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    Someone to Hold
    Someone to Hold
    Someone to Hold
    Audiobook11 hours

    Someone to Hold

    Written by Mary Balogh

    Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh's new Wescott series continues as a young woman deals with her father's death and a reversal of fortune. With her parent's marriage declared bigamous, Camille Westcott is now illegitimate and without a title. Looking to eschew the trappings of her old life, she leaves London to teach at the Bath orphanage where her newly-discovered half-sister lived. But even as she settles in, she must sit for a portrait commissioned by her grandmother and endure an artist who riles her every nerve. An art teacher at the orphanage that was once his home, Joel Cunningham has been hired to paint the portrait of the haughty new teacher. But as Camille poses for Joel, their mutual contempt soon turns to desire. And it is only the bond between them that will allow them to weather the rough storm that lies ahead.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateFeb 7, 2017
    ISBN9781501947957
    Someone to Hold
    Author

    Mary Balogh

    New York Times bestselling, multi-award-winning author Mary Balogh grew up in Wales, land of sea and mountains, song and legend. She brought music and a vivid imagination with her when she came to Canada to teach. There she began a second career as a writer of books that always end happily and always celebrate the power of love.

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    Reviews for Someone to Hold

    4/5

    130 ratings10 reviews

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    • 3/5
      For some reason, this one was a little harder to get into than the first book in the series. I like the characters, I like the story arc, it just took a while to get into. Also, for all that Camille is celebrating her freedom as a single, independent woman, I feel like her casual willingness to go to Joel's rooms is a pretty scandalous choice for the time period.
    • 2/5
      Well, I'm a little concerned. I quite enjoyed the Bedwyn Saga, and then the Simply Quartet a bit less, but still overall quite good. And now I'm two books into this series and haven't really enjoyed either one very much. Usually writers improve as they go and we have a book history together and I like each later series more than the ones before. But this is going in reverse! I hope this is just a two book trend, or at least that it's specific to this particular series and I'll love the next one. I really hate to lose any author I enjoy!
      I tend to like side characters decently when they're introduced, but then appreciate them more when they later star in their own book, but, though I suppose I do like the heroine more in this book (only because she was absolutely horrid in the first one!), I actually had liked the hero more in his side role as friend in the first book than I did here. During their first time together I sat aghast thinking 'do you care *nothing* for her??' I don't expect to see a 'slam-bam-thank you ma'm' from the hero in a **romance**! lol. And maybe end your two year hookup relationship *before* casually deflowering someone new? Just a thought! And as with the first book, the entire romance seemed sort of wishy-washy. It's fine if they have to grow on each other a bit of course, but surely by 3/4 in they should at least admit their feelings to themselves! Not be questioning 'do I have feelings for this person?? Should I do anything about it? Maybe at least mention something about my feelings to the other person? Meh!'. And, like the first book, all events were super convenient! The very first time they mentioned he had no idea of his parentage I knew he would inherit a fortune. What are the chances that the only two adult orphans we know in the series each inherit huge fortunes you ask? Gee! That's a good question! Just don't think about it! And, like a dolt he tosses the offer of the fortune back in their face of course 'he has his dignity!' (ignore the fact that he's lived off their dime from birth to adulthood, as well as being put through art school, all without batting an eye.), but, don't worry, he won't suffer any consequences for that action or anything! It'll be forced on him even against his will. Magically good fortune finds them at every turn, no character growth required! Nothing really keeps these two from having a relationship, no great hurdle to challenge their true feelings and ultimately overcome. They pretty much just drag their feet through hundreds of pages. =/ One small good thing- I did like that they adopt!
    • 5/5
      This was amazing and what a journey for Camille. I haven’t been reading this series in order so started with the later ones and knew Camille was happy, but when I finally read the first book she seemed pretty irredeemable. I loved reading about her new life and really figuring herself out. Joel had quite a journey too, and I truly adored their HEA. Mary Balogh is going on my faves list right now.
    • 4/5
      Camille is so prickly - and even though I could understand it, I didn't much like her to begin with. But her journey of self discovery reveals parts of her that even she doesn't know are there. The romance aspect is lovely, but the blossoming of character is what gives this novel its heart.
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable title in the Balogh 'Someone To' series. I liked the way the heroine grew and learned in the course of the book from someone unpleasant and unlikable to someone just the opposite. The relationship with protagonist was also neat but I found the sudden inheritance by the protagonist rather hard to believe. Too much on the nose to make him acceptable to her family.
    • 4/5
      Someone to hold by Balogh_ Mary Book is about Camille and she was raised with a royal title, but they learn it's been stripped from them all. Her sisters, mother and brother and herself are just common folk now. Lots of English laws and protocol.She ends up teaching at the orphanage where her half sister was raised. She falls in love with the infant and the kids of all ages.Love section on learning to knit, boys and girls alike.Love how she is able to use that to keep the children all together and not get lost on their adventures. Reminds me of a rope chain thing that we saw on the west coast walking trail-children under 5 held onto it and walked to their classroom with headlamps on as it was just dusk.Story also follows Joel, a painter who is paid to paint Camille's portrait. He also is at the orphanage and he soon learns of his uncle who wants to leave him all his estate-he wants nothing of it.Sexual graphic scenes and like the dancing events.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
    • 5/5
      Ms. Balogh has pulled off a miracle--not only did she have me feeling empathy for Camille, but by the book's end I actually liked her! (She was pretty prickly, to put it nicely, in book 1--Someone to Love and even in the early parts of this one I had a hard time not rolling my eyes at her...)What helped early on was seeing her take over her half-sister's (her emphasis) job as teacher at the orphanage and trying so hard and being so sure that she was failing at it. (She wasn't; she was brilliant, but boy can I sympathize with that "I don't have a clue what I'm doing; what if I scar these kids for life?" feeling that she had.) At the beginning I was in total sympathy with Joel, who saw Camille as an unfeeling drill sergeant who was trying to usurp her half-sister's former position--watching her with her pupils, though, that began to change for both of us. I loved watching both of them come to respect and like each other as the story progressed; their transition from two people who wanted nothing to do with each other to friends to lovers was nicely paced and believable.And that ending...it tugged on my heartstrings big time! I cannot wait for the rest of the Westcotts to get their stories!Rating: 4 1/2 stars / AI voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
    • 4/5
      Lady Camille Wescott has an upheaval in her life. Turns out her father had a first wife and a daughter from that marriage that means she and her siblings have been disinherited. Struggling to make sense of a world that has turned upside-down, she takes a job teaching at the orphanage where her half-sister was raised, partly as an attempt to understand the life that sister lived and partly to be independent.A volunteer teacher at the school who was raised there and an upcoming portrait painter, Joel Cunningham dislikes the new teacher on sight. He was best friends with her half-sister, and it doesn't help that Camille is stiff-necked and hostile to the people in her new world.Unlike many other reviewers, I liked Camille. I could understand some of her hauteur and standoffishness as well as her pride and embarrassment of her lowered station. Perhaps it's because I didn't read the first book in the series where she first makes an appearance (I can't believe I missed a Balogh release), but I liked that she was a different kind of heroine, and Joel is certainly a different kind of hero. He makes an embarrassing amount of gaffes though I thought they were also very realistic. It contrasts nicely with the bland engagement Camille had with a Viscount before her downfall.Though this is a stand-alone book, my one complaint is that it seemed to cover the storyline of the previous book pretty thoroughly. I'm not sure I'll go back to read that one though the hero is intriguing. I am, however, really looking forward to the next book in the series.
    • 4/5
      Camille Westcott has a problem, her father had married before he married her mother and neglected to ensure that his previous wife was dead or divorced from him beforehand. Now that this has come out, Camille and her family are illegitimate, their half-sister has the family fortune and they're pariahs in society. She decides to stop hiding out and get on with living and decides to work where her sister worked, in an orphanage as a teacher. Her grandmother insists on her being painted by a portrait painter, who also grew up in the same orphanage and now teaches art there.It's a charming story with fun characters and I like how they stood up for themselves regularly.
    • 4/5
      Camille Westcott has always striven to be a perfect lady. Now revealed to be illegitimate, she does not know who she is. In an effort to stop hiding from herself and the world, she applies for a teaching job in the orphanage in which her half-sister was raised. There she meets Joel Cunningham, a gifted painter and childhood friend of Camille's half-sister, who teaches art to the orphans several days a week. It is dislike at first sight on both sides. But there is also an unwilling attraction.Camille is not an immediately appealing character, being prickly and proper. Those who have read the first Westcott romance will also be unhappy with her for rejecting her half-sister Anna, who wanted only to know her family. But, as her background is revealed, the reader, like Joel, comes to a new appreciation for her. Joel also grows and deepens as a character. How these two lonely people learn to open up and accept each other makes for an enjoyable romance.Recommended.