Mary Balogh - Someone to Trust

During a rare white Christmas at Brambledean Court, the widow Elizabeth, Lady Overfield, defies convention by falling in love with a younger man in the latest novel in the Westcott series.
After her husband's passing, Elizabeth Overfield decides that she must enter into another suitable marriage. That, however, is the last thing on her mind when she meets Colin Handrich, Lord Hodges, at the Westcott Christmas house party. She simply enjoys his company as they listen to carolers on Christmas Eve, walk home from church together on Christmas morning, and engage in a spirited snowball fight in the afternoon. Both are surprised when their sled topples them into a snow bank and they end up sharing an unexpected kiss. They know there is no question of any relationship between them for she is nine years older than he.
They return to London the following season, both committed to finding other, more suitable matches. Still they agree to share one waltz at each ball they attend. This innocuous agreement proves to be one that will topple their worlds, as each dance steadily ensnares them in a romance that forces the two to question what they are willing to sacrifice for love...

Comment: This is the 5th installment in the Westcott series by Mary Balogh, which I've been reading lately. This is the story of Colin and Elizabeth, siblings to the protagonists of book #3.

Christmas has been a wonderful time at the house of the new lord of Riverdale and Elizabeth feels it couldn't be better than this, although part of her wouldn't mind to have someone just like others have their spouses. She decides she might as well accept the proposal of someone she is comfortable with, even though she can't deny that her friendship and connection with Colin, lord Hodges, is special indeed. 

Colin is happy to have found his sister again and even more so because she is now part of a family who cherishes her, in a way their own never did. He also feels grateful for the friendship of Elizabeth, and that he has someone he can trust with his worries, but is this trust or a wider emotion he feels? It is true that there is an age difference, but does that really matter? Perhaps, for others like his mother, it does...

As always, I have had a good time reading about characters developed by mrs Balogh, an author whose style is now beyond comforting; I look for these books with the acceptance that they will go a certain way, but there is something about her novels that still drags me in, even though the formula is sometimes rather predictable.

Elizabeth and Colin have become friends since their siblings married and Colin reconnected with Wren. I liked this idea that they could have something in common to start of their relationship, and even more so when they established that they could talk to one another about things they didn't tell others, this was a good way to let us know that the issues between them would not develop into misunderstandings and that who they were to society meant nothing to who they were as individuals.

However, society does play a role in this novel, more so than what it felt like in the previous novels. The issue is that Colin and Elizabeth have different life experiences and are in different moments of their lives, for there is a nine year gap between them, and Elizabeth is the oldest. The author really stresses out how others see the older woman, younger man with a judgmental view and even though nothing is obvious at first, only the implication that it does is enough to change the way they are seen.

In a way, although this is a subject that shouldn't really matter, it was the main topic of why this book had some appeal to me, to be honest. I just found the friendship between them to be so adorable that the idea of them becoming more than friends sounded weird, more so than their age gap. I think this story wasn't much stronger to me because of this, because I liked them as friends more than I do as a couple. I mean, they do complement each other and they have a connection which the author tried to highlight, but in my head she was, yes, more a mentor than an obvious romantic interest for him.

There is also another element here, to change things a little, which is the fact Colin's mother isn't very keen on him marrying an older woman. Lady Hodges was certainly painted as villain in book #3 over her treatment of Wren, and she has the peculiar detail of trying to seem younger than she is, even in her clothes and in her looks. I mean, this attitude is an interesting element to study and I can't be sure that this was "solved" in a very likable manner, even though Colin and Elizabeth went on with their HEA. I think lady Hodges would be a character that could have a deeper study.

Anyway, apart from the external issues they had to deal with, and there are a few more that I have not mentioned, Colin and Elizabeth have to establish themselves as a couple who doesn't care about what others say, as long as they care for one another and that their close family is happy for them. This author isn't very glaring in how the characters demonstrate passion between them but it has been obvious in several. Not so here, and this reinforced my impression that they are better friends. Nevertheless, I'm happy for them and for how they did something they felt mattered.

Grade: 7/10