Anna Snow grew up in an orphanage in Bath knowing nothing of the family she came from. Now she discovers that the late Earl of Riverdale was her father and that she has inherited his fortune. She is also overjoyed to learn she has siblings. However, they want nothing to do with her or her attempts to share her new wealth. But the new earl’s guardian is interested in Anna…
Avery Archer, Duke of Netherby, keeps others at a distance. Yet something prompts him to aid Anna in her transition from orphan to lady. As London society and her newfound relatives threaten to overwhelm Anna, Avery steps in to rescue her and finds himself vulnerable to feelings and desires he has hidden so well and for so long.
Comment: This is the first installment in the Westcott series by author Mary Balogh, which I'm starting and will be reading in the following months until the end of next year, most likely.
In this story we meet the Westcotts, a relatively close family who has recently lost the earl of Riverdale, a man not many will miss. However, with his death comes a sudden issue: it seems he had already been married to another woman when he married lady Viola, making this second marriage a bigamous one. Thus, the appearance of Anna Snow, who has lived in an orphanage in Bath her whole life but who is now the heiress of the family's money, although she only longs for the family she has always wanted. The problem is that her half sisters and brother don't want her in their lives, so they leave but Anna has a new challenge to face, being part of a society she never was prepared for. Thankfully, the family has a close link to Avery, the duke of Netherby, and his mother and sister. Avery feels Anna is impossibly naive but the more he gets to know her, the more he sees she is more than meets the eye...
This author's books have, so far, been all kind of comforting and rewarding to me. I don't mean this only in the sense that I'm used to the writing style and that there's always an HEA, although this counts even if it's a story I liked a little less. My overall appreciation is for the type of imagery I can do when I'm reading, how I see the characters and picture the style of environment they might part of... I can't do this with all historical romances I read, but this author's series often captivate me that way.
I liked the originality of the premise that starts off this series. Yes, the bigamy issue is not such a novelty but it does provide the starting point for how a group of characters can all somehow be part of a mutual situation such as having to see life through different lens. I think, however, that for obvious reasons the set up of the whole thing took too long and there wasn't as much romantic development as I'd have liked for Anna and Avery's partnership to settle.
To compensate this, the author found a way to place them in a common ground, even though their backgrounds are extremely different, and I ended up rooting for them as I wanted anyway. I also think this element was a little too subtle at times, and while the reader would always be aware of how the feelings between them were progressing, I can think of other novels by mrs Balogh where this was achieved slightly better than here.
Anna is a sweet but competent person and her decision to see her new situation with composure and competency, requirements of her teaching profession, were key to make her seem very sensible as well. Still, there is a sweet and vulnerable side to her too, such as when she feels rejected when her siblings decide to leave and one of them even seems to hate her for a situation that she was not responsible for. I think there was balance in her personality and behavior.
Abery, the duke, has a tougher personality as a defense mechanism. He learned to only reveal to others what he wanted but, evidently, he hides a past where he wasn't always as he is now, and how he has the same vulnerability as Anna but for different reasons. At first, to be honest, he didn't seem to be enough "hero material" but I liked him more and more as the story progressed, especially for the simple but determinant tasks he performed to help Anna or to make thing easier for her.
The romance was sweet and subtle, sometimes I kind of wish we could have had different scenes where their connection would be easier to see, but I also know this is the author's style, and I do appreciate it a lot. I think she can convey things with subtlety but also with cleverness and I like the quiet and polished side of her writing. I think these long series are always very engrossing in general, for the feelings of family and proximity they evoke, even if some main characters are' always as appealing or if something in their stories isn't to my personal preference, as it has happened in other series.
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