Someone to Hold: Camille's Story (The Westcott Series) Mass Market Paperback – February 7, 2017

The author is a master storyteller! She wove all the little pieces of the different lives into a beautiful quilt, full of human love, loss, and redemption. But, more than that, the ultimate and miraculous power of the love of family as the center of our existence. Thank you, Mary!

Camille is the dispossessed child of an earl whose bigamous marriage, uncovered only after his death, has left his family reeling. As one of his three Society-raised children, now revealed to be bastards, proud, cool, well-behaved Camille finds herself struggling to understand who she is now that the social position she has built her life and personality around has been snatched away.Joel is the talented artist who has always been the closest friend of Camille's newly-discovered, newly-rich, and highly-resented half-sister, Anna (the heroine of the first book in the Westcott series). Joel has settled into a comfortable life as a successful portrait painter and part-time volunteer art teacher at the orphanage where he and Anna were raised.When Camille decides to step into Anna's shoes as the teacher at the orphanage, and Joel is commissioned by her grandmother to paint Camille and her sister, the two are thrown together far more than they initially like.I'm a big fan of the dislike-to-love theme, so I was loving that from the start, and I do feel that the emotional story is well developed, with Joel, a very talented portraitist, skilled at portraying the many facets of his subject, finding himself seeing the good behind Camille's very slowly crumbling facade of chilly pride.Slight spoilers ahead: Joel, an orphan, finally discovers who his parents were, through a curmudgeonly old relative who also wishes to leave Joel his fortune. This bit of the plot feels pretty contrived, particularly after Anna, his best friend, had a similar rags-to-riches experience in the last book, but I feel a bit hypocritical, as a romance fan, caviling about this kind of happy outcome for a character—if I can regularly suspend disbelief to enjoy unconditional romantic love conceived in only a few weeks' time (as it is in many historical romances), then why can't I roll with two orphans being left immense fortunes? Whether or not it's credible, I enjoyed how this revelation of family allowed Joel and Camille to connect. It pushes them, unexpectedly, to relate to each other due to coinciding identity crises, and to grow closer when they look for emotional support during their trials.Camille, who is extremely unlikable in the series' first book, is not a character you would expect to find so quickly entangled in such a love affair, but I feel that Balogh wrote her very consistently, slowly opening her up to love—of Joel, of Anna, and of the rest of her family—and focused more on Joel's unique ability to see into and connect to her than on her becoming an entirely new person, though there is, of course, character development for her in her new circumstances.But as for the plot, there were a lot of things of which I wasn't a fan. As other reviewers have mentioned, the sex was gratuitous, and it was particularly hard to believe that two people who have been so profoundly affected by their own illegitimacy would take no precautions against pregnancy. It was also surprising that Balogh, who otherwise wrote Camille so consistently, would have this young woman, previously so focused on behaving properly and being the perfect lady, throw caution to the wind in that way. It's written as her exploring a life completely separate from the respectable lady she's always strived to be, but there's nothing in her character to suggest that she would be so drastic; deciding to leave her family and become a schoolteacher may be extreme, but it's not a complete rejection of everything she's always been.In the same vein, the amount of time she spends at Joel's bachelor lodgings was also rather strange. She ends up there once because of rain, and I think that worked and should have been reserved as the excuse for a single visit to his home. Another point mentioned by several other reviewers: how absurd Viscount Uxbury is. He's presented as unbelievably rude, and based on Camille's memory of him as a perfect gentleman, I think his villainy should have been far subtler. I also wasn't sure about Camille and Joel adopting two of the orphans. Camille's attachment to the baby at the orphanage did serve to help her understand the unconditional nature of love and reveal a nurturing nature within Camille to both herself and others, and her choice to adopt righteous little Winifred was a sweet acknowledgment of her desire to help a child avoid the sort of emotionally drained existence Camille had lived for so long, but the fact that Joel had no special connection with either child made it feel awkward to put them all together as a family at the end, and Camille's relationship with the girls felt poorly integrated in the story.Overall, this is a fairly good continuation of a really promising series: generally lovely with lots of so-so plot points. I'm really excited for the coming Westcott books (the teaser at the end for Alexander's story is precisely that: a huge tease!), and the more I think about this series, the more impressed I am with the concept. Balogh has done a great job setting up a plausible but hugely dramatic premise that has left us with several characters in really interesting emotional positions that should make delightful stories.

Mary Balogh has done it again…she’s written another beautiful romance in The Westcott series. This is the story of Miss Camille Westcott, formerly Lady Camille Westcott, and Joel Cunningham.When Anna Snow, formerly an orphan from Bath, was summoned to London, it became known that her father had indeed married her mother and that she was now the owner of all unentailed property and a great fortune. It also became known that he had married Camille’s mother while his first wife was still living, thereby rendering Camille, her sister Abigail and her brother Harry, as illegitimate.Camille and Abigail went to Bath to live with their wealthy maternal grandmother, while Harry’s guardian purchased a commission for him in the army, and their mother went to live with her brother Michael. Camille, who had been jilted by her fiancé after she told him of her illegitimacy, couldn’t bring herself to join her grandmother and sister on their social outings. Instead, she applied at the orphanage for their vacant teacher position and was hired for a two-week trial. Shortly thereafter, she moved into the empty teacher’s room there.Joel had grown up in the orphanage and an anonymous sponsor paid for him to attend art school. He was developing a reputation as a very gifted portrait artist, but he always managed to find time to teach an art class two days a week at the orphanage. He had experienced problems with the last teacher, with whom he shared a classroom, but found Camille much easier to work with.This should set the scene for the novel, although there were numerous other characters and situations. The character development for the two main persons was exceptionally well written, as both were rather complex individuals. I loved the interactions of Camille and Joel and how he’d study her to see which persona she was wearing any given day. Although their relationship wasn’t exactly a slow burn, it wasn’t insta-lust either. There was much more world building in this novel than in the first book and Bath was fairly well described, together with the grounds of certain locations.I really loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys romance books. My Rating: 5 Stars!

I loved this book, and it has quickly become one of my favorite Mary Balogh stories. I think it must be the best of the series, as I read book 3 and found it dull and underwhelming. Someone to Hold is heartwarming and beautifully written. Highly recommend.

the characters are all lovable they are taking the challenges and injustice in stride facing theirproblems on their own and with help from people who are there to go foreward joel and camille are in the same bowl of cherries and experiencing the challenges of life

Mary Balogh writes about a heroine I didn't want to read about as she was not nice in the first novel of the series and yet in this novel the author gets the reader into Camille's mind, turns her into a very interesting and eventually likeable heroine. As usual, Mary Balogh has quotable lines that are food for thought. A very enjoyable and rewarding read. A novel I am sure to reread over the years, as I have done with most of this author's novels.

Amei. Sou completamente fã da Mary Balogh e do estilo de sua escrita.Esse é a continuação de Someone to Love. A personagem principal que foi criada na nobreza e com os conceitos de auto importância dessa classe, vê sua vida dar uma guinada de 180°ao descobrir que ela que é ilegítima e não sua irmã mais velha. Então numa jornada de auto avaliação e aceitação, ela escolhe viver como sua irmã viveu, na mesma simplicidade, no mesmo trabalho, com as mesmas privações. E nessa jornada descobre o amor e novos conceitos. Lindo!!

Typisch für Balogh gibt es jede Menge Einblicke in das Innere der handelnden Personen, und Joel und Camille kommen auch (jedenfalls für mein Empfinden) sehr sympathisch rüber. Aber sie verhalten sich vergleichsweise irrational und auch unrealistisch. Wo Camilles Veränderung im Verhalten zu ihrer Schwester noch nachvollziehbar wirkt, ist das, was Joel erlebt leider doch arg weit hergeholt. Näher auf diesen Umstand teinzugehen, hieße spoilern, was ich hier vermeiden möchte. Allerdings ist der Umstand sehr vorhersehbar.Balogh schreibt gewohnt flüssig und hält den Leser durchaus bei der Stange, aber - wie auch schon in vorangegangenen Büchern - es passiert einfach nichts. Und es wirkt auf mich vergleichsweise unrealistisch, dass sich die Charaktere innerhalb von weniger als drei Wochen Zeitspanne zwischen Beginn und Ende des Romas derart drastisch verändern.Daher trotz eines Romans mit wirklich sympathischen Charakteren insgesamt nur drei Sterne.

I am a huge Mary Balogh fan and there's one thing that never changes - as soon as she publishes a new book, I must have it - and I'm never disappointed; her imagination is endless and her storylines still original after decades of writing. In part, at least, some of her popularity and continuing success is in the subtlety and empathy always present in her story telling; in the unique way she has of presenting her out-of-the-ordinary characters as if she herself has walked in their shoes and experienced what they are feeling. Ms. Balogh has used this method to great effect in Someone to Hold, the second book in her Westcott series. And I could name at least two more of her books where I have felt this aspect of her writing very strongly.In book one (Someone to Love) we met, Lady Camille Westcott, one of the disinherited daughters' of the deceased Earl of Riverdale. At the will reading Camille and her family are left reeling by the shocking revelation that she and her two siblings are illegitimate because their parents’ marriage was – unbeknownst to anyone - a bigamous one. Camille reacts badly to these revelations and comes over as a thoroughly unlikeable character. But Ms. Balogh shows us that there's a lot more to Camille than meets the eye. I ended up liking her a lot and she earned my respect and sympathy, too.After these life changing revelations Camille hides herself away at her grandmother's house in Bath, refusing to go out unless heavily veiled. Then one day she wakes up, gives herself a good talking to and decides to take her life in hand - she has done nothing wrong, done nothing to feel ashamed of; she will live her life, such as it is, and hold her head high. She is drawn to the orphanage where her half-sister, Anastasia Westcott, or Anna Snow as she was known, had lived for most of her life and was later employed as a teacher. The orphanage is in need of a teacher once more, the one who had replaced Anna being unsuitable; impulsively Camille offers her services and is taken on on a trial basis. She cannot explain her need to do it, she has no experience with children or of teaching, but something impels her to walk in Anna's shoes, even going so far as to remove from the luxury of her grandmother's home and to take up residence in the tiny room Anna had occupied at the orphanage.Camille meets the earthy, down-to-earth, Joel Cunningham, a man who is as far removed from the perfectly correct aristocrats of her former life as he could be. Joel is also a former inmate of the orphanage and now returns twice weekly to give art lessons to the children in his free time. To make matters worse, he always had a soft spot for Anna - although she never wanted anything from him other than friendship. Joel and Camille begin their acquaintance by irritating each other intensely, but still, they are inexplicably attracted to each other. He reluctantly admires her approach to teaching even though she appears clueless and retains her stiff-upper-lip, starchy persona and rarely smiles. Nevertheless, she has a natural ability and engages the children to such a degree that they look forward to and enjoy her lessons. This is something else I have always noticed about Ms. Balogh's writing; in her younger life she was a school teacher and it is apparent in the way she understands and talks about children - particularly in this story.Joel, like Anna Snow before him, has always been supported by an anonymous benefactor; more recently that benefactor has paid for Joel to attend professional art lessons to further develop his natural artistic talent. As a result he has earned himself a reputation in Bath as a superior portrait painter, and Camille's grandmother has jumped on the bandwagon of the well-heeled inhabitants of Bath and commissioned portraits of her granddaughters. Camille is not best pleased by this plan as it means yet more time in his company whilst he makes preliminary sketches of her. Joel has an unorthodox approach when compared to other portraitists; he likes to get to know and spend time with his subjects, observing them as they chat and capturing an inner something he alone sees - he then pours this knowledge into his art with such great effect that it sets him above his peers. As a result of his observations, he begins to see the real Camille beneath the prim and proper walls she has erected against the pain she has suffered and learned to hide; for years craving her selfish father's affection but failing to gain even a crumb of his attention. As a result of their interaction, the attraction between them deepens and soon becomes more intense. But there are many hurdles to jump before they can achieve their HEA. Camille can't just change overnight, raised as she was as a very proper young lady. Joel, on the other hand was brought up in an orphanage - so even though at this point in their lives they are both relatively poor, both illegitimate and, therefore, on the face of it - equal - the chasm between them seems wide indeed.I loved both these characters - they're so vulnerable and real. Joel is adorable - if annoying occasionally in his indecisiveness - and Camille has to learn to love and trust him in spite of it while at the same time, attempting to change the habits of a lifetime. She also needs to believe in the unconditional love of her family and to accept that just because her father failed her doesn't mean that her extended family has followed suit. The love story between Camille and Joel is a voyage of discovery for both of them as their previously held ideals and prejudices crumble and they learn to accept and admit their love for each other and finally find Someone to Hold against all odds. I enjoyed meeting the family again, too, especially Avery whom I adored in Someone to Love. He is still his omniscient, wise self, still going to great lengths to project his seeming ennui to all around him, whilst barely managing to disguise the deeply caring side of his nature. I am very much looking forward to book three in which we see Alexander - the reluctant earl who inherited his title by default - find his Someone to Wed. This is a lovely series so far and one I highly recommend.