I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Someone to Remember
by
Mary Balogh
It is part of the Westcott series and is a historical romance in a Kindle edition that was published by Berkley on November 5, 2019 and has 272 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Slightly Married, Slightly Wicked, Slightly Tempted, Slightly Scandalous, Slightly Dangerous, A Summer to Remember, Simply Unforgettable, Simply Love, Simply Magic, The Proposal, The Arrangement, Only Enchanting, Only a Promise, Only a Kiss, Only Beloved, Someone to Love, Someone to Hold, Someone to Wed, Someone to Care, Someone to Trust, Someone to Honor, Someone Perfect, Someone to Cherish
Seventh in the Westcott historical romance series and revolving around the extended Westcott family. The couple focus is on Lady Matilda Westcott and Charles Sawyer, Viscount Dirkson. It’s been six years since Someone to Love, 1.
My Take
It’s not just you youngsters who get to have a romance *creak*. It makes me think that Balogh’s theme is “never too late”.
I love it! Matilda and her mother finally clear the air about all Matilda’s fussing. Okay, it’s also a bit tedious with all the angsting going on — Balogh uses third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Matilda’s and Charles’ perspectives, so we get a lot of back history on Matilda’s and Charles’ fouled-up young love with both of them reflecting on emotions, thoughts, and memories of then and now. Of the ensuing years and how that lost love fared. Anger over how Matilda is treated by her family today.
And yet, how can you not love Someone to Remember, when a good woman finally gets her own happily-ever-after.
The Story
Never one to let an injustice go, Lady Matilda ensured that Viscount Dirkson knew of his natural son’s predicament. And true to form, the Westcott family steps up to embrace yet more family.
It’s a support that takes Matilda aback, for she thought she had accepted that failed romance, even as she begins to question her unappreciated subservience to her mother and seriously questions the life of solitude she has spun for herself.
To Matilda, who considers herself the aging spinster daughter, marriage is laughable — love is a game for the young, after all. But her modest, quiet life of order unravels when a dashing gentleman from her past reappears, threatening to charm his way into her heart yet again.
The Characters
The fifty-six-year-old Lady Matilda Westcott is the aging spinster daughter, spending her life tending to the needs of her mother, Eugenia, the Dowager Countess of Riverdale. Mildred is Matilda’s sister married to Thomas, Lord Molenor. Twenty-one-year old Boris Wayne is Mildred’s oldest son. Louise, the Dowager Duchess of Netherby, is Matilda’s middle sister.
Charles Sawyer, Viscount Dirkson, had a notorious reputation decades ago…and had been friends with Humphrey. Widowed five years ago, Dirkson did a good deed for his unacknowledged natural son, Lieutenant Colonel Gil Bennington, who married Abigail Westcott in Someone to Honor, 6; they’ve moved to Gloucestershire. Katy is Gil’s daughter. Gil’s mother had been a washerwoman and daughter to a prosperous blacksmith. Charles has a legit son, the twenty-two-year-old Adrian, and two married daughters: Barbara (married to Edward Dewhurst) and the newly pregnant Jane, who is married to Wallace, Lord Frater.
The Westcott Family
Alexander, Earl of Riverdale, is the head of the Westcott family and married to Wren (Someone to Wed, 3). Elizabeth is Alexander’s sister, who is married to Colin Handrich, Lord Hodges (Someone to Trust, 5).
Edith Monteith is Eugenia’s widowed sister; Douglas had been Edith’s husband. Adelaide Boniface is a depressing distant cousin of Douglas’ and has been Edith’s companion.
Lady Jessica Archer is Louise’s daughter and half sister to Avery Archer, the current Duke of Netherby who is married to Anna (Someone to Love, 1).
Bertrand, Viscount Watley, and Estelle Lamarr are twins and the children of Marcel Lamarr, Marquess of Dorchester, (he married Viola, the former Countess of Riverdale; Someone to Care, 4) making them step siblings to Viola’s children.
It was the death of Humphrey, the last Earl of Riverdale that started us on this series with his secret marriage to Alice Snow and his equally secret legit daughter, Anna. Humphrey was also brother to Matilda, Mildred, and Louise. Viola had been Humphrey’s countess for twenty-three years, and they had three children: Camille (who married Joel Cunningham in Someone to Hold, 2, and they have seven children), Harry, and Abigail.
Charlotte Rigg is Estelle’s friend. Ambrose and Dorothea Keithley are brother and sister. Mrs Summoner is a widow interested in Charles.
The Cover and Title
The cover is about someone else. A woman with her back to us and dressed in purple stands before a Palladian-style country house with beautiful gardens under a blue summer sky. We know it isn’t Matilda because Balogh specifically states that Matilda wears light blue…and the action takes place in London. A testimonial in black is at the very top with an info blurb in purple below it, which is followed by the author’s name, also in purple. A round purple badge placed on the left and between house and garden announces that there are included excerpts. The title is at the bottom below the woman’s waist in white. Beneath that, also in white, is the series information.
The title is what it’s all about, Someone to Remember.
