An Emotional romance both believable and touching
Series: Survivor's Club
Author: Mary Balogh
Publisher: Piatkus, UK
My ratings: 5 out of 5 stars
Releases: 28th October, 2014
Mary Balogh is an historical romance author whose name I always remembered and admired even if I had only read one book from.
While I had thoroughly enjoyed it I don't remember why I never picked up her back list. Nevertheless, that wont happen from now on as I intend to remedy that oversight.
Only Enchanting is book 4 in the Survivor's Club series but it didn't feel like it the writing is so well done that it feels like a stand alone. Flavian, Viscount Posonby is recovering from a war wound on his head. On the surface he seems fit as a fiddle but he struggles with a stammer and gaps in his memory. But that does not stop him from being utterly charming and witty. For this year's Survivors' Club meeting they descend down into Middlesbury Park, where he meets Agnes, the window neighbour who is good friends with his host. In just a few meetings, Flavian decides that he wants Agnes as his wife but Agnes doesn't know that Flavian may have been running away from his Velma, his fiance before he came back an invalid and she married his friend.
With New Adult tittles and romances where the tortured war hero falls in love with the plain girl with problems of her own , a dime a dozen, Only Enchanting managed to feel real to me. Due to the sheer numbers of these kind of stories, the emotional aspects become less likely to make an impact. Not with Only enchanting. Mary Balogh knew her characters and when they faced emotional distress, I felt it too. I had tears in my eyes from the emotional blows they kept getting and Mary Balogh makes it look almost simple that the effect on it's reader is profound.
I loved Agnes with her quiet strength and determination. She was brave and her emotional scars ran deep. I loved how she handled the knowledge about Velma. Flavian won my affection hands down. It is quite common that when side characters in romance series get their own books, they lose that bit of uniqueness that made them endearing to the reader like Take You On. But not with Only Enchanting. I may not have read it's predecessor, but Flavian's wit and intelligence shone through out the story. His masked of boredom, which to my amusement Agnes called sleepy eyes, spoke volumes about the person he was. Even in a challenging situation or an emotional scene where he is spilling his heart out, his personality shines through. even deeply in love he does not turn into an emo-fool or a noble idiot.
some readers may find disappointing that it does not have that many smexy scenes but the book does not suffer even a little from the lack of them. They are few and not explicit but manage to keep the readers interested.
I really enjoyed reading Only Enchanting with it reluctant hero and heroine who managed to find love , overcoming their own demons in the process. Only Enchanting had me enchanted.
Review copy received from Piatkus,
Releases on 28th October, 2014
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