Judy Croome: Author on the Prowl

A pleasant start to the new Mary Balogh series. Interesting lead characters in Avery and Anna, and interesting secondary characters who I presume will be the leads in future books in the series. A quiet, slow-paced book, with gentle emotions and gentle, but strong, lead characters.

I liked Anna's dignity and Avery's mystery; the interesting twist in the main plot.

I struggled with some long-winded passages, necessary, I suppose, to set-up the series; the romance was not strong enough and the setting didn't feel like a Regency, felt more like an old-fashioned romance.

Nothing like the strong emotion in Balogh's older books such as Summer to Remember, Heartless, Longing, The Temporary Wife, The Secret Pearl and others. Still, I'm interested enough to want to find out what happens to the cast of characters we met in this first book.