Rating: 
Summary: An average romance
Review: Kit, Viscount Ravensburg needs a fiance before going home to his family's seat. He has a woman waiting for him at home but she is his dead brother's bethrothed and Kit's ex lover. He doesn't want to have to marry her now after the events of three years ago. He asks Lauren Edgeworth to marry him upon a wager with his friends that he can have her under his spell within two weeks time. Instead of marrying him Lauren agrees to pretending to be his bethrothed and go to his family's home for the summer. In return, Kit is to give her a summer to remember. A summer of fun and adventure before she breaks of the engagement and becomes a spinister. What seems like a simple plan where both will benefit becomes very complex as the two begin to develop feelings for each other. A Summer to Remember was just an average romance for me. It is the typical rogue who sets his eyes upon a lovely, proper lady and sees a challenge ahead of him. Lauren is so prim and proper and Kit is quite the rogue in every aspect of his life. They both have their share of secrets that have turned them into the adults they are. The setting was nice and the romance scenes were nicely written. I liked the storyline but got a little bored with all of the war stories Kit told. They were a somewhat intrical part of the story but could have been told in much less time. I also found it a little hard to get interested in the story until the first 100 pages or so (hardcover). When their agreement was finalized and they started playing their respective parts the story became interesting and fun to read. A Summer to Remember is a nice quick read for an afternoon. I would probably borrow it from the library though or perhaps buy a secondhand copy. Not a keeper for me.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm adding five more,because it should be ten.
Review: Mary's new book,the sequel to "One Night For Love" was wonderful
and not dull at all.I truly enjoyed Lauren's voyage of self dis-
covery,asmuch as Kit's learning that tho'we wish to,we can't al-ways protect those we love from the more darker sides of life,es-
pecially when war is involved.Apparently Kit&his late older bro-
ther Jerome had spent their lives being their younger brother's
scapegoats,he forgot or refused to noticed that his younger bro-
ther was now taller than he was.In some ways Lauren was cotton-
wooled in this fashion&wanted to escape.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully emotionally satisfying and rich
Review: Miss Lauren Edgeworth was left at the alter a year before but she is strong--and wishes for nothing more than her independence. When handsome rake Kit Viscount Ravensberg swoops in with marriage in his mind, Lauren sees a way to get them both what they want. The plan--an announced engagement that will let Kit avoid his family's schemes. Once the engagement is broken, Lauren's reputation will prevent any future marriage plans and let her get on with her life. In the meantime, Kit can open Lauren's eyes to adventure for a SUMMER TO REMEMBER. Set in Regency England, A SUMMER TO REMEMBER offers a combination of the best of regency manners with steamy desire. Both Lauren and Kit are powerfully damaged characters with inherent nobilities that make them sympathetic and right for one another. Still, Lauren's clever plan may turn out to be too clever by half when she begins to fall in love with Kit only to realize that his soulmate is another woman. Author Mary Balogh delivers an emotionally powerful novel. Lauren's slow opening to womanhood is satisfying and believable. The steps she takes to help Kit reach reconciliation with his family--despite the risks she takes by doing so--further endear her to the reader. Her history of abandonment makes her desire for independence seem essential and non-negotiable, even if it means forgoing the love of her life. Kit is a wonderful hero--a combination of rake and hero, willing to protect the weak with no thought for society's rules. Only he can help Lauren escape from her past--just as only she can rescue him from himself.
Rating:
Summary: Ms. Balogh's most glorious outing
Review: Most historical romance bolsters on suspense/mystery to enthrall but not Regency mistress Mary Balogh who is hailed by Romantics Times as a "matchless storyteller" - her characters and full-fledged romance provide the stimulus. In A Summer to Remember, Ms. Balogh fashions her most beguiling creatures to date with the frigid Lauren Edgeworth as the perfect foil to the debonair adventurer Viscount Ravensburg Kit Butler. The demise of his elder brother Jerome has lifted his banishment from Alvesley to assume his position as heir to Earl of Redford. Striking a wager with his friends, Kit intends to make the prosaic beauty as his wife. It's just too bad that Lauren isn't a simpering neophyte and Kit confesses honestly his agenda, only to be surprised that Lauren wants a brief romantic summer interlude with him. She will break the engagement and be free from the marriage proposals that her relatives thrust her. They fall in love as in any romance novel but the courtship that segues from Vauxhall to swimming and tree-climbing is unfettered bliss and lush romance. Ms. Balogh weaves intimacy between the couple with tender passion and redemption. Lauren curbs her sunny side with her parents' departure; Kit is unable to forgive himself for the afflictions he caused on his younger brother Syd in his militant days. It is at once heart-wrenching with denouements and poignant with family reconciliations. With maturity and grace, Ms. Balogh resolves the conflicts and adds depth to the ensemble of sub-characters including Syd and Lady Muir. She employs the healing power to soothe personal anguish in the characters with emotional delicacy. A Summer to Remember is unadulterated romance of such rare beauty and elegance that it will be remembered as Ms. Balogh's most glorious outing.
Rating:
Summary: Ms. Balogh's most glorious outing
Review: Most historical romance bolsters on suspense/mystery to enthrall but not Regency mistress Mary Balogh who is hailed by Romantics Times as a "matchless storyteller" - her characters and full-fledged romance provide the stimulus. In A Summer to Remember, Ms. Balogh fashions her most beguiling creatures to date with the frigid Lauren Edgeworth as the perfect foil to the debonair adventurer Viscount Ravensburg Kit Butler. The demise of his elder brother Jerome has lifted his banishment from Alvesley to assume his position as heir to Earl of Redford. Striking a wager with his friends, Kit intends to make the prosaic beauty as his wife. It's just too bad that Lauren isn't a simpering neophyte and Kit confesses honestly his agenda, only to be surprised that Lauren wants a brief romantic summer interlude with him. She will break the engagement and be free from the marriage proposals that her relatives thrust her. They fall in love as in any romance novel but the courtship that segues from Vauxhall to swimming and tree-climbing is unfettered bliss and lush romance. Ms. Balogh weaves intimacy between the couple with tender passion and redemption. Lauren curbs her sunny side with her parents' departure; Kit is unable to forgive himself for the afflictions he caused on his younger brother Syd in his militant days. It is at once heart-wrenching with denouements and poignant with family reconciliations. With maturity and grace, Ms. Balogh resolves the conflicts and adds depth to the ensemble of sub-characters including Syd and Lady Muir. She employs the healing power to soothe personal anguish in the characters with emotional delicacy. A Summer to Remember is unadulterated romance of such rare beauty and elegance that it will be remembered as Ms. Balogh's most glorious outing.
Rating: 
Summary: Emotionally compelling and beautifully written
Review: Nobody gets the Regency mentality of the fine line between honor, duty, and love quite the way Mary Balogh does. Mary Balogh has written a book with a tremendous amount of emotional depth, and with her usually beautiful writing, this book is as always, another winner.
A word of warning: I picked up this book a total of ten times before I actually got into it. I have already noticed a pattern in Mary Balogh's writing that the first hundred pages are pretty tame, but then the pace picks up, and the story becomes so emotionally compelling that you can't put it down. Maybe it's that she spends the first half of the book creating a setting, the characters - putting everything into place for her story - but whatever it is, if you found yourself bored in the beginning, skip to towards the middle of the book - the pace picks up at that point.
When I first picked this up I found the initial characters a little boring and somewhat stereotypical - the ultimate, most outrageous rake paired with the prim and proper lady - and I had seen this done so many times that I really wondered what Mary Balogh could add. But that's where I was wrong. Mary Balogh could add quite a bit, it turned out. As usual, she has turned out a masterpiece of a book.
Although, I have to admit that I never quite warmed to the character of Lauren, nor have I ever really understood her. It seems to me that someone like Lauren would not be able to answer both Kit and the Bedwyns the way she did, it takes a tremendous amount of confidence to be able to a. answer that way, and b. feel that way, and I am not sure from where Lauren would have gotten that confidence (given her background). I also was not quite sure why Lauren had to be pushed into *enjoying* physical activities - I know people who are just not into the physical, contact sport thing, and they're perfectly happy and well-adjusted people - so why does Lauren have to change in this area? (In case you're wondering, I do enjoy physical, contact sports).
Unlike some previous reviewers, this is not the first book I have read by Mary Balogh, and therefore my criteria are probably harder to fill. She has done this already, if not this exact plot, then parts of it, in previous novels. For me, this took away from my full enjoyment of this book. Is it fair to rate an author against herself? Not really. But sometimes, unconsciously, we do it anyway. So, even though this book on its own would probably have merited a five star, for me this was only a four star book, as this was not a keeper for me.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely, pleasing book
Review: Read this in one sitting yesterday, couldn't put the story of Lauren (the abandoned bride) and Kit down. I always know if a book is good if it makes me cry at the end and I was sniffling 50 pages before that and didn't let up. Mary B. does it again with a combination of emotion, sensuality, and humor, giving life to 2 very interesting characters, in fact, I plan to read this book again soon - it was that delicious!
Rating:
Summary: I am of the opinion that this book should be mandatory..
Review: reading for every aspiring author (and some professional ones too). Maybe then we readers would be spared some of those atrocious, embarrasing books that are being published nowadays (and become bestsellers too!! Who buys this dreck???) Anyway, the point of that rant is that Mary Balogh has produced a gem of a book, a true keeper in every sense of the words. After his older brother's untimely death the notorious Kit Butler inherited the title of Viscount Ravensberg (sp). His family, aghast at Kit's exploits in London order him home immediately to take his rightful place as the heir to a powerful earldom and also to fulfill his duty by marrying a bride chosen by his father and producing heirs. Kit, already estranged from his family, balks at his family's command and decides that he will find his own bride and marry on his own terms not his father's. He will even go a step further and instead of choosing someone completely unsuitable as his family would expect he decides he will choose the perfect lady.
Lauren Edgeworth is the perfect lady. She has devoted her whole life to perfecting the art of being a lady. She thrives on prediction and takes comfort in routine. In short, Lauren Edgeworth is a dead bore (or so Kit thinks) therefore she is the ideal woman for his plans. Lauren surprises him by agreeing to be his fiancee in name only until he can find a bride not of his father's choosing. In exchange, Lauren wants Kit to give her a summer she will never forget. He readily agrees. At the end of Lauren's perfect summer she will break off the betrothal and move to Bath to begin the life a respectable spinster. However, for Kit this was easier said than done because he was not prepared for the other side of Lauren. He finds himself captivated by the woman hiding behind the icy facade, apparently afraid to come out. Since Kit is not one to resist a challenge he is determined to bring that woman out. In the process he finds himself caring far too much for his "pretend" fiancee.
Lauren, on the other hand is determined to leave at the end of the summer with her heart intact. After her first wedding was scandalously aborted (see One Night for Love) Lauren is convinced she will never be able to love again. However, she is not made of stone and very soon she finds herself hopessly drawn to Kit. His devil-may-care attitude fascinates her and the pain she glimpses behind his laughing eyes and happy-go-lucky attitude brings her dangerously close to falling madly in love. Balogh has outdone herself with Kit and Lauren. Never before have I read a book with characters that were so perfect for one another. Kit is an absolute joy to read, his charm and endearing ways had me sighing over and over. Also, the dialogue sparkles and the developing relationship between Kit and Lauren is belivable and incredibly executed. I have said before that Balogh is the closest one can get to a modern day Jane Austen and this book just reinforces my opinion. In short, this is an incredible book and I cannot recommend it enough. :0)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent character development, great book
Review: The thing I love about Mary Balogh, and what distinguishes most of her work, is how she throws her characters together, keeps them together, and develops them together. And she does it spectacularly in "A Summer to Remember." There's none of the "barely meet, have a stupid misunderstanding, spend the book pining for each other but not speaking, miraculously fix their only problem without showing that they'll be able to work through future problems, live happily ever after" crap. In contrast, these characters meet, don't get along so well, but agree to help each other out for selfish reasons. In the process, they learn more about each other, we learn more about them, and they learn to deal well with each other and with the secondary characters. By the end of the book, we *believe* they will live happily ever after because we know they know how to behave with each other. They adjust their behavior based on their knowledge of the other person. The primary characters are really decent people. They make decisions which a reasonable person would make. I can sympathize with their problems because they seem real, not sensational. This book weaves in many secondary characters as well. I truly enjoyed it; it's on my keeper shelf with plans for re-reading.
Rating:
Summary: Might be the same plot- but it was different for me!
Review: The was my 1st Balogh book and I didn't know this was a series until now & I don't feel like I missed out by not reading the one before this. The author did a good job of catching the reader up through different scenes of flash backs, memories, etc. And some readers might say it has the same plot as other regency storys but there was a difference for me. The heroine (Miss Lauren Edgeworth) is strong, respectable, loving- she's not this wimpy creature that spreads her legs in the first pages of the book to find love or because she's been told to. The hero (Kit Viscount Ravensberg) is a typical rake with a past that he has been trying to escape from, but there is another side to him that through time and a special relationship with Lauren (not one of jumping in and out of bed) he reveals. Now don't get me wrong- Lauren and Kit find their love together and have their special moments but their relationship is NOT based on that. I literally felt their pain at times. And though I know there is going to be a happy ending-I still worried at times about their getting together. I especially appreciated the ending. ... But Balogh carried it on out and I felt so very satisfied with I finished the book. I was truly captivated by the story and hated to put it down til the end. Now I have told you all this and not even told you about the story, I'll try to be brief...
Miss Lauren Edgeworth was left at the alter under unusual circumstances a year ago by the one love of her life. She has been trying to get on with her life in seclusion but her family says it's time for her to get out. She has learned during her childhood that one is accepted and loved when one does what is expected to do- so she has turned out to be this prime, proper, beautiful, somewhat dull person. She is 26 years old- yet to be married and ready to accept a life of being single. She arrives in London to visit family and is talked into attending a few parties of the ton. Though it has been a year she is sure her
ex-wedding will still be the talk of the ton. Kit Viscount Ravensberg, a rake living a wild life in London, has been summoned by his father to return to the estate to wed his elder deceased brother's fiancee (who 3 years ago was Kit's love- yes, I could see problems there too!) and take on family responsibilities. Not having spoken to family members on 3 years- Kit is still rebellous and decides he is going to rebell by bring home a fiancee/or bride of his own choosings. But who will have him with the reputation he has gained for himself? Lauren and Kit become acquainted, they strike up a bargain to become betrothed for the summer only - Lauren is to accompany Kit home and be his respectable fiancee long enough to show the family he can make acceptable decisions such as picking a bride (helping Kit be reunited with his family) while Kit becomes her fiancee to get her family off her back (showing Lauren a memorable summer to last her a lifetime as a spinster. Lauren goes on a voyage of self-discovery finding freedom while Kit accepts the traumas of the past- that he can not always be the hero. And together they find that love doesn't mean dependence. I'm TELLING YOU, IT WAS A GREAT STORY!! and you'll love the ending.
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