REVIEW: Someone to Remember by Mary Balogh

Review by Christina Boyd

Thirty-six years after a squashed romance, a reformed rake and a middle aged spinster are reunited. What an odd and unlikely scenario for a Regency romance! Is it possible to fall in love if one was already in it? Could one fall in love twice with the same person? And how old is too old for love?

When Lady Matilda and Charles Sawyer (now Viscount Dirkson) were twenty, they had fallen madly in love—but because he had the beginning of a wild reputation, her father refused his suit when the young viscount came to ask for her hand. Instead of staying the course and proving himself worthy, and even renewing his addresses later, he had bitterly run off to sow his wild oats, proving what her parents had expected, and became one of England’s most notorious rakes and hellions.

And what of Matilda? Yes, she had suitors to follow but she refused offers of marriage—becoming instead the prim and proper spinster, fussy companion to her mother, and favorite maiden aunt.

When circumstances bring them back into each other’s circle, the handsome and matured Viscount Dirkson is curiously drawn to this staid woman...and when he glimpses the sparkle of the woman she once was, he decides they are neither too old to try again. So many swoon worthy moments, so many sweet sentiments that brought tears to my eyes. When she finally admits to him how she has always loved him, even from afar, he realizes that he may have buried his love for her decades before but love still remained:

“Madtilda.” He sighed and drew her to him, one arm about her waist, the other about her shoulders. “You put me to shame with your steadfast fidelity.”

Someone to Remember is by far my all-time favorite in this Westcott series...then again, I say that after every one. Made my own middle-aged heart flutter!

Rated MILD for kissing.