This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Genres: Historical Romance
Published by Berkley
Released on November 5, 2019
Pages: 272
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
The Delight
In the last Westcott book, we learned a surprise about Mathilda’s past- she had a disappointment in love and so had he and then they met again with that old magic still there. I needed that story… and, here it is. It was all I could have hoped for in a reunion romance.
Review
Someone to Remember is the seventh installment of the Westcott series. Each could be read standalone in a pinch. However, the further one gets in the series, the harder it is to read standalone since there is a great deal of family togetherness and references back to their connections.
Mathilda, oldest daughter of the Dowager Countess, has long since been on the shelf. She has been living out her days fussing over a mother who doesn’t need the fussing. Her life is gray and she tries to be content. Until she encounters Charles once again while on a family mission for her niece Abigail. He is all that she remembered and regrets. She pushed him away when her parents declared him unsuitable and has wondered for over thirty years if she was right to do so- he certainly lived up to his rakish reputation. But… Now, they are in company again and she knows that she never stopped loving him, but can it still matter?
Charles once loved Mathilda and they spoke their love and then she pushed him away because of his reputation. If he had the rep before that, he certainly added to it afterwards and didn’t give it up until later. His encounters with her are unsettling and he’s angry with her for making him feel when he thought he got past all that decades before. But, he can’t stay away from her and finds himself escorting her to the places where their tenderest moments happened. Dare he try again with an older, mature Mathilda? Would her answer be different?
This was a long novella and this second chance reunion romance fit into that shorter page count perfectly. It was as developed as the author’s longer works, brought out the emotions, and engaged the reader with the characters and their romance. I liked how it explored their past and why it didn’t worked, who they were then and now, and how a renewed romance would work in their present. Mathilda has to step out of the gray shadows and she is a lovely personage when she emerges. Charles is right there to encourage her even while coming to terms that his own behavior in the past led to her rejection and now he must show that he’s not that young rakehell and that his family would welcome her with open arms. For those who wanted a bit more with Gil and his father, this is explored a little, too.
This one was light and full of tender romance and I adored it. Now, I’m looking forward to the next Westcott series installment. This is a great series for those who love Regency era romance with a focus on family and personal growth as much as the slow-burn lightly spiced romances.
My thanks to Berkley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Challenges Met
New Release #149
Reading Assignment Fall #7 Professor Author Love
About Mary Balogh
Mary Jenkins was born in 1944 in Swansea, Wales, UK. After graduating from university, moved to Saskatchewan, Canada, to teach high school English, on a two-year teaching contract in 1967. She married her Canadian husband, Robert Balogh, and had three children, Jacqueline, Christopher and Sian. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, music and knitting. She also enjoys watching tennis and curling.
Mary Balogh started writing in the evenings as a hobby. Her first book, a Regency love story, was published in 1985 as A Masked Deception under her married name. In 1988, she retired from teaching after 20 years to pursue her dream to write full-time. She has written more than seventy novels and almost thirty novellas since then, including the New York Times bestselling ‘Slightly’ sextet and ‘Simply’ quartet. She has won numerous awards, including Bestselling Historical of the Year from the Borders Group, and her novel Simply Magic was a finalist in the Quill Awards. She has won seven Waldenbooks Awards and two B. Dalton Awards for her bestselling novels, as well as a Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award.
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I love when books give me a story about characters I wanted more of from previous installments. I’m glad this book lived up for you!
Absolutely! It was a real treat, Berls! 🙂
It’s been a long time since I haven’t read a HR but I think I already tried the author
I wouldn’t be surprised. She has written a lot of books. 🙂
As much as I enjoy my historical fiction I’d don’t think that this speaks to me so much that I’d want to be investing in the series. Each to their own though, wouldn’t it be boring if we all thought the same of every novel? I’m glad you adored it
You are so right about that, Felicity! It would be a boring world with fewer books if we did. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
I love series like this with family. I am glad this was such a good installment for you.
Aren’t they great? Just Jess and the brother now, I think, but I wonder if they’ll get two different books or one…
I love the second chance at romance trope and love that the author explored the past and the present, how both characters, had changed, and why their romance would work now. It’s a treat to get a fully developed story in a novella! This one sounds like it delivered! Lovely Review Sophia 🙂
Yes, you hit the nail on the head, Lindy. Seeing the past and then having those frank conversations in the present really made this one work for me. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed this novel. This author has such a unique way in crafting her stories. I love those light and tender moments and this author is fabulous in writing it.
You said it so well, Renee. She really does.
Second chance romance, one of my favourite tropes. I am glad you enjoyed it.
Yes, so satisfying. 🙂
Good find! I need some light reads after the heavy one I just read
I know what you mean. Total palette cleanser, here. 🙂
I held off on reading your review before I had mine up, but I’m happy to see you enjoyed this too. I was thrilled that Matilda and Charles got a second chance at love after all the years past. I’m happy they didn’t dwell on regrets and concentrated on the joy of finding love again. Matilda definitely deserved her own HEA! Fab review, Sophia Rose! 🙂
I do that, too. I like to go into my reviews without knowing other people’s specific thoughts.
Oh, she really did deserve to get her HEA after all that. It was fun when she stood strong against her shocked sisters and I loved her own shock at her mother’s reaction to the new romance. 🙂