This past week, I read Mary Balogh’s upcoming (10/28) release Only Enchanting. You know those books that make your heart squeeze tighter with each page? How you love the characters and are hoping they make it through? Yup. I got the worst book hangover from that one, I haven’t even wanted to read a romance since*.
Balogh has written some of my absolute favorite books ever, and she’s also written a few that I’ve DNFed. But even the ones I Didn’t Finish were written beautifully, I just didn’t connect with the characters or the plot in some way.
But Only Enchanting–it is just stunning, and it’s not like it’s got any kind of huge dramatic action. If the two characters didn’t end up Happily Ever After, it’s not as though the world would have shifted; they just both would have remained unfulfilled in their lives. Which would have been sad for them, of course, but not been a crisis.
Refreshingly, when there is a misunderstanding, the hero and heroine TALK to each other. And things aren’t always perfect after, but at least they’ve communicated.
So, beyond highly recommending this book–it got me to thinking about why writers write; we want to capture that heart-squeezing moment on the page and hopefully cause that reaction in our readers.
In me writing news, my editor accepted the revision for my February 2015 novella, When Good Earls Go Bad; this week, I’m revising Put Up Your Duke, which is due to my editor on Halloween (spooky!). And then, no deadlines for a while, good timing with the holidays approaching.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend reading and writing!
Megan
*I’m reading William Gibson’s Neuromancer, which is mind-blowingly awesome.
Mary Balogh is magical when it comes to emotion on the page. Great to know we can look forward to this new release, Megan!! I love the cover –scrumptious!! Congrats on your own writing news. Sounds like you have really earned a beak over the holidays. Enjoy!
Ooh! I am looking forward to reading this one. Mary Balogh has written a number of books where the lack of a HEA wouldn’t have been a catastrophe, but it would have been incredibly sad. It is the emotional journey she takes you on that wears you out!
And I am so looking forward to reading Put Up Your Duke!!
Enjoy your rest once all the spooky deadlines are done!
Thanks for letting us know about this book. I have enjoyed her books and have a few more on my TBR pile. I haven’t read a good heart squeezing book in a while. (I thought I was the only one who described them that way) It takes a while to get over those.
Glad the pressure will be off for the holidays.