Mary Balogh

Viscount Ponsonby proposes to young widow Agnes Keeping in order to escape his former fiancâee, who deserted him after his return home from the Napoleonic Wars but is now eager to revive their engagement.

Only Enchanting

Rachel Benton

This is the fourth book in Mary Balogh *The Survivor club* series. The Survivor club is a group of six men and one woman who had been injured during the Napoleonic wars. All of them bonded while recuperating from their various wounds. They have a yearly reunion at Penderris Hall (The place where they had recuperated at) This year they decide to have the reunion at Middlebury Hall. Middlebury belongs to Lord Darleigh and his wife Sophia. Sophia just had a baby and Vincent doesn't want to leave her, so the survivor club has decided to meet at Middlebury hall instead. Sophia is good friends with Agnes Keeping, who is a widow, and lives with her sister (Dora) in a cottage nearby. Agnes had met Lord Darleigh's friend and fellow member of the survivor's club Flavian Ponsonby at a ball six months earlier and had fallen in love with him. Flavian tells Agnes that he is not the marrying type. She shocked when he does an about face and wants her to marry him. She is reluctant at first but agrees to his proposal. After marrying him and trying to get used to her new role as Viscountess. She shocked to learn that the only reason that Flavian married her was to get revenge on his former fiancé who left him for his best friend. Agnes is determined to leave, but Flavian pleads with her to give him a week. what can happen in a week ? The beginning of the story was rather slow, the story didn't really pick up until after Flavian/Agnes were married. I usually don't like this, but I have come to appreciate it with Mary Balogh. I love the slow build up and at the end you get an amazing ending. In this story, she had you guessing up to the very last second. I also liked the portrayal of her characters. I thought she wrote them well and portrayed them realistically. I like how she used issues that the characters to were dealing from their past to strengthen the story and the characters relationship. Agnes still had issues with her mother abandoning her, though she didn't think that was an issues for her. Flavian also had issues that he was dealing with in regards to the death of his brother and lost memories from injury. Though she did annoy me throughout the book, I thought that Velma was the perfect villainess. The type to smile to your face and then try to manipulate the situation to her own advantage. Though she didn't end in the end, I wish she got more her just do. That is the only criticism if you call that I had with this book. I loved the pairing of Flavian/Agnes. I really like it when characters don't think that they are right for each other (Due to insecurities, or they don't think that the other person is their type) but end up falling in love with each other. I highly recommend this book, I really enjoyed reading it and looking to reading more from this author.

Amanda 

I haven't read a romance novel in a long time and I haven't read a Mary Balogh book in a forever long time. I remember really loving her books but this one was boring. The characters were very bland and there was no real problem to overcome or action of any kind. It was just safe and boring.

Only Enchanting

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