Readers have had a lot of different reactions to this book, as I would expect seeing as the two lead characters are so unconventional for the historical romance genre. That said, I loved this book a lot, and will go back to some parts of it again and again. It made me feel things.

The first half of Someone to Care is particularly strong. It’s an emotional story about a woman in her forties who has never been able to make a choice for herself in life until now, and when she does it all goes horribly wrong.

Viola is a mother and a grandmother, but nobody sees her beyond that. She was a countess until her marriage was declared void because of her husband’s bigamy, and now she has no standing in society and no idea what is ahead of her.

One thing that makes Mary Balogh one of the best authors in the genre is that she refuses to modernise her Regency world. She writes HISTORICAL romance, and it’s so much better for it. We get the society and the societal restrictions. Balogh doesn’t present us with her feminism by putting her heroines in breeches and sending them stumbling through ballrooms like bulls in china shops; instead she shows us the strains women lived under and how they got around those strict rules to find happiness.

Because of this, we get to see the hypocrisy surrounding Viola’s situation, and feel the full effect of the oppression she lives under. Marcel has spent seventeen or so years running around England and indulging in any and all vices, and not once has he been forced into a situation he doesn’t want.

And yet Viola – at forty-two – finally takes a chance to do something for herself, and that one decision has massive consequences.

I read historical fiction to read about another world, and Balogh, Madeline Hunter, and a few others (but not nearly enough of them) take me there.

I think this could just about be called a reunion romance, as the characters loved each other in the past, but could do nothing about it. I felt connected to this pair (even when Marcel was disguising his hurt behind cruel words), and invested in them finding a way back to each other by the end.

For readers new to the series, I think you could very much enjoy the first half of the book. However, then the other characters arrive, and you’re going to be overwhelmed. There are several dozen characters to keep track of, and I don’t think that’s going to work for someone who hasn’t come into the Westcott family in book one.

The overpopulation in the second half is my only complaint about Someone to Care, but because of how much it made me feel at the start, I’m forgiving it.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ out of 5
YES 🙌🏻 this was everything I hoped for and more! Our heroine is a 40 something mother of 3 grown up children in a historical romance novel- completely unheard of to me so I had a lot riding on this story. It lived up to my every hoping!
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Our heroine was illegally married for 23 years to her husband only finding out upon his death that he already had a wife and child at the time of their marriage also making her 3 children illegitimate. For 2 years she goes through the motions of life without really living- she is depressed and has lost her sense of self. One day at an inn while traveling she comes across the only man who ever made her heart race (14 years prior when she was already married) and he propositions her, more shockingly she accepts. Our hero is a hard man, a libertine, scoundrel and who has been one for over 20 years. What starts as one night of passion ends up with a 2 week idyll in the country.... until they are discovered by their children. Duh duh duuhhhh....
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For starters how can you like a hero who abandons his children for 17 years, you know that he will get redemption but I was really wondering how. I was both excited and worried about older MCs as I was worried they wouldn’t be relatable for me, I didn’t need to worry in that regard at all, in fact I loved how much more depth the characters seemed to have because of their age. Also depression was handled and written so well I was amazed- for myself as someone who has never suffered from depression and those thought processes never cross my mind ever it was artfully done. This is a deeply affecting love story that finally put together all the books before it!

I hadn’t read a book by Mary Balogh for some time and found myself intrigued by the fascinating characters and indepth examination of two people falling in love again. Although it was the fourth in the series, it was easy to work out the back story and people in the book. Viola and Marcel’s romance was a great read and I would once again pick up Mary Balogh’s books.

Someone to Care is another delightful book in the Someone series by Mary Balogh. We met Viola in the first book where she had just found out she was no longer who she thought she was. Apart from being a mother and grandmother.

When the stress of the past few years catches up with Viola she escapes the family for a brief respite. She walks right into Marcel, a person she felt rather attracted to many years ago but had not acted upon it because she believed she was married. Together now they experience a wild and passionate and joyful time until...

What follows is a chapter of mistakes and unrevealed feelings and thoughts. Marcel makes one rather quick decision that lands him in trouble and from which there seems no return - but there is and as it turns out he reaches a turning point that will change his life and that of many others as well.

This is a story about truly caring and holding a person as someone to respect and treat well. Viola says " It seems to me there has never been anyone who cares about me, the person who dwells within the daughter and mother and all the rest. No one even knows me. Everyone thinks they do, but no one really does. Sometimes it feels as though I even do not know myself." The novel is about discovering who you really are, not just a list of labels like wife, mother, Countess and so on.

I really enjoyed the first half of the book, a little disappointed with the second half as it reverted into the trappings of society and Marcel and Viola suddenly change from the carefree wonderful people we have come to know. However in saying that the mistakes and acting out of hurt then resulted in both characters, and especially Marcel growing and becoming the person he really was meant to be.

So a story about older characters, in their early forties and and a whole cast of beloved family characters made this book another great addition to the series.