Simply Love (Simply, #2) (Simply Quartet, #2)

by Mary Balogh

Anne Jewell is a teacher at Miss Martin's School for Girls, a genteel academy in Regency England. Now she must confront the disturbing tragedy that gave her a beautiful son, but locked her heart away for many years ago. While on a summer holiday in Wales, Anne meets Sydnam Butler, a taciturn hero of the Peninsula Wars. Gentle yet courageous, he is unlike any man Anne has ever encountered. But he too carries scars of the past. When Anne returns to St Martin's, she makes a surprising discovery and has no choice but to test Sydnam's love. Their passion becomes a showdown between long-buried fears and grand dreams...

• ISBN10: 038533883X
• ISBN13: 9780385338837
• Publish Date: 15 August 2006 (first published 1 January 2006)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 4 December 2012
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Delacorte Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 311
• Language: English

Reviews

[jamiereadthis]

Good, but I kept falling asleep, and also not caring if I picked the book up again, so I think I needed a little more story.

[Stephanie]

What I Loved: If you love yourself a tortured hero look no further than Syndam Butler! Anne and Syndam have had bad luck handed to them several times over. Syndam is a war survivor. He was tortured for secrets pertaining to his brother. Secrets he refused to give up and now carries the scars for. Anne is an unwed mother in a society that goes beyond looking down on women and scandal. (Of course a man can never be blamed!) Both characters have quite a lot to get through emotionally. Watching them get through it and come out the other side is something like magic.

What I Could Have Lived Without: Really? Everything in this book was great! I didn’t have much to complain about. Simply Love flowed smoothly, the characters were great, and the romance was fiery and sweet.

Recommended For: Lovers of historical romance or tortured heroes.

Avoid If: Don’t!

[wyvernfriend]

The two main characters in this story are quite broken. Anne Jewell is a teacher with a child out of wedlock. The father of her child was not her love and died before they could marry. Syndam Butler is a man of contrasts, on one side he's very handsome but on the other he's a mass of scars and damage and the damage is mental too. When the two of them come together a friendship builds and they are very attracted, however can either or both of them overcome the issues and problems.

While this wasn't a bad example of the genre, and was a good take on the Beauty and the Beast theme, there was nothing surprising here, it even had moments where I wondered if I had read it all before.