Someone to Cherish
Someone to Cherish by Mary Balogh is $2.99! This is book eight in The Westcott series. Both Elyse and Claudia mentioned this on Hide Your Wallet and Claudia especially was eager to finally get Harry’s book. If you read it, did it live up to your expectations?
Is love worth the loss of one’s freedom and independence? This is what Mrs. Tavernor must decide in the new novel in the Westcott series from New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh.
When Harry Westcott lost the title Earl of Riverdale after the discovery of his father’s bigamy, he shipped off to fight in the Napoleonic Wars, where he was near-fatally wounded. After a harrowing recovery, the once cheery, light-hearted boy has become a reclusive, somber man. Though Harry insists he enjoys the solitude, he does wonder sometimes if he is lonely.
Lydia Tavernor, recently widowed, dreams of taking a lover. Her marriage to Reverend Isaiah Tavernor was one of service and obedience, and she has secretly enjoyed her freedom since his death. She doesn’t want to shackle herself to another man in marriage, but sometimes, she wonders if she is lonely.
Both are unwilling to face the truth until they find themselves alone together one night, and Lydia surprises even herself with a simple question: “Are you ever lonely?” Harry’s answer leads them down a path neither could ever have imagined…
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A Wedding One Christmas by Therese Beharrie is $1.99! Lots of tropes here: holiday romance, fake relationships, and it takes place mostly in the span of 24-hours. Have you read this one?
Of all the weddings in all the world, Angie Roux had to be mistaken for a bridesmaid in this one.
Caledon, South Africa, is supposed to be just a stop on the way to Christmas in Cape Town, part of Angie’s long-avoided homecoming. She never expected to star in a bizarre comedy of errors, but here she is: convincing a handsome stranger to be her fake boyfriend for the day.
Ezra Johnson, the handsome stranger in question, turns out to be a pleasant distraction from both the wedding and thoughts of her first family Christmas without her father. And he seems to loathe weddings just as much as she does. He’s the perfect temporary companion.
But a lot can happen in twenty-four hours. Including a connection so strong it tempts them both into thinking of something more permanent…
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Portrait of a Scotsman by Evie Dunmore is $1.99! This is book three in The League of Extraordinary Women series. It looks like a fourth book has been announced for the spring.
London banking heiress Hattie Greenfield wanted “just” three things in life:
1. Acclaim as an artist.
2. A noble cause.
3. Marriage to a young lord who puts the gentle in gentleman.Why then does this Oxford scholar find herself at the altar with the darkly attractive financier Lucian Blackstone, whose murky past and ruthless business practices strike fear in the hearts of Britain’s peerage? Trust Hattie to take an invigorating little adventure too far. Now she’s stuck with a churlish Scot who just might be the end of her ambitions….
When the daughter of his business rival all but falls into his lap, Lucian sees opportunity. As a self-made man, he has vast wealth but holds little power, and Hattie might be the key to finally setting long-harbored political plans in motion. Driven by an old revenge, he has no room for his new wife’s apprehensions or romantic notions, bewitching as he finds her.
But a sudden journey to Scotland paints everything in a different light. Hattie slowly sees the real Lucian and realizes she could win everything—as long as she is prepared to lose her heart.
Going toe-to-toe with a brooding Scotsman is rather bold for a respectable suffragist, but when he happens to be one’s unexpected husband, what else is an unwilling bride to do?
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The Idea of You by Robinne Lee is $2.99! I’m struggling how to classify this one, as I don’t think I’d call it really a romance. The ending doesn’t fully give an HEA and honestly begs for a sequel. I made a special drink for this one as part of Covers & Cocktails.
When Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of a prestigious art gallery in Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husband’s request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.
What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s disparate worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways. And for Solène, it is as much a reclaiming of self, as it is a rediscovery of happiness and love. When their romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her new status has impacted not only her life, but the lives of those closest to her.
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I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked The Idea of You. Be forewarned it is not a traditional HEA if that’s what you’re into-but very interesting, very well-written, and a little thought-provoking as a 31-year-old watching new pop stars half my age pop out of the woodwork.
Someone to Cherish had issues, and I came very close to abandoning the book in chapter one. This is book eight in a series and each book features a different couple in the greater Westcott family. Chapter one featured a huge crowd from those earlier books plotting the hero’s future; all were named (there must have been two dozen or more) and it was tiresome. My suggestion if you read this book is to begin with chapter two.
SOMEONE TO CHERISH and PORTRAIT OF A SCOTSMAN both had good bones/interesting premises but such serious problems with the execution that I think I’m done with both Balogh and Dunmore as authors (which feels a bit extreme to say, so I feel like I need to explain!)
For the Balogh, there are SO MANY Westcotts, Avery’s casual misogyny, Lydia’s (wholly unexamined) dreadful family and (the biggest problem), the fact that the villain is a CHILD who Harry threatens to beat the shit out of in a scene that I found so upsetting (and which Lydia likes!). Hard pass.
For the Dunmore, I felt like she shaped the story around the historical elements she wanted to discuss (Victorian art, social norms, labor rights, the suffrage movement) and the plot suffers for it as a result. And god, the heroine, Hattie, is an utter twit. I haven’t loved any of Dunmore’s books so having given three of her books a go, I think I’m out.
This comment is for the post on handmade gifts. I liked the idea of handmade candles. The book I’m listening to fight now is “Eight Nights of Flirting,” and the characters make candles at the heroine’s grandparents’ party. It sounded like fun. I recommend this book. If you like Gilmore Girls, you’ll love it!
I quit reading Mary Balogh, not just because she has so many characters, but because she brings all of them out in each sequel, and talks about them for pages on end. I don’t tend to read the books in a series one after the other, often waiting months between books, so I have trouble remembering who all the characters are and what their particular stories are about. I do like how most of her MMCs are respectful of women, but I find the banter to be identical from one book to the next. Although, it is good banter.
I loved Lucian but thought Portrait of a Scotsman was a hot mess. It’s a shame, I thought Evie Dunmore’s debut was so good, but I had a lot of issues with her second book, and I probably wouldn’t have finished this one except that I did it in audiobook.
@Kelly—and it’s not just the Westcotts. She also introduces characters like “this is the niece of the vicar from the next village over. Her name is Jane Smythe!” and you think, “Right, Jane must be relevant because she only has a distant connection to the plot but is named.” But no, she’s just riding in the carriage next to one of the 47,000 Westcotts (also all named and lineages identified.)
(For anyone familiar with Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, I get the “And so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts; and so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts; and so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts, his sisters and his cousins whom he reckons up by dozens and his AUNTS!” stuck in my head when Balogh starts in on introducing the whole family. )
@squee_me—I also liked Lucian. Shame about the rest of the book!
You know, I’m super into the huge cast of characters. YES tell me all about the second cousin of the betrothed of the niece of the heroine. I’m into it.
@fashionablyevil made me snort laugh. That description…LOL I am hopelessly devoted to Balough despite the low steam and endless backtracking in her series. But oh my goodness if I need a good cry over a gentle love story…she’s an auto buy.