The new Survivor’s Club novel from the New York Times bestselling author.The Survivors’ Club: Six men and one woman, all wounded in the Napoleonic Wars, their friendship forged during their recovery at Penderris Hall in Cornwall. Now, for one of them, striking a most unusual bargain will change his life forever.… Ralph Stockwood prides himself on being a leader, but when he convinced his friends … but when he convinced his friends to fight in the Napoleonic Wars, he never envisioned being the sole survivor. Racked with guilt over their deaths, Ralph must move on…and find a wife so as to secure an heir to his family’s title and fortune.
Since her Seasons in London ended in disaster, Chloe Muirhead is resigned to spinsterhood. Driven by the need to escape her family, she takes refuge at the home of her mother’s godmother, where she meets Ralph. He needs a wife. She wants a husband. So Chloe makes an outrageous suggestion: Strike a bargain and get married. One condition: Ralph has to promise that he will never take her back to London. But circumstances change. And to Ralph, it was only a promise.
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Book 5 of the Survivor’s Club series is a story of complex characters who gradually grow to love one another. It is a couple that will need to face death, jealousy, and family tension. It is Ralph’s journey with dealing with the challenges of what I believe is PSTD, guilt and forgiveness that guides the couple on their road to HEA.
Ralph, Earl of Berwick is a prideful Earl turned Duke who find himself lost in guilt and pity. Although he has severe physical scars from the war, his underlying issue stems from his struggles with survivor’s guilt because he had to watch his closes friends literally dye before his eyes. He can’t forgive himself because he is convinced that he is responsible and no one else can forgive him for leading them to their death. Chloe Muirhead has had her share of tragedies which have been the result of others but she in the end is paying the price. At age 27 years, she has resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood and becomes the companion to her godmother, Ralph’s grandmother.
One day while Ralph visits his grandparents, Chloe overhears him promising his grandmother that he will fulfill his obligations of marrying and producing an heir very soon. She subsequently proposes an unemotional, sterile marriage to Ralph who has already blocked out all emotions he once held in his previous life. He needs a wife and heir and she wants a husband and children. He agrees to the proposition and they marry. On one hand, Ralph shows Chloe a side of himself that could be respectful and gentlemanly but then turns nasty and insulting that always ends up with him apologizing with make up sex. There is no intimacy between them…it is purely just empty sex. Chloe also shows an uncharacteristic side of her with overstepping at times her bounds as a wife that goes beyond their “marriage of convenience”.
Both the H/h are not perfect individuals and will never become them. The understand clearly one another’s issues and fears without really understanding their own problems. They save one another by unleashing those issues and fears that have held them prisoners in their own heads. Not until they release all the hurt, guilt, and shame. Ralph finds the courage to seek the forgiveness from his friend’s family that was clearly not warranted and Chloe confronts her fears of being shunned by society for the sins of others internal and external her family. It is these atonements that allows Ralph and Chloe that unleashes the emotional safeguard that they placed on themselves within their marriage. It leads the couple on a road to love for a happy and contented marriage.
The H/h were wonderful individuals in this story. The pacing of the plot was a big plus in character development and bringing their issues/problems to a head. It was not your typical romance as it spoke to a much deeper level of a budding romance between the H/h. It concentrated more on the characters themselves then the twists. This is one beautiful and lovely story in this series from Mary Balogh that really tugged at my heart and wanted Ralph and Chloe to have that HEA in the end. It was well written and truly enjoyed by this reader.
An okay read in an otherwise great series.
Ralph, the hero, is suffering massive guilt and PTSD over his own injuries and seeing his closest friends get killed in front of him. He’s been a lesser character in other books, and I never realized until this one he’s only 25. So young!
The heroine is struggling with her own baggage: the fact that she may not be her father’s daughter and the familial and social ramifications of that.
The romance between the H and h develops very slowly, very slowly, and it’s a pretty reluctant romance with some less than smoldering sex scenes.
Glad I read it as it is part of the series, but seriously doubt a re-read ever.
Have read every book she has written a d they are wonderful. This series was great.
Mary Balogh always delivers wonderful characters.