I’ve put off writing a review of Mary Balogh’s Someone to Wed because I don’t have much to say about it. I read her books when I want a pleasant distraction from whatever hellfire is consuming our politics/planet on that day. They’re well written regency romances where of course there’s a happily ever after, but without some of the tense plots these books can bring, like someone is going to die or be murdered if the two leads don’t act promptly.
In this book, which is part of the Westcott series, we have Wren Heyden, heiress to a glass works company and fortune who is largely a recluse, due largely to a birthmark on one side of her face (and what previous people have said about it, which is revealed late run the book).
She proposes a marriage for very practical reasons to Alexander Westcott, who has unexpectedly found himself as the Earl of Riverdale for reasons that aren’t really worth getting into here (but are a plot line through the series). He needs money to prop up a badly managed title and estate. She wants children. So she proposes that she might have the funds to help him out of a tough spot, in exchange for becoming her husband.
And then things go on from there. It’s fine! I keep a bunch of Balough’s books on hand for times when I want pleasant and fine, which is how Someone to Wed got into spot 39 on this list. My one note for Balogh’s books in general is that they’re usually about 350 pages and usually feel about 50 pages too long. But that’s a small criticism for books that bring some stability to my life at otherwise unstable times.
Nail Polish: Piece of Work by Essie.
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