Review: Someone to Honor

Someone to Honor by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Part of what I love about Mary Balogh is how she weaves character development across a series. Abigail Westcott started as a young lady from a good family but with nothing notable about her, until her world was upended when she learned she and her siblings were illegitimate. She's grown now, but still very much in her own way a stock character--Regency lady. Not a pirate, or a spy, or a smuggler, but a nice lady who enjoys knitting and embroidery.

Gil Bennington is a hero struggling with his own sense of self because he too is not only illegitimate, but also not a gentleman. He became a Lt. Col. in the British Army mostly rising through the ranks (his early commissions were purchased and that's a plot point) but he's never forgotten he doesn't belong in society.

How these two come together makes for a gentle story about people being good and doing the right thing, one of my favorite romance tropes.

But what I really loved about this book was Lady Matilda, Abigail's aunt. In the beginning of the Westcott series Matilda was a stock secondary character, the aging maiden aunt who lives with her elderly mother and fusses over her far too much. Pretty much a soggy, wet blanket of a woman. But then in the last couple books we had glimpses that she may have more depth, and in this book Matilda plays a small, but crucial role of her own initiative and the next story is hers.

This is one of the things I love most about Balogh. My favorite series may be the "Slightly" (Bedwyn) saga and when people ask me about it I always say, "Watch little Becky." Her interactions with Wulfric across the series helps to set up his own story in a manner that leaves me breathless with admiration for Balogh's writing skills.

While Someone to Honor won't stand as one of my favorite Balogh's, it's well worth studying by any author seeking to improve herself and write characters who stand out across a series.

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