More than a Mistress by Mary Balogh - Wayback Machine

January 27, 2020
What happened to the wish faerie?

https://marybalogh.com/
As you might guess by the fact that I’m still in the Wayback-Machine, I haven’t had tooooo much luck with new books. Oh sure, I’ve started some, but then put them aside.

So, I decided to revisit the Mistress series by Mary Balogh. As we allll know sometimes our mind plays tricks with us. We also allll know that if we want a book to cheer us up, Mary Balogh’s is not the first author who pops into our head. But, I thought I’d live dangerously and dig into More Than a Mistress - 2000, No Man’s Mistress - 2001, and The Secret Mistress - 2011. I’m pleased to announce that for the most part, they lived up to my memory of them. Did they make me happy? Well, they were not a laugh-riot but I did not feel the need to turn to Valium either. Let’s take a look at these three stories.

More Than a Mistress written in 2000, is the story of Jocelyn Dudley, Duke of Tresham and Jane Ingleby. These two characters are pure Balogh. Jocelyn is a very overbearing alpha-male who is hiding from his true self, and Jane is just hiding. There are trusts issues galore in this book. Some of those issues went on just a little bit toooo long. In the editions I purchased, Ms. Balogh has included deleted scenes from the original releases. I have to say, that these cuts are/were an example of editor/s advising the author incorrectly. In my opinion, these extra scenes enhance the stories, and explain things that puzzled me when I first read them.

Jane is down on her luck. First, she is hiding out from an evil uncle; second she is penniless, and she trying desperately to keep her low-paying job. She is one of those people who need to eat and pay rent.  Well luck is not Jane’s friend. What should she stubble across on her way to work one day? A duel. She does what most self-respecting women would do, she screams. When she does this, she startles the duelist, and one of the duelists ends up shot in the leg - our hero, Jocelyn Dudley. When Jane finally arrives at her job, her nasty employer informs her that she must have a hand-written excuse or she will forfeit her job. Jane, who is rather a pushy woman, storms the castle and demands a note from the guy with the bullet in the leg, Jocelyn. Well, Jocelyn does not really have too much of a sense of humor when it comes to the bullet in his leg. He refuses her request, and he comes up with a demand of his own. He insists she be his nurse.

Jane thinks about her options for a short time. She needs money; she needs a place to hide. Oh sure, he is a bit of an overbearing lout, but she is desperate. What could possibly happen? Well, my little Petunia’s, this is Romanceland, a lot can happen. More Than a Mistress is a prime example of Ms. Balogh at her best. Ms. Balogh is a master of the slow-build romance. She also knows how to explore the guts of emotion. The scenes when Jocelyn opens up, and tells Jane his secrets are something to behold. It would have been nice if Jane had been honest with him sooner.

I did have some minor quibbles with some of the things in the book. As I just mentioned, I believe Jane should have been more trustful of Jocelyn sooner than she was. By the time he opened up, she knew him well enough to trust him. I also thought his reaction to her past story was a tad bit overboard, but it was how I expected him to react. That does not mean I had to like it, though. I will also repeat, I am glad we were able to see what the editor chopped out of the original book; I have a better understanding of Jocelyn now. Authors: sometimes editors are not correct in what they say or ask.

Overall, while this book was not a laugh-riot, it was a charming story with a group of intense characters. Don’t be afraid of the words: intense and Balogh. It wasn’t one of her really, really, really intense-I-need-a-drink stories. More Than a Mistress is a book you should read.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm/Hot/typical Balogh