July 20, 2021
Westcott Family Alert!
https://marybalogh.com/If you like a series with all of the secondary characters showing up, then Someone to Cherish is for you. Yes, the Westcott’s are back…alllllll of them. And, all of the female Westcott’s are scheming about what to do about Harry. Poor Harry, all by himself and blue.
You remember Harry. Harry had it all going for him. He was a pampered aristocrat, surrounded by a loving family, and due to inherit an Earldom. Then it was discovered that maybe his father was just a little tooooo loving, and had married another woman before he had married Harry’s mother. Oops. Bigamy. Enter the Westcott horde and all the connecting books. Harry turns from a fun-loving bon vivant into an embarrassed young man. He loses himself, joins the army, fights Napoleon, gets wounded, is brought back to England, and eventually hides out at a family estate located close to a small village. He has become a pretty isolated young man; living life, but not really being part of it. He’s existing, but he doesn’t smell any roses. And, then one of Mary Balogh’s quiet heroines shows up in his life.
Mary Balogh excels at writing quiet women. And, she has written quite a dynamic one in the form of Lydia Tavernor. Lydia is the widow of a charismatic preacher. She quietly goes about her business in the small village. She lives by herself, bakes bread and cakes, talks to her dog, and chops her own firewood. She visits her friends, goes to church, and is held in high esteem by the locals. A lot of that neighborhood high esteem, is due in part to the spell her magnetic husband cast over the village people. She’s uncomfortable being on her husband’s pedestal, and she’s lonely. Sort of. Well, she is lonely. However, she thinks that taking a lover would solve her loneliness. If she had asked me I would have told her, being with someone will not make you less isolated. But, she didn’t ask me. So, at a neighborhood party her eyes alight on Harry, and she starts pondering. She ponders a lot.
Ponderssssss. Through some interesting coincidence, Harry ends up walking Lydia home after the party. She invites him in, and after some conversation and pondering, Lydia asks Harry if he’s lonely. With that one little question everything changes. She instantly tries to retract the question. Harry, on the other hand, becomes very much more aware of her. They both ponder. There’s a lot of thinking in this story, Lydia more so than Harry, but I didn’t keep track. It’s just a feeling I had. Lydia also does repetitive pondering. I didn’t mind all the brain thinking from Harry or Lydia. But, let’s talk about what I did mind: the plethora of Westcott’s.
I know we love our Romanceland seriesesesesesssssss. I for one love to read books with connecting characters. But that comes with a caveat. I need to remember them. I know I can’t be alone in this, but when an author has a series of three, it’s easier to keep track of than…oh, let’s say a series of eight. There are authors who have series’ which go on forever, for example: Lynsay Sands’ Argeneau family. However, not all of Ms. Sands’ characters show up in one book. The Westcott’s were overwhelming in this story, and it took away from the overall narrative of our couple, Harry and Lydia. On top of all the Westcott noise, was the atrocious matchmaking efforts of the Westcott women. I found their interference annoying.
Bottom-line. Harry and Lydia are a great couple. The romance is slow, the reflective moments are detailed. I loved Lydia’s back story. Her relationship with her husband was intriguing. In fact, the spell he cast over the village was so reminiscent of some of our present-day cults, it was a little scary. I just wish Ms. Balogh had left the Westcott’s in London, and saved them only for the butterfly/unicorn epilogue. Someone to Cherish only needed the small village, Harry, Lydia, and the dog to make it into a great book. This was not my favorite story in the Westcott series, and it could have been.
https://marybalogh.com/If you like a series with all of the secondary characters showing up, then Someone to Cherish is for you. Yes, the Westcott’s are back…alllllll of them. And, all of the female Westcott’s are scheming about what to do about Harry. Poor Harry, all by himself and blue.
You remember Harry. Harry had it all going for him. He was a pampered aristocrat, surrounded by a loving family, and due to inherit an Earldom. Then it was discovered that maybe his father was just a little tooooo loving, and had married another woman before he had married Harry’s mother. Oops. Bigamy. Enter the Westcott horde and all the connecting books. Harry turns from a fun-loving bon vivant into an embarrassed young man. He loses himself, joins the army, fights Napoleon, gets wounded, is brought back to England, and eventually hides out at a family estate located close to a small village. He has become a pretty isolated young man; living life, but not really being part of it. He’s existing, but he doesn’t smell any roses. And, then one of Mary Balogh’s quiet heroines shows up in his life.
Mary Balogh excels at writing quiet women. And, she has written quite a dynamic one in the form of Lydia Tavernor. Lydia is the widow of a charismatic preacher. She quietly goes about her business in the small village. She lives by herself, bakes bread and cakes, talks to her dog, and chops her own firewood. She visits her friends, goes to church, and is held in high esteem by the locals. A lot of that neighborhood high esteem, is due in part to the spell her magnetic husband cast over the village people. She’s uncomfortable being on her husband’s pedestal, and she’s lonely. Sort of. Well, she is lonely. However, she thinks that taking a lover would solve her loneliness. If she had asked me I would have told her, being with someone will not make you less isolated. But, she didn’t ask me. So, at a neighborhood party her eyes alight on Harry, and she starts pondering. She ponders a lot.
Ponderssssss. Through some interesting coincidence, Harry ends up walking Lydia home after the party. She invites him in, and after some conversation and pondering, Lydia asks Harry if he’s lonely. With that one little question everything changes. She instantly tries to retract the question. Harry, on the other hand, becomes very much more aware of her. They both ponder. There’s a lot of thinking in this story, Lydia more so than Harry, but I didn’t keep track. It’s just a feeling I had. Lydia also does repetitive pondering. I didn’t mind all the brain thinking from Harry or Lydia. But, let’s talk about what I did mind: the plethora of Westcott’s.
I know we love our Romanceland seriesesesesesssssss. I for one love to read books with connecting characters. But that comes with a caveat. I need to remember them. I know I can’t be alone in this, but when an author has a series of three, it’s easier to keep track of than…oh, let’s say a series of eight. There are authors who have series’ which go on forever, for example: Lynsay Sands’ Argeneau family. However, not all of Ms. Sands’ characters show up in one book. The Westcott’s were overwhelming in this story, and it took away from the overall narrative of our couple, Harry and Lydia. On top of all the Westcott noise, was the atrocious matchmaking efforts of the Westcott women. I found their interference annoying.
Bottom-line. Harry and Lydia are a great couple. The romance is slow, the reflective moments are detailed. I loved Lydia’s back story. Her relationship with her husband was intriguing. In fact, the spell he cast over the village was so reminiscent of some of our present-day cults, it was a little scary. I just wish Ms. Balogh had left the Westcott’s in London, and saved them only for the butterfly/unicorn epilogue. Someone to Cherish only needed the small village, Harry, Lydia, and the dog to make it into a great book. This was not my favorite story in the Westcott series, and it could have been.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm
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