Someone To Love (The Westcott Series)

by Mary Balogh

2016

Status

Available

Publication

Berkley (2016), 400 pages

Description

Fiction. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh presents the first historical romance in the Westcott series, where the death of an earl reveals a most scandalous secret. Humphrey Westcott, Earl of Riverdale, has died, leaving behind a fortune and a scandalous secret that will forever alter the lives of everyone in his familyâ??including the daughter no one knew he had... Anna Snow grew up in an orphanage in Bath knowing nothing of the family she came from. Now she discovers that the late Earl of Riverdale was her father and that she has inherited his fortune. She is also overjoyed to learn she has siblings. However, they want nothing to do with her or her attempts to share her new wealth. But the new earlâ??s guardian is interested in Annaâ?¦   Avery Archer, Duke of Netherby, keeps others at a distance. Yet something prompts him to aid Anna in her transition from orphan to lady. As London society and her newfound relatives threaten to overwhelm Anna, Avery steps in to rescue her and finds himself vulnerable to feelings and desires he has hidden so well and for… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member JudyCroome
A pleasant start to the new Mary Balogh series. Interesting lead characters in Avery and Anna, and interesting secondary characters who I presume will be the leads in future books in the series. A quiet, slow-paced book, with gentle emotions and gentle, but strong, lead characters.

I liked Anna's
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dignity and Avery's mystery; the interesting twist in the main plot.

I struggled with some long-winded passages, necessary, I suppose, to set-up the series; the romance was not strong enough and the setting didn't feel like a Regency, felt more like an old-fashioned romance.

Nothing like the strong emotion in Balogh's older books such as Summer to Remember, Heartless, Longing, The Temporary Wife, The Secret Pearl and others. Still, I'm interested enough to want to find out what happens to the cast of characters we met in this first book.
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LibraryThing member LibStaff2
3.75 Stars
A new historical romance series with a relatively independent female MC and an equally fascinating male lead. The characters, both the MCs and the supporting ones, are dynamic. The reader gets to see all their sides, the weaknesses as well as the strengths. I like that the Duke is a bit
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unusual too. There's plenty of conflict and witty dialogue, but it's definitely a light-hearted story. For historical romance readers and Mary Balogh fans.

Net Galley Feedback
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Anna Snow always wanted to know who her parents were, having grown up in an orphanage she never knew, but she had a few vague memories. Now she receives a summons to go to London to meet a Lawyer and there she finds a different future from the one she had planned. It turns out her father didn't
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wait for her mother to die before marrying again and now she has inherited the family fortune and his children are disinherited. Now she has responsibilities beyond her wildest dreams and she has to marry.

Avery Archer is the Duke of Netherby and keeps everyone at a distance, now he finds himself drifting towards Anna and he finds her interesting. A relationship develops but can it survive all the stresses?

I liked the characters and how Avery wins the duel. Anna is very determined to be her own person and you can see the hardships in doing that here. I enjoyed the read and found it very difficult to put down. The constant drumbeat about how small Avery was marred an otherwise good read.
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LibraryThing member mmoj
Really enjoyed this book. Mary Balogh is at her wonderful best. After reading so many historical romances they sometimes can be a bit predictable (besides the fact that the man gets the woman) But Balogh always brings some unique twist to her stories.

Read this book if you like historical romances
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with just a touch of sex (excuse the pun, it was unintentional).
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LibraryThing member Karla.Brandenburg
Where to start? I'll start with the issues so I can end on a positive note.

I am a fan of Ms. Balogh. If I was not, I might not have gotten through this one. It started very slowly and for the first three chapters I had no idea who the hero was. I had to go back to read the blurb to find out, and
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then I was surprised, because of the litany of characters we were introduced to in those first chapters, which I still couldn't keep straight at the end, he was the least likable. Between the courtesy titles and the given names, I was confounded by the ragged relationships between the characters. Avery hides behind affectations, and we don't get much insight into his character until the final chapters, insight which would have made a world of difference earlier on coming from his point of view.

As to the racism comments I've read in reviews - balderdash. A "Chinaman" teaches Avery martial arts. How is that racist?

Because it was Mary Balogh, I stuck with the story and read to the satisfying conclusion. The ending was a bit rushed, could have been spoon fed to us along the journey, but it explained away a world of sins throughout the story. Bullied as a child, Avery finds his way in the world with the aid of his martial arts teacher, who teaches him self-perception influences how others perceive you. Anna is the perfect Cinderella, thrust into a life she could only dream of with poise and grace.

If you're new to Mary Balogh, this is NOT the book to start with. If you're an "on the fence" Mary Balogh fan, skip this one. If you are a fan, stick with this one. It gets better.
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LibraryThing member phyllis2779
I'd forgotten how much I like Balogh's regencies. This is the first one I've read in awhile. It is excellent, with interesting characters and world building. I would give it a higher rating except that I find the whole Chinese master teaching Avery martial arts in England of the period quite
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unbelievable. I also thought that the heroine had some Mary Sue qualities in terms of a child growing up in an orphanage being so self-confident.
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LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
Anna has her life turned upside down when it is discovered that she is the rightful heir of a wealthy aristocrat, instead of the cast off inhabitant of the orphanage that she has always been. Anna's courage and poise in the face of overwhelming situations lies at the root of Avery's attraction to
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her. Where he has always hidden himself away behind a handy facade, Anna's courage inspires him to love.
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LibraryThing member 4leschats
I generally like Balogh's books and find her characters intriguing, but this book seemed to have too many characters (possibly since it is setting up the series) to connect well. The main character, Anna, is appealing. However, in some ways, Balogh did too good a job of making Avery withdrawn and
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even reading his affectations was annoying. I am hoping the 2nd book will be less set up.
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LibraryThing member spinsterrevival
Finally read this intro to the series, and I loved reading Anna’s story. Avery reminded me of a Heyer hero but with unknown depth. I’ll be returning to some of the previously read books and look forward to more of the Westcott series.
LibraryThing member ecataldi
A rags to riches regency romance that reminds me of a reverse Cinderella story. Anna Snow is summoned to London from the orphanage that she grew up in and now teaches in. She has no idea who her family is and she's hoping when she arrives in London that she'll finally know more about her the
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circumstances that led her to being raised in an orphanage. She's desperate to be loved and to have a family. What she discovers is that her father was a Duke! He recently died, but she has a stepmother and three siblings, now she has a family that she's always dreamed of having! It's all quite complicated though and no one is very happy about the new "interloper." Her recently discovered siblings want nothing to do with her and the one person who takes an interest in her is her haughty and well dressed step cousin. He along with some of the extended family decide she needs a makeover and a lesson in manners and etiquette. Anna's curious circumstances have made her the talk of London! Slow burn romance, the first few chapters are hard to adjust to the language and extensive family names - but once you get past that it's smooth sailing. I didn't love all the characters (or care about them) hence the low rating. The ending was... interesting.
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LibraryThing member amybear
It's a sweet friends to lovers novel and I thought it was funny how they were falling in love while not exactly realizing it. There are lots of good tropes in the book and subversion of Regency tropes, and while I was hooked from the start, once the plot twist occurs, I was up late reading it and
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couldn't put it down. The characters had some genuinely funny banter and I thought Avery was really interesting. I looked forward to his chapters and would have read a whole novel of him just quietly judging society life and trolling people. The heat level is a bit low and I wished there was more to the sex scene, but I usually like more heat so it's not a real complaint, just an an observation.

This is the first book in a series and I'm looking forward to the novels for Alexander, Elizabeth, and Harry. I think Harry has a lot of potential for being a compelling, angsty lead with a nice redemption arc. However, at times I felt like the book was just introducing characters to start up the next books, which wasn't so bad since I genuinely enjoy the characters and am looking forward to checking out the next books.

Four stars instead of five because I thought the Chinese martial arts master could have been written a bit better and sometimes Anna's letters were redundant.
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LibraryThing member JorgeousJotts
I've quite liked several books from Balogh, but this one was a miss for me. There wasn't anything horrid in it, just nothing that particularly engaged any care from me. I liked that the heroine didn't cower when she was placed in intimidating circumstances in the beginning, but that was about the
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last time I enjoyed her character. The rest of the book she seemed dissatisfied over one thing or another, even when she came from almost nothing and was just showered with nearly everything she ever wanted at every turn. Also the man seemed quite unique at the start, and I was curious how he would play out, but he ended up just 'meh'. Even his 'soul revealing' moment at the very end of the book was just a sad, almost exact, retelling of the information we'd already gotten at the beginning. There wasn't much of a courtship at all, no real falling into love they were just suddenly there (and even then it seemed pretty mild). All the events were sort of blah, there wasn't really a hurdle to the couple being together, and they were hardly even in their own way, so there wasn't a story arch or much of an emotional journey. Most of the circumstances felt a little too convenient. A strong inner struggle might have still carried it, but their character growth was paltry heroine, use your words sometimes I guess, Hero, allow at least a single person to get to know you maybe. ... . Maybe it would have been better as a short story where at least a lot of the dragging on of nothing would have been cut out. I think the idea for the story was a decent one, it just fell flat. I'll go ahead and try the next in the series and hope this was just an off start.
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LibraryThing member Anniik
I am a sucker for Regency Romances and have been a fan of Mary Balogh for over fifteen years. This is the first book of a new series (new to me, at least, this book was published in 2016) and it is a solid beginning. The story of a young lady who discovers she is much richer and higher class than
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she believed, this is a charming Cinderella-story. I enjoyed it very much, even if the very end was a little...strange. I still highly recommend to other historical romance lovers!
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LibraryThing member jennybeast
Oh, wow, this may be my most favorite Mary Balogh book ever, and I am a huge fan of both the Bedwyns and the Survivors club. It's just such a lovely story -- sweet, super romantic, and just really great at capturing the weird wholeness that the right person brings -- and that sounds saccharine, but
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she's past master at funny, charming, witty dialogue and you'd better believe that's present. And Anna and Avery are both such dignified and contained persons -- totally delightful, totally confident in their own quiet ways, totally willing to stand at their lines in the sand. And the plot is a doozy -- not wildly adventuresome, but a spectacular set up for emotional drama and social angst, but it never really goes to a bad place. Delicious.
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LibraryThing member Okies
2.5 stars because I did finish the audiobook, but no more because I thought it lacked the sparkle I have become used to from contemporary writers of regency romances.
LibraryThing member Jean_Sexton
This is a traditional Regency, with all that entails. I like the hero (Avery) and heroine (Anna). Imagine believing you are an orphan, and then, without any warning, you find you inherit a great deal of money and a family. Money is good, but your new family isn't all that fond of you. Avery is a
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fascinating character whose past slowly unfolds.

There is much to enjoy in this book. Recommended for fans of Regencies.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2016-11-08

Physical description

6.81 inches

ISBN

0451477790 / 9780451477798

Barcode

1603048
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