A Certain Reputation

Anne de Monteforte, widowed with two children and cast off by her husband's father, knows the world thinks her a lightskirt - if not now, then certainly before she married Peter. Her oldest child, Nell, is certainly not the product of that marriage. And that is precisely what Trevelyan de Monteforte, her husband's cousin, believes, and tells her so when he first meets her. He also tells her that since her son is now his paternal grandfather's heir, he must be taken from her to live with the same cold man who disowned Peter for marrying Anne.But Buckingham takes the family to live on his own estates for a while first - so that Anne can see what Alex would be missing out on if she refused to hand him over to his grandfather. What Buckingham doesn't tell her, but she realises soon enough, is that he also intends to seduce her, knowing that this will disgrace her further.But as with many of the best-laid plans, things do not run as smoothly as either of them expect, and both find themselves realising that the other is not at all as they expected.This book seemed to get started slowly: for the first three or four chapters I really wasn't sure whether I liked it or not. But once all the main characters were at Sisley and we began to learn more about both Buckingham (I hate the abbreviation 'Trev' which Lange gives him!) and Anne, I was engrossed. There is humour, pathos, sensuality and, at one point, sheer anguish. But the ending is richly satisfying in a low-key but very pleasing way, so I'm really not sure what the first reviewer felt was wrong with it and why she gave the book only one star as a result.There's lots of character introspection, which I love - and as such, yes, the style is similar to Mary Balogh. The only irritation about Lange's style here is her occasional habit of switching point of view mid-passage for just a couple of sentences; it's often easy to miss, and not to realise that the reactions or emotions she is describing are not that of Anne or Buckingham, the main subject of the passage, but of some minor character allowed to take centre stage for a brief moment.This book's one to keep and re-read.

My sister and I both read this book and loved it. The hero is strong and the heroine is beautiful. I could not let that one-star review be the only one. I love Mary Balogh and this one reminded me of her work. I would highly recommend Lange's A SECOND MATCH also.