This week I have chosen The Survivor's Club series by Mary Balogh. I have got the first two books from this series sitting on my review shelf and they sound really good, but you know how it is... too many books, too little time. But I'm determined to get to these soon.
Gwendoline, Lady Muir, has seen her share of tragedy, especially since a freak accident took her husband much too soon. Content in a quiet life with friends and family, the young widow has no desire to marry again. But when Hugo, Lord Trentham, scoops her up in his arms after a fall, she feels a sensation that both shocks and emboldens her.
Hugo never intends to kiss Lady Muir, and frankly, he judges her to be a spoiled, frivolous - if beautiful - aristocrat. He is a gentleman in name only: a soldier whose bravery earned him a title; a merchant's son who inherited his wealth. He is happiest when working the land, but duty and title now demand that he finds a wife. He doesn't wish to court Lady Muir, nor have any role in the society games her kind thrives upon. Yet Hugo has never craved a woman more; Gwen's guileless manner, infectious laugh, and lovely face have ruined him for any other woman. He wants her, but will she have him?
The hard, dour ex-military officer who so gently carried Gwen to safety is a man who needs a lesson in winning a woman's heart. Despite her cautious nature, Gwen cannot ignore the attraction. As their two vastly different worlds come together, both will be challenged in unforeseen ways. But through courtship and seduction, Gwen soon finds that with each kiss, and with every caress, she cannot resist Hugo's devotion, his desire, his love, and the promise of forever.
Desperate to escape his mother's matchmaking, Vincent Hunt, Lord Darleigh, flees with his valet. Blinded by a cannon blast on the Napoleonic battlefields, Vincent needs time alone to heal and reflect, away from the well-meaning meddling of his family and those who run his vast estate. But anonymity proves impossible even in the rustic reaches of a country inn, and soon another marital trap is sprung. Luckily, he is saved in time by a stranger with a captivating voice that stirs something deep inside. And when Miss Sophia Fry's intervention on his behalf finds her unceremoniously booted from her guardian's home, Vincent is compelled to act. He may be blind but he can see a solution to both their problems: marriage. Yet he never imagined a wedding of convenience would open his heart to a love he never expected.
Quiet, unassuming Sophia may be invisible to nearly everyone, but even a woman unflatteringly called "mouse" isn't going to stay silent when an unsuspecting gentleman is about to be trapped into marriage. At first, she rejects Vincent's proposal. But when such a gloriously handsome and heartbreakingly vulnerable man persuades her that he needs a wife of his own choosing as much as she needs protection from destitution, she agrees. Her alternative is too dreadful to contemplate.
But how can an all-consuming fire burn from such a cold arrangement? As they conspire to help each other find a new place in the world, friendship and camaraderie lead to sweet seduction and erotic pleasure. Dare they believe a bargain born of desperation might lead them both to a love destined to be?
Mary Balogh's latest passionate novel will transport you back in time to the romance of Regency England's lords and ladies. With her strong and inspiring heriones and dashing heros, you can be sure of a rich story to rival both The Proposal and The Arrangement.
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