Get Hold Of Only A Promise (The Survivors Club, #5) Devised By Mary Balogh Accessible In Readable Copy

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July,
Happy sigh, Mary Balogh, a leading light in the historical romance genre, continued her Survivors Club series with Only a Promise , narrated by the incomparable Rosalyn Landor.
Waterloo survivor Ralph Stockwood, whose wounds are psychic and thus largely invisible to the world, is reluctant to take a wife even though he knows that he needs to.
Enter Chloe Muirhead, who wants to marry and have a family but whose hopes have been dashed by scandal in her family.
She proposes to Ralph, offering him a marriage of convenience free of pesky feelings of love and desire, Ah, but this is Romance, so it is inevitable that the two will indeed fall in love, Chloe and Ralph are mature adults, however, and thus it is the deliberate, realistic, and poignant manner in which this HEA comes about that distinguishes this story.
Ralph Stockwood prides himself on being a leader, 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 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 the outrageous suggestion to 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, I find I don't have a lot to say about this, Mary Balogh writes well, but this is a fairly formulaic marriageofconvenience tale with an emotionally damaged hero and a heroine who's had a few hard knocks in her own life.


It's an interesting and worthy idea, writing a series of romances about a group of men and a woman who have been deeply damaged by the Napoleonic Wars in Regency England times.
I read sitelinkThe Arrangement a couple of years ago, about Vincent, the one who was blinded in the war also a marriage of convenience story, heh, I seem to be a sucker for those, and found it more memorable.
Mary Baloghs Survivors Club series never disappoints, I have to admit that Ralph didnt strike much of a chord with me in previous books, And when I was reminded that he was the survivor with a scar across his face, I expected a much different book.
Maybe something Beauty and the Beasty or the kind of story where everyone is repulsed by his scar and only the heroine can see the real man

beneath.
It was neither. Instead, the book focuses far more on our heros psychological scars and its all the better for it,

Ralph doesnt have a lot of personality for a reason, He became of shell of himself after he lost his three best friends in the war, Its not the scars or injuries to his body that destroyed him, It was the survivors guilt, It drove him nearly to suicide and the only reason he was able to overcome it was because he turned his feelings off or very nearly so.
Now his grandfather, the Duke, is edging closer to the grave and Ralph can no longer ignore his duty to marry and produce an heir.
He is willing, but there is no way love can ever enter the equation,

Chloe doesnt expect marriage will ever be in her future, Two scandals tied to her family have made her quite ineligible, So now she is staying away from the ton, serving as a guest to her grandmothers best friend, Her hostess just happens to be Ralphs grandmother, which is ultimately how Chloe and Ralph cross paths, The two end up making a match of convenience, She gets the children and security she wants and he gets a wife willing to provide heir with no expectations of tender feelings.


It takes awhile before we really begin to see Ralphs personality, But Chloe is painted very clearly, She is practical, pragmatic, and intelligent, I loved that she took a chance and went after what she wanted, She is loyal and honorable, And though she has been dealt more than one bad hand in her life, she never rolled over and played dead.
I loved the genuine affection she held for Ralphs grandparents, I respected the way she approached her relationship with Ralph and the poise and class she displayed in difficult moments.


The romance is a slow burn, but its worth the wait, Its also worth the wait to see Ralph come out of his shell, These two are so good for each other and I really enjoyed watching them both realize it,

This book isnt quite as angsty as some of the other installments, I guess that is because Ralph internalizes so much, But I still enjoyed his journey and was satisfied with the HEA, Cant wait for the next one!

Rating: B/B

ARC provided by publisher.

Mary Balogh is a really impressive author, I've got a collection of her novels but started reading it just now, I'm definitely not disappointed in the writing style or the plotting but the one and only drawback was the notsostrong characters.


I liked the pace of the story, It was the perfect combination of a slow burn romance and historical fiction, I especially liked the beginning of the book, It was quite promising.

By the time story started to progress I felt in a good pace with it, Everything was almost perfect and I savoured each and every chapter of it,

The only thing lacking was in the characters, I feel like I know both Chloe and Ralph very well, I understand their situations as well, But at some points I didn't feel that connection with them, Maybe because somewhere they both were way too lost in their pasts and guilts,
I wish there was better connection between me and the characters,

Rest was amazingly written! I thought earlier books in The Survivor's Club series were more romantic, Especially Vincent's book.

I really never warmed up to the hero, He's got a big facial scar, but he's a rich and powerful heir to a duke, He feels a ton of guilt because hisbest friends followed him to the war and got killed,

The heroine was a spinster atbecause her younger sister ran off with a married playwright, And there are some rumors that the heroine's father is not her biological father,

The hero and hero decide to marry so that he doesn't have to find a bride who thinks he'll love her.
He thinks he is incapable of love, She agrees because she just wants to have kids

The idea sounds great, A hero thinks he can't love and learns how to love his wife,

Sadly, the romance never materialized, Their usual physical interactions involve her pulling up her nightgown in the dark and the hero enjoying himself while the heroine finds it "pleasant"

They had a few deep conversations about their lives that really gave me hope they would fall deeply in love.
But those few deep conversations and the actions they decide to take are it,

The hero eventually tries harder to please the heroine in the bedroom, And they both enjoy themselves,

I just felt like the majority of the book was them dealing with their other problems, not dealing with their romance.


I look forward to the next book in the series, But I highly recommend earlier books in the series like Vincent's book, I love marriages of convenience tropes : ,Stars

Chloe Muirhead chances at love have been dashed, Disgraced through a family scandal shes basically ineligible for marriage, and at the age of twentyseven shes well on her way to becoming a spinster.
Staying with her mothers godmother, the Duchess of Worthingham has provided a escape of sorts, out of sight and mind from London society.


Ralph Stockwood only wishes he was ineligible, because he has no desire to fall in love or form any emotional attachment.
His emotional scars from fighting in the Napoleonic War weighed him down with guilt, and for a time he didnt even want to live, not feeling worthy.
Marrying and letting someone in doesnt sound appealing at all, but as the heir to the Duke of Worthingham Ralph must provide an heir for the title.
With the current Duke, his grandfather, aging and ailing, he must find a wife soon,

When Chloe hears of Ralphs predicament, she makes an offer of marriage with no expectations of emotional ties or love from him.
She provides an heir, takes care of the house and Ralph can go on about with his life without much changing.
Oh, how naïve we can be, right

I adored Chloe! I admired her strength and courage, her determination to rely on herself to take what happiness she could from life and not to expect others to give it to her.
She wasnt bitter when Ralph was distant or pulled away after opening up to her, because she never expected him to in the first place.
She counted every amount of tenderness he offered her as a happy surprise, but didnt want to put too much stock in it and have her heart crushed by relying on it.


Ralph for his part was surprised when he found himself yearning for his wife and the affection and comfort she provided.
Also, that he desired her it didnt really register how beautiful she was until right after they married.
These feelings scared him:

And his very longing for the night, for her body, for her, had almost kept him away.
For frankly he was a bit bewildered and more than a bit alarmed by his eagerness,

Ralph was happily surprised that Chloe enjoyed sex just as much as he did, It would be impossible not to form some emotional bond, not to fall in love when you allow someone in enough to enjoy sex on a regular basis, especially if you sleep with them, and grow attached to their presence in your bed every night.
Chloe and Ralph were sincerely good people and therefore saw the good in each other, and that admiration along with physical attraction inevitably turned into love, much as neither wanted to admit it.
Chloe and Ralph, with all their intentions of keeping at arms length emotionally, provided each other the support and motivation to face their fears and confront their individual baggage from the past.


For a beautiful historical romance that will tug at your heart, and fill you with joy, Mary Baloghs Survivors Club series cannot be missed.
Only a Promise was a gradual build toward love, full of small steps forward and some occasional steps back.
Both the progress and the digression pulled at my emotions! While the story is part of the Survivors Club series, its not necessary to read the other books to enjoy Only a Promise.
I did read Only Enchanting, the book previous, and completely loved it, though,

A copy was kindly provided by Signet in exchange for a honest review,
.