Review: Someone to Honor

Someone to Honor by Mary Balogh

Berkley Books, 2019. Paperback, 400 pages.

This sixth book in the Wescott’s series by Balogh follows Abigail Westcott as she rebuild’s her life after the secret that unsettled her family’s lives came out.  Since that secret upturned society, Abigail has been enjoying her independence in Regency England and now she plans to say with her injured brother as he recovers from injuries sustained at the Battle of Waterloo.  What she doesn’t expect is that Harry’s friend, Lt. Colonel Gilbert Bennington, was also planning to keep Harry Wescott company.

Gil is not staying with Harry just to help his friend.  He’s also hiding from reality. When his wife dies, untruths about his estranged him from his in-laws, whom have kept something dear to him.  All he wants is to be able to take his daughter home, but can his legal team help? What happens when Harry and Abigail learn of Gil’s plight?  How will they help him? And what happens as Gil begins to fall for Abigail?

While romances, historical or not, are something I don’t typically review, I ended up with a copy of this by chance.  Previous to Someone to Honor, I had read the first book in the series, Someone to Love, but I have yet to read the books in between.  While each book in the series stands alone, there are overlapping bits and I had to play catch up to understand all of those, but it did not affect the story as a whole.  This particular novel is both a sweet romance that unexpectedly blooms and a coming of age story about Abigail. The unexpected take on Gil’s life that includes his fight for his daughter was an extra twist.  As a whole, I enjoyed this as a romance. From a historical fiction standpoint, the novel is set in a historical era only and while that frames many actions, it does not predominate in the story.

This review was possible thanks to First to Read. The novel was released back in July, but is perfect to share as a Valentine’s read.

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