Product Description

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.…

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77970 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-30
• Released on: 2008-12-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 464 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780440241997
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Balogh's lovely Regency series centering on Miss Martin's School for Girls closes with the story of founder and headmistress Claudia Martin, an aging spinster past 30 who does not see marriage in her future. Two former teachers have recently made titled matches, however, and one of them sends Joseph, marquess of Attingsborough, to the school, along with his good looks, friendly manner and offer of a carriage to London. His title puts Claudia off; she distrusts his apparent interest in her school; his near-engagement to Lord Balderston's daughter, the icily perfect Portia Hunt, makes him unavailable. For his part, Joseph, at 35, can no longer put off the need for a male heir. He is resigned to the match, but there is a very delicate matter that he needs to resolve beforehand, with Miss Martin's aid required to safeguard his secret and his reputation. Joseph's heart isn't in the subterfuge, however, and as social pressures come to bear, both he and Claudia are forced to reexamine their priorities. Balogh has a particular gift for infusing the Regency romance with complex and engaging characters in challenging situations that move beyond the obvious. (Mar.)
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From Booklist
Claudia Martin, headmistress and owner of Miss Martin’s School for Girls, had no use for the ton, and reserved a special disdain for dukes. To Claudia’s great consternation, Joseph, the Marquess of Attingsborough, refuses to succumb to her icy disapproval. Instead, he thaws Claudia into accepting his offer for her and two of her recently graduated students to travel with him to London. That trip turns out to be just the beginning of his campaign to win Claudia’s affections, but she is certain she can resist the infinitely rakish Joseph. A prim and proper spinster discovers love is never sensible when she engages in a spirited battle of wits and wills with a nobleman with charm to spare. With her signature exquisite sense of characterization and subtle wit, Balogh brings her sweetly sensual, thoroughly romantic Simply quartet to a truly triumphant conclusion. --John Charles

Review
“With her signature exquisite sense of characterization and subtle wit, Balogh brings her sweetly sensual, thoroughly romantic Simply quartet to a truly triumphant conclusion.”—Booklist


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Simply perfect ending to the series.
Balogh has written a winner! This final book in the "Simply" series is marvelous...almost a feminine version of the final "Bedwyn" book, 'Slightly Dangerous.' Claudia is similar to Wulfric Bedwyn in that she is prim, rigid, and utterly correct in her manner and behavior just as Wulfric was. His story is one of my favorite Balogh books, but 'Simply Perfect' rivals it as one of my new favorites. Balogh writes a touching tale of an independent woman who makes a successful life for herself after experiencing heartache at a young age. Her journey toward opening herself up to love in this book is well-told, believeable, and tremendously moving. Balogh knows human nature well. She always does such a good job of portraying all the psychological and emotional roadblocks we put in our way as we travel toward love. She is a master storyteller. Joseph is the perfect hero to Claudia's stern heroine. Their tale has it's share of twists and turns, but is ultimately completely satisfying. As always, I hate to reach the end of a Balogh book. If only she could write faster. How will I make it for another year?! She is truly unequalled as the best historical romance writer today.

Fourth story in the 'Simply' series
This story is an excellent completion to Mary Balogh's 'Simply' series which followed the lives of four schoolteachers from Miss Martin's School for Girls in Bath. 'Simply Perfect' takes as its heroine Miss Claudia Martin herself, an on-the-shelf spinster whose life is bound up in the school and whose antipathy towards dukes and other members of the aristocracy is well known. At the start of this story Claudia finds herself showing the Marquess of Attingsborough around the school before travelling with him to London in order to drop off two pupils at their new positions and to visit her man of business.

Claudia soon finds that there's more to the Marquess of Attingsoborough than she first assumed. Initially appearing to be rather a wastrel aristocrat who just lives for parties and entertainments she soon realises that there is more behind his handsome and charming exterior - an unexpected female in his life, one he has to keep away from society.

Claudia and the Marquess, Joseph, find themselves thrown together a great deal. This story also includes a roll-call of almost every character Mary Balogh has included in her last dozen or so novels including all the Bedwyns, the women and their husbands from the other books in the Simply series, Neville and Lily from 'One Night for Love' and Lauren and Viscount Ravensberg from 'A Summer to Remember'. For those who haven't read any of Balogh's other books these extra characters might feel rather overwhelming.

Another character from 'Simply Unforgettable' also appears, Portia Hunt, the jilted potential fiancée of Lucius Marshall. In this story she is the Marquess of Attingsborough's intended and I felt she was really the only unbelievable character in this book, being a rather nasty and shallow woman who showed these attributes most of the time and yet was able - almost - to snare our hero. There is a new character as well, a person from Claudia's history, who might put a spanner in the works.

However most of the action in this story is between Joseph the Marquess and Claudia the schoolmistress. We see both of them gradually revealing their natures and desires and wishes to each other, we see how they treat each other differently than those around them, seeing past the outward ideas of rank and physical beauty and understanding instead how minds can meet. Claudia and Joseph's dealings with a particularly special character are wonderfully and touchingly written. Overall this story is one that is warm-hearted, engaging and also sometimes moving and is a definite return to form by Mary Balogh, some of whose more recent novels have been a little disappointing.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008

Not perfect; simply mature and tender love
This is the final novel in Balogh's "Simply" quartet, and having read it a couple of weeks ago, I delayed reviewing it because I was unsure how I felt about it. After a second reading, however, I've decided I liked this book. I didn't love it, but it does engender an engaging warmth and Balogh does seem to understand the conventions of the Regency, which for me helps make her writing credible.

Other reviewers have maintained "Simply Perfect" is flawed, and I cannot argue with this. Many of the supporting characters are insufficiently explored in this book, and therefore to anyone who hasn't read Balogh's previous series, might seem one-dimensional. The denouement introduces a bit of a jarring note, and scenes with Attingborough's daughter can be cloying.

Nevertheless, for me these faults are outweighed by Balogh's portrayal of the main protagonists and their burgeoning love. Miss Martin, entrenched in duty and her prejudice of the upper classes, is rather inflexible; Attingsborough, overshadowed by his father, is hidebound by duty and convention. Their flaws don't suddenly disappear overnight, but provide continuity with earlier portrayals of these characters in the Simply and Slightly series. The hero and heroine are no longer in the first flush of youth - in fact at 35, Claudia would have been considered to have taken root on the shelf - so there is no immediate "coup de foudre", no epiphany. Instead, Balogh describes the tender unfolding of a mature and considered love between two flawed and duty-bound characters.

The four stars I've given this novel do, however,come with the two caveats. Firstly, unless you've read at least some of the Ballogh's Slightly series or the Simply books, Simply Perfect might seem confusing, since it definitely relies on characters more fully described in other books. Secondly, if you are looking for an adrenaline pumping first love, then this is probably not for you.

Personally I found it charming, and Balogh's writing style carried it as always.