Only Enchanting
Series: The Survivors' Club #4
Author: Mary Balogh
Published October 28th 2014 by Piatkus Books

Goodreads Synopsis
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, in the fourth novel of the Survivors' Club series, Flavian, Viscount Ponsonby, has left this refuge to find his own salvation—in the love of a most unsuspecting woman…

Flavian, Viscount Ponsonby, was devastated by his fiancée’s desertion after his return home. Now the woman who broke his heart is back—and everyone is eager to revive their engagement. Except Flavian, who, in a panic, runs straight into the arms of a most sensible yet enchanting young woman.

Agnes Keeping has never been in love—and never wishes to be. But then she meets the charismatic Flavian, and suddenly Agnes falls so foolishly and so deeply that she agrees to his impetuous proposal of marriage.

When Agnes discovers that the proposal is only to avenge his former love, she’s determined to flee. But Flavian has no intention of letting his new bride go, especially now that he too has fallen so passionately and so unexpectedly in love.
Goodreads

Review
Flavian, Viscount Ponsonby, was injured beyond all hopes of surviving during the Peninsula War, and his fiancee moved on, and married his best friend. Now years later, he's recovered and is part of the Survivors' Club, a group of 7 people brought together by their experiences and recovery following the war. He's finally getting himself back on track, but now his ex-fiancee has returned to the family home - neighbouring his estate - and both his family and her's expect them to marry, now she is widowed. There's nothing Flavian can think of that would be worst, and during the annual get together with his friends, he meets Agnes Keeping, a young widow herself, and in a panic, he proposes. Agnes would be more than happy to live with her older sister, and be with her friends, and never had any dream of remarrying, but since meeting Flavian, she's been attracted to him, and eventually agrees. But when she arrives with Flavian to their new home in London, and is ambushed by her in-laws, and the ex fiancee, she is blindsided by the betrayal, and it will take Flavian doing just about everything to prove his love.

I've been enjoying the books in this series, and was definitely looking forward to Flavian's book. I liked his story, I think the most out of all that have come so far. He suffered many injuries after his horse was shot out from under him, not least head injuries, which left him with memory loss, mood swings, and a stutter. His family basically wrote him off when he returned from war, and were ready to put him in an asylum until George, Duke of Stanbrook, came and took him to his estate in Cornwall to convalesce. Because of the memory loss, he can't really understand why he ever agreed to become engaged to his former fiancee - who had been engaged to his elder brother, who was sickly and died when he was away in France. But he does know he doesn't want to be anywhere near her, and though he should marry, it will be on his terms, and he's intrigued enough by Agnes, that marriage to her sounds like fun. I liked how real their relationship was. It wasn't a massive love story, but one where affection grew, and blossomed, as they came to know each other, and I really felt the love between them.

Dates Read:
May 8-9, 2021

Rating
4 Stars