Thursday, October 18, 2018

Review: Someone to Wed

Title:  Someone to Wed
Author:  Mary Balogh
Series:  Westcott #3
Genre:  Historical Romance
Publisher:  Berkely 
Format:  Kindle
No. of Pages:  384
Date of publication:  November 7, 2017
My rating:  5 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

A very practical marriage makes Alexander Westcott question his heart in the latest Regency romance from the New York Times bestselling author of Someone to Hold.

When Alexander Westcott becomes the new Earl of Riverdale, he inherits a title he never wanted and a failing country estate he can’t afford. But he fully intends to do everything in his power to undo years of neglect and give the people who depend on him a better life...

A recluse for more than twenty years, Wren Heyden wants one thing out of life: marriage. With her vast fortune, she sets her sights on buying a husband. But when she makes the desperate—and oh-so-dashing—earl a startlingly unexpected proposal, Alex will only agree to a proper courtship, hoping for at least friendship and respect to develop between them. He is totally unprepared for the desire that overwhelms him when Wren finally lifts the veils that hide the secrets of her past.

MY THOUGHTS:  

In the first book in this series, readers are introduced to the Westcott family, and how there were three adult children who were discovered to be illegitimate children to Humphrey Westcott, the now deceased Earl of Riverdale. Readers are introduced to Anna Snow, the actual legitimate daughter of the Earl, and how she found a life with Avery Archer, the Duke of Netherby. Jumping ahead to this story, we are reminded that Alexander is now the Earl of Riverdale. 

Here we meet Wren Heydon, a glassworks heiress who has become a recluse. Whenever Wren was in the company of others, she wore a veil. The best way to describe Wren comes from a direct quote from the book, “she was a mystery woman even without it, for she wore layer upon layer of inner veils.” As the story unfolds, Wren expresses her desire to marry. She wants to marry for a number of reasons. She wants love, companionship and children. At thirty years of age she has avoided society, the ton. I choose to leave the reasons why to the reader. 

A potential suitor is Alexander Westcott, Earl of Riverdale. Upon first glance Wren determines that Alexander is not for her. He is far too perfect - tall, dark and handsome. Although he is quite an honorable man, Wren draws away, but they do visit one another for a very brief period of time. They both hope that just might suit, even if only a little. However, Wren feels that she will forever be lonely. Alexander knows he must find a rich wife, but he wants far more from marriage than money. So when he receives a marriage proposal from Wren, he insists that it is not that simple. 

Wren is a wonderful woman. Her reasons for being a recluse are very easy to understand and they most assuredly caused much emotion as I read the story. I just wanted her to find love and happiness and to get back what she most bountifully received from her beloved aunt and uncle. They raised her with a sense of true belonging. It is incredibly sad that they have recently passed away. 

Alexander is a wonderful person as well. He needed to marry for the sake of money because of being destitute. But he wanted more than a simple solution by means of a rich wife. He wanted love and affection. It’s wonderful to read if such a hero in these stories, those who are searching for love. Simply put, men are not usually described as such. In addition to Wren and Alexander, there is excellent character development in this book. We are reacquainted to members of the family that we met in the previous two stories.

Without spoiling Someone to Wed, it is important to note that a lot of this story focuses on how one's physical imperfections can cause great loneliness. Time and again this story injects incredible emotion and sensitivity. My mood changed from great sadness to frustrating anger to incredible joy. 

Someone to Wed is truly a sensitive story. This statement gave me the feels: “She felt a rush of unexpected affection for them.” I am very aware that this is an incomplete quote. I included this sentence because it displays the measure of emotion that Wren began to feel when she experienced the kindness of others. The rush of affection she felt for those at that moment in the story was very similar to the rush of emotion that I felt when I read that statement. 

This book is the third in the Westcott series by Mary Balogh. When I received Someone to Trust, the fifth book in the series for review, which will be released at the end of November, I knew that I would want to read the entire series. I am really glad that I had the opportunity to do so. This story is very different than the first two. It deals with the effects of self-esteem and true acceptance. It is truly a beautiful story and readers no doubt will see how wonderfully beautiful Wren is. I applaud Mary Balogh for writing such a captivating story. 

Series list:
*Someone to Love (2016)
  - review link: https://robinlovesreading.blogspot.com/2018/10/review-someone-to-love.html
*Someone to Hold (2017)
- review link: https://www.robinlovesreading.com/2018/10/review-someone-to-hold.html
*Someone to Wed (2017)
*Someone to Care (2018)
*Someone to Trust (2018)


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I grew up in post-war Wales as Mary Jenkins. It was in many ways an idyllic childhood even though Swansea, my home town, had been heavily bombed during the war, rationing was still on, and material possessions were few. If anyone knew how to stretch a penny to do the work of two, it was my mother.

My sister, Moira, two years older than I, was my constant playmate and soul-mate. We both have a hard time convincing people who did not know us then that we were almost inseparable yet never quarrelled. Our few dolls became our family. They had names, personalities, histories. We used to lie awake in bed at night–until our mother would call up, promising dire consequences if we did not stop talking–inventing stories about our dolls’ antics. On summer days Mam would construct a tent out of blankets, string and clothes pegs attached to the clothesline and the garden fence, and we would play “house” all day. The neighbours must have cringed when we took our dolls for walks in the strollers Dad made for us, complete with solid–and excruciatingly noisy–wooden wheels.
Moira and I both used to fill notebooks with stories. We read voraciously–especially every book of Enid Blyton’s we could get our hands on when we were younger, the classics when we were a little older. We both used to say that we wanted to be authors when we grew up, though the word we used then was authoress. We both fulfilled our dream, though we both financed it with careers as high school English teachers.

Much more about this talented author can be found on her website at: http://www.marybalogh.com.  



22 comments:

  1. I like the sounds of this series.

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  2. Great review! I love a book that creates a deep emotional connection. I may have to check this one out. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. I enjoy finding a series and binge reading them in sequence

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  4. This sounds like an awesome series. I don't ever read historical books, but I quite appreciate the idea of a woman deciding to buy herself a husband.

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  5. I enjoy Historical Romance. I will be looking into this series.

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  6. This series sounds so good. You have summarised the book really well.

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  7. I'd not heard of this book until this week and then it seems to be everywhere. I'm hit and miss with historical fiction. Great review.

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  8. Amazing review Robin I absolutely love historical romance books and this one looks and sounds totally amazing and right up my alley to boot as well. I am really glad you enjoy this book fully, thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.

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