Category Archives: Romance

This has been a great series.  I received the first book, First Comes Marriage as a Goodreads Giveaway and I was hooked.  Books two through four I was able to get with ILL through the public library, but this book was too new.  There was no way I could wait to find out Con’s story, so I purchased it myself.

This final book was thoroughly satisfying.  It tied up several questions that were introduced in the first book and brought all of the major and  not so major characters back together.  I thought I knew who the real “bad guy” was going to turn out to be and found out I was completely wrong!

Con was always one of my favorite members of the family and he is well matched with the Duchess.  And, I finally figured out the time period of this series, which is a couple of decades past the Regency.

These were my first Mary Balogh books.  I seriously doubt they will be my last.

The fourth novel of the Huxtable Quintet is the first to focus on a male character in the family.  Stephen is the youngest child and only male of the four siblings.  Despite that, he is not a spoiled brat.

At the age of twenty-five, he is seduced (although he denies it was a seduction) by Cassandra, Lady Paget who is a widow three years his senior.  She is in need of a protector to keep her and her dependents from becoming destitute.

As in all good romances, they fall in love.  However, Stephen keeps telling himself that he is only worried about her.  Of course, some type of scandal ensues and he ends up having to marry her anyway.

I have mixed feelings about this book and I am not sure why.  I like Stephen.  I liked him in the earlier books and I was always afraid that the elevation of his status would make him run wild.  I am glad the author did not take that obvious route.

I do however think he is too good to be true in this book.  His relationship with Cassandra is not very realistic for a male member of the ton during this time period.

What I really did like was the inclusion of all my favorite characters from the earlier books.  Their personalities remained as I expected along with their love for each other.

I received the first book in this series as a Goodreads Giveaway.  Books two through four came from the library.  However, since book five, A Secret Affair, is brand new, I have had to order my own copy.  I cannot wait to finally read Con’s story.

I think this is my favorite Huxtable book so far.  I am not sure if it is because I feel like I know the characters better, or if it is just a better story.

Margaret/Meg/Maggie is the oldest sister and the oldest sibling in the family.  She has been more mother than sister to the others since their real mother died.  Due to that, she put her own life on hold.

Finally, her two sisters are married and her brother has reached his majority.  Margaret decides it is time to finally accept the offer of marriage from her most persistent suitor.  Her decision comes just in time because her first love Crispin is back in London and she does not want to have heart broken again.

However, Duncan Pennethorne has other ideas.  He is in desperate need of a wife or he will lose his inheritance.  When Margaret literally runs into him at a ball, he asks her to dance and marry him all within the same sentence.

All of these books seem to have a scandal of some type and this one is not an exception.  Duncan ran away with a married woman five years earlier and has only returned because of her death.

I think the reason I liked this book the best was because I like Duncan the best of all the male characters.  I think he is the most honest of them.

The final two books revolve around the men in the family, Stephen, the brother and Con, their cousin.  It will be interesting to see the different viewpoint.

Although I am a long time Regency reader, I had never read a Mary Balogh book until I received First Comes Marriage as a Goodreads Giveaway.  I enjoyed the book so much, I had to read the rest of the series.

Book two starts out with a thoroughly unlikeable hero.  While foxed, Lord Montford makes a wager to seduce an innocent . . . specifically, the youngest Huxtable sister, Katherine.  Although I could have forgiven him for making the wager while drunk, he planned to follow through even after he was sober.

The story does not take up again until three years later.  I guess that was to give Montford the opportunity to grow up.  Of course, he and Katherine meet again.  Of course, the scandal comes to light.  And, of course, they end up having to marry.

I sound very negative about this book, but I really did like it.  I also like the fact that this series does not follow the siblings in the predictable order of their birth.  Vanessa, in the first book, is the middle daughter and the second oldest.  Katherine is the youngest daughter and the third by age.

Some series can easily be read in any order.  At least, that is what I have heard other people say.  Personally, I am compulsive about reading books in order.  Anyway, this series really needs to be read in the order intended.  There are reoccurring characters and numerous references to earlier books.  I am glad that all of the books have been published and I am able to read them back to back.

**copy obtained from public library