More Than A Mistress

Title: More Than A Mistress
Author: Mary Balogh
First Printed: 2000
Purchase Date: 12th December 2005
Purchase price: £3.50
Retail price: $6.50
Purchased from: Amazon.co.uk

On book cover:

She raced onto the green, desperate to stop a duel. In the melee, Jocelyn Dudley, Duke of Tresham, was shot. To his astonishment, Tresham found himself hiring the servant as his nurse. Jane Ingleby was far too bold for her own good. Her blue eyes were the sort a man could drown in – were it not for her impudence. She questioned his every move, breached his secrets, touched his soul. When he offered to set her up in his London town house, love was the last thing on his mind…

Jane tried to pretend it was strictly business, an arrangement she was forced to accept in order to conceal a dangerous secret. Surely there was nothing more perilous than being the lover of such a man. Yet as she got past his devilish façade and saw the noble heart within, she knew the greatest jeopardy of all, a passion that drove her to risk everything on one perfect month with the improper gentleman who thought love was for fools.

Comments on book:

This was my first Mary Balogh book and like all first books from your favourite authors, you tend to never forget them, as they will always have a special place in your heart being the first ever book from the author that so impressed you. Although this genre that we read is called ‘romance’, it was only after reading this book that I actually sighed aloud and said, ‘Oh! How romantic!’ because after all the attraction, lust, love making, duelling, wooing in all the other books that I’ve read, this book somehow captured the essence of romance. And I really can’t explain how. All I can say is that from this book, which gave me my first impression of this writer, I knew that she is indeed a cut above the rest.

Jocelyn Dudley, the Duke of Tresham is a character that is so beautifully created, so wonderfully witty and talented that I fell in love with him in the first few pages of the book. His actions, his words, even his retorts really amazed me that I just fell in love with this character and did not think twice about forgiving his cruel behaviour towards the heroine near the end, even though in truth, I really think she deserved it. After all, he had his problems too which he shared with Jane, the heroine, but she did not in turn open up to him about her problems and secrets when she should have told him the truth if she had trusted him. Too late he found out about it himself. I simply could not accept her reasoning that she was ‘giving’ and not ‘taking’ from him and that he should thank her for it. This is, to me, irrational and impractical of her as her secret was a life and death situation and thus, she should have trusted Tresham with it if she really loved him, at least to make him understand her predicament. No wonder he was mad at her after he found out about it.

The ending was not really all that great because I think there should be a little bit more happiness after they’ve found out and accepted the truth about her situation i.e. she's not guilty after all and her pregnancy, but it was cut short with their surprise wedding announcement at the ball and that was basically the end(!) A much better story with a similar plot from Mary Balogh would be The Secret Pearl which I have read and will review soon in this blog. Overall, this book was a great read but only because of a truly wonderful hero who saved this book from a mediocre rating. Also, the ending could have been better.

Rating: 7.5/10 Tresham is the heart and soul of this book. I will keep this book for him!