Simply Perfect

Simply Perfect
by Mary Balogh

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Book Summary Information

Author: Mary Balogh
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-12-30
ISBN: 0440241995
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Dell

Book Reviews of Simply Perfect

Book Review: Not Balogh's Best
Summary: 2 Stars

I got the four books of the Simply series sight unseen and as I finished Simply Magic, the third book, I dreaded reading Simply Perfect because it was obvious who the heroine would be.

Claudia is the type of women who would sooner fall from a cliff then receive help from someone while she clings to the edge. Every man is a threat, anyone with a title is an insult waiting to happen. I quickly wondered how on earth such a woman could have had such dear friends from previous books that they were openly willing to give up love, marriage, children, and fortune to stay and work 24/7 in her school, but then of course, they were her employees and they were beholden to her for their jobs to get them out of the cruel man's world where they could then become independent and bitter and always angry like her. Believe me the first 50 pages are full of Claudia in one silent anger tirade after another. Shame on anyone who tries to show her any form of charity that gives a modicum of appearing that it takes away that independence, because she will shove any innocent act of kindness back in the person's face, EXCEPT for her fellow teachers that she clings to like her own personal groupies in the hope that they remain single and never leave her. Oh yeah she's the heroine here, the one we're supposed to follow along on her story and hope that it has a happy ending. The fact that we were supposed to believe the author that Claudia was actually a very passionate, loving woman despite previous books proving the opposite is just laughable. I'd just as soon hope that she had fallen off a cliff.

Above all though Simply Perfect bothered me because it was like the meal after the appetizers. We had three books of hints what the fourth would be like. For three books we were exposed to personal points and opinions by the author that seemed to take front row while the actual plot moved back. Simply Perfect proved to be the culmination of all the books in the series about the debasing alpha male and the indignities of being anything but the fiercely independent woman. In the Simply Series women do not need men at all. Happily ever after doesn't exist and is not desired. Being in love does not mean that you really love. Every man has an agenda, every woman a suspicion. Any consequences of being an independent, single women in the 19th century are nil because she refuses to concede to them and therefore everyone bows to her wishes. It is better to make a living and be independent than to accept any happiness that would need to be created with the opposite sex. Don't be afraid to show anger at a man, they are easy to emasculate, and don't be fearful when you give the appearance of being a prudish, icy woman, which I guess is fine but doesn't sit so well in a romance novel where the woman needs to fall in love with the hero!

Now I'm all for women independence, but I don't want to read 4 books that make me feel less of a woman because I like it when a man opens a door for me and I don't see it as an act of debasement.

I really enjoy Mary Balogh as a writer and I looked forward to reading this series, which made it all so disappointing because the series was so repetitious with the same message repeated throughout of an independent woman who won't give an inch to save her life. Impractical in that era and certainly in that culture.

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Summary of Simply Perfect

Against the seductive backdrop of Regency England, New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh sweeps us into the sensual, enthralling world of four teachers at an elite academy for young ladies.

As headmistress of Miss Martin?s School for Girls in Bath, Claudia Martin long ago resigned herself to a life without love. Until Joseph, Marquess of Attingsborough, arrives unannounced and tempts her to toss away a lifetime of propriety for an affair that can only lead to ruin, embarking on a plan of seduction that leaves them both yearning for more. But Claudia knows she has no place in Joseph?s aristocratic world. And now that world is about to be rocked by scanda.?An arranged marriage, a secret that will shock the ton, and a man from Claudia?s past conspire to drive the lovers apart. But Joseph is determined to make Claudia his at any cost?even if that means breaking every rule for a love that is everything he has ever wanted.?

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