Bit of a Letdown

I went so far as to buy a UK edition of Someone to Cherish, Mary Balogh's latest Westcott novel, and after reading it I regretted that a little. I think there's a point in a long novel series when you have to stop trotting out all the main characters from the previous books for cameos, and you really must quit providing all their backstory, too.

There are something like eight or nine couples now in this saga, and yep, they all show up in this novel (again) and we hear all about what happened with them (again.) Which is nice for new readers, I suppose, but how many new readers do you think are going to pick up the eighth or ninth book in a series? Honestly the backstoryitis took up like a quarter of the book this time, and seriously distracted me from Harry and Lydia's story. So that's my chief gripe.

Someone to Cherish is a nice story, but it missed a lot of opportunities. This book featured Harry Westcott, the son of the bigamous Earl of Riverdale, who ran away and joined the army after losing his title and inheritance and legitimate birth. He was originally one of the most interesing characters in the first novel, so I was looking forward to seeing more of his story. Problem is, there isn't much of one. Harry really doesn't have much presence as a main character, which is weird.

Harry moves to the country and lives in a nice manor, and casually takes interest in his widowed neighbor, Lydia Travenor. Neither of them are interested in marriage, but they do start a friendship and then (if you can call one night together this) an affair. Their chemistry with each other was pretty believable, and I liked the realism of their relationship.

The problem is that Lydia is the widow of a much-beloved pastor, and the nosy, sharp-eyed villagers expect her to mourn him forever. P.S., the pastor was secretly a religious nut who insisted after they got married that he and Lydia live as brother and sister, not husband and wife. I've never seen a dead villain who pissed me off more than this guy, either. Anyway, of course the village finds out that Harry and Lydia are romantically involved, and the social tarring and feathering of Lydia begins.

My second gripe about this book is the romance between Harry and Lydia, which seems to magically work itself out with no actual explanation. One minute they're resolved to be friends and have a nice quiet affair, the next everything blows up in their faces, and suddenly they're in love with each other. The rest of the Westcotts descend on the village and simply add to the confusion with their scenes, backstories, new kids, etc.

Mary Balogh's writing is wonderful, and I will forgive a keeper author a lot. I just wish it hadn't been this story. It would have been great to let Harry live up to his promise.