Update on my reading:
Gracie's Marriage of Convenience series was sweet, the 4th book being my favourite: I really liked George and the dynamic between her and the Duke.
Gracie's books are pleasant reads, more on the lighter side for me, though I shed a couple of tears during certain scenes, which weren't so much about the main protagonists as about the ordeal of poor veteran soldiers and their wives and families who were bereft and left to fend for themselves after the Napoleonic wars. I took my time to finish the series as I found the stories weren't as gripping as some others I read before (like Seven nights), so I read at a leisurely pace. I'd describe the experience of reading her books as "comfortable", like a nice walk in a beautiful, tidy garden, where the path is quite safe. Pretty, but somewhat lacking in 'substance' (for me).
After that series, I went back to Balogh - the Gilded Web, which I finished yesterday. Talk about substance! While the Marriage of Convenience series felt like an enjoyable ride on a merry-go-round or as said above, a walk in the garden, the Gilded Web is more akin to a roller-coaster or an adventurous, dangerous hike in the wild. More realistic, more poignant, more harrowing, more everything. Very painful, yet I couldn't stop reading, wanting to know how the characters would resolve their conflicts and finally reach the much anticipated happy ending. But even though Balogh's stories all have a happy ending, I'm always left with a bittersweet feeling after finishing her books. She dissects human emotions without any complacency, and she's so terrifyingly accurate. You know it's never gonna be "happily ever after" as in fairytales. The couples may have found happiness together, but the story goes one. There will still be struggles, conflicts, heartache and loss. As in real life. I don't get that bittersweet feeling with Gracie.
Balogh describes both the horror and the beauty of the human condition and human struggles so perfectly that reading her books somewhat feels like torture. And I can't even say that I personally related to the characters' struggles. I don't know how to describe it. It's just that the feelings and emotions are so real, I mean it feels so real that it's very hard to distance oneself and to just superficially "enjoy" the reading. Not that the point is to distance oneself, mind you. I couldn't even if I tried.
Can't wait to read James and Mad's story and am bracing myself for that future "ordeal". But yeah, as Alana wrote, what a story, what a writer! In all the authors I've read so far, Balogh's really the best.