A Summer to Remember
Balogh's most celebrated standalone. Kit Butler's arranged pretend-courtship of Lauren Edgeworth, which becomes real. Balogh gives both characters complex inner lives and genuine wounds; the romance is built on mutual respect and recognition rather than fireworks, which makes it strangely more moving. The best argument for the "marriage of convenience" trope.
Balogh's restraint cuts both ways. The fake-betrothal premise telegraphs its ending from the moment terms are negotiated, the house party offers no peril beyond embarrassment, and both leads rehearse the same wounds in long interior loops while little happens outside their heads. If you want event, or even weather, you will be checking the page count.
The case for it and the rest of the canon open with Pro.
