Order History
Premium Membership & Rewards
Help Center / FAQ
Not Quite Love at First Sight: Mary Balogh’s Someone to Hold
I’ll admit it: Up until now, I had never dipped my toe in the pool of historical romances before. I was the girl who was checking out the back of David Rice’s head during history class, rather than listening. I would imagine running my fingers through his thick blonde hair as he told me I was prettier than any of the popular girls. In my world, that was history and romance meeting.
Ships in 1-2 days.
But then a friend told me about the latest book by author Mary Balogh, Someone to Hold, and how high she set the bar for historical romance. “You’ll cry, be turned on and in the end want to read any and everything she has written,” she swore.
Well, that was a tall order.
So I dove in. Not just my toe, but my entire body. And she was right, within the first few pages I was happily swimming in a sea of historical romance and never wanted to get out.
Mary Balogh is a master at her craft. She takes the unfortunate situation of one Camille Westcott, a young proper woman who unexpectedly finds herself an illegitimate orphan, and sends her on a journey to Bath, where she not only finds a half-sister that she never knew existed, but she also finds herself in the arms of a stranger who definitely doesn’t fall in love at first sight.
That’s not to say there isn’t attraction at first sight. But when artist Joel Cunningham is hired to paint a portrait of Camille, the new teacher at the orphanage, love isn’t on either of their minds. Contempt, annoyance, and bitterness come first.
But the pull between the pair is too strong, and as they gain more understanding of each other’s pasts and fears, they slowly find their way to each other. (Though, I must admit, at times I wondered if they would. It wasn’t a done deal in my eyes, even though I knew this was a historical romance.) Balogh did such a great job of showing their struggle that at times I questioned whether they really could overcome. Lucky for us, they manage to find a way.
However, Someone to Hold is more than just the love story of Joel and Camille. Balogh takes us on a ride full of family drama, and shows characters searching for paths to help them heal from the pain of abandonment. Your heart aches by how cruel Camille initially is to her half-sister Anastasia, using her as a verbal punching bag for her pain and anger at her parents. You wish you could tell her to stop being selfish, but instead you have to go on the journey with her to self-awareness and understanding.
But don’t worry—it’s a heck of a journey; one that will leave you rooting for these two lovers trying to push away their love, as well as a pair of sisters who have to stop blaming each other for the sins of their family. In the end, you will close the book with not just a sigh, but also an eagerness to see where the Westcott family heads next. And of course, wherever they go, I’ll be diving all in to read it.
Someone to Hold is on B&N bookshelves now.