am doing a horrible job.

Slighly married is a wonderful read, without a doubt. I believe I will return to it some day but I am not overly affected by the story, which is not neccesarily a bad thing. God knows I am still trying to regroup from my last emotional read. It is a light read for me but not in the humorous way but light in the emotional way. I am rather detached from the story but can say honestly that this is a well-written book with 2 very wonderful characters.

Just on a side note: I really want to issue a warning about Aiden's sister, Freyja. She gets her own book in the same series. If you don't like a shrew for a heroine, like me, avoid her at all cost. I did not bother re-reading her story this time, but I can recall how I strongly disliked her as a character. I felt bad for all the men that she was romantically involved with. I think Freyja must be one of the few heroines for whom I honestly do not care for a happily every after.