Slightly Married

I am unsure how to rate this book because it was both entertaining and annoying in equal measures, but I absolutely inhaled the story, which is a great testament to Mary Balogh's writing.

I haven't read historical romances in a while, and when Pulka Dotts suggested some books for a buddy read, this one sounded right up my alley. And it was, but only parts of it.

Slightly Married has several things that I adore:
- Fierceness independent and kind FMC, with a huge heart, marrying above her station and being presented to the ton, and being a success while doing it, despite her humble origins.
- Kind and honourable MMC that takes pride in doing what is he feels is right and keeps treating the female lead as “my wife”. I can't explain my reaction to this, but I love it, just alongside MMC's ensuring the FMC is warm.

Slightly Married has a very strong beginning, but then Aiden proceeds as if he suffered a brain transplant and becomes quite rude. Their relationship becomes a bit toxic, which together with the miscommunication/ lack of communication made me loose interest in their HEA. Additionally, I hated their other love interests and I wish this was excluded from the plot. In my opinion, we had already enough conflicts to ensure an engaging plot.

Miscommunication is my pet peeve and therefore, I cannot be impartial on this subject. However, I believe it could have worked fine if it was a shorter book, but the story ended up feeling it was dragging as it was obvious everything would be fixed immediately if they talked.

Despite not loving the romance, I'm quite happy with the ending of their love story. Additionally, I was so entertained while reading it that I will definitely read more by Mary Balogh.