TEST
I don’t know where the time is going, but it seems hardly any has elapsed between turning the last page of Only Beloved, the final novel in Mary Balogh’s Survivor’s Club series – and reading Someone to Love, the first story in her new, eight-part Westcott series. The story revolves around an orphan who discovers she is an heiress, and tells of her interactions with her new family and the highs and lows contained therein. Its underlying themes are, surely to do with the importance of self and family; about remaining true to who one believes oneself to be under even the most difficult of circumstances, and the importance of having those around us who love, understand and comfort us. These unwritten truths of the human condition are exactly the sorts of things that Mary Balogh explores so well within the pages of all her books; she isn’t much given to melodrama or high-adventure, preferring to work upon the smaller canvas of her characters’ experiences and emotions – good and bad – in ways that are relatable and familiar to readers.
Humphrey Westcott, Earl of Riverdale, has recently died and has left his heir to the guardianship of Avery Archer, the Duke of Netherby. After the reading of the late earl’s will, his widow asks the family solicitor for his help on a delicate matter. She knows that her late husband had been supporting an illegitimate child born before their marriage, and she would like to make some kind of final settlement upon her. Lady Riverdale asks the family solicitor to seek out this young woman and then to make her and Avery aware of the results of the search.
Anna Snow is twenty-five years old, and has lived almost all her life in the orphanage in Bath at which she is now a teacher. She enjoys her life and her job, she has good friends around her and is content. Completely out of the blue, she receives a letter from a solicitor she has never heard of, informing her that he is sending a chaise to take her to London for a few days. Anna is puzzled, having no idea what awaits her, but arranges a leave of absence from the school and travels to the capital with the companion provided for her.
Of course, Anna is the late Earl of Riverdale’s daughter, but unfortunately for the family, the solicitor’s inquiries have revealed much more than her identity and location, and this information is going to change the lives of the Westcott family forever.
For the child believed to be a by-blow is actually legitimate, the issue of the earl’s marriage to the daughter of a country parson. His wedding to Lady Riverdale took place a few months before the death of his wife, meaning the later marriage was bigamous, and the son and daughters who believed themselves to be members of the nobility are nothing of the sort. The repercussions of this discovery are huge. The earldom and entailed property pass to the viscount’s cousin, Alexander, who has absolutely no desire to be an earl, far preferring his life as a country squire; the eldest Westcott daughter is jilted by her fiancé and the family is suddenly presented with Anna Snow – really Lady Anastasia Westcott – sole heiress to the earl’s unentailed property and almost the entirety of his fortune.
The Duke of Netherby watches all this from the sidelines, presenting a calm voice of reason amid all the turmoil. He is the first person to appreciate that Anna’s pleasant, demure manner hides a steel backbone, and he is surprised to find that he rather likes and admires her for it. He is one of those archetypally ennui-laden aristocrats often found gracing the pages of historical romance; he doesn’t like to exert himself overmuch and pays great attention to his clothes, but he’s sharp as a tack and far from a fop. Unlike the typical romance hero however, he’s not tall, dark and handsome; he’s of average height, slightly built and almost angelically beautiful, and yet he possesses an aura of power held in check and there’s an almost overwhelming self-confidence and masculinity about him that means that he’s the centre of attention in any room he enters and that people generally fall over themselves to please him. He’s also witty and charming to those he allows close enough to discern that about him, and the relationship that develops between him and Anna is an unlikely friendship underpinned by a completely unexpected mutual attraction.
There is quite a lot going on in this story, and I admit to having been just a little bit overwhelmed by all the different family members and connections that are introduced. I suppose that this is because Someone to Love is the first in a series and there is a lot to be set up, but I still had to stop a few times to remind myself as to who was who. The two principal characters are well drawn and Avery, in particular, is very intriguing, especially given he is so unlike the standard romance novel hero. Being small and somewhat feminine in appearance as a child, he was horribly bullied when he was younger, and although he tried everything he could to fight it, nothing worked. But a chance encounter in his teens helped him to overcome the bullies and I really appreciated his unusual backstory and loved learning how he gained his incredible self-possession.
Anna is perhaps a little too good to be true, but I liked her for her insistence on retaining her own sense of identity in the face of her sudden change in situation and enormous external pressure. Faced with a group of very determined ladies of the ton, she recognises their superior knowledge of society and its conventions and allows herself to be guided by them – but only up to a point. Her delight at the discovery that she has a family, something she’s dreamed of all her life, is bittersweet, given that family’s reaction to her, but I admired her ability to have empathy for them, even when their actions were deliberately hurtful.
The romance is fairly low-key but perfectly in character for both Anna and Avery, who are not people given to histrionics or great flights of passion. As it turns out, both are looking for Someone to Love – even Avery, who has cultivated aloofness and detachment to such an extent that he finds them difficult to shed, and I enjoyed the glimpse Ms. Balogh gives us into what happens to a new marriage after the honeymoon period and the difficulties faced by a fledgling husband and wife in adapting to their new state.
I enjoyed Someone to Love very much, and I am looking forward to learning more about Harry, Alex, Camilla, and the other characters introduced in the course of the story. Once again, Mary Balogh’s ability to create interesting characters and plotlines shines through, and her great strength in exploring the emotions and motivations of those characters is much in evidence. My final grade takes into account the fact that the book suffers somewhat from “set-up-itis”, but it’s nonetheless a strong start to a new series from this much loved author.
Buy it at Amazon/iBooks/Barnes and Noble/Kobo
Grade: B+
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 06/11/16
Publication Date: 11/2016
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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I’m really struggling to finish this book. There are too many characters to keep straight. And I don’t have any interest in Anna or Avery, probably because we’ve spent little time with them.
I read the whole book and didn’t care a fig about either of them….
Like magic Someone to Love has finally appeared on my Kindle. So happy….
This book’s review created quite an interesting discussion over on SBTB. http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/someone-love-mary-balogh/ Mary Balogh and Courtney Milan both joined this thread and their comments were valuable. I am a complete Mary Balogh fan and it was difficult to read some of the comments not only because I have always loved her books, but also because I felt so out of touch with all of my long held beliefs about my ability to identify racism and bias in my reading. I have this book on preorder because it’s Mary Balogh and I am not canceling my order. However, I must admit the anticipatory joy is considerably diminished for me and while I am not an especially critical reader, I suspect that I might be with this title. In any case, you might be interested in the discussion. I found it to be fascinating and very educational.
I’ve read relatively few books by Balogh and can’t remember half of them, but I thought that was an excellent and much-needed discussion (on SBTB) overall. Some of the reader comments were unbelievable but not necessarily surprising. Hopefully she understands the criticism for what it is and does better next time.
Amanda, by saying “hopefully ‘she’ understands…” do you mean Ms. Balogh?
For those who do not visit the SBTB site, below is Ms. Balogh’s response (#39 on the SBTB site, posted on November 4th @ 2:41PM) to the criticism. The same day SBTB released the review.
“This has been very educational, and I thank you for all the comments and explanations. I am being sincere here! (Well, and licking some wounds too!) We are never too old to learn. I have been surprised by some things I have read. I think of myself as a reasonably knowledgeable person and one who is sensitive to all peoples and so need to be told when I have failed. I will do better in future at least on this specific issue.”
My understanding from Ms. Balogh’s statement (of THREE days ago), is that Ms. Balogh HAS listened.
A correction to my last post: SBTB review of Ms. Balogh’s latest novel appeared on-line on November 3rd at 3:00 AM.
Ms. Balogh responded to the review on the 4th of November at 10:00 AM (#23,) and then later the same day (#39).
This is very handsome of Ms. Balogh, and a hat tip to her for it. This book was a hiccup for me, but I’m her fan for life.
Yes, the “she” in my comment was referring to Ms. Balogh.
Thanks, Mary Beth, for posting the link to a really interesting discussion over at SBTB. I particularly appreciated Courtney Milan’s intervention into the harm of constructing stereotypical minority characters. I was also a little surprised that Balogh says she is unaware of the problems associated with the term “Oriental.” I understand her point about using the term in a historical context, but not to be aware of contemporary problems with still using the term did surprise me.
You may have long-held deep-down biases that you may be unaware of till they are pointed out to you. This happened to me recently on a lesser note. So I’m in sympathy with Ms. Balogh not realizing that “Oriental” could be offensive. Her second comment shows that she listened and is now aware of her error.
Courtney Milan’s comment was superb! She is, in general, superb!
Balogh is British by birth, and what US readers do not seem to realise is that “Oriental” is a term that is interpreted very differently in America to other countries. It is not a term I feel comfortable with, but in Britain “Asian” generally refers to people from South Asia (India, for example). Calling someone from the north-east of Asia “Asian” is unusual. When I first moved to England I had a lot of confusing conversations because the terminology is so different.
This is probably why British reviewers are very perplexed about all the fuss, because US English is very different in many ways.
Anyway, I went into this expecting to see the term “Oriental” used a lot, because everyone was so upset about it, but it was actually not even used once – not even ONCE. “Orient” is mentioned once, but at no point is the “Chinese gentleman” (a term that made me cringe) actually called “Oriental”.
There are so many US Western historicals out there where there’re actually Chinese characters in the books, and they’re *terribly* stereotyped, including speaking in ridiculous ways. I am amazed that nobody has ever raised the issues with those books, but they got this worked up about Balogh’s book (though maybe they haven’t even read Balogh’s book yet…).
As some other non-Americans (including people in Asia) on Smart Bitches mentioned, it is frustrating that everyone assumes we’re all American, and should all think and speak like Americans.
I thought the “Chinese gentleman” thing was dreadful and rather ridiculous (who thinks about people they know without using their name??), and it ruined an otherwise wonderful book, but the focus of the discussion seemed to be much more about the assumption we’re all American than that this character SHOULD have been given a name.
It is such a pity that this man was even put in the book, actually, as otherwise it was a wonderful read. I have never read Balogh before, but I will certainly look for more of her books now. However, it certainly feels like the whole series has been tainted by this situation. I think the martial arts thing was important for the story, but it is so unfortunate that the whole thing is now going to be remembered as culturally insensitive, and the book problematic.
If only the “Chinese gentleman” had been given a name. As I said, he is never actually in the book, just mentioned, but the damage was done…
She never disappoints. And this review tells me she’s right on-game. Can’t wait to read it.
I feel the same, Tee. I’ve been looking forward to reading this for weeks. Tomorrow is excruciatingly busy but I hope I can find the time. It will be a nice distraction from the election day madness. :-)
Can’t wait to start reading this! I always say I’m going to wait for the weekend and hope for chilly weather when a new Balogh book comes out but inevitably, I start reading the minute the download ends and the cover appears on my Kindle.