Someone to Cherish by Mary BaloghMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Harry Westcott has done a lot of healing, both physically and emotionally, the past four years since he's been back in his childhood home, alone except for the army of servants. He is content with his life and has regained his happiness. But on the cusp of turning thirty, suddenly his contentment is threaded with a bit of restlessness. Maybe he does need more in his life?
Lydia Tavernor has lived alone in her tiny cottage opposite the gateway to Hinsford Manor for more than a year, since she bought it and moved in after her husband drowned saving a young boy from the village. Her husband had been a beloved vicar, ardent in his faith and dedicated to his parishioners. What no one knows is that he was a benevolent despot as a husband, dictating every aspect of her life, eschewing both physical contact and humor. After grieving the loss of her husband for the full length of her mourning period, Lydia is learning to find herself--her true self--again, a person she lost track of in the 20 years since her mother died when she was eight and her father and brothers wrapped her in metaphorical cotton wool to protect her from the Big Bad World. Now that she's had a taste of freedom, she never again wants to hand it over to a man. Still, living alone can be lonely. She just doesn't realize what a can of worms she will open by asking her handsome neighbor if he ever gets lonely, too.
The outcome is never in doubt--I mean, it IS a romance novel--but the journey these two take to get there is interesting. They have been acquaintances for about 4 years by the time the book begins, and yet Harry has never truly noticed Lydia, ever, even while chatting politely with her at social events. She, on the other hand, has built up a fantasy version of him based solely on seeing him interact with their neighbors, and he has become literally the man of her dreams.
My favorite parts of the novel were when they were engaged in quiet conversation about things they'd never told another soul. The reason I am rating the book--and I wrestled with this--three stars instead of four is because I think there needed to be an additional scene or two where they maybe had a moment or two to converse privately while in public view (or even not in public?) and do a better job of building the foundation for a relationship. To me it felt like Balogh was skirting too close to the "insta-love" trope by having them fall in love on the basis of so little.
The second reason for my lower-than-usual-rating for a book in this series is that I really think Lydia capitulated far too quickly. She is initially so strong and determined, I think it would have made far more sense for her to resist marriage until she got a closer view of the relationships between spouses in the Westcott family. She needed to see in action that husbands don't necessarily dominate their wives and dictate all their choices. She needed time to begin building relationships with Harry's sisters, cousins, and mother. There really was no "Aha!" moment of growth where her change of heart would make sense.
Also, I wished the characters of Jeremy and Mrs. Piper had been fleshed out more. They were rather two-dimensional.
Otherwise, though, I loved the book!
For readers' advisors: character edges out story doorway as primary, setting (Regency England) is secondary, though I realize my complaints about the book are about deficiencies in characters. There are some makeout scenes and a couple of sex scenes. The occasional mild swear word appeared. One scene depicts a solid punch being thrown.
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