Someone to Trust (The Westcott Series Book 5) Kindle Edition

It pains me to write a less than stellar review of a Balogh novel. She is my favorite HR writer. Unfortunately, the Westcott series is far from her best or even her average and this book is the worst of them. Balogh has written the younger man/older woman plot before (A Promise of Spring) and done so very well.This story is incredibly blah and I really hoped for better for Elizabeth. The relationship between Colin and Elizabeth does mostly seem like teasing/caring brother and sister. There is really no tension, no passion. Faced with the prospect that each will look to another person to marry, they both just seem to sigh and resign themselves to move on. Neither seems inclined to suffer much regret at the prospect of giving the other up.The writing is primarily descriptive and goes on and on and on and...This book is at least 1/3 longer than it should be. It would probably work better as a short novella just cleaning up some loose ends from the previous books. As it is, it just plods along to the point of boring. From our experience with Elizabeth in earlier books she promised to be a wonderful heroine and deserved a great love story at last. That it all turned out to be mostly a facade to cover up a tragic past was disappointing. Colin it turns out is a nice young handsome man and a good dancer with a crazy mother. That's it.If you would like to read a good younger man/older woman story I highly recommend Balogh's "A Promise of Spring." Much more interesting, complex and compelling.

For those of you keeping score, in this book, two members of Team Westcott get to deck the villain. The ungentlemanly types never seem to learn that you cannot bad-mouth Westcott women with impunity.On the other hand, the hero's vile, actively malignant narcissist mother should be forgiven and kept within the fold, no matter how soul-crushing her presence may be. Makes no sense to me.I've given you the only action in the story. The rest is devoted to Elizabeth and Colin, who dither about their 9-year age disparity and interest in marriage to other people throughout the book before deciding they enjoy each other's company, so they will marry. There is no passion. On their wedding night, the question they ponder is "Can friends make love?"The story reminded me of a 52-course dinner. The guests have said as much as they can, no one can eat another bite and everyone is yawning and looking around to see if dessert is in sight.Balogh writes well and is usually much more engaging.

I dislike giving a bad review for Ms. Balogh, but if this was written by someone else, I would have given 2 stars! After writing four excellent books in this series, this one is mainly a dud. I forced myself to read through the boring, boring first third in order to finish. The remainder was okay, the romantic couple acted more like brother and sister than would be lovers. Save your money until it goes on sale.

FINAL DECISION: This is a gentle sweet romance that takes its time developing the characters relationship. This is grand passion restrained in true Mary Balogh fashion.THE STORY: At Christmas, Elizabeth, Lady Overfield decides that it is finally time to remarry after a disastrous first marriage. This time she wants stability and trust. Colin Handrich, Lord Hodges, also decides that he wants to marry to establish a family as close as the Westcotts after a childhood with a highly dysfunctional family. Elizabeth and Colin enjoy one another’s company but since Elizabeth is nine years older than Colin they know there can be nothing but friendship between them. They do agree, however, to dance a waltz together at every ball during the season.OPINION: This is a quiet slow developing story based completely on the relationship between Elizabeth and Colin. I really enjoyed how the two of them build a friendship. There is always an underlying attraction between the two, but the two fight against it believing that a relationship is impossible.I very much enjoy these stories. By the time these two marry, I completely believe that the two of them can build a lasting relationship. Those looking for big passionate romances might not enjoy this book, but I appreciated that these two have a quiet romance but one built on laughter and friendship and yet still the passion of falling in love.The sexual content was also dialed way back in this one which completely fit the characters. Respect, friendship, companionship and trust all come before the sex in this story which was a nice change.My one complaint is that I wish I had gotten to see some glimpse of their future. I’m sure we will see more of them in future books in the series, but I missed some confirmation that their marriage will manage to work for both of them and they will achieve their mutual goals.WORTH MENTIONING: I loved seeing Avery who has a vital role at critical points in this story.CONNECTED BOOKS: SOMEONE TO TRUST is the fifth book in the Westcott series. The romance here is self-contained and thus it can be read as a standalone. However, new readers should be aware that the book is filled with characters from the prior books and knowledge about them is largely assumed so this book is probably better read as part of the series.STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.NOTE: I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley which was used to prepare this review. I was not required to write a review or to write a positive review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

Waited a long time for this book. It is not her best...what Elizabeth went through by was long and boring..as far as Colin..who would want a relationship with his mother? I have read all of her books and this is such a disappoinment. Loved her Survivor seriesB

I was pleased to see that the author included a family tree, because this series is peopled with a huge cast of characters. I find as the series goes on it is a little easier to place characters because some of them have, of course, already been written about - but I must confess to glazing over when extended family members are included in huge numbers and since they are often fully-rounded families I presume that they will not have their own stories, so essentially become part of the chorus.This is a slowly growing romance between a woman of 35 and a man of 26 - something that wouldn't be noticed or remarked upon today - and how their initial mutual attraction and respect turn into something deeper as the story progresses. There are some very stagey villains - but the growth of the characters of the two main people which, for me, completely dismantled the age barrier, worked well.

Only Mary Balogh treats old tropes quite so well. The abusive first husband- blaming herself,hiding the abuse,repeated forgiveness. All well reflectedThe younger spouse. Just so well dealt with.Vile mother but then the dawning realization that all was not entirely as it seemed. So good.On a really superficial level I have a thing about names. I have very specifically refused to buy books where the hero is a Colin. I hate that name. For Mary I made an exception and I was just about able to ignore the name. Just.

As with all Mary Balogh's books, I was delighted to get this, and read it immediately. It's not quite as good as the previous books in the series, I felt, although still enjoyable. I didn't entirely believe in the relationship between the central characters, or that a 26 year old man could be mature enough to really relate to someone with Elizabeth's very difficult past. It wasn't the age gap between them, as such, that I had a problem with, but if they'd both been a bit older it would have been more convincing. And his mother is a caricature, I don't think society would have tolerated such narcissistic behaviour.

You cannot read this book as a one off.you need to read the other Westcott books as each had a very different complex story line . You cannot read between the lines and imagine what occurred in the previous books. I did not enjoy this book as much as the others.lfelt this one just lumbered along and did not suit the characters ..

I've been reading Mary Balogh books as a change from all the whodunnits and thrillers. I've enjoyed them all so far - chick lits yes but not too sloppy. This one however wasn't quite as good in my opinion - a bit laboured maybe.