Historical Romance Family Saga Stories (Part 2)

One of my guilty pleasures is reading, I love to curl up with a book after putting my daughter into bed of an evening and immerse myself into the literary world that unfolds in the pages in front of me. Some of my favourites are Historical Romance Novels based around family groups of siblings that cross the pages of a series of books.

My favourite historical romance author is Julia Quinn (purely because she was the first historical romance author which I enjoyed reading; I wrote about Julia in part 1 of this set of hubpages see http://hubpages.com/hub/Historical-Romance-Family-Saga-Stories); however alongside Julia Quinn another favourite author of this genre is Mary Balogh who has written several linked sets of stories but my favourite of these is her family saga following the Bedwyn siblings.

Through this set of six books the stories of six siblings (headed by Wulfric the Duke of Bewcastle through to the youngest sister Morgan) unfold. I think part of the reason this series appealed in the same way as Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series is that both sets include female siblings that are far from the expected demurely moulded figures that society expected at the time these books are set (Regency England). Instead the females are bold and outspoken with minds of their own and personalities that shine from the pages of the book. While the author keeps the background society and location within the reality of the historical era the siblings personalities bring them alive in front of you and make them stand out from their surroundings. By the time I got to book six (the Duke of Bewcastle's story) I felt immersed into the family that I found it hard to put the book down!

While this hubpage was already published I felt it needed something more so I emailed Mary Balogh via her website www.marybalogh.com and was lucky enough to get a positive response from her. So with the permission of no less than Mary Balogh herself here is an enticing excerpt of Slightly Scandalous Freyja's story from the Bedwyn Series to whet your appetite......

At the risk of appearing tediously repetitious, Freyja pointed at the door again.

"Out!" she commanded.

But he merely grinned at her and stepped closer.

"But I think not," he said. "Why would a duke's sister be staying at this less-than-grand establishment? And without a maid or chaperon to guard her? It was a wonderful performance, nevertheless."

"I can live without your approval," she said coldly. "I do not know what you have done that is so heinous. I do not want to know. I want you out of this room, and I want you out now. Find somewhere else to cower in fright."

"Fright?" He laughed and set a hand over his heart. "You wound me, my charmer."

He was standing very close, quite close enough for Freyja to realize that the top of her head reached barely to his chin. But she always had been short. She was accustomed to ruling her world from below the level of much of the action.

"I am neither your sweetheart nor your charmer," she told him. "I shall count to three. One."

"For what purpose?" He set his hands on either side of her waist.

"Two."

He lowered his head and kissed her. Right on the lips, his own parted slightly so that there was a shocking sensation of warm, moist intimacy.

Freyja inhaled sharply, drew back one arm, and punched him hard in the nose.

"Ouch!" he said, fingering his nose gingerly and flexing his mouth. He drew his hand away and Freyja had the satisfaction of seeing that she had drawn blood. "Did no one ever teach you that any ordinary lady would slap a man's cheek under such scandalous circumstances, not punch him in the nose?"

"I am no ordinary lady," she told him sternly.

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