Book Review: Mary Balogh – Simply Unforgettable

(Book one of the Simply series of novels set in an academy for young ladies)

This regency romance tells the story of Frances Allard and Lucius Marshall, the Viscount Sinclair.

It’s a bit daring for a Regency novel, as our couple end up in bed together near the beginning of the book – and without the advantage of a wedding ring! Maybe that makes the plot a bit improbable, or maybe I’m just too innocent to know what really used to go on back then.

Frances turns out to have a beautiful singing voice, but she’s a woman with a secret, and she’s buried herself in Bath, teaching at Miss Martin’s School. When Viscount Sinclair encounters her in Bath, after both have expected never to meet again, he starts to realise that this is a relationship which he wishes to pursue.

He engineers a return to London for Frances, and then he arranges for her to sing before the cream of society – much to her dismay. Eventually her secrets come out, and everything ends very satisfactorily.