I loved this start of a new series! The characters in the Westcott series are memorable and well rounded. While it isn't a perfect book, it does provide a great entrance into a set of books, some of which are real gems.

Balogh's tale of a young orphan raised to nobility is gloriously written, with emotional depth and three-dimensional characters.

oof that was some not great characterization writing. and description.

Someone to Love is the first book in Mary Balogh's new Westcott series, and I fell in love with it! There was a reluctant start, but as with the story line I grew more and more intrigued! This was one of those books you can't put down for silly things like food and sleep.

Anna Snow was raised in an orphanage in Bath since she was four years old. She was financially looked after by an anonymous person as long as she stayed with the orphanage. So Anna found herself becoming a teacher there. She is content with her life as a teacher, but as with all orphans, she wishes and wonders about her origins. Anna is then surprised by a unexpected letter telling her to come to London! She can only hope to discover a part of her past.

When she arrives at the arranged meeting place (a Duke's mansion of a home), she is almost turned away to the servant's entrance. The solicitor who summoned her, though, makes sure she is admitted. I won't get into much of the details, but it turns out her father has passed away and all of his fortune is left to her. This is quite a dream come true except her new found family (a half brother and two half sisters) become upset and leave.

Avery, the Duke of Netherby, is entranced by this dignified young woman who holds herself so well in this extremely foreign of places. This is most peculiar since he is a man of distinguished taste and finds most everything tedious and boring. When Anna's father's sisters then decide to take her under their wings and educate her on the world of the ton, the Duke finds himself helping her in numerous ways.

What Mary Balogh does with this seemingly boring plot is encompass you. I loved Anna from the start, and therefore all I wanted was for her to find happiness. Quite honestly, Avery frustrated me at the beginning until Balogh started to reveal bits and pieces of his past. Then I started to understand the protective shell he put around himself. They are perhaps not two personalities perfectly made for each other, but the romance was breathtaking none-the-less.

The absolute only misgiving I had about the book was the very beginning when the whole family tree was being explained. I was a tad overwhelmed and confused because so many characters were being introduced. How they were all related seemed very messy. But I truly suggest trying to get through that odd part. As the story continues, people and where they are placed begins to sort itself out, and the story is well worth getting through that bit.

I loved Mary Balogh's Survivor Club series, and I was so excited to so quickly dive into this series. She really develops each character and it makes the emotions so much richer. I found myself really liking a minor character where he was only in a few scenes. I'm excited to discover he will be featured in the sequel. I am a huge fan now of Mary Balogh's work, and I'm excited to continue this journey.

The Earl of Riverdale has died without a will. His son, Harry Westcott, has not quite reached his majority which necessitates that Avery Archer, Duke of Netherby, become his guardian until he reaches age 21. Harry is a handsome young man and now he will be extremely wealthy. He appears to understand his responsibilities and is prepared to follow through with them.

It is soon discovered that the late Earl had an illegitimate daughter who he has always supported. The Earl’s widow feels that the girl should be contacted and told her father has passed away and be given a final settlement. The woman is doing this not because she cares for the girl but because she does not want her children to know about their father’s by-blow.

Anna Snow has lived at an orphanage since she was 4-years-old. She is now 25. She is still at the orphanage were she works as a housemother, helps the matron, Miss Ford, and also teaches. While she has had a few proposals, Anna has turned them down. After her mother died, she went to live with her grandparents for a few years before he father came and took her away.

When Anna receives a letter asking her to go to London to meet with a solicitor, she is quite nervous. It turns out that her mother was still married to the late Earl when she died which makes her his heir and his other children are illegitimate. She is now a very rich woman.

As the news settles in, she is not surprised at the reaction from her brother and sisters to her. She is so happy to find that she has siblings and she wants them to stay in the home with her. However, their pride will not allow it and they refuse.

One of her new-found aunts is determined to help get her properly attired and to teach her to interact with the ton.

Avery is a small man and very handsome. He dresses impeccably and his mannerisms are cool and very proper. As a Duke, he is quite sought after by the young ladies but has not found the woman he cares to marry.

As Anna and Avery get to know one another, he is taken with her genuineness and lack of guile. When Anna learns that he father had lied to her grandparents and they thought she had died, she is sad. However, to find that they are still alive makes her so happy. Se wants to see them. By then, Anna and Avery have decided to marry and travel together to visit her grandparents.

There is so much more to this story. We find what a good soul Anna is and Avery is a lot deeper than anyone knows. His own secrets that he finally shares with Anna end up making them the perfect couple.

This is another perfectly written novel by Mary Balogh. She is an author who will go down in history for her incredible writing. I highly recommend this book. It is the first novel of a series and I look forward to the next book.

Connie for b2b

I really enjoyed reading this story. It is not often that someone is plucked from an orphanage and suddenly thrown into a family that she didn't know she had and a wealthy one at that. Anna and Avery are instantly intrigued to each other and it was a pleasure watching them fall in love.

I really loved watching Anna come into her own with her new role in life. She had so many family members trying to make her into something that she wasn't, it was nice to see her continue to be the same caring person she was before finding this big, blusterous family.

I also enjoyed watching Avery, pull the "stick from his @$$", as it were. He had such a tight reign over his emotions and actions. Anna was just the person to help him come into his own.

Once of the signs of good writing is your want for more. There are so many people in this book that are just calling for their own story to be told. I can't wait for the next book in the series, Someone to Hold, that features Camille (Anna's half sister) and Joel (Anna's best friend).

Stevie‘s review of Someone to Love (Westcott Novels, Book 1) by Mary Balogh
Historical Romance published by Signet 08 Nov 16

Mary Balogh could easily become one of my main go-to authors for mainstream historical romance, with a refreshing selection of characters who aren’t painted as perfect (or as perfectly wicked), but have properly thought-out motivations for their attitudes and actions. So it is with the Westcott family, who all react differently to the news that their entire life has been founded on one man’s lie, and now they have no claim on either their home or their titles. Meanwhile, the newly discovered beneficiary of the estate, whom they first meet when the shocking news is broken, has no real desire to take on her inheritance, simply wanting to go back to the quiet life she enjoyed before.

Anna Snow grew up in the Bath orphanage where she now teaches, with very few memories of her life prior to arriving there at the age of four. Like most of the children she teaches, she is supported by an anonymous benefactor – in Anna’s case this has continued into adulthood on the condition she remains in her current home – and like many of them she wonders what her real family are like and what would happen should they return to claim her. Anna has no real belief that this will happen to her, and so is astonished when a carriage arrives to take her to London – and to her new home.

When the recently widowed Countess of Riverdale asked her late husband’s solicitor to investigate the woman her husband had been supporting in Bath, she expected to be able to dispense with the responsibility by means of a generous settlement on someone she assumes to be an illegitimate daughter. This proves not to be the case: Humphrey Westcott, Earl of Riverdale was already secretly married – to Anna’s mother – when he entered into a second, more respectable union; this discovery renders his marriage to the supposed Countess bigamous, and all their children illegitimate, with the title passing to a cousin, who has no real interest in becoming the new Earl. Meanwhile, Avery, Duke of Netherby, the legal guardian of the deceased Earl’s son, finds himself increasingly fascinated by the dowdy newcomer, whom he first took to be a servant, but who in fact now owns much of the family’s property.

Avery takes it upon himself to introduce Anna to the ways of Society – since most of the Earl’s family want nothing to do with her – and quickly realises how much more interesting she is than any of the ladies he’s been expected to court. Anna, meanwhile, quickly realises that there’s more to Avery than most people bother to notice, and learns more of his early troubles at school, and the ways in which he overcame them, than even his immediate family are allowed to know.

I really enjoyed this book. Anna is a very reluctant heiress; even after accepting her destiny, she is keen to take care of the family she has displaced as well as her friends back at the orphanage. She is also able – with Avery’s help – to instigate a search for her mother’s family and to learn the full story behind her abandonment at the orphanage. Avery, too, is a complex character and, although he prevaricates at first over how he should deal with Anna and his various other family responsibilities, he does the right thing by everyone in the end. There were a couple of places where I had to suspend my disbelief regarding characters’ backstories, and I did feel a little overwhelmed at how many characters we meet in the first couple of chapters, but all in all I’m keen to find out more about everyone and see how the family moves on from the great changes wrought at the outset of this story.

Grade: B

As usual, Mary Balogh hits the spot with her entertaining historical romance. It's always easy to fall in love with her characters and settings.

I am a fan of some of the authors other titles, but I cannot finish this one. I even checked it out from the library after the Netgalley expired and I still can't get up enough enthusiasm to finish it. I think that there is a falseness to the main characters that has persisted at least through the first half of the book, where I can't get invested enough into them to wait for the reveal of their inner selves. The book also has a fairly large cast of second tier characters that made it a poor candidate to pick up every couple days and just enjoy a few chapters at a time. There are so many romances out there that I can't put down that this one is not worth struggling through.

Another great regency romance by Balogh. Anna Snow grew up in an orphanage and was educated thanks to the anonymous donations of her benefactor. Upon his death, she learns that she was not his natural daughter, and in fact is his legitimate daughter and the only true heir to his fortune. Although Anna is overjoyed at the thought of siblings, they want nothing to do with her, as her existence has cost them everything. As she makes her transition from low born orphan to well-heeled lady, the Duke of Netherby is the one Anna finds herself leaning on for support.

Anna has spent twenty one years in an orphanage, first as an orphan and then as a teacher. Her life changes with a simple summons to London. ARC from NetGalley.

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 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