REMEMBER WHEN is book number four in the Ravenswood, Regency-era historical romance from long-time author Mary Balogh.  Balogh was one of my gateway romance authors way back in the day.  Her writing has matured over the years and has become even gentler and more introspective.  I stopped reading Anne Perry Victorian mysteries a decade ago because Perry stories became repetitive monologues musing about morals and social mores, and I feel like Balogh has hit that stage now too.  Perhaps this is a function of age and/or years of writing. 

Not much happens in REMEMBER WHEN.  This is a second-chance romance between two middle-aged individuals.  The romance is gentle and sweet.  There is very little conflict.  But there is a lot of navel-gazing.  I quickly grew weary of the endless musings about life changes and what makes one happy.

The best part of this book, as with all of Balogh’s books, is the large cast of characters, family and acquaintances, who each get their own book in the series.  The heroine here is the mother of children who have already found their Happily Ever After in previous books (and one who will get her HEA in the next book, the youngest daughter Jennifer). 

It is refreshing to have an older heroine, as so many romances feature hot young women in their twenties.  Mature characters are always appreciated, especially as I age myself!  The hero went off to find himself in foreign lands for several decades, and there’s a loose and reductive inclusion of mindfulness and Eastern meditation in REMEMBER WHEN.  This series has been hit or miss for me, and Balogh’s REMEMBER WHEN is firmly in the miss column for me.  Hopefully, the next book will be more lively and less introspective.