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Title: Slightly Dangerous
ISBN: 044024112X
Author:
Mary Balogh
Publicate Date: 2005-03-01
Publish: 2005-03-01
List Price: $6.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $1.25
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $6.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Fantastic
This is the only book of the series that I really loved. It had a huge "Pride & Predjudice" theme and I loved it!! It's true that Wulfric was VERY arrogant and annoying at times but it just made the friction between the characters more interesting. Even the heroine found him to be annoying but she couldn't help falling in love. Only Mary Balogh could have Wulfric climb a tree and make it seem totally natural. Absolutely wonderful!
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2: Wow!
Almost always love MB books. If not love, then like very much. Slightly Dangerous is the best of the best! Wish I could give it 5 + stars. Wulfric is always wonderful and Christine is a great foil for his more serious ways. Too bad this is the end of the series.
Cheryl in NJ
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3: That Darn Quizzing Glass
I was not certain what to expect from this story. Like others, I found the heroine to be a little too silly sometimes. I know Balogh was trying to emphasize Christine's liveliness of spirit, but her shennanigans got a little old after a while. There is also a portion of the story that seemed repetitive and pointless to me (Hero, "Let me prove to you I'm a good guy"... heroine, "No." Hero, "I really am a good guy - let me show you"... heroine, "No". Hero, "Seriously - " ...heroine, "No"). I was beginning to question the likelihood of someone in the Duke's situation continuing to chase after a woman who not only kept turning him down, but was pretty insulting about it as well. However, one thing turned my opinion from lukewarm to favorable - that darn quizzing glass. In fact, the role the quizzing glass plays at the end of the story is enough for me to forgive everything else I was finding tedious and repetitive. I was tired of hearing about that darn thing, not only in Slightly Dangerous, but constantly throughout the other Bedwyn novels as well. Just as I was starting to get annoyed at yet another mention of the darn thing, the heroine's reaction to it had me smiling, and then laughing out loud. The scenes involving that infernal object toward the end of the book were a nice touch and made the hero seem as though he might actually be human and have a sense of humor buried somewhere beneath his ducal presence. The ending made some of the more tedious moments leading up to it more than worth the read.
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4: Slightly Brilliant Conclusion
There's always a risk, when you reach the final novel of a series and the most eagerly-anticipated character's story has been kept till the end (as Jo Beverley also did in her Malloren series) that this last book will be a let-down. Readers have come to know the hero, in this case Wulfric Bedwyn, over six books so far, counting A Summer to Remember, and may have formed their own impressions of him and of what sort of woman would suit him.
What do we know of Wulfric to date? Ever since the age of seven he's been preparing to be the duke, and he inherited the title in his late teens. He's cold. He's unbending. He has very, very strict standards for himself and for his family. He depresses the pretensions of anyone he considers beneath him. He has a huge, off-putting quizzing-glass that he uses to intimidate people. He has a bulbous nose and silvery eyes. He cried after he believed his brother Alleyne had been killed. He almost cried again when Alleyne returned safe and well.
So we begin this book and find that Wulfric is alone; his siblings are all married and happy with their families, and his long-term mistress, a woman it's clear he actually loved, died some months previously. He's reluctant to visit any of his siblings because he doesn't want to give the impression that he's lonely. So he does something he never does: accepts an invitation to a house party. He thinks it's going to be an intellectual gathering, but of course it's not. There's a houseful of marriageable young ladies - mostly far too young for him - and he becomes the subject of a bet. He hates it.
One of the other guests is Christine Derrick, a widow who lives locally with her family having been cut off by her husband's family. There's a story there, and we learn more about that over the course of the book. Christine is considered a flirt, careless and an embarrassment, and Wulfric himself seems to agree with this assessment, though he finds himself thrown into her company a couple of times. Outwardly, he seems to find her an irritation; she doesn't take him seriously, says what she thinks and is not at all impressed with his status. She can actually stir him sufficiently from his cool, unemotional exterior to kiss her and have sex with her - a shock to both of them, but they both wanted it. Afterwards, he offers her the position of mistress, which she naturally refuses.
Next, we're into Pride and Prejudice territory. Wulfric can't forget her, so visits her to propose. His proposal, and her response, are very reminiscent of Darcy and Elizabeth; she is offended by his condescension and offers him some home truths, which he is haunted by. Over the course of the next 150 pages or so, he sets out intially to forget her, and then, as he encounters her again, he decides he will prove her wrong.
It's that gradual melting of Wulfric, while preserving everything essential that he is, that I love about this book. This is a man who learned at a very early age to remain detached. Love no-one, especially not his family. Do not have fun, do not be frivolous, never smile. Even his siblings believe that, though he feels responsible for them, he doesn't love them.
I think most readers will agree with Freyja when she tells Christine, after a beautiful scene in which Wulfric shows that he can relax and enjoy himself, "If this is what you have done for him...I will love you all my life."
There are parts of the book I found a little less interesting or plausible, such as the sub-plot around Christine's family and reputation, but that's a minor matter. Overall, Christine is perfect for Wulfric because he needs someone who will teach him to live and love and enjoy life. We also have plenty of glimpses of other members of the Bedwyn family, enough to assure us that they are all happy and well - and reproducing like crazy.
A fitting end to a compelling series.
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5: My favorite Mary Balogh
I found Mary Balogh about a year ago and rapidly devoured all of her books ever since and this last novel of the Slightly series is decidedly my favorite. Perhaps that does have to do with the tried and true Pride and Prejudice story line that Balogh employs, but that is not all. She crafts interesting characters who the reader can identify with and root for to succeed.
I was so excited to get to this last of the series and it didn't disappoint. You saw behind Wulf's facade, which you find is really a large part of him, but not all of him, and which makes him a multi-layered individual. I find it intriguing that Balogh employs his underneath character as the romantic hero coming to save him from himself. And i highly identified with Christine as i am a klutz myself and can be intolerably silly at times even though i am also quite serious. I think a lot of the criticisms of her in other reviews are unwarranted and don't allow for depth, why shouldn't romances employ silliness at times and the character of Wulf needed that to bring his true self out.
In any case, i have reread this book several times and each time i love it more.
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