I’m so glad you liked the authors I recommended. I agree with your analysis of her descriptive skills. I had such a hard time deciding between simple and ornate because the results of her writing are not simple at all – but the way she strings words together is not ornate or wordy.

You wrote:
I agree with all that you have said and would add that in Heat Level, the sex is more realistic than in many novels and it isn’t always perfect straight away e.g. Simply Love which is a plus in Balogh’s favour IMO. I don’t know if this it true throughout her earlier books?

It is true throughout her earlier books. She hasn’t changed her style that much. In a lot of ways, I think she writes her single-title historicals the same way she wrote her traditional regencies – they’re just longer and she has room for more story and character development.

You also wrote:
In the two series that I’ve been reading a strong element of these books is the thoughtful commentary (usually through the characters dialogue) of a lot of life experience and observations on the nature of relationships and general behaviour of people that she intertwines within the characters conversations and it adds to the story rather than detracts from it.

Yes! I totally agree. I think that adds a depth to the whole story and characters and makes them feel more real. I agree with MB’s suggestions of SEP and LaVyrle Spencer. Other authors who come to mind are Carla Kelly and Kathleen Korbell. (Read Some Men’s Dreams if you can). I’ll think about this more.

In the two series that I’ve been reading a strong element of these books is the thoughtful commentary (usually through the characters dialogue) of a lot of life experience and observations on the nature of relationships and general behaviour of people that she intertwines within the characters conversations and it adds to the story rather than detracts from it. I can’t think of anyone else that does this in quite the same way so consistently

She is one of the WISEST romance authors I’ve come across to date. Her writing is insightful and caring in how her characters interact with each other and with their world. (Sometimes the depth of emotion is almost painful to read.) I don’t know of anyone else to compare to her in that depth of emotion. Maybe Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Ain’t She Sweet) or LaVyrle Spencer come the closest.

You asked for comments on the writing style, and for me the writing style is simple rather than ornate and whilst a lot of the writing is devoted to building the characters emotionally and in dialogue like you said Michelle, she also writes moving and beautiful descriptions about other things, for example in Slightly Tempted, the heroine, Morgan Bedwyn loves painting and this is how Balogh describes what painting means to Morgan. In this scene she is outside painting by a river accompanied by the hero Gervase.
Ch 19, Pg316. ‘She was inside the water of the river. She knew that the water was a thing in itself with properties of its own that made it different from anything else. But it was not independent of everything else. It needed the sun and the sky to renew itself. It gave itself to the grass and the willow tree that leaned over it. It was colourless in and of itself. Yet it picked up colour from its surroundings-gray and brown from the stony, gravelly bed, blue from the sky, green from the willow tree, sparkle from the sunlight. And later today, tonight, tomorrow, next week, next winter, it would look quite different.
There was no river, no grass, no willow tree – nothing at least in any permanent form to be understood by the mind or captured with paint on canvas. This was the marvellous challenge of painting – to catch joy as it flies, as the poet William Blake had phrased it.
…
-Morgan speaking-
“And everything blends into everything else…There is sunlight in the water and willow branches in the sky and water in the tree roots. Everything is connected…And I am there too, painting it from the inside, and you, observing it. All, all connected.” ‘

In the two series that I’ve been reading a strong element of these books is the thoughtful commentary (usually through the characters dialogue) of a lot of life experience and observations on the nature of relationships and general behaviour of people that she intertwines within the characters conversations and it adds to the story rather than detracts from it. I can’t think of anyone else that does this in quite the same way so consistently, it’s the sort of thing that often tends to be crammed into a first book. (I borrowed the books from the library so can only refer to the bit of Slightly Tempted that I copied out into my “favourite quotes” book), but this one is from the same Chapter 19 as above, although unfortunately it isn’t an example of how she uses it in dialogue and is therefore a poor example.
‘People could never be fully understood. They were ever changing, different people at different times and under different circumstances and influences. And always growing, always creating themselves anew. How impossible it was to know another human being. How impossible to know even oneself.’
Again, I don’t know if this is reflected in her earlier books.
P.S. To Michelle. You recommended lots of authors in the ‘If you like Judith McNaught’ post for me that I’ve been working my way through, one being Eloisa James who has been a real hit and I will be gloming her backlist, so a big thank you to you!

MB – thanks for the news about McKinley. That’s the most hopeful thing I’ve heard about a potential sequel.

RStewie – Have you ever read anything by Judith Ivory/Judy Cuevas? I think of her as an author with an extremely distinctive writing style who can tell – or more importantly “show” – a great story.

Michelle, I know about Sunshine! She is always saying it’s up to her muse, so I hold out hope. Like an idiot.

I notice that the three of those authors, though, (Kinsale, Brockway, and McKinley) are all SO good at telling a story through the actions and reactions of their characters. They also have fairly distictive (although not as much lately for Brockway) writing styles. I love getting lost in a wordy book that still tells a wonderful story.

I did see, on Robin McKinley’s blog, that she was open to writing a sequel to Sunshine, but at this time, she hasn’t come up with an idea for a plot. (At least that’s what I think she meant.) So, at least there is hope for us!

Slightly Dangerous is definitely my favorite of the Bedwyn Saga! I love Christine and how she interacts with Rothgar. I like her strong character and how she stays true to herself. She brings out Wulfric’s best qualities and tones down his harshest. I like the fact that they are better together than separately. Theirs is one romance that I “believe” lasts past the HEA.

Yay to the recommend of Betina Krahn — a woman who doesn’t get nearly enough mentions. I love her “Test” series set in medieval times about women from a nunnery. They are wonderful! Witty and funny and just plain sweet.

“Eden,” she said, tightening her arms about his waist when he would have drawn away, “say it”.
“It?” he grimaced.
What you would not say earlier,” she said. “Say it. I want to hear it.”
“You certainly enjoy taking your pound of flesh, do you not?” he said, frowning.
Lavinia smiled her dazzling smile at him.
“Lord,” he said, “you had better not do too much of that until we are standing beside – or better yet – lying in our marriage bed. I have enough to cope with. Now let me see – it.” He cleared his throat. “Here we go, then. I love you. Was that it? I hope I have not been through that torture only to find it was something else you wanted to hear.”
Don’t you just love him?

Anyway, I would heartily agree with others’ recommendations of Jo Beverley (Rothgar!), Mary Jo Putney, Laura Kinsale, Madeline Hunter, Gaelen Foley and I’d add Stephanie Laurens (although hers are a bit samey now).

Balogh has a “flavour” to her writing. You can read a paragraph and know she wrote it. I love that.

Thanks for the great review Michelle.

Liz – I’m so glad you liked Simply Perfect too. I stayed up very late – and suffered much at work the next day – so I could finish it.

It is very sad because I was a Balogh fanatic. I’ve spent large sums of money buying her backlists. Her older books gave me a lot of joy and I reread them most of the time. Hopefully, someday, I will find be able to pick up a new Balogh book and rediscover that old spark I once had for her writing.

The Dunnett books are a bit daunting to read. And they are books that make you think hard. But if you can get the hang of it, there’s something just special about these books. I can’t adequately describe how much I love this series. And the romance between Francis and Philippa………

Just an add-on: Lymond was trying to clear up his name in the first book and trying to find the person who can help him do so. Queen’s Play was a slow starter for me but the third book up to the sixth were very good. Pawn in Frankincense (4th) is the most heartbreaking read I ever had, particularly the chess game.

Thanks for the Dunnett recommendation. I’ve tried to get into the Lymond series a couple of times. A friend even sent me a Lymond guide with all the foreign quotations translated. I’ve read the first book and the first 20-30 pages of the 2nd, but I was always so frustrated that I had no idea what Lymond’s motivations were. Why was he doing all that he was doing? I know I’m missing something great bc folks just rave about this series. Quite frankly, it makes me feel a little bit dumb that it doesn’t wow me.

I’ve currently discovered Dorothy Dunnett and all I can say is WOW! I’m currently in a Lymond obsession. I hope somebody can do an “If You Like Dorothy Dunnett” piece also.

Thanks, Janine. I really look forward to your Laura Kinsale piece. Three of her books are some of my all-time favorite books. I always forget Patricia Gaffney now that she writes women’s fiction. Historical romance is still my first love. I agree about her – particularly To Have and to Hold and To Love and To Cherish.

Keri M – I really used to love Jane Feather and Amanda Quick. I’m not sure if they’ve changed or I have.

Jessa – Thanks for the tip on Betina. A friend of mine raves and RAVES about her The Book of True Desires.

RStewie – I’m pretty sure I read that McKinley has no plans to write a sequel to Sunshine. It breaks my heart.

Thanks, Tumperkin, Meanne and Laura! When I find other over-the-top Mary Balogh fans, we always talk about what novels of hers are our favorites. What is so interesting is that they almost always are never the same. Half of Beth Patillo’s favorites were my least favorite and vice versa.

Mary Balogh came to my reading radar about 7 years ago with More Than A Mistress which blew me away. Unfortunately her No Man’s Mistress was a DNF for me. But A Summer to Remember restored my faith in her and became the 2nd book of hers to be on my keeper shelf…Somehow though, her Slightly series doesn’t appeal much to me and neither does her Simply series. But I had heard a lot of positive things about her earlier regencies so I wanted to give them a try…I can still remember feeling stunned sometime early this year after reading the first few pages of The Notorious Rake, which continued to be a stunning piece of work right up to the very end.. I had a similar experience with The Trysting Place, A Promise of Spring, A Precious Jewel, The Plumed Bonnet, The Temporary Wife, The Ideal Wife, A Counterfeit Betrothal, The Obedient Wife and Irresistible…My goal is to get all of her backlist and just savor them one by one. And once I’m through with her earlier works, then I’ll go give her Slightly or Simply series another try. Just this afternoon I finished a short story of hers The Porcelain Madonna and it was simply magical…

I quite agree that there’s nobody that writes like Mary Balogh but happily enough there are other authors that can provide that same wonderful ache in your heart and in your throat experience with their fabulous talent like: Carla Kelly ( almost all of her stories ), Loretta Chase ( Lord of Scoundrels ), Barabara Samuel ( Heart of a Knight ), Lorraine Heath ( Texas Destiny ), Gaelen Foley ( The Duke ), Judith McNaught ( A Kingdom of Dreams, Once and Always, Almost Heaven ), Laura Kinsale ( Flowers from the Storm, For My Lady’s Heart ), Anne Gracie ( The Perfect Waltz ), and all the other authors mentioned above by the other posters….

I would also like to add Connie Brockway ( All Through the Night ), Deborah Smith ( A Place To Call Home ), Laura Matthews ( The Nomad Harp ) Diane Farr ( The Fortune Hunter ) and Katherine Allred ( The Sweet Gum Tree).

Thanks for contributing this article. I’m really enjoying the “If You Like…” series!

The Obedient Bride
The Ideal Wife
A Precious Jewel
A Christmas Promise (possibly my favorite)
Danicing with Clara
Dark Angel
Lord Carew’s Bride
Snow Angel
Longing
Indiscreet (possibly my favorite too — so hard to choose!)
Thief of Dreams
Slightly Married
Slightly Dangerous