Book review: Simply Perfect by Mary Balogh

The backdrop: As headmistress of Miss Martin's School for Girls in Bath, Claudia Martin long ago resigned herself to a life without love. Until Joseph, Marquess of Attingsborough, arrives unannounced and tempts her to toss away a lifetime of propriety for an affair that can only lead to ruin, embarking on a plan of seduction that leaves them both yearning for more. But Claudia knows she has no place in Joseph's aristocratic world. And now that world is about to be rocked by a scandal...An arranged marriage, a secret that will shock the ton, and a man from Claudia's past conspire to drive the lovers apart. But Joseph is determined to make Claudia his at any cost---even if that means breaking every rule for a love that is everything he has ever wanted...

Rating: **** (Excellent)

Detailed Review: This book made me cry! Yes, the story was so poignant that it made me cry and laugh with it.

Claudia Martin is a 35-year old, plain spinster, who has devoted her life to establishing a good school for girls. Close to her heart are the charity girls, who have been left destitute by circumstances, but Claudia brings them to her school, gives them good education, and makes them strong and capable enough to charter their lives. She was in love once...but it was a lifetime ago. The love was cruelly spurned by a member of the arisotcaracy and Claudia still carries scars from that. She has resigned herself to be a woman who is neither beautiful nor sexual but she knows as an indvidual she can carve out a successful life, which she has done. Now, her school is charting out a sizeable profit, her students adore her, her staff loves her....what more does she want?

Enters Joseph, Marquess of Attingsborough, a man totally out of her league. A dashing, handsome son of an aging duke, charming to a fault, and sexy as the devil itself. Joseph is requested by Lady Whitleaf (his cousin of a cousin...), who was a former teacher in Claudia's school, to escort Claudia and her two charges to London. He has been to Bath to visit his parents and has no problem in agreeing to the request.

And then starts a tumultous summer in Claudia's life....

Contrary to her expectations, Claudia finds the marquess a knowledgeable, charming, and caring gentleman who has his own agenda in enquiring about his school. He is the doting father of a love child, Lizzie, who is blind and motherless. Both Joseph and Lizzie need Claudia in their lives.

Contrary to his expectations, Joseph finds the severe headmistress to be a woman of passion, intelligence, and love. He "dreams of love, of a family--- wife and children---which is as close and as dear to him as the beating of his own heart." Well, Claudia is the answer to his dreams.

But the path to heaven is paved with obstacles--- Claudia's ex-lover returns to claim her love, Joseph is engaged to be married to another lady---a member of his aristocratic world. And Lizzie? How would the ton react to a gentleman's open acceptance to his love child, forget about building a home with her?

The story reminds one of hope, finding love, and overcoming obstacles in the pursuit of happiness.

• The plot: Outstanding. The story involving a man, a woman, and a blind child will move you. However, I do believe that some procrastination is done toward the end of the book, especially when dealing with the other man and woman in Claudia and Joseph's lives.


• Male and female leads: What strikes me is how differently Ms Balogh has written the main characters the two books, which I've reviewed so far (Slightly Dangerous and Simply Love). Usually, most authors have their favorite types of characters. Except a few traits, more or less the main heros and heroines remain the same from story to story (even to the extent of their hair and eye colors:). Ms Balogh has captured Claudia and Joseph in a very different light from Christine and Wulfric. While Christine is a bubbling, happy personality, Claudia is a severe headmistress with less frivolity. While Wulfric is a deep, silent, and totally aristocratic character, Joseph is a doting father who is always ready with a smile.


• Supporting characters: You will fall in love with Lizzie. She will break you heart. The rest of the characters can be dealt without, but I guess Ms Balogh wanted to revisit as many as possible because this book is her last one in Miss Martin's School for Girls Quartet of novels.


• Hotness quotient: Hotter than Slightly Dangerous.

The best scene of the book: All the scenes with Lizzie are excellent. But my favorite is the following lovemaking scene between Joseph and Claudia:

"Claudia," he said, lifting his head a few inches from hers, "I want you to know that you are beautiful. You think you must be unlovely because circumstances once forced an essentially weak man to leave you and because you are now in your middle thirties and unmarried and a schoolteacher. You think it impossible that any man could find you sexually appealing any longer. You probably even tell yourself that last evening happened only because I guessed I would not be free today to pursue our relationship further. You are wrong on every count. I want you to know that you are incredibly beautiful---because you are the product of who you have been and become in over thirty years of living. You would not be as beautiful to me if you were younger, you see. And I want you to know that you are endlessly appealing sexually."

She gazed up at him.

"This appealing." He took one of her hands in his and spread it, palm in, against the bulge of his erection.

"Oh," she said.

"Endlessly appealing," he said.

Her hand slid to her lap, and he reached up both hands to remove all the pins from her hair. She was going to have to repair it later, she thought, without benefit of a brush or a mirror. But she would think of that later.

"It is a crime," he said, as her hair fell in heavy waves over her shoulders, "to dress this hair as ruthlessly as you do, Claudia." He took her hands in his and drew her to her feet. "You are not my dream woman. You are right about that. I could never have dreamed you, Claudia. I am in awe. I am humbled."

She gazed into his eyes to detect irony, or at least humor, there, but she could see neither. And then she could see nothing very clearly at all. She blinked away tears. And then he leaned closer and licked them away with his tongue before drawing her closer and kissing her deeply.

She was beautiful, she told herself as they undressed each other slowly, pausing frequently to caress or embrace each other. She was beautiful. She ran her palms over the muscles and light hairs of his chest after removing his evening coat and waistcoat, his elaborately tied neckcloth, and his shirt. And he moved his hands all over her before cupping her breasts, rubbing her nipples with his thumbs, and then bending his head to take them, one at a time, into his mouth and suckling her so that raw desire stabbed downward into her womb and along her inner thighs.

She would not feel self-conscious or inadequate. She was beautiful.

And desirable.

And she was not the only one who was beautiful.

She twined her arms about his neck, pressed her full naked length against his, and found his mouth with her own. When his tongue pressed into her mouth she sighed. He was right, there were perfect moments even though they were both pulsing with need.

"I think," he said, drawing back his head to smile at her, "we had better make use of that bed. It will be more comfortable than the ground was last night."

"But narrower," she said.

"If we were planning to sleep, perhaps," he agreed, smiling at her in such a way that she felt her bare toes curl on the hard floor. "But we are not, are we? It is quite wide enough for our purpose."

He drew back the blankets, and she lay down on the sheet and lifted her arms to him.

"Come," she said.

He came down on top of her and she spread her legs and twined them about his. They were both ready. He kissed her and murmured low endearments against her ear. She kissed him back and twined her fingers in his thick hair. And then he slid his hands beneath her, she tilted herself to him, and he came inside her.

His size still shocked her. She inhaled slowly as she adjusted her position to allow him full access, and closed her inner muscles around him. There could surely be no lovelier feeling in the world.

Though perhaps there could. He withdrew from her and pressed deep again and repeated the action until she could feel his rhythm and match her own to it and revel in the sheer carnality of their coupling. There could be no lovelier feeling than this---both during the first few minutes of controlled pleasure and during the final minute of deeper, more urgent lovemaking as the climax neared.

And then it came---for both of them at exactly the same moment, and she opened to the outpouring of love and gave back in equal measure, and that was the loveliest feeling of all, though it was almost beyond feeling and well beyond rational thought or words.

She was beautiful.

She was desirable.

And finally...

Ah.

Finally she was simply woman.

Simply perfect.