Heartless mary balogh download

There was the tiredness, the insatiable hunger, the movements, the swelling. She was enjoying her impending motherhood with the deep gratitude of a woman who had expected to be a spinster and barren all her life. It had been longer than three months. They had been home for more than two. She was beginning to believe in freedom. She was beginning to believe in happiness. The house was running smoothly.

She had made friends of all their neighbors. She organized dinner parties and card parties with informal dancing for the young people. She eagerly accepted the invitations that came in return. And Luke, she felt, of whom his neighbors had appeared wary at first, was being accepted again. Emily seemed happier here than she had ever been at home.

Luke was unexpectedly kind to her, and Emmy had taken to him. And Emmy had found a hero in Ashley and followed him about whenever she had the opportunity. I really enjoyed this book. It was so different from most hr. The H is a s metro sexual who refuses to ever love again. Now that he is a Duke and he has to return home to the family who turned their back on him, including his ex fiancee. Enter Ana. Ana has had to be strong for her family. She's given up her youth to raise her siblings and to protect them from their father's debt.

Her Godmother offers her a chance to have a season. She embraces the freedom. Ana is able to laugh, flirt, and jus I really enjoyed this book. Ana is able to laugh, flirt, and just enjoy herself for once. The two MC are immediately drawn to each other. Luke figures he might as well marry and Ana would make the perfect Duchess. Unfortunately, Ana harbors a dark secret and the man who has terrorized her has returned.

There were two big secrets in the book. The first one was obvious. It's sad it took Luke so long to figure it out. The h secret, on the other hand, was sooo frustrating. She is given so many opportunities to tell her husband. I found myself screaming through most of the book, " just tell him already!!! She had the Scarlett O'hara mindset, "I'll think about that tomorrow ". Like problems go away if you ignore it. The man after her was crazy and dangerous.

Now, i have to say the author did surprise me at the end. I thought I knew her secret but I was shocked to find out the details. This is a slow romance. It took Luke a long time to open his heart.

Ana was so kind, loving, and understanding. These two were perfect for each other and didn't have a lot of over the top drama thank God. They also trusted each other, another rarity in hr. Their problems were from outside the marriage. View 2 comments. Audiobook Review: A fan of Mary Balogh as an author, this book didn't disappoint. It was absolutely wonderful and had my attention captivated from begging to end.

I love the plot and thought that Lucas and Anna were truly made for one another. It is unfortunate that they had to overcome some circumstances that crippled them along their journey to finding their HEA.

The story transitioned very well for this reader and I simply enjoyed it very much. Dec 10, Corduroy rated it it was ok Shelves: star-romances , befuddlingly-highly-rated-books , historical-romance. Wow, I found this to be an annoying read. The majority of Balogh books I've read have fallen somewhere between "quite good" and "outstanding" on my personal bookometer, so this was really unusual for me and for this author.

Premise: in Georgian England, Anna - 25, nearly-a-spinster, the primary emotional and logistical support of her younger siblings since the death of their parents - goes to London with her younger sister at the behest of a godmother. Anna meets Lucas, Duke of something or othe Wow, I found this to be an annoying read.

Anna meets Lucas, Duke of something or other, who has only recently returned to England after spending 10 years in Paris pouting over his butthurt feelings after he had a falling-out with his family about a duel with his brother. Anna and Lucas get married within a week of meeting each other. Much is made of the fact that Lucas is "heartless" and cannot possibly love, ever, the ability to love was ripped from him when he left England in disgrace a decade ago.

Anna, for her part, is clearly hiding some kind of Dark Secret. Anna is hiding a secret. The secret is not that awesome. The secret is view spoiler [ that an older, creepy dude befriended her family after the death of her father who had gambled away all their money and died heavily in debt.

Creepy Dude bought up the father's debts and then forced Anna to pay them off to him one by one through doing slightly illegal things around the neighborhood - this was never completely clear to me - you never witness any of this specifically, it's only alluded to, so unclear what exactly type of nefarious acts we're talking about.

Anyway, Anna is terrified that he's going to have her brought up on charges of theft and murder blaming her for the death of her father, I guess , also Creepy Dude blackmails her. Also, Creepy Dude had her hymen removed so she would be unmarriageable.

I am not a medical expert - but surely even in Georgian England, women who made it to 25 unmarried were not always expected to bleed copiously on their wedding night. But I digress. Lucas keeps trying to get her to tell him, because he's not crazy and can see that something is wrong. But Anna maintains a weird cheerful attitude and refuses to share. That is the entire book. It just goes on and on and on and on and on. I only kept reading because I was so amazed that Balogh was determined to spin this out for so long.

I certainly agreed with her assessment. I am to put it mildly not a fan of romances that hinge on A Big Misunderstanding to keep the couple apart. I really dislike that particular trope, and find it dull and lazy and infuriating. It's such a cheap, fake source of conflict. Balogh is an excellent prose stylist, but it couldn't overcome the Big Misunderstanding and elevate this book. I also pretty strongly disliked the sketches of the main characters.

He was pretty boring to me, to be honest. I found myself thinking uncharitable thoughts about how whiny he was. Anna was an odd character. So much of her time is spent putting on a facade of lighthearted charm and cheer that I am at a loss to understand anything real about her true character. Lucas marries her because he instantly falls for her vivaciousness and good cheer - her propensity to be happy.

But of course Anna isn't happy or vivacious or of good cheer, she's someone who has effectively been mentally tortured for years. However, there is never a moment when the reader or Lucas! She just maintains the same possibly-fake persona throughout. I found it a very odd read and almost gave up many, many, many times.

A disappointment; Balogh has been very reliable for me aside from this. If you want actually heartless Georgian men, I think you want Anne Stuart. Lucas was just not an effective hero for me - I never felt that he was truly heartless, just mopey. He never felt particularly dangerous or unpredictable.

And Anna was a cipher. View 1 comment. All talk about Paris, fashion, how amazingly good the guy was with women and basically nothing more. I liked this book because of the simple fact that we saw it all. The meeting, the engagement, the marriage, the pregnancy, the families, the house and their life together while both had deep secrets. His secret was super easy for me to see what had happened from the beginning. But what kept me interested was that I wanted to discover her secret because it just didn't make any sense I don't know if I recommend this book.

Its not that it is great. It is just that it keeps you wanting to know more. It's just not for me. Humans are imperfect and make mistakes and bad decisions. We all have flaws. Bad experiences and pain caused by those we love can change our attitudes and behaviors. I love a well-written story of redemption, but I don't think someone who is truly heartless can be redeemed.

To top that off, the heroine was just as unlikable as the hero. View all 4 comments. I enjoyed this book despite a H who dresses up like a drag queen — complete with cosmetics and accessories, and a h who takes tstl-ness to heights. But still way better than book 2! I feel like banging my head against the wall when hs keep such huge secrets despite getting so many chances and reasons to share. The villain is hair-raisingly omniscient and the ow is suitably selfish and nasty.

Rest of the cast make up the loving but estranged family to whom he has to redeem himself. That was vaguely dissatisfying and made the book a disappointment. I'm always pleased to see more of Mary Balogh's back list coming out in Kindle editions -- the latest being her Georgian series from the mids. Since the Rosalyn Landor audio version is also available, I chose to listen rather than read. My ratings: 3. The love story is beautiful -- classic Mary Balogh -- especially Lucas's gradual realization that he really isn't "heartless" after all.

Anna's Big Secret, however, was dragged out too long, altho I'm always pleased to see more of Mary Balogh's back list coming out in Kindle editions -- the latest being her Georgian series from the mids. Anna's Big Secret, however, was dragged out too long, although it was so awful that I could understand her reluctance to confess it to her husband. As for the Georgian setting -- I didn't feel it -- other than mentions of the clothing and hairstyles.

Perhaps I'm spoiled, having just read several titles by the consummate Georgian-era author, Lucinda Brant. Mary Balogh can't write a bad book, though, so if you're a fan like I am, try this one.

I will definitely read the sequel, Silent Melody. View all 7 comments. Outstandingly Wonderful!!!! Sometimes it can be disappointing when you go back and read early titles of a favorite author, but no such thing with this book. I never saw an MC with so much heart as Harndon, try to convince everyone that he was heartless. He was so kind to Anna. Both were reasonable and rational.

View all 20 comments. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I enjoyed this one even though this is a darker story. Luke is handsome, long hair, not tall, and very slender. Anna is his sunshine. View all 5 comments. Sep 02, Vintage rated it liked it Shelves: abuse , alpha , annoying-sibs , bad-ex , reformed-rake , danger-will-robinson , evil-ow , honor , secondary-characters-rule , apply-two-by-four-please.

This started out so promising with a damaged, overly urbane hero and a strong heroine with a spine. He reminds me of an Elizabeth Hoyt hero. Anyone remember the hero who wore red heels? Set in Ge This started out so promising with a damaged, overly urbane hero and a strong heroine with a spine. Luke left under a cloud of shame when he challenged his brother to a duel and shot him in the shoulder.

Once idealistic, he is now a Frenchified Georgian dandy down to his powdered and rouged face as well as his fan that he uses effectively as a means of seduction. In a genre with towering and hairy alpha males, Duke Luke is an oddity. His loving but interfering uncle encourages him to jump back into the fray which means leaving France, confronting what is left of his family his mother, brother and little sister , getting married and making little Dukes.

Anna's stupidity… view spoiler [ Anna has been blackmailed and manipulated by a secret man from her past. In terms of power back then, a Duke was second to the royal family and may have had more clout.

At some point this nitwit could have, should have asked for help with her big bad secret. It was so frustrating it ruined a huge element of the story because she is NOT an idiot. While engaged to Luke the spare, she seduces George the heir then cries rape.

Luke challenges his beloved older brother to a duel and both brothers try to do the honorable thing, but it backfires. Sooo, now knowing this viper seduced his brother, has been gaslighting Anna, made recent goo goo eyes at Luke, he confronts her and wants her off the estate. Luke then leaves to track down another evil-doer leaving his ex at home with wife and child.

Don't leave, you fool. Or take Anna and the baby!!!! This book started off so good, but then it got bogged down in the middle and was long winded towards the end. The hero was very unique. He was a dandy through and through. I loved that about him. There was nothing I really loved about the heroine though. She was just TSTL and I couldn't help feeling frustrated with her throughout the book for enabling the villain to use her the way he did while she continued to lie to her husband.

The hero was a duke so you would think that there would have been This book started off so good, but then it got bogged down in the middle and was long winded towards the end. The hero was a duke so you would think that there would have been some confidence that he would have been able to help her, but all she had confidence in, was being a doormat for the villain. She lied to the hero telling him there was nothing wrong until the end and he didn't find out what was happening to the heroine until the last chapter, which was way too late IMO.

The story-line was interesting and different, but the execution of it did not come together to make the book as engaging as it could have been. In the end it all just seemed very predictable and that is a shame because if this story was done right it could have been a five star read.

Apr 04, Gilgamesha rated it did not like it. This potentially wonderful book was ruined by Anna's blatant lies and drama. The trope of big misunderstandings and secrets are not for me. I am an impatient reader with a decisive personality. The dragging of the secret to the end of the book I derive so much more satisfaction when a character reveals a secret out of a sense of loyalty and trust then withholds it because of fear. The he This potentially wonderful book was ruined by Anna's blatant lies and drama.

The heroine of this book and that one thing ruined this entire book for me. It was also the terrible and unrealistic decisions the characters were making. Anna knew her husband is one of the most powerful people in England then why fear the ridiculous things she was being blackmailed with??? These unrealistic things writers make characters do to move along plots get on my nerve. There were some wonderful moments in this book I really want to read Ashley and Anna's sister's story Hope my next Balogh is better.

Jan 31, Joanna Loves Reading rated it really liked it Shelves: audiobook , zhr-raa-challenge , audible-romance-package , mofo-dukes , hr , zehrtbm-abc-challenge. Liked, not loved this one.

I did have trouble with the way some of the main characters reacted to a perceived threat. Too much thinking and internalizing, when action was needed. Better, but the bar Liked, not loved this one. Better, but the bar is low there. I really liked Emily, and the secondary characters in general were good. The villain was interesting and unusual. Not really a review, just some thoughts. With infinite care and deft plotting, Ms. Balogh spins an intricate tale with the skill of a master weaver.

She draws you into the era by evoking the aura of the war and the passionate emotions of her characters. If you have never read another book by Mary Balogh, then Beyond the Sunrise will be your introduction to a writer of remarkable talents.

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