SOMEONE TO ROMANCE by Mary Balogh

The Westcott Series, Book 7

From the publisher:

Love comes when you least expect it in this captivating new novel in the Westcott Regency romance series from New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh.

Lady Jessica Archer lost interest in the glittering excitement of romance after her cousin and dearest friend, Abigail, was rejected by the ton when her father was revealed to be a bigamist. Now that she is twenty-five, however, Jessica decides it is time to wed. Though she no longer believes she will find true love, she is still very eligible. She is, after all, the sister of Avery Archer, Duke of Netherby.

Jessica considers the many qualified gentlemen who court her. But then she meets the mysterious Gabriel Thorne, who has returned to England from the New World to claim an equally mysterious inheritance. Jessica considers him completely unsuitable, especially when, while they are still barely acquainted, he announces his intention to wed her.

When Jessica guesses who Gabriel really is, however, and watches the lengths to which he will go in order to protect those who rely upon him, she is drawn to his cause–and to the man.

Balogh is usually one of my favorite historical romance writers, but this series is starting to feel stale. I found this book in particular, to be slow moving, and that is almost never a good thing. Maybe because of how many books there are in this series, there seemed to be a lot of explanation of who different characters are and their relationships to the main protagonists.

I did like the hero and heroine but their romance got off to a slow start and I didn’t really feel the attraction there for a good part of the book, sex notwithstanding. It took a while for me to get invested in the main characters.

I think my hesitation with this book is that there are too many entries into the series, and so many characters, all of whom show up in every book. It just feels like so much back story to cover as the series progresses that it slows it all down. Although I have read other series with even more books that didn’t have this issue, so maybe not.

Let’s just say I don’t think this is the best book in the series, but I did read it, I finished it and I will probably read the next one. Not my favorite, but it was an okay read.

10/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

SOMEONE TO ROMANCE by Mary Balogh. Berkley (August 25, 2020). ISBN 978-1984802392. 416 pages.

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