Mary Balogh
First published by Signet, 1993
Of all the writers of Regency romances, my favourite by far is the inimitable Georgette Heyer, whose books combine wit with historical settings and romance in the best way possible. After Heyer, among the other writers I enjoy reading are Carla Kelly and Mary Balogh. Both have a way of depicting the ‘falling in love’ thing very well: showing how two people don’t just find each other sexually attractive, but are actually able to see beyond that attraction and to the soul, if one calls it that. Kelly, in particular, is very good at really convincing you that her protagonists have found the love of a lifetime, not just the romp of a lifetime (in fact, Kelly’s books are generally low on sex, though the chemistry shines through even without a detailed description of what happens in bed).
Balogh is rather more explicit, but still: most of her books I have found to be pretty readable, toe-curlingly romantic.
I was therefore looking forward to this, the first of Mary Balogh’s Sullivan series, of which Dancing with Clara and Tempting Harriet are the other two books. Courting Julia features Julia Maynard, who has lived most of her twenty-one years at the manor known as Primrose Park: her father married the daughter of the manor, and though both her father and stepmother have been dead several years, this is home to Julia, and her stepmother’s father is Julia’s Grandpapa.
The affection Julia receives from her Grandpapa leaves her in no doubt about his feelings for her, so she receives a rude shock when, after his death, his will reveals a very odd (and dictatorial) provision for Julia. Julia has five male cousins (step-cousins, to be technically precise), all unmarried; within a month of the will being read, whichever of them she decides to marry will inherit Primrose Park. If Julia decides not to marry any of these men, she will go to live with her own relatives, in the north of England, and will inherit enough to help her through life.
Julia is furious. Her relatives don’t want her, and she has no desire to live with them. Also, to live away from Primrose Park is unthinkable. But which of these five men will she marry? She has grown up with them, they’ve been children together and she knows them inside-out, or thinks she does. Which of them will propose, and if they do, will she want to marry him?
There is the rakishly handsome Frederick, who is an inveterate gambler and can’t keep his hands off women. There’s Freddie’s brother, the shy and sweet Les; there’s Augustus ‘Gussie’, whom Julia has always regarded as her best friend, almost like a brother. There’s solemn, grave Malcolm, the eldest of the lot. All of these men, fleetingly, might work for Julia; the one who will absolutely not work is Daniel, the Earl of Beaconswood, who has inherited Grandpapa’s title and other properties, and whom Julia has disliked as long as she can remember. Daniel, in his turn, is a nose-in-the-air, stiff and staid man who is outspoken in his disapproval of Julia’s wildness.
This aspect of Courting Julia—the mutual dislike Julia and Daniel feel for each other—is so over the top, hammered home so forcibly, that it diluted for me their love. How they discover that they’re actually in love, rather than in hate, was very unconvincing. There’s sexual attraction, but that, honestly, seems to be about it: I couldn’t really see the love here. Just a lot of barbs and insults exchanged, balanced with some steaminess, and that is supposed to be love? Nope. There is one scene, atop a tree, where one could see glimmerings of a greater understanding, but this novel needed a lot more of that, a lot more conversation.
Even otherwise, Courting Julia didn’t appeal to me much. I couldn’t get an impression that Julia was at any time really torn between her ‘suitors’, so to say. Some were out of the run from pretty much the beginning, and not very much happened except the same old Julia-Daniel insults.
If you’re a fan of Mary Balogh and haven’t read this one yet, I’d advise against reading it. It put me off reading any of her early works.
(On the other hand, it just goes to show: even some very good writers didn’t start off well. There’s hope for the rest of us).
One star out of five. Don’t buy.
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