Mary Balogh is an automatic read for me. I've never been disappointed in one of her books, and Someone to Trust now ranks at the top of my favorites list. I loved Colin and Elizabeth from the first with their exuberance for life and seeing joy in everything around them. I was amused as they both looked elsewhere for a spouse, believing the difference in their ages meant they couldn't be together, although Elizabeth, being older, was more adamant about this than Colin was. They both have things in their past they want to forget, though they learn some things have to be faced to get through. I enjoyed everything about this book, the characters looking beyond circumstances and the expectations of the ton to what was right for them, seeing friends from previous Westcott books, seeing them find their happy. I do wish there would have been a peek into the future for them, but perhaps that will come in future books in this series.

Delightful! The thing I appreciate more and more about Balogh's work is that her characters are so well drawn and, because of that, all of her books are different, because the people involved are different.

This was what I would call her "nicer, gentler" romance. I kept expecting drama, and, in the end, there was very little thriller-style drama. Just regular people figuring out their lives in a situation that was less-than-ideal. I also appreciated the fact that Balogh never skips over the part where people figure stuff out.

This series gets better and better and better with every book! Highly recommended.

An enjoyable if forgettable romance once it gets going, with an excruciatingly slow start. I've read one other book in this series and promptly forgot everything that happens in it, but the first hundred pages or so are an unwelcome, never-ending stream of reminders about who all the characters from the previous books are, what their formal titles are, and how they are related to each other. Romance readers are used to consuming massive series and are perfectly capable of reading between the lines -- I can figure it out without this kind of infodump, especially since there's a family tree included in the front of the book. Once the story really got underway, I did enjoy the romance, and props to Balogh for featuring a romance between an older woman and a younger man!

I love Mary Balogh's regency romances. This book is part of a series so it does have lots of characters. It was interesting how the couple met and fell in love by following all the parties and sharing dances at each one.

Having never read a thing by Mary Balogh but seeing her books recommended to me often on Amazon, I thought this NetGalley arc of SOMEONE TO TRUST an opportunity to sample her work. I must say that I am an unabashed romance reader, preferably Regency romance and historical fiction and have been known to read a novel in one sitting or into the early morning. That was not the case with this book. I regret I was lulled to sleep within the first few pages of narrative as Balogh introduced the players—giving every single guest at the Christmas gathering thorough background and description. Anyway, as I am no quitter, I tried again the next night and again the next night. Frankly, it made for tedious reading as if I was reading a baronetage—and I was not at all sure who the key characters were supposed to be in this novel for a couple chapters. It wasn’t until about Chapter 10 when I actually became interested in the key characters and the writing took on focus...and I finished the rest in one sitting.

The main characters, Lady Overfield and Baron Hodges, were very likeable and I had been hopeful for them from the very beginning despite their nine year age difference (she the elder widow). After the first ten chapters, the story became engaging and despite a few lagging and repetitive descriptions that are obviously meant to set up for future books, I enjoyed it very much. I’m just disappointed that it took so long to drag me to a turning point that made me invested in the characters.

I marked a couple typos that I am sure will be corrected before publishing like “blond” (when the feminine “blonde” should have been used), the use of the word “cliche” which I understood did not come to conversation until 1920...?, “town” as in London is usually “Town”—that might be a publisher style choice, and a couple of misplaced commas...but nothing so extraordinary to take me far from the story.

Thank you for the opportunity. Glad to have read this and can recommend to Regency romance readers looking for a series to become immersed in.

This was a fun read. The heroine is nine years older than the hero, and this causes hesitation on her part, and an engagement to the wrong guy. The two get to know each other as they share a waltz at each ball and fall in love.