Mary Balogh's trilogy focusing on the three Huxtable sisters finishes with At Last Comes Love, the story of eldest sister, Margaret. Each of these stories has looked at how people manage to make a success out of a marriage of convenience, approaching the topic slightly differently in each case.
Margaret's story relies on an unlikely set of circumstances to work, although Mary Balogh is such a good writer that generally it is easy to go along with the plot. Margaret finds herself the subject of gossip after it is revealed that she is betrothed to the Earl of Sheringford, Duncan Pennethorne, an infamous rake who ran off five years before with another man's wife, leaving his fiancée at the altar. Margaret's touch of obstinacy means that she doesn't immediately repudiate the rumors but instead begins to try to learn more about Duncan - whether he really is the amoral man he has been made out to be, and whether he in fact offers a chance for her to have a home and family as she had wished.
Duncan needs to marry, and very quickly indeed. Margaret isn't the sort of lady he was planning to wed, but she may be his only option. Can these two people, one with many secrets, possibly make a future together? Can a tendency to dislike each other turn to love?
At Last Comes Love more on the initial meetings and wooings of Margaret and Duncan rather than their life after marriage. In fact, the big event in the latter part of the book, up to which many events had been leading, feels rather abruptly handled. In some ways, this story feels less polished and the characters less believable than those Balogh usually produces, but I did still enjoy it - and she is still able to write far more effectively than almost anyone else in this genre.