Slightly Serious, but Still O So Good

As a Christmas Book Exchange gift from my Romance Twin, Mrs. Julien, sent me this one. I knew it would be read quickly. It’s the last in the Bedwyn Saga by Mary Balogh, but I don’t think I was really missing out having not read the previous entries. And I plan to get to them at some point in this coming year. But for now it was the perfect little read over the holidays with a serious, eldest sibling hero and the spirited heroine who draws him out of his shell. My favorite!

Wulfric, Duke of Bewcastle, is the eldest of the Bedwyn Saga family. He’s been in charge of the lot for a long time. Now that he’s seen them all happily married he finds himself lonely. This results in his unexpectedly accepting a house party invite. There he meets Christine, a very poor widow of a second son of a Viscount, and can’t stand her optimistic view on life. They spend a couple of weeks together avoiding and annoying each other. After the party ends Wulfric returns to find Christine and propose marriage. Huh. It goes from there.

It was wonderful. Wulfric, first of all is named Wulfric, that right there is an awesome name. Secondly he was appropriately serious and stodgy, and oh so in need of someone to make him lighten up a little. Christine was a wonderful foil. She’s old enough to know her own mind (and be an appropriate match age-wise to Wulfric), but also naturally cheerful and does not take the world too seriously. I really loved their interactions. Also, I’m always a sucker for a hero who doesn’t spend the whole book denying his feelings. Infatuated heroes are always a plus.

The only thing I didn’t love, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, was that Wulfric was too serious for me. GASP! It’s shocking, but true. I love a responsible hero taking care of the people in his life, but Wulfric, for much of the book, even when admitting his attraction to Christine, was unwilling to shake any bit of his ways. He did grow and change a little by the end, but really I need just a dash or two more of humor in my heroes to make them perfect (looking at you Reiner Kulti. *Swoon*).

Overall, it was an excellent romance, and I look forward to trying out the rest of the series at a later date. For now I’m just glad to see that our romance twin-ness continues to align between Mrs. Julien and myself.

*Also the best part of the book is the title. When give a book title of Slightly Dangerous one automatically assumes it’s some dark and mysterious hero. Not so much here. It’s the cheerful, happy heroine who the hero finds dangerous to his perfectly calm and ordered life. Gotta love when an author flips it all around!